October i, 18S2.} 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



327 



food. Besides, in digging trendies, there is danger of 

 cutting otf tlie spougioles, and tlius retarding tlie growth 

 of tlio tree. 



The coffee pulp, mixed with cattle dung, forms an ex- 

 cellent manure. Guano has been tried with beneficial effects, 

 but as it is very stimulating it should not be used too 

 frequently, and should be alternated with other mauittes. 

 Ashes, except on new soils, and occasioually a little lime, 

 are of ailvantage to the tree. The clay from the hills of 

 the Ttinnites^ or ** Bug-a-buys,^' especially ou very light soils, 

 is a good manure. (Jontaiuiug alumina, it prevents the too 

 rapid evaporation of moisture and dissipation of ammonia ; 

 and having been moistened with the fluid from the bodies 

 of the insects, it doubtless contains some uric acid, or 

 other nitrogenous compound. It is a fact that plants of 

 all kinds grow luxuriantly and produce abundantly when 

 planted at the base of these hills. 



But it is a mistake to stimulate the trees to heavy 

 bearing beyond their age. This sometimes kills the trees, 

 and when they do not die they are sickly, and require 

 a long hme to recover. 



There are two methods of hulling the coffee. One is 

 taking off the cherry hull when fresh from the tree, 

 drying the bean, and then denuding it of its parchment 

 hull. The other is drying the entire berry, and taking off 

 both hulls by one manipulation. The former method is 

 the more expeditious. By the latter there is an improve- 

 ment in the quaUty of the coffee, as the beans having 

 been thoroughly dried in both hulls, the peculiar aroma is 

 prevented from escaping. Some say there is also a gain 

 in the weight of the bean ; but the coffee is large and 

 tough, and cannot be hulled so rapidly as by the former 

 method. Besides, the two hulls, on drying, adhere together, 

 and are as hea^'y as the small grain, and it is lUfficult to 

 winnow them without a waste of the lighter grains of 

 coffee. Then there is to be taken into consideration the 

 long time the coffee requires for drying. 



DISEASES. 



The Liberia coffee tree is not subject to so many 

 diseases as is that of other countries. There are some- 

 times observable on the leaves of some trees small yellow 

 spots, which some Oeylon planters, and for a while, the 

 writer, supposed to be Hemileia vastatri:, that pestUence 

 so destructive to coffee plantations in the East Indies. 

 But these spots were found always of the same color, 

 and did not tuni black, nor did the leaves drop off, as 

 in the case of the above-named disease, and the trees 

 bore their usual quantity of fruit. Near the woods, where, 

 in other countries, this disease loves to lurk, a few trees 

 have been found «-ith black spots, and the green berries 

 dried up on the trees; but the trees appeared otherwise 

 flourishing. 



The borer only occasionally attacks the coffee tree in 

 Liberia. This is tile larva of a fly or winged beetle, now 

 identified as the .Yi/lotreclius rjiiadrnpes. It generally attacks 

 the tree some inches above the ground, and, boring a hole 

 as round as that made by a gimlet, it ascends. The tree 

 soon begins to droop, and finally dies, down to where the 

 borer entered. Sometimes the borer ascends from the 

 tap-root, in which case the entire tree dies. It usually 

 works upward; but the writer once detected six borers 

 starting from the same point, three them working upward 

 and three downward. 



There is a disease that affects the bark of the coffee 

 tree. Sometimes it attacks and destroys only a single 

 branch, at other times it destroys a half or the whole of 

 a tree. In any case, the diseased branch or tree is ckooping 

 a long time before it expires. Trees are known to droop 

 for more than a year before dying out. The sap-bark by 

 degrees becomes desiccated, and turns brown. Sometimes, 

 by digging and dunging with some stimulating manure, 

 where the cUsease has not made much progress, decay is 

 arrested, and the trees after a time resume their wonted 

 vigor. Ceylon planters say this disease is caused by grubs 

 attacking the roots of the trees. Some planters in Liberia 

 hold this opinion ; others do not. The disease does not 

 begin always at the root of the tree. Sometimes it appears 

 at the mode of a branch; at other times, midway be- 

 tween two pairs of branches ; then, again, it a.scends in a 

 long hue on one side of the tree, while the bark in all 

 other situatious is perfectly sound and healthy. 



