The quantity of land which had been brought under cultivation with coffee in this island in the ten years previous to the last reduction of duty in 1844, was, in round numbers, 25,000 acres; but so rapid was the subsequent increase, that in the succeeding three years, that extent of land was doubled; so that, in 1847, there were upwards of 60,000 acres of land under cultivation with coffee, giving employment to 40,000 immigrant coolies from the continent of India, and upwards of two millions of capital were invested in the cultivation of this staple.

The quantity of land under culture with coffee by Europeans, was about 55,000 acres in 1851.  Allowing 20,000 acres to produce the quantity of native coffee exported, and 5,000 for that consumed in the island, the total extent of coffee cultivation in Ceylon, European and native, will be 80,000 acres.

The produce exported in 1849 was 373,593 cwt., while in the year 1836, when attention was first directed to this island as a coffee-producing country, the crop was not more than 60,330 cwt.  Large profits were made by the first planters, more capital was introduced, until, between the years 1840 and 1842, the influx of capitalists, to undertake this species of cultivation, completely changed the face of the colony, and enlarged its trade, and the produce of coffee in sixteen years has increased sixfold.

The general culture resembles the practice in Java.  Of the Ceylon coffee, that grown about Ramboddi fetches the highest price, from the superiority of the make, shape, and boldness of the berry.  The weight per bushel, clean, averages 56 lbs.; 571/2 lbs. is about the greatest weight of Ceylon coffee.  The lowest in the scale of Ceylon plantation coffee is the Doombera, which averages 541/2 lbs., clear, per bushel.  The following have been the prices of good ordinary Ceylon coffee in the port of London for the last eight years in the month of January, 1853, 46s. to 48s.; 1852, 40s. to 42s.; 1851, 38s. 6d. to 40s. 6d.; 1850, 56s. 6d. to 57s. 6d.; 1849, 31s. to 32s. 6d.; 1848, 31s. 6d. to 33s.; 1847, 39s. 6d. to 41s. 6d.; 1846, 49s. to 50s.

Forest lands are those usually planted in Ceylon, and the expense attendant on clearing and reclaiming them from a state of nature, and converting them into plantations, is estimated to average L8 per acre.  The lowest upset price of crown lands in the colony is L1 per acre.

Coffee planting has failed over a considerable portion of the southern province of the island, where the experiment was tried.  The temperature was found to be too equable, not descending sufficiently low at any time to invigorate the plant; which, though growing luxuriantly at first, soon became weak and delicate.  Nurseries are established for young plants.  The districts in which the coffee is principally cultivated, extend over nearly the whole of the hilly region, which is the medium and connecting link between the mountainous zone and the level districts of the coast.