COFFEA ARABICA BERRIES GROWN IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS]

The last three types were received by Dr. Cramer at Bangelan from Frere
Gillet in the Belgian Congo, and were still under trial in Java in 1919.

_Coffea Robusta_

Emil Laurent, in 1898, discovered a species of coffee growing wild in
Congo. This was taken up by a horticultural firm of Brussels, and
cultivated for the market. This firm gave to the coffee the name _Coffea
robusta_, although it had already been given the name of the discoverer,
being known as _Coffea Laurentii_. The plant differs widely from both
_arabica_ and _liberica_, being considerably larger than either. The
tree is umbrella-shaped, due to the fact that its branches are very long
and bend toward the ground.

The leaves of _robusta_ are much thinner than those of _liberica_,
though not as thin as those of _arabica_. The tree, as a whole, is a
very hardy variety and even bears blossoms when it is less than a year
old. It blossoms throughout the entire year, the flowers having
six-parted corollas. The drupes are smaller than those of _liberica;_
but are much thinner skinned, so that the coffee bean is actually not
any smaller. The drupes mature in ten months. Although the plants bear
as early as the first year, the yield for the first two years is of no
account; but by the fourth year the crop is large.

[Illustration: ROBUSTA COFFEE IN FLOWER, PREANGER, JAVA]

[Illustration: COFFEE ESTATE IN THE LUQUILLO MOUNTAINS, PORTO RICO]

[Illustration: JAPANESE LABORERS PICKING COFFEE ON KONA SIDE, ISLAND OF
HAWAII]

[Illustration: COFFEE UNDER THE STARS AND STRIPES]

Arno Viehoever, pharmacognosist in charge of the pharmacognosy
laboratory of the Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of
Agriculture, has recently announced findings confirming Hartwich which
appear to permit of differentiation between _robusta, arabica_, and
_liberica_.[97] These are mainly the peculiar folding of the endosperm,
showing quite generally a distinct hook in the case of the _robusta_
coffee bean. The size of the embryo, and especially the relation of the
rootlet to hypercotyl, will be found useful in the differentiation of
the species _Coffea arabica, liberica_, and _robusta_ (see cut, page
142).

[Illustration: ONE-YEAR-OLD ROBUSTA ESTATE, ON SUMATRA'S WEST COAST]

Viehoever and Lepper carried on a series of cup tests of _robusta_, the
results as to taste and flavor being distinctly favorable. They
summari