The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Part 5

The effects of so baneful a system being equally manifest upon both consumption and revenue, they are here separately ill.u.s.trated.

In 1824, according to the following high scale of duties, viz., 1s. on West India, 1s. 6d. on East India, and 2s. 6d. on foreign, the Customs derived from coffee was 420,988; in the following year the rates were reduced one-half, and in the short s.p.a.ce of three years the amount yielded had advanced to 440,245, an increase which steadily progressed (partly aided by the admission of the produce of British India at the low duty) until it reached 921,551 in 1840. These satisfactory results justified a further reduction of the duties in 1842 to 4d. on colonial and 8d. (and in the subsequent year to 6d.) on foreign, under which the revenue declined in 1844 to 681,616. In 1846 it had again reached to 756,838, and was gradually recovering itself, when this system of adulteration first began to extend itself generally, and since that time the revenue has rapidly declined under the _same scale of duties_ to 566,822 in 1850.

In 1824 the quant.i.ty retained for home consumption was 8,262,943 lbs., which was augmented to 11,082,970 lbs. in the first year of the reduction of duty, and continued to exhibit an increase at a rate rather exceeding two million pounds per annum until 1830, when coffee would appear to have reached its limit of consumption without further stimulus, and remained stationary until the modification of duties allowing the admission of foreign coffee, _via_ the Cape, at the colonial rate, when it advanced from 23,295,046 lbs. in 1835, to 28,723,735 lbs. in 1840; and consequent upon a further reduction of duties in 1842, the elasticity of the trade experienced a still wider development, and an increase of nine million pounds is exhibited in the next five years. From that period, however, the general use of chicory has not only checked the progressive increase of this healthy demand, but an annual decline is observable to the extent of above six million pounds in 1850, as compared with 1847.

On the 15th of April, 1851, with the view of partly remedying the grievance of the colonists on this head, the duties were equalized and reduced to 3d. The results are, however, far from satisfactory, either in a fiscal or commercial point of view. It is true that an increase in consumption, of one-and-a-quarter million pounds has taken place, but at the sacrifice of 121,000 of revenue. But this increase, it will be seen, has not exceeded 4 per cent., whilst there has been a diminution of 21 per cent. in the revenue receipts. Upon investigation, moreover, it will be found that, notwithstanding the _total_ increase exhibited, there has been an actual falling off of 894,778 lbs. of colonial coffee in 1851; the items for last year are, however, much more favorable and encouraging for the planters.

No reasonable cause can be a.s.signed for this rapid and serious diminution in the consumption of coffee, except the notorious subst.i.tution of chicory and other substances.

The arguments advanced to account for the falling off in the consumption of coffee, by adducing the increase of tea and cacao for a similar period are fallacious, and contrary to the commercial experience of many years, which convincingly proves these kindred articles to have always simultaneously increased, or diminished, in ratio with the general prosperity of the kingdom, and the prevalence of temperate habits among the community.

I shall now proceed to trace the fluctuations in the consumption of coffee.

At the close of the last century the consumption of coffee was under one million pounds yearly; the only descriptions then known in the London market were Grenada, Jamaica, and Mocha--the two former averaging about 5 per cwt., and the latter 20 per cwt. Grenada coffee is now unknown, and Ceylon and Brazil are the largest producers. In 1760, the total quant.i.ty of coffee consumed in the United Kingdom was 262,000 lbs., or three quarters of an ounce to each person in the population. In 1833 the quant.i.ty was 20,691,000 lbs., or 1 lb. to each person. When first introduced into England, about the middle of the 17th century, coffee was sold in a liquid state, and paid a duty of 4d. per gallon; afterwards, until the year 1733, the duty was 2s. per lb.; it was then reduced to 1s. 6d., since which it has paid various rates of duty; in the year 1824 it was settled at 6d.

per lb. All descriptions of coffee now pay but 3d. per lb.

