Effects of Drought. 41 



after year, until eventually it falls a prey to the 

 effects of exhaustion in one form or other. 



The foregoing have been brought forward as two 

 opposite representatives of climate ; the first being 

 characterized by too great a degree of humidity 

 for successful coffee cultivation, as is shown by the 

 fact that although the plants produce a redundance 

 of wood and foliage, their productiveness ends 

 there, the crop being at all times nearly absent, or 

 very deficient ; while, in the second case the long 

 dry season tends ultimately, though gradually, to 

 kill the plants. 



It would, therefore, seem natural to infer that 

 somewhere between the two, we shall meet with the 

 exact climate most conducive to the growth, pro- 

 ductiveness, and longevity of the coffee plant ; 

 and this appears to be fully borne out by expe- 

 rience. 



The climate of the mountain districts of Ceylon 

 owes its humidity in great measure to insularity of 

 position. The continual warm exhalations which 

 ascend from the land create a vacuum, into which 

 a corresponding influx of atmosphere from all 

 points of the compass is constantly attracted, and 

 this atmosphere must ever be charged with the 

 moisture evaporated by the sea, which is in due 

 course once more condensed and poured down upon 

 the hills and valleys in the form of dews and rain ; 



