millions of laborers are employed thereon, while such enormous sums of money are invested in the industry, that coffee rightfully takes rank among the principal alimentary products of agriculture. The most generally accepted account of the origin of the coffee plant places it as a product native to Asia and Africa, on the shores of the Red Sea, but opinion is divided as to the locality in which its utility was first demonstrated. Thus, while according to some authorities the use of coffee was known in Abyssinia from the earliest times, others assert that it was introduced into that country about nine hundred years before the Christian era by certain half-civilized tribes of Upper Ethiopia. This latter seems to be admitted as the more probable statement, but as is the case with other facts, the true history of coffee is lost in the obscurity of years. As regards the name, it is stated it is derived from Kaffa, a place in southern Abyssinia, where coffee grew wild in great profusion on the slopes of the mountains, and that, at the beginning of the fifteenth century the time in which the plant began to be cultivated, the beverage was known by the name of cobo, cahove, coara, or cave. By this time its use was also known in Arabia as well. From this point it extended to Constantinople and to the rest of Turkey, passing thence to Persia and, by way of Cairo, throughout Egypt during the sixteenth century. It seems that the first person attracting European attention to the plant was Leonhard Rauwolf, a German physician, who had known it in Aleppo, Syria, and that the first botanical description of it was made by Prosper Alpinus, a famous Italian botanist, explorer of India, in 1582. The Venetians first introduced it in that part of the world in 1624, and after twenty years it had become the universal beverage throughout southern Italy. In England, which is now the great center of coffee trading, it was imported in 1650, and two years later public coffee houses were opened in the Kingdom. Daniel Edwards, a Smyrna merchant, was the first to import it into the London market. He had with him a Greek by the name of Pasqua, who afterwards was given charge of a coffee house. In France coffee was introduced at the court of Louis XIV by an ambassador of Mahommed IV, and in 1669 and 1672 public coffee houses were opened in Marseille and Paris, respectively. The first coffee house in Vienna, Austria, was opened in 1683, and in Berlin, Prussia, in 1711. Attempts to extend the culture of coffee plantations were first made in 1650, when the Dutch carried small plants from Moca to the East Indies, and, according to some authorities, planted them on the Island of Bourbon, though others assert that Batavia was the site of the first planting. The results being found satisfactory, similar cultures were made on the island of Java with good results. The plant was also carried by the Dutch to Amsterdam, whence, in 1714, a coffee tree was sent to Louis XIV, who had it cared for in the conservatories of the royal garden. It is said from this plant the first seeds were transported to America, and that it formed the basis of coffee growing in the West Indies. However, certain references indicate that in 1715 coffee was known in Santo Domingo and Haiti, and that a Captain Declieux brought two plants to America in 1720, introducing it into the French colonies. It is also stated that the island of Martinique, in 1726, received a small coffee plant, from which point the seeds quickly spread to Santo Domingo, Guadeloupe, and Cayenne. In whatever manner it was accomplished, however, it is evident that the growing of coffee was known in America during the first quarter of the eighteenth century. It was carried to Brazil from French Guiana in 1723, and the first efforts toward its propagation in the Province of Para did not give satisfactory results, as neither the soil nor the climate of that section. were favorable, but about fifty years later a Franciscan monk established a small plantation in the Province of Rio de Janeiro, and thence its culture extended to San Pablo, Minas Geraes, and Espiritu Santo, the region which at present produces all the coffee of Brazil, which forms half the world's crop. The plant was introduced into Cuba by Don José Antonio Gelabert in 1748, the seed having been carried from Santo Domingo. The results were primarily satisfactory, but its culture afterwards almost completely declined. Venezuela commenced coffee growing in 1874, owing to the initiative of a priest, José Antonio Mohedano, near Caracas. The first exportations consisted of 233 quintals and were made from the port of La Guaira in 1789. Mexico began this culture in 1802, and Colombia at a later date. Coffee growing was introduced into Costa Rica in 1796 by Don Francisco Xavier Navarro, a Spaniard, who transported the plant from Havana and planted it