164 



It must be realized that at the time mentioned above, when this 

 product was being exploited here, there was not a great deal of 

 knowledge at the disposal of the planters as regai^ds its economical 

 cultivation. Most of the knowledge available was brought from 

 Ceylon, where species other than " Liberian " had been in vogue, and 

 to which this country was entirely unsuited, and we realize now, 

 that a great many of those who encouraged the planting of Liberian 

 cofFee here, and who honestly believed in it, to the extent of risking, 

 in some cases, considerable fortunes, hardly possessed sufficient 

 knowledge either of the industry or the conditions necessary to make 

 a success of the venture ; they were at the same time attracted by 

 big figures in consular reports from Brazil and elsewhere. 



Planters of the present day would, we think, soon doom to 

 comparative failure some of the propositions of those days when 

 land was so often chosen for coffee without regard to the 

 requirements of the tree itself. Land chosen in the Ulu containing, 

 as we know, not a vast depth of " humus " was rarely dealt witli 

 in a manner calculated to conserve all its i-esources, and became, 

 from one reason and anothei' (mostly by allowing tlie top soil 

 to be wasJied by heavy rains into the ravines) much impoverished, 

 and actually in many cases incapable of bearing average crops after 

 the first few years without the aid of artificial manure. 



The best and steadiest crops were recorded from lands of a 

 peaty nature in the low country, where the only coffee worth looking 

 at still exists and is yielding a handsome profit to its owners. 



It has been the aim and object of a large proportion of planters, 

 since the rubber industry was started, to find something in the way 

 of a catch-crop tliat would prove to be an assistance in reducing the 

 cost of upkeep. Different varieties of coffee have been interplanted, 

 and in many instances a very considerable I'e venue obtained. 



One Avell-known company paid quite a respectable dividend for 

 a few years waiting for the main product to mature, but generally 

 speaking the policy of introducing catch-crops with the above idea 

 cannot claim much support, and the scheme is for many reasons 

 a dangerous one. It might be assumed that the planter would 

 eliminate the catch-crop at any expense as soon as he is satisfied that 

 the main crop is suffering, but, in the face of concrete instances, 

 unfortunately no such assumption is warranted. 



Again, the catch-crop as a rule receives little or no attention 

 in the way of cultivation, and cases are recorded where coffee as a 

 catch-crop with rubber has been condemned on account of the soil 

 being described as unsuitable when it might have yielded quite a 

 good return under conditions altogether dissimilar. 



Under normal conditions a small crop may be looked for in the 

 third year from planting and the tree may be considered to be in full 

 bearing after the fifth or sixth year. 



