Sprig of the Coffee Tree.
London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.
The coffee-berry is the produce of an elegant tree, which is seldom allowed to grow higher than a man can reach, in order to facilitate the gathering of it. The bark of this tree is light brown, and the leaves like laurel, having a beautiful polish; with these it is thickly covered, [[353]]the branches diverging from near the surface of the earth to the summit. The berries, which are oval, are first green, and gradually change their colour, till they are ripe, when they acquire a bright crimson hue, like that of a cherry. In each of these berries are two kernels resembling beans, lying flat upon each other. Of these a good tree is said to produce three or four pounds weight at each crop; for this tree, like most other vegetable productions in this luxuriant climate, bears two crops every year.
To give the curious a better idea of this useful plant, I present him with a sprig of it, copied from nature in the annexed plate;—in which the figure A refers to the wood, where it was cut off; B is the upper side of the leaf; C the lower side of the same; D is the berry just beginning to change; E the same in full perfection, being of a beautiful crimson; and F the kernels or beans as they appear when they are divested of their husk, and ready for exportation.
The buildings on a coffee estate are, first, the dwelling house, which is usually situated for pleasure near the banks of a river; and for convenience adjoining to it are erected the outhouses for the overseer and book-keeper, with store-houses and small offices: the other necessary buildings are a carpenter’s lodge, a dock and boat-house, and two capital coffee-lodges, the one to bruise and separate the pulp from the berries, the other to dry them; the rest consist of negro-houses, a stable, hospital, [[354]]and warehouses, which altogether appear like a small village. The coffee-lodge alone sometimes costs five thousand pounds sterling, and sometimes more. But to give a more complete idea of the whole apparatus, I must refer to the plate, where all the buildings, fields, paths, gardens, floodgates, and canals are marked, and explained by the necessary references. The plan, as exhibited in this plate, is intended to unite at once elegance, convenience, and safety. It is elegant, as being perfectly regular; convenient, as having every thing at hand and under the planter’s own inspection; and safe, being surrounded by a broad canal, which by floodgates lets in the water fresh from the river, besides a draw-bridge, which during the night cuts off all communication from without.
I shall now proceed to the planting-ground, which is divided into large square pieces, in each of which are generally two thousand beautiful coffee-trees, growing at eight or ten feet distance from each other. These trees, which begin to bear at about the age of three years, are in their prime at six, and continue to produce fruit till they are thirty; the manner of supplying them being from good nurseries, which no coffee estate is ever without, having already mentioned that they afford two crops every year, which is about Midsummer and Christmas.
T. Conder Sculpsit
Plan of a regular Coffee Plantation.
References to the Plan.