132 



THE AG :i< DLTUKAL NEWS. 



A run. -J4, 1915. 



FRUIT AND FRUIT PRODUCTS. 



THE CULTIVATION OF COFFEE. 



A useful Bulletin ol some d by 



Mr. It. D. Anstead, M.A., (formerly Superintendent oi 

 Agriculture, Grenada,) has been published by the Departm 



Agriculture, Mysore State, Southern [ndia, dealing in 

 a simple but very comprehensive and practical manner with 

 offee in that part of tin- world. 



The first chapter in the bulletin deal illy with 



■ plant. After describing the func- 

 tions 'it' the differ i it is stated, in connexion with 

 pollination and the keeping oi bees, that the presence "i 

 these insects is not essential iiccessful pollination of 

 ut the natural, and therefore most desirable form oi 

 pollination is achieved by the aid of flowei visiting insects, of 

 which bees nost important, 



The first matter to be considered in thi establishment 



of a coffi i ' he select i seed and the preparat 



of nurseries. Emphasis is placed upon the importance of 



cting only the best, full, perfectly shaped beans for 



sowing, and upon tli" selection "!' new md fertile ground 



for the nursery beds, in which care should be taken not to 



sow the seed 1 :lose together. The land selected for the 



establishment of the coffee trees should be a rich sandy loam 



< taining an abundance o( humus with a well-drained 



gravelly subsoil. If clay soils are used, they must be fre 

 montly limed, [nstructions are given in the bulletin under 

 review for the transplanting ol eedlings. Holes 

 about 5 feet by 6 fee md about :; feet deep. The 



bott if the holes should be broken up so that the young 



tap root of the nursery plant can easily penetrate the soil. 

 When the planting season arrives with the rain, tin' plants 

 are carefully lifted from the nursery beds, cachwitha ball 

 of earth round its roots, and planted one in each pit, care 

 being taken to till the pit with the top soil, and to press the 

 plant firmly into its place without ramming the soil 

 tightly. 



Under favo conditions a coffee plant will live 

 from thirty-five to sixty years, but many trees on every 

 ire exhausted in ten or twelve years by unskilful 

 treatment or the attacks oi borer oi leaf disease. Conse- 

 quently arrang nts must be made to have a constant 



cession oi young plants coming on in the nursery to 

 replace those which have to be taken out. 



In the chapter dealing with 1 hi- cultivation and prepara- 

 tion of the soil, it is observed that coffee is largely a surface 

 rooting and surface feeding plant, so that the utmost care 

 must be taken about cultivation, and fully grown coffee should 

 not be dug deeply at all if it can possibly be avoided, \iter 

 describing the methods "i clearing land- for coffee, the in 

 culture "I the crop i> considered and the importance "I' 

 a light surface cultivation amongst established coffee 

 emphasized. 



An interesting section in the present ohaptei is that - 

 ing with the renovation "I old coffee. Briefly this "insists in 

 sawing the trees off at the ground level immediately after 

 thi 5 have borne a heavy crop. All the shade trees are felled 



and' the land turned up in big clods. The light br :hes of 



the coffee and shade trees and all the litter then spread 



over the field and the whole given a quick burn. The soil is 

 again forked and an application of aboul a ton pet acre ol 

 good slaked lime is then worked into the top soil. Erythrina 

 and new shade is then planted. The coffee stumps sucker, 

 and each is allowed to grow the two iota 



tin-own out. Alter two.years the suckers are reduced 



and in three or torn yea a coi plete new mot system has 



formed and a new 'healthy tree produced. The results 

 of the above treatment have been most successful and have 

 repaid the cost, w hich i- i ble. 



After calling attention to the necessity for draii 

 siderati en to the question of shade. It is 



that in South India ary to grow coffee under shade. 



Probal [y I i -t all round shad in Southern I 



the silver oak (Grevillen robusta), which possesses nearly all 



I points requited for a shade trei amongst coffee; 



namely, growth not toolai spread oi branches, 



tion of leaves in the hoi weather, I system not toi u 



nil, and lastly, immunity from the a 

 r fungoid pests which attack coffee. In the rse 

 of the developments of the estati the shade tree- have to he 



ited, md detailed instructions are given as regards 

 carry ing I his into effect, 



The next two subjects dealt with are pruning and .reed- 

 ing. It th (tee plant is left al -. it forms a tall bush 



with a numbei oi long, upright primary branches on 

 the berries are chiefly borne, fn this form it is easily i 

 by the wind, and the crop i j to gather without 



ing the branches. For this reason the young trees are usually 

 topped by cutting otfthe leading shoot with a sharp knife 

 when they are about 5 feel high. A common sysl i 

 pruning is to take off the alternate secondary brand 

 allow for the extension of the tertiary branches on which the 



berries are chiefly borne. Sometimes this is ac ipanii d 



the development of a mass of suckers; th be removed, 



and the pr ssisknownas 'handling' the trees. The worst 



weed on the South Indian coffee estate is grass. A coi 

 war should be wi linsl grassand it should be remem- 



bered that the first principle in destroying this or any 



- I" attack it beforeil has tune to ripen seeds. \\ 



vegetati E this kind growing in the soil is i 



harmful, i mulch oi leaves derived from weeds or 

 is very beneficial. The reasons for the good 

 of mulches is now well known to planters, and it n 

 pointed out that this method of soil improvement and 

 manuring is becoming widely recognized all over the 

 in regard to nearly every orchard cultivation. 



One of the last chapters, and by far the longest, is 

 ig with the manuring of coffee. Prom the information 

 already presented in this abstract it will have i 



realized that the previous sections dealing with cultivation 

 contain much sound, practical knowledge bearing directly 

 upon the successful production of the crop in question. The 

 chapter on manuring, though interesting and enligh 

 cannot be commented on in the same way. li explains the 



1 principles of plant nutrition, the p 



of manurial substances, and iini-~ some attention to the 

 valuation of manure-, whilst a note on the mixing ol fertilizers 



is appended. Bill a -earch through this inlorinati- 



references to cott'ee rather disappointing; it i- no 

 however, that thi general practice m applying manures in 

 Southern India i- based upon their appli 

 with the occurrence of the monsoon. It seems that p 

 should be applied before the monsoon, and phosphoric acid 



halt before and hall' alter the i *- i, the after mo 



application to be in an available form such assuperphos 

 The nitrogen should l.e applied after the monsoon in an 

 available form. Attention is called to the cheap and valuable 

 nature ol waste materials on the coffee estate for manurial 

 oses It is urged that coffee i- benefited by tin- culti- 

 vation oi suitable leguminous covei crops provided the -"il 

 is first got tie.- from weeds. 



