Cultivation of the Coffee Plant [pp. 323-329]

I874.] CULTIVA4TION OF THE COFFEE PLANT.
out returning an equivalent, would be
arbitrary and despotic. Let those who
adduce the argument abide by its logical
results. Current history furnishes an
example of what is the public sense in
a parallel case. The Postmaster - General has on several occasions, in his
annual reports, urged the importance
of making the telegraph lines a part of
the postal system. The proposition
has met with so much favor that it has
been earnestly advocated in Congress,
and has received the approbation of a
respectable portion of the public press.
But we have not seen it seriously proposed in any quarter, and we are confident that it has not been proposed
in any respectable quarter, that Congress should assume arbitrary control
of the property of the telegraph companies, "take" it, and fix the price of transmitting messages, and thereby oust the
companies from the possession and con
5
trol of their own property, as is proposed in regard to the property of railroad
companies. Nor do we believe that the
sense of public justice, however desirable it may be to annex the telegraph to
the postal system, would sanction so
despotic a proceeding. The proposition always contemplates the exercise of
the right of eminent domain-"the right
to take the property of the citizen for
necessary public use at a fair valuation."
If the public "needs" the telegraph in
the one case and the railroads in the
other, the two cases are precisely parallel. And if the legislative power in
either case fixes the rates of service and
enforces those rates by the exercise of
governmental power, it thereby practically "takes" the property of the citizen; for we repeat that control is practical ownership-therefore, the "taking"
without returning a "fair valuation"
would be indefensible.
CULTIVATION OF THE COFFEE PLANT.
S attention has recently been called
through the medium of the press
to a so-called wild coffee shrub in California, and much speculation has arisen
therefrom, as to whether the plant might
not be profitably cultivated in certain
districts of our State, a brief description
of the manner in which this tree is cultivated in Central America may be interesting. A statement, too, of the conditions under which the plant flourishes
best in that country may, perhaps, afford the agricultural community of California an opportunity of judging whether
the experiment of its cultivation would
be likely to be attended with success or
not. Our agriculturists, being well acquainted with the character of their soil
and the degrees of its fertility in different localities, the peculiarities of the
seasons as regards their influence upon
vegetation, and the climatic effect upon
certain tropical or semi-tropical productions, that, from time to time, are being
successfully introduced, may, perhaps,
obtain thereby some information that
may aid them in pronouncing their verdict touching the "aye" or " no" of the
proposition.
Let us carefully consider the conditions under which the coffee-tree thrives
in Central America, thinking that the
consideration of the plant in that almost
neighboring country may be more practically useful than the consideration of
it in regions more remote, and, therefore, more distinctly differing from California, such as Jamaica, Ceylon, or Java.
There is a degree of similarity between
the coffee-producing portions of Costa
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