The consumption of coffee in the United Kingdom, for several years previous to 1825, varied from seven millions and a half to eight millions and a half pounds in round numbers, the duty being 1s. per lb. on British plantation, 1s. 6d. per lb. on East India, and 2s. 6d.

per lb. on foreign. From the 5th of April of that year those rates were each reduced to one half, and the immediate consequence was a steady increase of the consumption until 1831, when it amounted to 23,000,000 lbs. The consumption continued, without any material variation, at this rate, or to advance by very slow degrees, until 1836, when the duty on East India coffee was reduced to 6d. per lb.; and this change had precisely the same effect as the previous one, for the consumption again advanced to upwards of 26,000,000 lbs., which was then considered, in a memorial of the London trade, to be as much as our colonies were capable of producing! We now find, however, one small island, Ceylon, producing a fourth more than this amount annually.

The Belgians, a population of 4,500,000, consume more than 33,000,000 lbs. of coffee annually; quite as much as is used by the whole 35,000,000 French. The duty on 100 lbs. of coffee in France is more than the common original cost--the Belgian duty not a tenth part; so that the French do not use 1 lb. of coffee per head, while the Belgians consume 7 lbs. each per annum. The proportion in England is not more than 1 lb. per head to the population. The United States are the largest consumers of coffee, as it is admitted into their ports free of duty, and can therefore be sold for nearly the price per pound which the British Government levies on it for revenue. The entire consumption of the United States and British North America, calling their population 23,000,000 and ours 30,000,000, exceeds ours, on an estimate of population, by sixfold. Thus the average consumption of coffee by each American, annually, is about 8 lbs., while the quant.i.ty used by each person in the European States is less than 1 lb.

The changes in the sources of supply, within the last fifteen or sixteen years, have been very remarkable. The British possessions in the East have taken the place which our islands of the West formerly occupied. The British West Indies have fallen off in their produce of coffee from 30,000,000 to 4,000,000 lbs. Ceylon which, fifteen years ago, had scarcely turned attention to coffee, now exports nearly 35,000,000 lbs. San Domingo, Cuba, and the French West India colonies are gradually giving up coffee-cultivation in favor of other staples; and it is only Brazil, Java, and some of the Central American Republics that are able to render coffee a profitable crop. The export crop of Brazil (the greatest coffee-producing country), grown in 1850, for the supply of the year ending July, 1851, amounted to no less than 302,000,000 lbs., of this a large quant.i.ty remained in the interior to supply the deficiency of the current year.

It is scarcely thirty years ago that the coffee-plant was first introduced into Bengal by two refugees from Manilla; and the British possessions in the East Indies now yield 42,000,000 lbs. Sufficient extent has not yet been given to enable it to be decided in what district of _Continental_ India it may be most advantageously cultivated. It is in the fine island of Ceylon, however, that coffee-culture has made the most rapid progress.

It is an important fact that the supply of coffee from Ceylon, even at the present moment, and irrespective of land already planted but not yet come into full bearing, is in excess of the whole consumption of Great Britain, and the planter is thus compelled to carry the surplus to continental markets. The exports of coffee from Ceylon have been rather stationary the past three years, averaging about 300,000 cwt.

In the sixteen years ending with 1851, Ceylon had exported 130,083 tons of coffee!

The present _produce_ of the various coffee-growing countries in the world, may be set down at the following figures:

SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA.

Millions of lbs.

Costa Rica 9 La Guayra and Porto Cabello 35 Brazil 302 British West Indies 8 French and Dutch West Indies 7 Cuba and Porto Rico 30 St. Domingo 33

ASIA AND THE EAST.

Java 140 The Philippine Isles 3 Celebes 1 Sumatra 5 Ceylon 34 Malabar and Mysore 5 Arabia (Mocha) 3 --- 616 = 275,000 tons.

This I have computed as accurately as possible from the most recent returns, but it falls much below the actual capabilities of production, even with the trees at bearing, and land already under cultivation; and also, in a great measure, excludes the local consumption in the producing countries. In many quarters there has been a considerable falling off in the production. The British West Indies, as we have seen, formerly exported 30,000,000 lbs., the French and Dutch West Indies 17,000,000, Cuba and Porto Rico 56,000,000, and St. Domingo, in the last century, 76,000,000. The growth of coffee has been transferred from the West to the East Indies, and to the South American Continent, where labor is more abundant, certain, and cheap.

