248 Coffee Planting. 



contains all the elements necessary to restore fer- 

 tility to the soil and vigour to crop-bearing vegeta- 

 tion in general ; and it is certainly the only manure 

 which enables coffee-trees to bear an increased crop 

 for several years in succession. It may be more 

 efficacious in combination with bones, lime, and 

 guano, but for my own part, if I could obtain a 

 sufficient permanent supply of farmyard manure, 

 pure and simple, I should be little inclined to 

 trouble myself with mineral or artificial compounds. 

 There appears to be some diversity of opinion as 

 to the manner in which cattle manure should be 

 treated previous to application. Sir Humphrey 

 Davy was of opinion that only slight fermentation 

 was necessary to render it suitable for use. He 

 says, " It is better that there should be no fermenta- 

 tion at all, than that it should be carried too far/' 3 

 In violent fermentation much of the gaseous pro- 

 perties are lost, and it has seemed to myself that 

 the fresher the manure when applied to the soil the 

 more eminently successful have been the results. 

 A reckless waste of valuable manure is too often 

 permitted by simple exposure to the sun. Some- 

 times coolies are sent out to collect old cattle 

 droppings, that, after lying exposed on the roads 

 or hill-side, have been reduced to a condition 

 suitable enough for fuel purposes, but totally worth- 

 1 LoudonV" Encyclopaedia of Gardening." 



