APPENDIX. 



To the Hon. Wm. G. LeDuc, 



Commisaioner of Arjriciilture, Washington, D. C, TJ. S. A.: 



Siu: I have noticed a circular issued by tho department seeking information in re- 

 gard to coffee. As I have frequently passed tlirougli the cold-country coffee region in 

 this neighborhood, and have made it a point to inform myself as to the particulars of 

 the culture and habits of the plant, I take the liberty of writing you as follows: 



It is true that tho coffee does not require a very hot climate. In fact, that which is 

 raised in the colder regions is most highly esteemed and brings the highest price in 

 the home and European markets. 



Its upward range is limited by the frost-line, as is that of tho orange, plantain, and 

 bamboo. In a table compiled from Boussingaidt and Humboldt, the coffee appeal's as 

 the hardiest of these, enduring a temx)erature one degree colder than the orange, three 

 colder than the plantain, and five colder than the bamboo. Local authorities assure 

 me this is a mistake as regards the orange, which is more hardy than the coffee. An 

 English writer ftxea on the bamboo as a test, saying that wherever it grows the climate 

 is suitable for coffee. There seems to bo no doubt that the coffee will endure more 

 cold than the bamboo, so that the latter fails to serve as an indication of the northern 

 limit of the coffee. And for this reason, both the coffee and tlie orange will grow at a 

 height BO cold as to jjrevent their having fruit. But as the Southern summer has a 

 genuine hot-country temperature, the coffee would .hear, as the orange does, in the 

 season, if it coiild be carried through the winter. 



This is the crucial i)oint. Even in the plantations below the frost-line the coffee 

 Buffers at times from an extraordinary visitation of frost, or from the cold produced 

 by a hail-storm, and it is generally admitted that a frost will kill it. On the other hand, 

 it is said to grow, in peculiar circumstances, above the frost-line. Here in Bogota, for 

 instance (temperature 60° F.), it will grow, without bearing, in the open air about the 

 houses, but it will not live out on the plain where there are frosts so heavy as to often 

 kill the potato. This is merely an illustration of the fact, well understood in the North, 

 that a frost, like a dew-fall, and unlike a freeze, can be guarded against by a slight 

 covering — the shade of a tree or building often serving to protect the vegetation in its 

 vicinity while that more exposed is blighted. Now it is deemed essential that the 

 coffee-plant should be shaded. The usual plan is to plant the coffee and the plantain 

 together, so that the latter by its rajjid growth may furuish shade before the coffee 

 needs it. Some prefer to plant, also, certain fruit-trees to take the place of the plan- 

 tain at a later date. The excessive heat of the summer in the Gulf States would cer- 

 tainly call for a liberal shading of the plantations. The question then arises as to 

 whether the shade provided lor summer would serve to protect the plants from 

 frost in the winter. As I have no personal knowledge of tho severity of the winter or 

 of the character and habits of the trees available for this purpose, I cannot form even 

 an opinion as to the probability of the success of the experiment. The question 

 would still present itself whether it might not be feasible to protect the plants by 

 keeping the ground wet, which is said to be suf&cient to save the potatoes here, or by 

 coverings of straw, or by smoldering fires raising clouds of smoke on exceptionally 

 cold nights. I believe that the large jn'ofits of the coffee culture would warrant even 

 these measures if they were found to serve the purjiose. 



The best crops that I have seen have been on a rich black loam, too rocky to be 

 worked with the plow, and on the slopes of ravines. It is said that the plant dies out 

 in a few years on clay soil. But the Liberian j)lant is said to flourish on such soil. It 

 belongs, however, to the veiy hottest of climates. I attribute the better condition of 

 the plants on sloping groiind to the fact of their being more shaded. If the shedding 

 of water more readily has anything to do with it, that could be effected on level 

 ground by proper drainage. It is generally held that the coffee will not flourish on 

 wet ground, though the best pla,uts I ever saw were within a few feet of an unfailing 

 stream. 



The fact is that agricultiire in tropical countries is done in siicli a slovenly manner; 

 so few experiments are tried, and those few so carelessly; there is such a lack of ac- 

 curate observation and comparison of notes, as well as of enterprise and sound judg- 

 ment, that it is difficult to arrive at broad and accurate generalizations on many of 