In no case, however, where diseases similar to those in 



other countries attaak the Liberia coffee tree, *re theii ' 

 effects so general or so disastrous. 



COST or CULTIVATION. 



The questions which, in the present condition of the 

 coffee industry, are most difficult to be answered, owing 

 mainly to unsystematic and imperfect cultivation are 

 what is the cost? and what is the production per acre? 

 On these two points, however, approximate estimates mav 

 be made. "^ 



With regard to land, immigrants receive, free of cost 

 25 acres for each family, and 10 acres for each single 

 adult. Large quantities are given as bounty to sokhers 

 who serve in war. Government lands may be bought by 

 citizens for a small sum, the stai-ting price being gl an 

 acre for front, and 50 cents for rear, lands. 



The cost of clearing coffee land may be set down at 

 SIO au acre. Cost of plants per acre, if bought, $6; if 

 grown by the planter in his own nursery, they 'can' be 

 had for one-fourth that sum. But, in buying plants, there 

 is a saving in time of one year. Holing and planting an 

 acre will cost $3. Weeding, the first year, if the ground 

 is thoroughly cleared and burned at first, will bo only 

 half the cost of subsequent years. The cost of weeding 

 after the first year may be set down at ,|5.50 an acre, 

 when weeding is done after the Liberian method generally' 

 that is, two weedings a year. If the weeding is performed' 

 constantly by the hands going over the jilantation and 

 keeping the weeds down as fast as they appear, and be- 

 fore they get a start, the cost will be only a little more 

 while there is much gain in the thriftness of the tree.' 

 There will be no cost for topping or pruning the first 

 year. About the thu-d year after the trees are planted 

 there ivill be a cost of $1.60 an acre for topping and 

 handlmg; and, in subsequent years, the cost of pruning 

 81.50 an^ acre, must be added to this. If the soil be 

 very fertile, there will be no need of manure for several 

 years, until after the trees have borne one or two good 

 crops. If the land be sloping, and much subject to 

 "wash," there must be an additioual expense for surface 

 trenching, or terracing. 



There is no account, in the above estimates, of tools, 

 buddings, machinery, or superintendence. The cost of 

 these will depend on the taste and ability of the pro- 

 prietor. The cost will be always in inverse proportion to 

 the quantity of land cultivated. 



The cost of picking and preparing coffee for market 

 with the imperfect machinery at present employed, is 

 from 21 to 3 cents a pound— one-half of which is' for 

 picking. This is e.xpensive. Where, however, coffee is pro- 

 duced ou a large scale, and manipulated with improved 

 machinery, the cost of preparing for market is much less. 



PRODUCE FEB TREE AND PEE ACEE. 



Dift'erent estimates have been given of the produce of 

 the Liberia coffee tree. Some state that the trees, if 

 properly cultivated, ought to average three pounds when 

 ten or twelve years old. Others give a higher estimate. 

 The trees in Liberia, owing to lack of means to give 

 them that high cultivation which they require, do not 

 give on an average one-third of the quantity of coffee they 

 are capable of producing. The highest average ou any 

 farm has been one pound to the tree. But the trees 

 were of all ages from three years to thirteen. Averaging 

 the ages of the trees, tliis would be one pound to the 

 tree of eight years, while proper cultivatiou would have 

 given three pounds. Single trees at eight years have been 

 known to produce five pounds. Six bushels of beriies 

 (equivalent to tliirty-sLx pounds of dry, marketable coffee) 

 have been gathered from a single tree. But the tree 

 was old, well maumed, and no grass was allowed to grow. 

 The late Dutch consul informed the writer that he gathered' 

 as the produce of two seasons, 220 pounds of coffee from 

 eight trees gi-owiug in his yard at Sincu. These are old 

 trees. A Ceylon coffee planter of thirty years' experience 

 m coffee growing, estimates that the produce of an acre 

 of Liberia coffee woulil, under favorable circumstances, 

 equal that of ten acres of Ceylon coffee. 



Now, allowing for overestimates, as well as for small 

 returns from insufficient cultivation, the produce of au 

 acre of Liberia coffee trees ten years old, m'opcrli/ cultivated, 

 may safely be .set down at 1,500 pounds. Generally, the 

 smaller farms give a higher average than the larger ones; 