in the garden of his house at Cartago. As the seeds were obtainable from the plants, Señor Navarro distributed them, and in a short time coffee plants were growing in many of the gardens of the town. Thus the knowledge of the plant was disseminated, though at first, and in fact throughout the first decade of the eighteenth century, it was looked upon as an object of curiosity. The first two plants developed into large trees and were in existence until within the last twenty years, but have now entirely disappeared, leaving only a memory. From Cartago Father José Velarde carried the plant to San José in 1819, when the cultivation of coffee in Costa Rica really began, the credit being due to this priest. Thence the knowledge of the plant spread to the other Central American States. The Costa Ricans early recognized the importance of coffee as an article of commerce and developed its culture on an equal plane with sugar cane, cotton, cacao, and other products adapted to the soil of the country. With this millions of laborers are employed thereon, while such enormous sums of money are invested in the industry, that coffee rightfully takes rank among the principal alimentary products of agriculture. The most generally accepted account of the origin of the coffee plant places it as a product native to Asia and Africa, on the shores of the Red Sea, but opinion is divided as to the locality in which its utility was first demonstrated. Thus, while according to some authorities the use of coffee was known in Abyssinia from the earliest times, others assert that it was introduced into that country about nine hundred years before the Christian era by certain half-civilized tribes of Upper Ethiopia. This latter seems to be admitted as the more probable statement, but as is the case with other facts, the true history of coffee is lost in the obscurity of years. As regards the name, it is stated it is derived from Kaffa, a place in southern Abyssinia, where coffee grew wild in great profusion on the slopes of the mountains, and that, at the beginning of the fifteenth century the time in which the plant began to be cultivated, the beverage was known by the name of cobo, cahove, cvava, or cave. By this time its use was also known in Arabia as well. From this point it extended to Constantinople and to the rest of Turkey, passing thence to Persia and, by way of Cairo, throughout Egypt during the sixteenth century. It seems that the first person attracting European attention to the plant was Leonhard Rauwolf, a German physician, who had known it in Aleppo, Syria, and that the first botanical description of it was made by Prosper Alpinus, a famous Italian botanist, explorer of India, in 1582. The Venetians first introduced it in that part of the world in 1624, and after twenty years it had become the universal beverage throughout southern Italy. In England, which is now the great center of coffee trading, it was imported in 1650, and two years later public coffee houses were opened in the Kingdom. Daniel Edwards, a Smyrna merchant, was the first to import it into the London market. He had with him a Greek by the name of Pasqua, who afterwards was given charge of a coffee house. In France coffee was introduced at the court of Louis XIV by an ambassador of Mahommed IV, and in 1669 and 1672 public coffee houses were opened in Marseille and Paris, respectively. The first coffee house in Vienna, Austria, was opened in 1683, and in Berlin, Prussia, in 1711. Attempts to extend the culture of coffee plantations were first made in 1650, when the Dutch carried small plants from Moca to the East Indies, and, according to some authorities, planted them on the Island of Bourbon, though others assert that Batavia was the site of the first planting. The results being found satisfactory, similar cultures were made on the island of Java with good results. The plant was also carried by the Dutch to Amsterdam, whence, in 1714, a coffee tree was sent to Louis XIV, who had it cared for in the conservatories of the royal garden. It is said from this plant the first seeds were transported to America, and that it formed the basis of coffee growing in the West Indies. However, certain references indicate that in 1715 coffee was known in Santo Domingo and Haiti, and that a Captain Declieux brought two plants to America in 1720, introducing it into the French colonies. It is also stated that the island of Martinique, in 1726, received a small coffee plant, from which point the seeds quickly spread to Santo Domingo, Guadeloupe, and Cayenne. In whatever manner it was accomplished, however, it is evident that the growing of coffee was known in America during the first quarter of the eighteenth century. It was carried to Brazil from French Guiana in 1723, and the first efforts toward its propagation in the Province of Para did not give satisfactory