258 Coffee Planting. 



flour being applied to each tree, and this should 

 produce a healthy show of dark-green foliage 

 within a few months. Wild hogs have a strong 

 predilection for poonac, and therefore unless it is 

 carefully pulverized and mingled with the soil they 

 are sure to grub it out of the trenches. Poonac 

 should always, if possible, be used in combination 

 with 



Bones. These contain a large proportion of 

 earthy salts, such as phosphate of lime, magnesia, 

 and carbonate of lime, as well as fat, gelatine, &c., 

 and are therefore peculiarly valuable. Bones will 

 be found to produce crop rather than foliage or 

 wood. Mr. Wall thinks that the effect of one 

 application should be apparent for six years, and 

 that one pint of the crushed " dust " per tree, or 

 say, five cwts. per acre, is sufficient. There is, 

 however, a strong impression that bones are of 

 questionable advantage/br application alone, causing 

 as they do a forced yield for a time, only to throw 

 the trees back subsequently into greater weakness 

 and exhaustion than before. No doubt a com- 

 bination with poonac would in some measure re- 

 duce this tendency, but reduce it only, I fear. What 

 is really wanted is to add, as previously recom- 

 mended, a due quantity of real organic matter, 

 either in the form of decayed vegetable substances, 

 or better still in the form of the product of the 



