had appeared in 1869; and by 1887, the
coffee tree had practically disappeared from Ceylon. Ceylon's day in
coffee was a cycle of fifty-odd years.

[Illustration: ROBUSTA COFFEE GROWING ON THE SUZANNAH ESTATE,
COCHIN-CHINA]

FRENCH INDO-CHINA. Coffee culture in French Indo-China is a
comparatively small factor in international trade, although production
is on the increase, particularly from those plantations planted to
_robusta_, _liberica_, and _excelsa_ varieties. The average annual
export for the five-year period ended with 1918 was 516,978 pounds,
nearly all of it going to France.

The first experiments with coffee growing were begun in 1887, near Hanoi
in Tonkin. The seeds were of the _arabica_ variety, brought from
Reunion, and the production from the first years was distributed
throughout the country to foster the industry. Eventually _arabica_ was
found unsuitable to the soil and climate, and experiments were begun
with _robusta_ and other hardier types.

A survey of the industry of the country in 1916 showed that the plant
was being successfully grown in the provinces of Tonkin, Anam, and
Cochin-China, and that altogether there were about 1,000,000 trees in
bearing. The plantations are mostly in the foot-hills of the mountain
ranges or on the slopes, although a few are located near the coast line
at 1,000 feet, or even less, above sea-level.

The larger and more successful plantations follow advanced methods of
planting and cultivating, while the government maintains experimental
stations for the purpose of fostering the industry. It is believed that
French Indo-China in coming years will assume an important position in
the coffee trade of the world, particularly as a source of supply for
France.

FEDERATED MALAY STATES, INCLUDING STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. Rubber has been
the chief cause of the decline of coffee industry in the Federated Malay
States. Since the closing years of the nineteenth century coffee has
been steadily on the downward path in acreage and production, with the
possible exception of parts of Straits Settlements, which in 1918
exported, mostly to England, some 3,500,000 pounds of good grade coffee.
The other sections of the federation shipped less than 1,000,000 pounds.

In the early days, planters of the Malay Peninsula knew little about
proper methods of cultivating, and depended mostly upon what they
learned of the practises in Ceylon, which, unfortunately for them, were
not at all sui