Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1898-05-21
The HISTORY OF COFFEE.
Continued from Sixth Page.

prosper, it became necessary for
the British Government to reduce
the duty imposed in England on
Jamaica coffee. To this is due
the development that the plantations
have reached on that island.
In the year I74S coffee was intro
ducedinto Cuba by Don Jose Antonio
Gelabash, Spanish financial en-
ployee, who brought the seed from
Santo Domingo, and plantations
were made in the lands of Waiay,
not only with the object of utiliz-
ing the precious seed but also with
the view of making SpirituouS liquor
from the pulp of the berry, and it
was owing to the emigration of the
French colonistS from Santo
Domingo who established themselves
on the oriental section of the
island, that the advancement of the
coffee industry was obtained.
At first, these plantations were
regarded as pleasure gardens, and
required a large number of slaves,
exclusively destined to their care,
and of course these plantations
could only support themselves for a
time and that owing to the bad
crops in Brazil, but when the
Brazilian crops reversed. That
fact coupled with the bad system of
pruning, and the international laws
controlling this product made the
expenses so high that it could not
pay for its culture. This is why,
in 1900, the oriental part of Cuba
only had SO plantations, but later
the price of the seed having in
creased considerably by the ruin of
Santo Domingo and because its cul-
ture was considered less expensive
and easier than that of sugar cane
with it necessary establishments,
great number of planters devoted
themselves to the industry, which
in a short time produced a depreci-
alton in the price of the product.
This, added to the fact that the
coffee of Brazil and Java being of
superior quality to the Cuban pro-
duct was sold in the island at
lower price than the price of that
produced on the island, unlil the re-
suit that the industry was aban-
doned and the sugar industry
augmented.
Some time after, the price of the
market being higher and the culture
of coffee being better understood,
its production was taken up again
and increased to such an extent,
that in 1916 there were 1910 plan
tatiOnS in the western section, $50
in the eastern and 70 in the centre
of the island, but at the present
time the coffee growth in Cuba is
in decadence.
AT the end of the last century,
coffee was not known in the
Philippine Islands except in the
botanical gardens of Manila, where
were planted a few plants for
curiosity. From there were taken
a few plants to the Laguna, where
they were planted, and thrived and
multiplied rapidly through the
agency of species of mammillary
(the ParadoXuruS MaSanga) which
alimented themselves off the berry,
and expelled the seeds which they
could not digest but which were
ready for propagation, in the same
manner that in Spain and Italy a
small bird Scatters olive stones in
the fields; causing wild olive trees to
Sprout. Afterwards, with the view
of facilitating and increasing the
coffee planting industry, prizes
were offered by the Economical
Society of Friends of the country. |
One prize of 81 900, was awarded |
in 1887 to McGuinonnier for
having in production 90, 900 plants. |
In after years four different |
prizes were awarded to various
planters, but it seems that after the
prizes were obtained the plantations
were abandoned, the Economical
giving as a reason the low
prices of coffee and the high prices
Of freight, which made it impossible
for the planters to obtain the
returns to perpetuate the
industry. After the disappearance
Of these conditions, which were
to the growth of the coffee
industry the amelinratinn cnncoI