COFFEA 



ARABICA 



Pruning 



Vertical versus 

 Horizontal. 



Suggested 

 Method. 



Season of 

 Pruning. 



Second and 



Third 



Handlings. 



THE COFFEE PLANT 



disease and as a means of enhancing returns, than the system of 

 pruning. Any pruning seemed accordingly preferable to that usually 

 practised. By encouraging a vertical rather than a horizontal growth, 

 the fruiting area of the estate is (if one may so express it) immensely 

 increased. But where, from the nature of the soil, the peculiarities of the 

 climate or the character of stock grown, " coffee trees " could not usually 

 be produced (such as those of Scotforth), it would seem that a pyramidal 

 bush might nevertheless, and with advantage, be aimed at rather than 

 a fruiting umbrella. This might be accomplished in various ways that 

 doubtless would instantly occur to the practical planter. 



Without desiring to dictate, one method that suggested itself to me while 

 inspecting the coffee estates of the Wynaad may be here mentioned. Plants 

 4 feet in height, or when they possess 6 or 7 pairs of branches, might be taken in 

 hand. In some plantations, however, bushes only 2 to 3 years old were seen to 

 possess 15 to 20 horizontal branches, within a height of 4 feet. It is very unlikely 

 that these could all bear fruit, hence perhaps half may have to be removed. 

 But when the approved number of primaries had been secured, the green terminal 

 shoot, containing a pair of leaves and a bud, might be nipped off, and at the same 

 time the terminal buds of the topmost three or four primaries similarly destroyed. 

 Care would have to be taken, however, that this plucking off of the terminal buds 

 was done on green not woody shoots. Delay till wood is formed almost invariably 

 involves a snag, and moreover the cutting back of finally matured shoots 

 requires great care and a study of the best age and most favourable season for 

 each locality. The object aimed at by the system suggested would be the pro- 

 duction of a pyramidal bush, and if sufficient space were allowed such might 

 ultimately be expected to fruit from the ground to the topmost twig. The 

 check given to the growth of the upper primaries would prevent their attaining 

 the size and weight sufficient to split the stem (in the way already mentioned). 

 The secondaries borne by each primary would in time become fan-shaped, and 

 through the regulation of the lengths of these fans the bush would become 

 completely pyramidal. It is the secondaries borne on the primaries that are the 

 fruiting shoots, and the purpose of the recommendation here offered would be to 

 produce a maximum of such, fully exposed to light and air. Similarly a vertical 

 pyramidal bush might be formed by the development of upward-growing suckers 

 in place of horizontal branches, the main branches being trained to ascend from 

 the stem or its primaries, like those of a poplar. But I need not enlarge on 

 this theme. What seems imperatively necessary is greater spacing, a better- 

 shaped and a more healthy bush. Mr. Leeming's " coffee trees " in these 

 respects, at all events, are as nearly perfect as seems likely to be attained ; 

 and where trees are not possible, bushes of a tree shape might be secured in 

 preference to that of an umbrella. (See the remarks above on the tendencies 

 of certain races to produce ascending and of others spreading branches. ) 



To conclude these observations, it may be said that pruning as presently 

 practised is done about March after the crop has been collected, and 

 consists in removing all shoots that have borne fruit and in selecting and 

 protecting those that are intended for next year's crop. But the pruning 

 must be completed before the flowers begin to form, and in pruning it 

 is often recommended to leave alternately the opposite laterals. All 

 tertiaries, as also diseased branches, are usually cut off. A handling is 

 often given just after the flowers appear, in order to remove useless flushing. 

 During a second handling suckers and crosswise shoots are rubbed off, 

 without injuring the bark, and, in carefully worked estates, even a third 

 handling is often given. It seems to be an accepted rule that September 

 and October shoots should be preserved, and that as many of those formed 

 in February as can be spared should be removed ; but during fruiting the 

 plants are never interfered with. In many estates removal of moss arid 

 cleaning the bark is regarded as of great service to the plant and obviates 

 the harbourage of pests and blights. 



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