252 Coffee Planting. 



the dung deposits of the night previous being left 

 undisturbed. This system may go on for any 

 length of time, or until the mass has risen two or 

 three feet above the level of the outside ground, 

 when it will t>e some six feet in depth. The shed 

 may then be emptied, the cattle in the meantime 

 being housed elsewhere. By this process the urine 

 is being constantly added to the mass, a too rapid 

 decomposition is prevented by the exclusion of air, 

 and yet there is sufficient fermentation to convert 

 the manure into a state in which it can be readily 

 absorbed by the trees. 



On estates in the vicinity of a public road, all 

 cattle-droppings, &c., should be collected as fresh 

 as possible, and added to the dung-pit under cover. 



The chief difficulty in connexion with cattle 

 manure (as with all others equally bulky), is the 

 expe'nse and labour of applying it to the land. In 

 order, therefore, to obviate this, as far as possible, 

 the sheds should be situated as centrically as possi- 

 ble ; and if on a hill slope, they should, of course, be 

 above the coffee-field. Where the estate is large and 

 straggling, a number of small sheds and manure 

 depots, with ten or a dozen head of cattle to each, 

 should be established in different parts of the 

 estate. 



Some planters plead inability to keep cattle, 

 owing to their being without grass-land for grazing. 



