February i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



f'T^ 



To the Editor of the Tropical Agriculturist. 

 EXPERIENCE IN SOUTH COORG AS TO WEED- 

 ING, SHADING, PRUNING, MANURING, 

 DIGGING, COFFlOE &c. 



South Coorg, 15th Dec. 18S2. 



Dear Sir, — Mr. Halliley's letters in the Tropical 

 Atjricu/lurist for Deo. are of great interest to planters, 

 and give rise to many questions well worth oonsideriag. 

 His statement that "wei'ls do not exhiust the soil," 

 is, I fear, a mislenling one, and not intended to be 

 taken literally. What Mr. Ualliley means is, I thiulv, 

 that, wlieu estates have bscom; wejdy, instead of re- 

 moving the weeds from the fii'ld, we should bury 

 them in order to return to the soil at least some 

 elements which they have extracted. And it is the 

 very fact of having to open up the soil in order to 

 bury weeds that really does so much good. A carpet 

 of wijeds, provided the weeds are not high enough 

 to affi3Ct the lower primaries, will do no harm if the 

 soil has been previously loosened by a deep digging ; 

 but I have seen tiBlds of cotfee with most Inxuriaot 

 "carpets" of weeds, and yet the soil beneath has 

 been as hard and as dry as on fields without a weed, 

 the sole cause being want of digging. Surely no one 

 would advise this growing of weedj on a young clear- 

 ing, unless it were weeds of a larger description 

 (which can be easily eradicated), and which have 

 been left for the sike of protecting young plants 

 during a "break" in the monsoan. and then only 

 when the " brf ak " is an abnormally long one, and 

 the plants put in late during the rain. But very 

 few planters would cars even to do this, although I 

 think it has its advantages. As I observed in a 

 former lettei, where labour is abundmt there is no 

 reason why weeds should be tolerated in a clearing. 

 as for the first three ye»rs there is nothing to do 

 except weed and dig, in South Coorg of course due 

 attention being paid to shade. At the end of three 

 years, coffee planted 5x5, with the help of shade 

 trees, should pretty well cover the ground, and this 

 cover increasing in density every ye.ar soon checks 

 the growth of weed^, so that four weedings a year 

 would be araplf. Of course there are bare patches in 

 the various fi'^lds owing to vacancies, and here of 

 course weeds abound. On well-shaded estates weeds 

 are few and far between and have a very sickly ap- 

 pearance, and on these estates a monthly weeding is 

 simply waste of money, the growth of weeds during 

 the hot season being almost "nil" Wh'.n "borer" 

 became so disastrous that trees went down by rows 

 like ninepins, then the soil was thrown open to the 

 li.'ht again, and weeds abounded. To handweed was 

 impossible, and digging and burning found more pro- 

 fitable. Because an estate had a name for "cleanli- 

 ness,'' i. e. freedom from weeds, it was thought necess- 

 ary to keep up its reputation, to have a monthly 

 weeding when a wieding every second month would 

 would have been quite sufficient, and would cost no 

 more. If it is simply a matter of "ranking work" 

 for snperubundant libour, and in some cases it is, 

 that is another matter altogether. I look upon it from 

 an economic'd view, and say hat tthe labour would 

 be more profitably employed on other works, not- 

 ably on manuring, such as collection of ravine soil 

 etc. etc. for compost. I am no lover of weeds (bar 

 the fragrant weed), and to me a dirty estate is a 

 painful sight, but where you have weeds in abund- 

 ance to contend with, let them have their fair share 

 of labour and no more. Let them have a decent — i. e.. 



deep — burial, but by no means remove them from their 

 loved abode, and we have the consolation of know- 

 ing that, in exchange for property borrower! from the 

 soil during their life-time they will leave it a l<"gaoy 

 the value of which I will leave it for Mr. Harm m 

 to determine. Too much time devoted to weeding 

 "dirty" estates means, as a rule, neglect of equally 

 imporiant works; and, as a rule, dirty estates in .S. 

 Coorg that get a very few weedings look as well as 

 "clean" estates. And this has evidently led plant ts 

 in Coorg, Wynaad and other places to say tlmt weeds 

 if buried do no harm. I have had to deal with v ry 

 dirty estates, but the appearance of the o iffee has 

 always been good. And my opinion is (worthless, 

 many may say with perfect justness) that the great 

 secret is the constant opening of the s ul, as the 

 coffee gets the full benefit of the bloesiming showers 

 as well a» the monsoon. 



Do-'S Mr. Harman rank grasses under the name of 

 weeds? There are certain grasses, nntably creeping 

 grasses such as "girkee," which I never bury but up- 

 root and throw ou the roads or in deep manure pit-i. 

 I found burying useless, as it did not kill it, but 

 C-iused it to increase in growth. If Mr. Halliley re- 

 quires H good luxuriant "carpet," and one warranted 

 to spread rapidly, I should recommend " girkee." (It 

 is a particularly fine feed for horses, especially in dry 

 weather, as the roots are so succulent.) Many other 

 grasses die out after burjiug and do not reappear. 



1 noticed one peculiarity in weeding and burying 

 heavy weeds mixed with grass, viz., that between the 

 weeclings, provided the interval was not too long, the 

 crops of grass and goat-weed alternated, but were 

 very rarely mixed. I presume the seed of are germ- 

 inates quicken than that of the other. Grass is, of 

 course, very diflScult to get rid of. 



I have no doubt all the queries in "A Travancore 

 Planter" 's letter to the Madras Mail (T. A. p. 49) 

 have long ago beeu answered. But should the follow- 

 ing be any good to him from "quite a young thing" 

 in coS'^e planting experience, he is most welcome to it. 

 There may be just a grain of reason in them. 



I. Weed most decidedly during the monsoon, and, if 

 your land be steep, grass-knife low instead of hand- 

 weeding, making pits to bury weeds. A short cover- 

 ing of weeds on steep land saves your soil from a 

 great deal of wash. 



II. Erulicute creeping grasses. 



III. On steep land digging during monsoon is, I 

 thiuk, a mistake. Better dig toward? the end of the 

 monsoon to a depth of 9 in. to a foot. The soil 

 should be well turned over and all weeds buried. If 

 your laud is flat begin early in the monsoon. A dry- 

 weather digging has the advantage of opening out 

 the soil for the blossom showers, but I should only 

 recommend this on shaded estates, as the opening of 

 the soil may admit too much heat to the roots of 

 the trees, especially young trees. (This is a mere 

 conjecture and is open to correction.) Loosen the 

 soil round the tree, but not so as to injure the roots. 

 The cutting of small rootlets about H ft. from the 

 trees seems to do no harm. 



IV. Ou a fairly clean estate a man can dig 70 

 trees 5i x 5J. If you do a second digging the same 

 season and before the ground is bard, a man can dig 

 100 trees as a day's task. If the work is new to your 

 coolies they may not do so large a task the first 

 season. 



V. A 7 lb. or 8 lb. mamotie is the best digger. 



VI. This is a poser anrl requires a deal of 

 consideration. Until it has been proved that weeds 

 when buried put more into the soil than they extract, 

 why cultivate weeds if your place is clean. If 

 your place is clean then a weeding over every 



2 months might be found enough. If you 

 weed every mouth put your weeds into the 



