CHAPTER III 



AGRICULTURAL METHODS PECULIAR TO THE TROPICS 



THE climatic and cropping conditions which prevail in tropi- 

 cal countries make necessary certain characteristic practices 

 which are more or less different from the farm practices of 

 temperate climates. A large variety of crops need shade while 

 young and provision is made for satisfactory shade in various 

 ways, sometimes by the use of muslin, palm leaves, or slats, 

 and frequently by the use of trees or shrubs planted with the 

 crop. In the case of nursery beds for young seedlings of cof- 

 fee, tea, cacao, etc., shade is almost always provided until the 

 seedlings are nearly ready to transplant. They may then be 

 held for a short time in a slightly shaded locality in order to 

 season them to some extent for standing in the full glare of 

 the tropical sun. With slow growing tree crops like those 

 just mentioned the practice prevails in some localities of inter- 

 planting with some rapid growing plant which will over-top 

 the young trees and furnish a certain amount of shade for 

 the first year or two of growth. Among the plants which have 

 been used for shading crops in the Tropics we may mention 

 bananas, castor bean, Ceara rubber, silky oak (Grevillea ro- 

 busta), and a great variety of leguminous trees, including 

 dadap, madre de cacao, and several species of Albizzia and of 

 Inga. Quite spirited controversies have been carried on re- 

 garding the need of permanent shade for coffee, cacao, and 

 certain other tropical crops, but the practice in this regard is 

 by no means uniform in tropical countries. Some growers 

 use no shade for coffee or cacao except in the nursery beds dur- 

 ing the early growth of the young trees. Other growers claim 



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