In the East the increase in production has been enormous and progressive, with, perhaps, the exception of Sumatra, which has fallen off from 15,000,000 lbs. to somewhere about one-third of that quant.i.ty.

The following statement may be taken as an approximate estimate of the actual _consumption_ of coffee at the present time:--

Millions of lbs.

Great Britain 32 Holland and Belgium 125 France 33 German Customs Union 95 Other German Countries not included 46 in the Union, and Austria Switzerland 13 Mediterranean Countries 20 Russia 12 Sweden and Denmark 20 Spain and Portugal 15 Cape of Good Hope and Australia 6 United States and British America 170 --- 587

A calculation made in the _Economist_, a year or two ago, gave the following as the probable consumption:--

Millions of lbs.

Holland and Netherlands 108 Germany and North Europe 175 France and South of Europe 105 Great Britain 37 United States and British America 175 --- Total 600

But this estimate is too high in some of the figures. Great Britain we know, from the official tables only, consumes 34,000,000 lbs.

annually; the United States and British America not so much as set down by several millions; for the official returns of the imports of coffee into the United States show an average for the three years ending June, 1850, of less than 154,000,000 lbs.; although a writer in a recent number of "Hunt's Merchant's Magazine," New York, (usually a well-informed periodical,) a.s.sumes a consumption of 200,000,000 lbs., for the North American States and Provinces.

The quant.i.ty of coffee produced being greater than the consumption thereof, the growth of it becomes less remunerative, and consequently we may look for a decrease in the supply. Ceylon, as well as the West Indies generally, British and foreign, are likely to direct their attention to some more profitable staple. A diminished production may further be expected in Brazil, consequent on the extermination of the slave-trade and the more sparing exertion of the labour of the slaves.

In Cuba the want of labour is so much felt that large engagements have been entered into for the importation of Chinese; and there are many reasons for expecting a diminished production in Java, the next largest coffee-producing country. The necessary consequence of this expected decrease in the quant.i.ty of coffee produced will be, to bring the produce as much below the wants of the consumers as it is now above, and this must again result in an enhancement of prices in process of time.

If it were thought desirable to extend the production of coffee, there are many new quarters, besides the existing countries in which it is largely cultivated, where it could be extensively grown. We may instance Liberia and the western coast of Africa generally, the interior ranges of Natal, the mountain-ranges on the northern coast of Australia, from Moreton Bay to Torres Straits, &c., &c. But the present production is more than equal to the demand; and unless a very largely increased consumption takes place in the European countries, the present plantations (colonial and foreign) are amply sufficient to supply, for many years to come, all the demands that can be made upon their trees, a large proportion of which have yet to come into full bearing.

The coffee tree would grow to the height of fifteen or twenty feet if permitted, but it is bad policy to let it grow higher than four or five feet. It comes to maturity in five years, but does not thrive beyond the twenty-fifth, and is useless generally after thirty years.

Although the tree affords no profit to the planter for nearly five years; yet after that time, with very little labor bestowed upon it, it yields a large return.

Mr. Churchill, Jamaica, found that 1,000 grains of the wood, leaves, and twigs of the coffee tree, yielded 33 grains of ashes, or 3.300 per cent. The ashes consist of pota.s.s, lime, alumina, and iron in the state of carbonates, sulphates, muriates, and phosphates, and a small portion of silica. According to Liebig's cla.s.sification of plants, the coffee tree falls under the description of those noted for their preponderance of lime. Thus the proportions in the coffee tree are--

Lime salts 77 Pota.s.s salts 20 Silica 3 --- 100

I shall now proceed to describe the cultivation of the tree and preparation of the berry, as carried on in different countries.

