1 1 2 Coffee Planting. 



pit may be remedied by subsequent digging and 

 trenching, but a shallow one never ; it is better, 

 therefore, to be on the safe side as to depth. It 

 not unfrequently happens that a flat stone below 

 the tap-root in dry weather causes the death of the 

 plant, whereas had the excavation been a few 

 inches deeper this would have been detected and 

 removed. 



It will thus be seen that " pitting " is a slow and 

 tedious operation, and indeed it is the most arduous 

 of all the works undertaken in the formation of a 

 plantation. This should be borne in mind when 

 the extent of land to be cleared in a single season 

 is being decided on, a larger area being sometimes 

 cleared than the number of labourers available will 

 admit of being pitted and planted. Pitting should 

 begin as soon as possible after the land has been 

 cleared, say in January or February, and may be 

 continued up to the end of June, or until the rainy 

 season sets in. Each coolie should be provided 

 with a sharp heavy mammotie, and a crowbar or 

 " digger" flattened at one end. This spade-like 

 blade of the latter is useful for digging down the 

 sides and bottom of the pits, while the pointed end 

 is used for picking out stones. 



After the pits have been left open for a certain 

 length of time, they should be "filled in." This is 

 done by scraping into them the dark soil from the 



