CHAPTEB VI. 

 FERTILIZATION. 



IF the land selected for the cultivation of 

 coffee is a virgin soil, rich in humus, this will 

 not require manuring for a few years, depend- 

 ing naturally on the soil itself. Nevertheless, 

 the soil becomes exhausted, in time, of the 

 plant foods concentrated in the land, such as 

 Potash, Phosphoric Acid, and Nitrogen. 



When stable manure is available, this 

 should be used, preferably in combination with 

 some chemical fertilizer, the former being too 

 slow in action when administrated by itself, 

 because when cattle are fed on the only 

 grass usually available in an estate, the 

 nitrogenous elements which render animal 

 excrement of every kind so valuable are 

 absent, with the exception of a small 

 quantity of ammonia and of phosphoric acid. 

 Stable manure has the inconvenience of 

 producing very irregular ripeness, and the 

 crops last a considerable period, consequently 

 the cost of gathering the cherries is greater. 

 Sometimes the planter, through scarcity of 

 labour or other causes, is obliged to gather 

 green as well as ripe fruit, in order to do away 



