tions were once more allowed to
fall into neglect. From this it is pretty evident that the enterprise,
in the face of the then market prices and the artificially high rates
of freight, did not afford a sufficient profit.

[Exports.] In 1856 the exports of coffee were not more than seven
thousand piculs; in 1865 they had increased to thirty-seven thousand,
five hundred and eighty-eight; and in 1871, to fifty-three thousand,
three hundred and seventy. This increase, however, affords no criterion
by which to estimate the increase in the number of plantations,
for these make no returns for the first few years after being laid
out. In short, larger exports may be confidently expected. But even
greatly increased exports could not be taken as correct measures
of the colony's resources. Not till European capital calls large
plantations into existence in the most suitable localities will the
Philippines obtain their proper rank in the coffee-producing districts
of the world.

[Highest grades.] The best coffee comes from the provinces of
Laguna, Batangas and Cavite; the worst from Mindanao. The latter,
in consequence of careless treatment, is very impure, and generally
contains a quantity of bad beans. The coffee beans of Mindanao are
of a yellowish-white color and flabby; those of Laguna are smaller,
but much firmer in texture.

[French preference.] Manila coffee is very highly esteemed by
connoisseurs, and is very expensive, though it is by no means so
nice looking as that of Ceylon and other more carefully prepared
kinds. It is a remarkable fact that in 1865 France, which imported
only $21,000 worth of hemp from the Philippines, imported more than
$200,000 worth of Manila coffee, a third of the entire coffee produce
of the Islands. [82] Manila coffee is not much prized in London,
and does not fetch much more than good Ceylon ($15 per cwt.). [83]
This, however, is no reproach to the coffee, as every one acquainted
with an Englishman's appreciation of coffee will allow.

[Prices.] California, an excellent customer, always ready to give
a fair price for a good article, will in time become one of its
principal consumers. [84] In 1868, coffee in Manila itself cost
an average of $16 per picul. [85] In Java, the authorities pay the
natives, who are compelled to cultivate it, about $3.66 per picul.

[Philippine exports.] Although the amount of coffee exported from the
Philippines is trifling in comparison with the producing powe