SHELTER AND SHADE. 57 



from " lug worm " or any other blight that may be preva- 

 lent in the locality. Belts of jungle or forest land are 

 sometimes left standing as a protection from wind, but 

 opinions differ as to the advantage of this plan, some 

 planters holding that more harm is likely to result from 

 the wind being concentrated into eddies instead of taking 

 its natural and more equitable course. This question 

 can only be decided by the local surroundings in each 

 case. Such belts being sure to form nurseries for weeds 

 and vermin are not intended to be permanent, and should 

 gradually give way to fruit or other useful trees. Some- 

 times artificial shelter is erected, but is considered too 

 costly to find general favor; indeed, in moderately-shel- 

 tered situations, staking, combined with low topping, 

 ought to be sufficient to secure the stability of the plant. 

 Where they are not, the situation has little to recommend 

 it for successful Coffee culture. 



Shade is also a consideration of great importance, and 

 the opinion now generally adopted is that the wholesale 

 felling of the forest in some sections has been altogether 

 a mistake, and that plantations which are now extinct 

 might still be flourishing had the forest shade been at 

 least partially retained. The history of Coffee cultiva- 

 tion in the East proves that in hot climates, and where 

 prolonged periods of drought may recur, Coffee will not 

 flourish permanently, except under shade. In a state of 

 nature the Coffee plant universally affects shade. This 

 is the more remarkable, though the seeds are deposited 

 by wild animals and birds as freely on open grass-lands 

 as in forests. The suspicion that the " bover leaf disease/' 

 and other immediate causes of decay, are only induced 

 by weakened state of the shrubs consequent upon their 

 exposure to light and periods of drought, is supported 

 by the fact that where shade trees are found standing 



