154 Cff ee Planting . 



coffee-bushes clustered round them as it were for 

 protection all traces of the rest having disap- 

 peared. 



The question as to the particular locality in which 

 shade is required is one of climate, and has been 

 alluded to in connexion with that subject, and it 

 is always to be remembered that the present remarks 

 are only applicable under those particular circum- 

 stances where the climate is such as to render shade 

 necessary, and not universally. 



The advantage to be derived from shading coffee 

 in hot climates, may be summed up as diminished 

 exhaustion, and consequently increased longevity of 

 the plant ; reduced cost of cultivation ; a conserva- 

 tion of the nutritious properties of the soil, and an 

 actual increase of these properties. Moreover, the 

 cover given to the ground causes the surface vege- 

 table matter to decay more rapidly, rendering 

 it thereby more suitable for assimilation by the 

 young roots of plants. Then the continuous fall of 

 decaying leaves adds organic matter to the soil ; and 

 as these have originally been formed to a consider- 

 able extent from constituents furnished by the sub- 

 soil (i.e. provided the tree be a sub-soil feeder), there 

 is a positive gain of matter to the surface which the 

 roots of plants such as coffee would otherwise never 

 have been able to come within reach of. In addi- 

 tion, however, the value of estates growing large 



