60 ROADING AND DRAINING. 



stakes, and the small stakes are put in where the mov- 

 able rope crosses the fixed ones, each stake indicating 

 the site of the plant. (2) A rope is furnished with bits of 

 scarlet rag or flannel at the distances decided on between 

 the plants and stretched across the plot, stakes being 

 inserted at each rag, the rope is then moved forward a 

 stage at a time, gauged by measuring rods. The first 

 plan is th^ better, especially in broken ground, but is more 

 laborious, the second being best available in even grass- 

 land, but the stretch of the rope must be estimated and 

 allowed for, the great object being to have the lines per- 

 fectly regular, and instead of making any deviation where 

 stumps or other obstacles occur, the rope is laid over 

 them and the corresponding plant omitted. 



Efficient roads not only greatly facilitate the making 

 of a Coffee plantation, but they should be so laid out as 

 to serve the additional purpose of drainage. A cart road 

 should pass through the centre of the plantation wherever 

 it is possible to avoid a steeper gradient than one in fif- 

 teen, emerging upon the main highway. From this branch 

 roads should be cut at right angles with as easy gradients 

 as possible, and not more than from one hundred to one 

 hundred and fifty feet apart; these branch roads should 

 cross the lay of the ground so as to check, to the fullest 

 extent, the effects of waste, and a boundary path encir- 

 cling the estate is also useful for many reasons, but the 

 main central road should be set out before pitting and 

 planting. An excess of road accommodation as regards 

 both the number and width of the paths is far preferable 

 to insufficient roadway, despite the extra first outlay, and 

 if the ground be such, it may cost a great deal to keep 

 the roads clean and free from weeds, This, however, 



