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THE COMPOSITION OF THE COFFEE BERRY 

 AND ITS RELATION TO THE MANURING OF 

 A COFFEE ESTATE. 



By RUDOLPH D. ANSTEAD, M.A., 



Planting Expert, Agricultural Departtnent, Madras, and Scientific 

 Officer to the United Planters^ Association of Southern India. 



During the past five years I have been studying in Southern India 

 the manurial problem as it affects coffee from a chemical standpoint 

 with the object of trying to obtain some hint not only as to the best 

 proportions of plant food to give this crop, but also at what time of 

 year the plant food is best applied. 



The first step was to investigate the composition of the mulch 

 obtained from the shade trees and the coffee itself and to determine its 

 manurial value. The result of our experiments was to show that under 

 well-established mixed shade some four tons air-dry weight of mulch 

 is accumulated per acre each year, and that this mulch contained 

 108 lbs. of nitrogen, 223 lbs. of calcium oxide, 36 lbs. of phosphoric 

 anhydride, and 118 lbs. of potassic oxide per acre. From this it was 

 concluded that the amount and composition of the mulch obtained 

 annually from the shade trees was an important factor and should be 

 taken into account when drawing up a manurial programme over a 

 series of years, and also that it was quite possible that the coftee, where 

 a heavy mulch was established as happens on many estates, was apt 

 to receive an unbalanced ratio of plant food, the nitrogen being in excess 

 with the result that leaf growth was encouraged at the expense of 

 fruit. 



Attention was next devoted to the chemical composition of the 

 coffee berry itself. When an analysis of parchment coffee, or coffee 

 berries, is examined it is at once noticed that potash is a dominant 

 factor among the mineral constituents. This being so it is only logical 

 to suppose that a fertiliser containing a preponderance of potash should 

 help the coffee tree to ripen up and hold its crop, and the question at 

 once presents itself as to when this potash should be applied. Do the 

 coffee berries need it from the very beginning of their development, 



