jAStriRi I, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



519 



would be some check on grub — perhaiw tend to send the 

 bettles elsewhere— is not impossible; and that apart from 

 any good results from it as regards leaf-disease it would 

 be, on good coffee, likely to add sniBcient crop_ to pay- 

 expenses, though the above outlay be doubled — in other 

 worils add about 1 cwt. per acre, I believe. Did it not 

 sound too sanguine a hope now-a-days, I should be in- 

 clined to add "and more!" Anyhow I think but few 

 practical jnen will be inclined to characterize it as a 

 vi! I sltiUmunt, to say that the soil is scarce in Ceylon 

 that would be injiued by any amount of lime, judiciou.sly 

 applied, they could for any purpose desire to ailord the 

 trees. QuicKLurE. 



— liOcal '* Times." 



LIBERIA COFFEE. 



The Netherland Consul at Monravia in Liberia in his 

 annual report, dated 16th February 1883, specially treats of 

 coffee-culture. His views are mainly the following: — The 

 coffee-crop has been very good, the export amounted to 

 about 5i)0,0(l0» Ih., 1(JO,000 of which to Netherland. Yet the 

 quantity exported is not so great, as, in view of the mild 

 weather and particularly appropriate soil, might reasonably 

 have been expected. This culture dates only from a decade 

 since, and though there be already some large plantations, 

 yet it is only practised as yet in smaller and recently 

 established places. 



There exists not in Liberia any bank-establishment which 

 might enable the plauters to take up money for extensions, 

 and for a more profitable method of culture. The simplest 

 way would be for the natives to plant coffee themselves, 

 but their manners are too unsettled and irregular to allow 

 of their doing more to the peaceful cultivation of the 

 ground, than what is needful for their own support. The 

 Liberian government lacks the necessary money to keep 

 up an effcient poUce among the various native tribes, who 

 are now in constant warfare, and thus allow the fields to 

 lie fallow. They likewise lack the means of awarding 

 great premiums to the best coffee-plauters among the natives, 

 as could formerly be done to the Liberians. The coast 

 tribes prefer roaming the sea, and those who dwell further 

 iidand, would have to return home to their own field-labom- 

 just at the time they were most wanted in the plantations. 

 For foreiguers it is exceedingly difficult to set an enterprise 

 on foot. The Liberians cede no land ui fee-simple to 

 whites, they at most lease it out for 40 years, liesides 

 this, the white man would soon suffer from the prevailing 

 agues, and so have to leave a great deal to the care of 

 a coloured manager. 



Formerly it was supposed that the Liberia coffee-tree, 

 which exceeds all other known sorts in size, was either 

 introduced from India, or centiu-ies ago by the Portuguese. 

 It is now generally held to be of native growth, on account 

 of its never attaining its original size when transplanted 

 elsewhere, and that it is never found in any other part 

 of Africa. It is foimd only between 4 ° to 7 ° North Lat. 

 and it grows spontaneously from the sea-coast to the 

 luxurious grassy plains of Abandingo-Land. 



Tile climate of Liberia seems unequalled for the culture 

 of coffee. The temperature varies in the shade from 74 

 to 80 ° Fahrenheit, but rises in the dry season from 90 ° 

 to far beyond 100 " ; the lowest point, 62 ° at sunri.se, was 

 observeil at Monravia in January, during the prevalence 

 of the harmattan-winds. The difference in the interior is 

 not so great, because the ground rises so rapidly ; 25 miles 

 from the coast the land is already 500 feet, and at a 

 distance of 198 miles a-s much as 2,200 feet above the 

 level of the sea. Yet the coffee is everywhere the same. 

 Even in a wild state, there are splendid trees from 10 to 12 

 inches in diameter; the cultivated plants are not much 

 smaller. For laying out a plantation, the best land would 

 be a wooded, rocky, hilly country, a few miles from the 

 sea-shore; there are fouud those loose loamy soils, with 

 a rocky ground and the manure of decayed leaves, which 

 are the most appropriate. The water absorbed by the porous 

 ground, keeps, even in the dry season, the coffee-tree fresh 

 and verdant. A sandy soil with a bottom of a few feet 

 of loam would also do very well. The lower grounds are 

 of easier tillage, and yield larger fruit and more plenti- 



» Less than 5,000 cwt. — Ed. 



f ul ■ crops, but the more elevated tracts yield by far the 

 best Qotfee and of the finest aroma. 



