As soon as the nations of Europe began the use of coffee a great stimulus was exerted upon the cultivation of the tree. The countries which possessed the tree became jealous of its privilege, and, in Arabia, the penalty of death was threatened against anyone who would permit the exportation of a single coffee shrub to a foreign country. The only place where European vessels were permitted to secure Arabia coffee for transportation was at the Port of Mocha, and this is the reason that "Mocha" is a representative term for Arabian coffees. As is well known, no coffee trees grow in the vicinity of Mocha, and hence the merchants who produced the coffee berry had no opportunity to get hold of the coffee trees for the purpose of transporting them to other countries where the climate and soil were suitable for their growth.

from which sprang the greatest marine insurance corporation in the world, and that Mr. Edward Lloyd, owner of the coffee house, was the founder and name-giving god-father of Lloyd's."

In Drake's "History of Boston" mention is made of the "London Coffee House" which existed there in 1689. In the "Annals of Philadelphia" Watson mentioned a coffee house in the neighborhood of Front and Walnut Streets, at which a Common Council of the city was held in 1704. A coffee house was founded in New York probably about the same date. In 1729 the New York Gazette contained its first reference to a coffee house, and in 1730 advertised a sale of land by public auction at the Exchange Coffee House, which was situated at the foot of Broad Street.

Derivation of the Term "Cojfee." - It is, perhaps, not generally known that the word "coffee" is of Abyssinian origin. Its name is said to be derived from the city of Kaffa, near which tradition places the origin of the coffee tree.1 It is stated on the contrary by Macfarlane2 that "coffee" is derived from the Arabic word "Kahwah," meaning wine, and that it was the name given by the Arabians to the decoction obtained from the pulp of the coffee berries. The botanical name Coffea arabica - indicates an Arabian origin.

The coffee tree on the American continent, where it grows over wide areas from Mexico southward to the southern limit of toleration, is described as a shrub rather than a tree, growing to a height of from 14 to 18 feet. It has a rather long and slender trunk, without branches except near the top. The roots of the plant are thin and very numerous; they grow deeply into the earth, and there is usually one central root, a counterpart of the stem-of the tree, winning straight down, if not interfered with by obstructions. If the soil be poor on which the coffee tree is-cultivated, it does not reach the dimensions above stated. According to the richness of the soil it is pruned so as to vary from 6 feet in height in poor soil, to 8 or 10 feet in soil of better quality. One of the objects of thus preventing the growth of the tree to the extreme height, is to facilitate the cultivating of the tree and the harvesting of the berries.

The leaves, when they first grow, are a bright green color, turning, however, to a deeper shade of the olive tint at full maturity. In the spring, in the axilla of each leaf of the growing tree appear a number of buds, from 12 to 16 in number, which, when in bloom, have an exquisite perfume. The bloom of the tree is evanescent, and after even a few days the petals begin to fall and the glory of the floral display is at an end. It is not until the leaves fall that the coffee berries; that is, the seeds of the tree, begin to assume their full significance. The seeds at first on the tree are yellow, and they begin to redden as they develop into the genuine coffee berries. The bean of the coffee seed varies greatly in shape and size, according to the variety of the coffee and the country in which it grows. The size and shape of the seeds are relied upon by experts, to a large extent, in determining the origin of the coffee and even the country in which it is produced. There are two seeds in each berry, lying side by side. Each of the seeds is covered by a delicate silver-colored skin; next to that is a tougher membrane of somewhat rougher constitution, and afterward, the pulp of the seed, which contains some saccharin substance of a mucilaginous nature, a material which is well suited to fermentation.

1 Bulletin of the International Bureau of the American Republics. 2 Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, January, 1910.