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COFFEE REPUBLIC

420

COLBORNE

COFFEE-PLANT

It is extensively grown ii* Brazil and other northern states of the South American continent, as also in Mexico, Central America, Haiti, San Domingo and the East Indies. In a wild state it is a slender tree from 15 tc 25 feet in height. When grown in plantations, it is not allowed to become more than six to ten feet high, with many branches. The fruit is dark scarlet when ripe, with two cells, having one seed each. The leaves are evergreen, and the flowers white. The coffee-tree thrives best in warm, moist lands; though it grows at Quito, Peru, at an altitude of 1,000 feet, where there never is any frost. The tree yields its first crop in the third year; from a full-grown tree, its yield may amount to a* pound of 1 coffee-beans. Three * gatherings are made in >the year, when this process takes place: The beans are placed on a mat to dry by the sun's rays; the pulp and skin are taken off by rollers; and the coffee is cleaned by winnowing. The main difference in price and quality of the product is due to care bestowed in preparing it in different places. The chief kinds are Mocha, a small, grayish-green bean; Java, a large, yellow bean; Jamaica, smaller and greenish; Kio, pale-yellow and whitish. Rio and Maracaibo are the cheaper, and Java, Mocha and Sunda are the more expensive brands. Coffee allays hunger, exhilarates and refreshes. According to some authorities it also lessens the amount of wear and tear of tissue in the waste in the animal frame which is going on every moment. The consumption "of coffee in the United States in 1910 was 873,983,689 pounds, an average of 9.33 pounds per capita, and the average import-price per pound was 7.9 cents. More than half the world's coffee is produced in Brazil.

Coffee Republic. See COSTA RICA. Coffer-Dam is a temporary dam built around a place to be excavated for a foundation, so that the water can be kept pumped put. It is commonly constructed by driving piles about the given area and using sheathing of various kinds to make a watertight wall. Coffer-dams are not ordinarily used in water over 25 feet deep. For deeper water caissons are used. See CAISSON.

Cohoes (ko-hdz'}, a flourishing, manufacturing city in New York state, on the Hudson, at the mouth of the Mohawk, and also on the Erie Canal. It has six large cotton-mills, and some 30 knitting-mills with a number of other factories. Population,

24,709-

Coin and Coinage. See MINT.

Coke, a fuel got by heating coal in confined places. This is done sometimes in heaps, just as charcoal is made from wood, but oftener in ovens. It is also made when coal-gas is manufactured, being left after the gas is driven off. Coke is a hard, brittle, porous solid, with a steel-gray glint, and it does not readily soil the hands when handled. It is mainly valued for the great heat it gives off and its freedom from smoke when burning. Moreover, it does not become pasty in the fire while some of the sulphur of the coal is driven off; all these qualities make it very useful in smelting and refining metals. Coal yields about 70 per cent, of coke.

Colbert (kol'bar'), Jean Baptiste, one of the greatest of French statesmen, was born at Rheims, France, in 1619. In 1651 he entered the service of the great minister Mazarin. On his deathbed Mazarin warmly recommended Colbert to Louis XIV. "I owe you everything," said he, "but I pay my debt to your majesty by giving you Colbert." It was in 1661 that Colbert became chief minister to Louis XIV. He at once began to improve the ruinous condition of the finances. So thorough was the change which he brought about, that in ten years the yearly revenue (net) was 77,000,000 livres, when before it had been only 32,000,000 livres. But his reforms did not stop here. Farming, business, roads, canals and French colonies all felt his energetic hand. He found France with a few old rotten ships, and in a few years provided her with one of the strongest navies in the world. He also was a friend to all men of learning. In short, Colbert was the patron of industry, commerce, art, science and literature, the founder of a new epoch in France. His aim was to raise the power of France; but all he accomplished was undone by the wars of Louis and his spendthrift court. He died at Paris in 1683.

Col'borne, Sir John, born in England in 1788, was educated at Christ's Hospital (the Bluecoat School) and Winchester College. He entered the army in 1794 and saw active service in Egypt, Sicily, Portugal and elsewhere. In 1828 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Upper Canaoa (now Ontario). Greatly interested in education, he founded Upper Canada College which has for many years been one of the most important educational institutions in Canada. Owing to the agitation by William Lyon Mackenzie his term of office was one of stress and storm. He later became administrator of Lower Canada and suppressed the Papineau rebellion. He was subsequently made governor of the Ionian Islands, and later attained the highest military rank, that of Field-Marshal. As Lord Seaton he died in England in 1863.