A practical essay on the culture and preparation of coffee for market in the various producing countries of the world, brought down to the present time, has long been wanted, especially as the sources of supply have changed so much of late years. Porter’s “Tropical Agriculturist” has long been out of print, and my own work on “The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom” is too expensive and too diffuse for ordinary reference. The present hand-book deals with the subject in a popular form, but, at the same time, supplies correct information on most points, combined with the fullest descriptive and statistical details respecting every coffee-producing country. For much of the information relating to coffee cultivation in Ceylon, I am indebted to a small treatise by Mr. G. C. Lewis, privately published in that island. For the views of buildings and scenery, I am under obligations to Sir Emerson Tennent and Messrs. Worms, who kindly lent me original drawings and photographs—whilst the microscopic representations of pure and adulterated coffee and chicory are copied, by permission, from Dr. Hassall’s elaborate work on “Food and its Adulterations.” Trusting that this little work may be found useful and interesting to a large class, I send it forth as the pioneer of other hand-books on the great staples of commerce.

P. L. S.

8, Winchester-street, S.W.,
July, 1864.