26 THE NATURE AND CULTIVATION OF COFFEE. 



to such an height that the fruit can be conveniently 

 gathered, and that pruning, etc., can be easily per- 

 formed, and further to throw the strength of the plant 

 into the fruit-producing branches, which by this means 

 spread rapidly on each side and shelter each other, 

 whilst they shade the ground and check the growth 

 of weeds. Some planters advocate the trees being 

 left tall until six or eight inches can, be taken off, 

 necessitating cutting into the formed wood, where at 

 the same time they remove one of each of the primary 

 branches, about an inch from the main stem, leaving 

 an unseemly fork projecting four or six inches above 

 the growing plant, the object of this being, as they 

 maintain, to form such a callosity, or knot, above the 

 producing branches, as will prevent the weight of the 

 fruit tearing the branches apart, and splitting the 

 main stem ; but it is very doubtful whether this object 

 is attained, as the portion of stem thus left is a fruitful 

 source of annoyance in sending out suckers from the 

 joint where the two primaries have been removed, and 

 as soon as it ceases, the fork being deprived of all 

 circulating sap, gradually dries up and decays down to 

 the growing wood, rendering the tree more liable than 

 before to the accident it was sought to guard against. 

 A better plan appears to top the trees early, in the 

 green sappy shoot, before it has become lignine, or 

 fibrous, immediately above a pair of growing primaries. 

 By this means there is no joint left above to form buds 

 and shoots, and the top gradually forms into a knot, 

 or callosity, sufficiently tough to withstand the weight 

 on each side of the tree. It must always be borne in 

 mind that a coffee-tree cannot replace a primary 