results, as neither the soil nor the climate of that section were favorable, but about fifty years later a Franciscan monk established a small plantation in the Province of Rio de Janeiro, and thence its culture extended to San Pablo, Minas Geraes, and Espiritu Santo, the region which at present produces all the coffee of Brazil, which forms half the world's crop. The plant was introduced into Cuba by Don José Antonio Gelabert in 1748, the seed having been carried from Santo Domingo. The results were primarily satisfactory, but its culture afterwards almost completely declined. Venezuela commenced coffee growing in 1874, owing to the initiative of a priest, José Antonio Mohedano, near Caracas. The first exportations consisted of 233 quintals and were made from the port of La Guaira in 1789. Mexico began this culture in 1802, and Colombia at a later date. Coffee growing was introduced into Costa Rica in 1796 by Don Francisco Xavier Navarro, a Spaniard, who transported the plant from Havana and planted it in the garden of his house at Cartago. As the seeds were obtainable from the plants, Señor Navarro distributed them, and in a short time coffee plants were growing in many of the gardens of the town. Thus the knowledge of the plant was disseminated, though at first, and in fact throughout the first decade of the eighteenth century, it was looked upon as an object of curiosity. The first two plants developed into large trees and were in existence until within the last twenty years, but have now entirely disappeared, leaving only a memory. From Cartago Father José Velarde carried the plant to San José in 1819, when the cultivation of coffee in Costa Rica really began, the credit being due to this priest. Thence the knowledge of the plant spread to the other Central American States. The Costa Ricans early recognized the importance of coffee as an article of commerce and developed its culture on an equal plane with sugar cane, cotton, cacao, and other products adapted to the soil of the country. With this object in view, the municipal council of Cartago issued various regulations in 1821, the same being effected by the Government Council which succeeded the Colonial Government in the years subsequent to the declaration of independence. Upon the establishment of the Federation of Central America, Don Juan Mora, First Chief Executive of Costa Rica, in 1825 excepted coffee among other articles from the onerous tithe tax, thus stimulating its cultivation so that within two years it had become an important product in that section of the Republic. Later, during the second administration of Señor Mora, by a decree of the National Assembly, free grants of public lands were made for the growing of coffee plantations or for tracts on which, during a term of five years, such plantations should be made; furthermore, double grants were made to such persons who should encourage the growing of edible plants. Owing to these measures, a very short time elapsed before Costa Rica coffee, as a plant adaptable to its soil, became an article of commerce, and in 1832 George Stipell, a German merchant of San José, made the first shipment of the article, sending the first bagfuls of this valuable product to Europe, via Valparaiso, Chile. The coffee of Costa Rica immediately gained favor, and the extent of native plantations increased in proportion to the demand in foreign markets. Later in 1840, President Don Braulio Carrillo authorized the sale of the municipal lands of Las Pavas, near San José, with the express conditions that they should be planted in coffee, according to the most improved methods, so that these plantations might serve as models. While the influence of such action was important, it did not, however, attain then the value hoped for. After the dissolution of the Federation of Central America and during the government of Dan Juan Rafael Mora, inaugurated in 1849, agriculture made great progress in Costa Rica, aided thereto by the development of public highways. The cultivation of coffee and sugar cane so absorbed the attention of the country that in 1861 the quantity of coffee exported amounted to 4,600,000 kilograms, notwithstanding the scarcity of labor and of capital, and in spite of the war against Walker in 1856 and 1857, the cholera, and the revolutions of 1859 and 1860. Coffee growing continued to increase, and in 1884 the product reached 18,500,000 kilograms, and although it has somewhat declined of late years (in spite of the great extension of lands adapted to its culture, as those of Turrialba, where the plant grows prodigally), this decline is due principally to the falling off in its price in foreign markets and to the scarcity of labor occasioned by the development of trade in other branches, among which, aside from gold exports and forest products, in 1903, may be cited cacao, with a crop of 80,532 |