io8 Coffee Planting. 



Other and more complicated systems of " lining " 

 are frequently adopted, but the simpler the method 

 the better with coolies. In order to line square, or 

 to make perfectly rectangular lines, it is necessary 

 to use three ropes, marked with strips of cloth, 

 two of them being laid parallel with each other, at 

 say sixty yards distance, and the third stretched 

 from one to the other at the corresponding marks. 



The measurement between the marks on the 

 rope should be constantly checked and readjusted, 

 as the more the rope is used the more it will 

 stretch, the spaces between mark and mark being 

 consequently increased. 



In the West Indies, and also in Java, the space 

 left between each picket appears to be usually from 

 ten to twelve feet. In Ceylon and Southern India, 

 however, the distance most commonly observed is 

 from five to six feet ; very often the plants being 

 five feet apart in the lines, and each line six feet 

 distance from the next. Plants are very seldom 

 grown more than six feet apart every way, or closer 

 than four feet. These distances, however, must be 

 decided by the situation, climate, elevation, and 

 the nature of the soil. The object to be always 

 kept in view, is that with the greatest convenient 

 number of trees in a given space, none shall in- 

 commode or interfere with the growth or sustenance 

 of its neighbour. In cold or exposed situations, 



