Class II.]
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department of the Exhibition peculiarly interesting. Thesamples are, unfortunately, generally insufficient, dirty,ami inaccurately labelled.
Java exhibits good coffee, but none of marked supe-riority. Honourable Mention is made of one sample,marked as from the Menado district, -which has a good,hold, well-formed berry ; and also to some samples fromSourabaya ; both are contributed by the “ SingaporeCommittee” of the Honourable East India Company .The Java coffee is only prized in the market for its deli-cacy of flavour, as in point of strength it falls short ofthe*West Indian .
The samples of Aden coffee contributed by the Ho-nourable East India Company (p. 873) arc not superior,and more resemble the Berhera (Abyssinian ) plant, usuallycalled long-berried mocha, than the genuine mocha.The specimens are dirty, and not sufficiently garhelled(picked). Aden, alias Mocha coffee, is, along with theother coffees of the Fed Sea, sent first to Bombay byArab ships, where it is “ garhelled” previously to itsbeing exported to England. The bean is always broadand small, and the climate of India is supposed to im-prove its flavour.
The best East India coffees in the Exhibition are thosefrom the Peninsula , the Wynaand especially, supposed tohave been introduced from Dominica , and originally cul-tivated on the West Indian principle. Being always gotup with great care, it fetches a good price in the market.Of this description of coffee Honourable Mention is madeof the two samples from Mysore , both exhibited by Cap-tain Morris. The berry is particularly bold and even inboth.
Chittagong , and other excellent Bengal coffees, arenot exhibited, which is much to be regretted, as theintroduction of coffee into the eastern districts was ef-fected many years ago, and is due to the enterprise ofSir W. Jones, since whose time the cultivation has beenpursued with great success by private individuals.
Borneo coffee is exhibited from Mr. M‘llenty’s estate,Sarawak (p. 988), and is awarded a Prize Medal for itsgreat superiority in colour and weight. It is the firstsample from that country ever seen by the Jury.
Ceylon . —The great extent and importance of the cul-tivation of coffee (p. 937) in this island renders this do- !pavtment of the Jury’s labours particularly interesting.Tiie samples of both* lowland and upland crops are, ingeneral, excellent, and much useful instruction is con- ,veyed by models of the drying-houses, sheds, and imple-ments used in the manufacture of the berry (p. 938);together with the latter, itself, in the different stages ofthe process of cleauing and drying, removing the pulpand husk, of which a portion, it will be seen, alwaysadheres to the slit, and is ground in the mill, exceptwhen removed by Snowden’s patent process, alreadyalluded to.
Honourable Mention is made of two samples; onefrom the Kirklees estate, at 4,500 feet above the sea,which is a good, bold, even, clean, heavy and well-formedherrv; the other from the Hunasgiru estate, 3,000 feetabove the sea, which exhibits good pearl-berry, or pea-berry coffee, a small variety, for which hand-picking isresorted to. Superior samples to any of these are, how-ever, always to be seen in Mincing Lane, and a PrizeMedal, therefore, has not been awarded. The nativewild or indigenous coffee of Ceylon is also exhibited,which, like the wild plant of Bengal, is of no value.
Norfolk. Island sends an excellent sample of coffee,apparently of the Bcrhera variety ; it is of good colour,well adapted for roasting, and is a most desirable novelty.
St. Helena . —There is an excellent sample of coffeefrom this island, from the private garden of Mr. S. Mag-nus (3, p. 955), of which Honourable Mention is made.
Mauritius . —A small sample of inferior cocoa.
Demerara, once the great coffee country, now culti-vates very little indeed. Many samples, of variousgrowths, are sent from the few remaining estates. Noneare of much merit: the best (that from the estate “ KleinPouderoyen ” is good. Pearl-berry coffee is also exhi-bited, and poor samples of cocoa.
Trinidad exhibits very poor coffee, apparently dege-nerated from plants originally of mocha: and from itswant of aroma, is probably badly cured or damaged.The cocoa from the same island is truly magnificent, andsuch as is never seen in our market. Mr. Pur die, ofILt Majesty’s Botanic Garden, Trinidad , to whom thepublic are mainly indebted for the whole Trinidad col-lection, sends cocoa as prepared for both the English andSpanish (p. 974). With regard to the Spanish , such hasnever been seen in England ; every bean is very large,round, ripe, clean, and of a line bright-red colour. TheEnglish is good of its kind, hut is, literally, the refuse ofthe Spanish ; the beans being lean, flat, half-ripe, flinty,and often bitter. A Prize Medal is awarded to theSpanish samples.
West Africa contributes indifferent coffee.
Portugal sends a very valuable series of coffees fromvarious of her colonies : of ordinary description fromSt. Thomas : tolerably good from the (’ape dk YerdIslands ; had from Timor : worse (hut curious from thevery small size of the berry) from Mozambique ; goodfrom Angola : and excellent from Madeira.
France . —There is a very extensive collection of cho-colates from this country, and some coffees also. Up-wards of fifteen exhibitors contribute largely, and thetask of selecting for award has been difficult. PrizeMedals have been awarded to four, viz.:—F. A. Turpin(1040, p. 1228), who exhibits chocolate in every varietyof form and flavour, in the highest perfection ; E. Per-ron (343, p. 1193), for chocolate: De Sandoval andCo. (305, p. 1194) chocolate; Watkei.ot-Delespaul(738, p. 1215), chocolate.
Honourable Mention is made of the following:—C.Choquart (1149, p. 1233), for chocolate; Mknier andCo. (925, p. 1224\ for chocolate.
Honourable Mention is also made of the Cho’ca, a pre-paration of coffee ami chocolate blended, sufficientlyagreeable to the palate, and apparently wholesome andpleasant. The exhibitor is A. E. Le.molt (303, p.1191).
Switzerland, Spain, Prussia, and the Nether-lands , all exhibit fair chocolates. Turkey sends threesamples of the Mocha variety of coffee, not remarkable,and of the usual or Egyptian class of berry.
C. IV.— Chicory and other Substitutes for Coffee.
Judging from the number of exhibitors and samples,the cultivation of chicory is far from being extensive orremunerative. Few of the specimens sent are of muchvalue, and none can, under any circumstances, representcoffee in flavour. As an adulteration, the chicory may heprofitable, and, supposing this to be its principal use, theexhibition of much was not to he expected.
Great Britain exhibits one sample only, and thatvery good indeed, meriting Honourable Mention. It isfrom Saunders and Gatchell, of Dublin (144, p. 193*).
' Honourable Mention is also made of “ Moha e.n demi-\ gruinca” of J. Lervilles, Lille (591, p. 1206), an ad-mirably-prepared imitation of coffee, much superior toanything in the Exhibition ; and of Catherine Soro-kin, Russia , for beautifully cut and peeled dried chicory(69, p. 1368).
Besides the above, there are samples from Brunswick.Prussia, the Netherlands , and Hesse, none of muchimportance except the preparations from Prussia.
There is a curious seed exhibited from Turkey called“ Kenguel;” it is said to be extensively cultivated inthe Kair-ar-eh and Komah ; and roasted, ground, andused like coffee. The plant is the “ Gumelia.”
D. I. — Fermented Liquors.
The Rules of the Royal Commissioners were opposedto the exhibition of any objects of this class, except suchas were remarkable for novelty of invention or produc-tion, lienee the number exhibited is very limited.
A Sardinian orange wine, “ Vino di Arancio ” (9, p.1302), is quite a novelty, and apparently a valuable one.This wine is prepared by P. Garassini, of Genoa, solelyj from oranges that would otherwise he wasted : it is a re-! markably agreeable beverage, strongly resembling fine