_Cultivation of Mocha_--In Arabia Felix, the culture is princ.i.p.ally carried on in the kingdom of Yemen, towards the cantons of Aden and Mocha. Although these countries are very hot in the plains, they possess mountains where the air is mild. The coffee is generally grown half way up on their slopes. When cultivated on the lower grounds it is always surrounded by large trees, which shelter it from the torrid sun, and prevent its fruit from withering before their maturity. The harvest is gathered at three periods; the most considerable occurs in May, when the reapers begin by spreading cloths under the trees, then shaking the branches strongly, so as to make the fruit drop, which they collect and expose upon mats to dry. They then pa.s.s over the dried berries a heavy roller, to break the envelopes, which are afterwards winnowed away with a fan. The interior bean is again dried before being laid up in store.

The princ.i.p.al coffee districts are Henjersia, Tarzia, Oudein, Aneizah, Bazil, and Weesaf. The nearest coffee plantations are three-and-a-half days journey (about 80 miles) from Aden.

The following information is derived from Capt. S.B. Haines of the Indian Navy, and our political agent at Aden. A camel load is about 400 lbs = 25 frazlas or bales.

G.C. Comma.s.sees.

The price of ditto inland 31 41 At Mocha, duty to Dewla uncertain Bake fee one butsha on each frazla 25 Weighing and clerk's fee 20 Packing 40 Camel hire to the coast 12 50 Cost from Sana to Mocha 44 15

Coffee is brought into the Sana market in December and January from the surrounding districts.

The varieties are--

1. Sherzee, best--price 1 G.C. frazla 25 butsha.

2. Ouceaime.

3. Muttanee.

4. Sharrazee.

5. Hubbal from Aniss.

6. Sherissee from ditto--price per frazla 1 G.C. 15 B.

The nearest place to Sana where the coffee tree grows, is at Arfish, half a day distant. Attempts have been made to introduce the shrub in the garden of the Imaum at Sana, but without success, ascribed to cold. Kesher is more prized at Sana; the best is Anissea, and is sold at a higher price than other coffee, namely, g.c. 12 per 100 lbs.; inferior, at from 4, 5, and 6.

Rain falls in Sana three times in the year. 1st. In January, in small quant.i.ties. 2nd. Beginning of June, when it falls for eight or ten days. By this time the seed is sown, and the cultivators look forward to the season with anxiety. 3rd. In July, when it falls in abundance.

A few farmers defer sowing till this period, but it is unusual when they expect rain in June.

The coffee plant is mostly found growing near the sides of mountains, valleys, and other sheltered situations, the soil of which has been gradually washed down from the surrounding heights, being that which forms its source of support. This is afforded by the decomposition of a species of claystone (slightly phosphoritic) which is found irregularly disposed in company with a few pieces of trap-rocks, amongst which, on approaching Sana from the southward, basalt is found to preponderate. The clay stone is only found in the more elevated districts, but the debris finds a ready way into the lower country by the numerous and steep gorges which are conspicuous in every direction. As it is thrown upon one side of the valley, it is carefully protected by means of stone walls, so as to present to the traveller the appearance of terraces. The plant requires a moist soil, though much rain does not appear necessary. It is always found in greater luxuriance at places where there is no spring. The tree at times looks languid, and half withered; an abundant supply of water to the root of the plant seems necessary for the full growth and perfection of its bean.

_Progress of Cultivation in India_.--There are said to be ten varieties of the coffee, but only one is found indigenous to India, and it is questionable if this is not the Mocha species introduced from Arabia. The cultivation of this important crop is spreading fast throughout the east, and has been adopted in many parts of Hindostan.

In the Tena.s.serim provinces, on the table land of Mysore, in Penang, and especially in the islands of Bourbon and Ceylon, it is becoming more and more an object of attention. It is known to have given good produce in Sangar and the Nerbudda; also in Mirzapore, as well as Dacca, and other parts of Bengal; Chota Najpore, Malabar, and Travancore. From three to four million pounds of coffee are now exported from the Indian presidencies annually. The highest quant.i.ty was four and a quarter million pounds in 1845, but the progress of culture, judging from the export, has been small.