The fruit stript of their pulp are planted at 3 or 4 inches 

 from each other in rows, in the rainy season one foot, 

 in the dry seasou two feet deep. The annual or bi-annual 

 plants must be transplanted in May or June, in the begin- 

 ning of the rainy season. Only the roots of the very young 

 plants must be guarded against the sun. In planting out 

 the gardens, the plants must be set at mutual distances 

 of at least 12 feet, in paralled rows, at the commence- 

 ment of the rainy season, without the ground's being dug 

 or ploughed up, after the burning of the trees that had 

 stood there. Generally they are first topped when 5 ieet 

 high, and then new shoots are constantly plucked off, tUl 

 the new ones are set at intervals of about eighteen inches 

 from the old ones, by which sulBcient space is provided 

 for air and sun-shine. For manure fine clay from the hills 

 is preferred, but offal of cleared coffee, mixed with diuig 

 is also good. Guano may only be used now and then; if 

 used regularly the trees would grow too rauk and soon get 

 exhausted. On older soils, ashes mLxed mth a little lime 

 is also used. Of disease there are very few traces in the 

 Liberia coffee bean. Only occasionally are small yellow 

 spots seen on the leaves of some trees. The fear that 

 this would prove the so-much dreaded liemileia vastatri.v 

 of India has not been confirmed. The spots do not change 

 colour, nor does the tree suffer by it. Only in the neighbour- 

 hood of great forests they sometimes tmn black, and then 

 the fruit dries up before matm'ity on the tree, which how- 

 ev(!r does not suffer further damage. Only now and then 

 are the trees infested by the l;irv<e of a fly, or a kind of 

 winged beetle — the borer. This insect usually bores its way 

 into the stem, a few inches from the ground, making a 

 passage as if with a bore. The tree then soon begins to 

 pin(% and dies down to the spot where the larva fir.st 

 entered the tree. Sometimes the rind too is infected, while 

 now and then a branch, or one-half of the tree becomes 

 diseased. The tree will often pine away long before it 

 dies, and sometimes proper manuring and judicious nursing 

 will effect a complete cine. 



As no statistics are extant in Liberia, it is very difficult 

 to calculate the expenses of laying out a plantation there. 

 Immigrants from America receive 25 acres of land gratuitously 

 from the Government, while the inhabitants of the Kepublic 

 can buy land of Government at the low rate of I dollar 

 or 50 dollarcents per acre. To prepare the land, about 

 10 dollars per acre are required; wages for planting 6 doll., 

 labour 3 dollars. 



If the fields are well burnt out, then the weeding begins 

 only in the second year, at 5'.50 dollar per .acre, at least 

 by following the Liberia practise. If the planter has the 

 gi'ass and thistles removed immediately on appearing, he 

 will find the greater expense fully compensated for, by the 

 greater fruitfulness of the trees. The topping, generally 

 begun in the thh'd year, costs 1'5 per acre, and the pruning 

 the same. The mamure is not an article of commerce, so 

 cannot be evaluated. 



The costs of machinery, plant, etc., vary, of course, 

 according to the views of the owner and the extent of 

 the estate. The gathering costs fully 1 or I'S Amer. cent 

 per lb. On account of the imperfect manner of working, 

 and the primitive tools or instruments, the charges of 

 cleaning are as much. Little is known tor certain about 

 the produce of one tree. One between .'> and 12 years old, 

 will yield, it is said, 3 pd. on an average; but others pretend 

 5 pd", while from one old tree as nuich as 38 pd. were 

 brought clean to market. It is thought that, if every 

 thing is well attended to, the average yield would be 1,500 

 pd. per acre. A planter of Ceylon affirms that the Liber- 

 ian tree, with careful treatment, would yield ten times 

 more than the Ceylon ti-ee. However, it blows not till 

 the third year, and in the fourth, only a few ripe fruit 

 I are gathered. — India Mercvrij. 



NEW AND OLD PEODUCTS IN TRINIDAD. 



(From a Kejm-t In/ Mr. ff. Prestoe, Cuivernmoit Bntamst.) 

 LiTCHEKS (^'^epllelium Litchee).— In the Philippines and 

 Mauritius, where this neat yet handsome fruit tree is largely 

 grown, the fruit is esteemed as one of the most deUcious 

 in the dried as well as in the fresh state, and the fruit 

 grown in the Gardens here is ijronounced by persons who 



