few specimens in the Botanical Gardens at Manila.  It soon, however, increased and multiplied, thanks to the moderation of a small predatory animal (paradoxurus musanga), which only nibbled the ripe fruit, and left the hard kernels (the coffee beans) untouched, as indigestible.  The Economical Society bestirred itself in its turn by offering rewards to encourage the laying out of large coffee plantations.  In 1837 it granted to M. de la Gironniere a premium of $1,000, for exhibiting a coffee plantation of sixty thousand plants, which were yielding their second harvest; and four premiums to others in the following year.  But as soon as the rewards were obtained the plantations were once more allowed to fall into neglect.  From this it is pretty evident that the enterprise, in the face of the then market prices and the artificially high rates of freight, did not afford a sufficient profit.

[Exports.] In 1856 the exports of coffee were not more than seven thousand piculs; in 1865 they had increased to thirty-seven thousand, five hundred and eighty-eight; and in 1871, to fifty-three thousand, three hundred and seventy.  This increase, however, affords no criterion by which to estimate the increase in the number of plantations, for these make no returns for the first few years after being laid out.  In short, larger exports may be confidently expected.  But even greatly increased exports could not be taken as correct measures of the colony’s resources.  Not till European capital calls large plantations into existence in the most suitable localities will the Philippines obtain their proper rank in the coffee-producing districts of the world.

[Highest grades.] The best coffee comes from the provinces of Laguna, Batangas and Cavite; the worst from Mindanao.  The latter, in consequence of careless treatment, is very impure, and generally contains a quantity of bad beans.  The coffee beans of Mindanao are of a yellowish-white color and flabby; those of Laguna are smaller, but much firmer in texture.

[French preference.] Manila coffee is very highly esteemed by connoisseurs, and is very expensive, though it is by no means so nice looking as that of Ceylon and other more carefully prepared kinds.  It is a remarkable fact that in 1865 France, which imported only $21,000 worth of hemp from the Philippines, imported more than $200,000 worth of Manila coffee, a third of the entire coffee produce of the Islands. [82] Manila coffee is not much prized in London, and does not fetch much more than good Ceylon ($15 per cwt.). [83] This, however, is no reproach to the coffee, as every one acquainted with an Englishman’s appreciation of coffee will allow.

[Prices.] California, an excellent customer, always ready to give a fair price for a good article, will in time become one of its principal consumers. [84] In 1868, coffee in Manila itself cost an average of $16 per picul. [85] In Java, the authorities pay the natives, who are compelled to cultivate it, about $3.66 per picul.