Vol. X. No. 235. 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



133 



branches. It is pointed out that a .similar method of plant- 

 ing could not be employed successfully with any other species 

 of coffee. 



PL.\NTlNi; OUT. If seedlings are to be employed, these 

 should be planted out, in the ordinary way, with a ball of 

 soil adhering to the roots; with stumps, this is not the case, 

 all that is required being to cut the ta)) root back a little, 

 while the lateral roots are untouched. The distance for 

 planting depends upon that between the Para rubber plants. 

 As a basis, 6 feet may be taken as the least distance between 

 the coffee plants, and 7 feet between the rubber and the 

 coffee. If the rubber trees are planted in lines well apart, it 

 is best not to plant coffee in the rows, because this would 

 prevent the rubber from being .seen as a whole, and to plant 

 the rows of rubber from east to west, in order to ensure the 

 largest supply of light to the coffee between the rows. 



TOPPINi;, I'HUNINCi AND CARE OF A YOUNG PLANTATION. 



Kobusta coffee possesses a strong tendency to form solely 

 primary branches, during early growth, so that it is neces- 

 sary to top the trees in order to prevent their growing too tall; 

 if the top is removed, the principal branches form secondary 

 branches which are not inferior to the former from the point 

 of view of production. Another method for encouraging the 

 growth of secondary branches is to expose the young plant 

 to direct light. Very little difference in yield has been found 

 from topped and untopped plants. The sole disadvantage of 

 topping is the formation of suckers at the top of the trunk; 

 these should be removed regularly, and this includes all the 

 pruning that is required, except in the case of old trees that 

 have produced suckers near the base on account of injury. 

 The care of a plantation of Coffta robustais certainly less expen- 

 sive than that of one containing Liberian coffee; epiphytes 

 do not grow upon it, and it shades the ground completely; 

 in fact, the expenses of its cultivation are less than those 

 entailed in the clean weeding of a rubber plantation. If 

 weeds happen to become abundant, the coffee does not die, 

 but ceases to produce fruit, and is capable of recovering in 

 a few months. When they are one and a half years old, the 

 trees may be topped at a height of 8 feet, and after they have 

 been topped they reach their full develojiment in three years. 



TIME OF FLOWERING AND YIELD. The first flowering 

 takes place a year after planting, though cases are known in 

 Sumatra when the period has been eight months; in the lat- 

 ter case, sterile flowers were formed after seven month.';, and 

 the normal flowers appeared a month later. After flower- 

 ing, the time for the formation of ripe fruits may be taken 

 as nine months; thus trees of the latter kind would yield 

 a harvest in two years. The plant flowers during the whole 

 of the year, resembling Coffea lUierlca; nevertheless, the 

 climate has some effect on production, and the crop is increas- 

 ed in amount during the dry sea.son; the berries remain on 

 the branches for about a month, so that a monthly picking is 

 necessary. 



Examples are given of the yields on plantations. In 

 one case where the plants were placed at the corners of 

 a 12-foot .square with another plant in the centre, the yields 

 per acre at the different ages of the plants were as follows : 

 two years, r5cwt ; three years, hb cwt.; four years, 17 cwt.; 

 five years, 15 cwt.; six years, 21 to 24 cwt. In another 

 ca.se, the plants were at 10 x 10 feet, with a nutmeg tree 

 in the place of every ninth coft'ee plant, when the yields 

 were, similarly, as follows: two years, 15 cwt.; three years, 

 1 cwt.; four years, 17 cwt.; five' years, 17 cwt. Other 

 examples of yields are presented, and the following course 

 of a plantation of Itobusta coffee with rubber is given as 

 satisfactory under the conditions mentioned. The flowers 

 should appear in the first year after planting. In the next, 



a small crop of about 1 to 2 cwt. should be obtained, and 

 this should increase to 14 cwt. per acre in the third year, 

 with the same production in the fourth year. In the fifth 

 year, the shade of the rubber trees would become too thick, 

 and only the trees in the middle of the rows would give 

 a crop; this would be about 7 cwt. per acre. In five years the 

 coffee plants should be removed, as the shade of the rubber 

 trees would by now make their yield unsatisfactory. These 

 figures apply only to conditions where the rubber trees are 

 planted at a suitable distance from the coflfee, namely, at 

 least 7 feet, and where the conditions of soil and climate are 

 favourable to intercalary cultivation. 



PREPARATION FOE .MARKET AND QUALITY OF THE PKODUCT. 



The berries are smaller than those of Liberian coflfee, and are 

 borne in thick bunches, so that picking is facilitated and 

 hastened. The fruit covering is thin, and there is another 

 advantage in that the skin is easily removed. The seeds are 

 fermented for thirty-six hours, and then washed and dried; 

 for the last-named purpose they should be exposed immedi- 

 ately to a temperature of about 60° C. The quality of well 

 prepared Robusta coffee is about equal to that of Arabian 

 coffee of middling quality; the seeds are slightly different in 

 shape, being larger and more convex than those of Arabian 

 coffee. The bulk is about the same, and Robusta coffee 

 possesses a bluish green colour similar to that of good Arabian. 

 The market price is about 10 per cent, below that of .Java 

 and Liberian coffee, but there is ample compensation for this 

 disadvantage in the difference of expense in production. 



In relation to the cost of establishment of a plantation, 

 it must be remembered that the driers and buildings 

 required for the coffee will be of use later in connexion 

 with rubber production. Final matters of interest in the 

 present relation are that Robusta coffee is ranked by brokers 

 with good Java coffee, and abo\e Santos; for its proper 

 preparation the seeds should be well roasted — a process to 

 which they lend themselves well, and under which they lose 

 less weight than those of other kinds of coffee. 



INSECTS AND DISEASES. The Only insect dangerous to 

 Coffea ro'iusfa that has been noticed so far is Xylehorus 

 coffeae, Wurth, which bores holes in the branches; the 

 damage from this is lessened by topping the tree and 

 encouraging the formation of secondary branches. The most 

 serious disease is cau.sed by Corticium javanicum (see Ac/ri- 

 ndtural News, Vol. IX, pp. 286, 318, 334, 383 and 414). 

 In the treatment for this, it is advised that the trees 

 be cut down, and the sucker which arises be topped 

 and allowed to take the place of the old plant. Frequent 

 and thorough examinations should be conducted for the 

 detection of Corticium. Lastly, Cofea robusta is only 

 slightly attacked by Hemeleia vastatrix, and the root disease 

 which is so serious in regard to Para rubber is never found 

 on the living roots of the coffee, so that there appears to be 

 no fear of an increase in the amount of this disease in Para 

 rubber through the intercalary cultivation of Coffea robusta. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture left 

 Barbadds on Ttiesday, April 18, by the S.S. 'Oruro', for 

 St. Vincent, for the purpose of conferring with His 

 Honour the Administrator on general agricultural 

 matters. Dr. Watts was accompanierl by Mr. F. W. 

 South, B.A., Mycologist on the StafFof the Department, 

 who will conduct investigations in connexion with 

 diseases of cacao and other crops, in St. Vincent. 



