Jamaica.—­The coffee plant was first introduced into Jamaica by Sir Nicholas Lawes, in 1728, when it was cultivated on an estate called Temple Hall, in Liguanea, not far from Kingston.  In 1752 there were exported 60,000 lbs.; and in 1775, 44,000 lbs.  Until 1788 little attention was paid to this product.  In the four years ending 30th September, 1794, the average exportation of coffee was 1,603,000 lbs.; in 1804 it amounted to 22,000,000 lbs.; and during the three years ending 30th September, 1807, the average annual exportation was more than 28,500,000 lbs.; which, at L6 per cwt., its cost in Jamaica, produced more than L1,700,000.  It is calculated that L20,000,000 was invested in coffee estates.  The coffee plant thrives in almost every soil about the mountains of Jamaica, and in the very driest spots has frequently produced abundant crops.  In 1844 there were 671 coffee plantations in the island.  Coffee is grown in the vicinity of the Blue Mountain Peak at a height of 4,700 feet above the level of the sea, and some of the finest and most productive plantations are in this locality.  The branches of a coffee tree, on Radnor estate, covered, in 1851, a space of thirteen feet in diameter, and the tree was about thirteen years old.

In 1789 Hayti exported 77,000,000 lbs. of coffee, but in 1826 it had declined to 32,000,000 lbs., in 1837 it was 31,000,000 lbs., and the shipments of this staple are now very inconsiderable.

In the West Indies, I speak principally of Jamaica, where my experience extended, the soil best adapted for the cultivation of coffee is found to be loose gravelly or stony.  A rich black mould will produce a luxuriant bush, which will yield little fruit.  Decomposing sandstone, and slate, known in Jamaica as rotten rock, mixed with vegetable mould, is one of the most favorable soils.  The subsoil should be also carefully examined by a boring augur, for a stiff moist clay, or marly bottom retentive of moisture, is particularly injurious to the plant.  A dark, rusty-colored sand, or a ferruginous marl on a substratum of limestone, kills the tree in a few years.  In virgin lands, after the wood has been felled and cleared, the land is lined off into rows of from six to seven feet square, and at each square a hole is made about eighteen inches deep, into which the young plant is placed and the earth plied gently about it, leaving from six to eight inches of the plant above ground.

Nurseries for raising plants from seeds were formerly made, but for many years this has been neglected, and plantations are set out now from suckers which are drawn and trimmed of their roots, and cut about two feet long.

The young plants require to be kept well clear from weeds, and four cleanings in the year may be deemed necessary, the plants which have failed must be supplied in order to ensure uniformity of appearance.

All manure, whether fluid or solid, in warm climates should be applied in wet seasons, where it is not practicable to dig or turn it in to prevent the escape of its volatile and nutritive principles.