38 PLANTING IN UGANDA 



it may be expected to continue in bearing and yield remune- 

 rative returns for some fifty, eighty, or a hundred years. In 

 fact, if old and exhausted trees are regularly and systemati- 

 cally replaced or " supplied, "'there is practically no limit to 

 the duration of a Cocoa estate. Extract from " Cacao," by 

 Hart. 



Coffee. This tree comes under a rather dif- 

 ferent category to the other two. Of neither Para 

 nor Cocoa does the planter restrict the natural 

 extension of growth to any considerable extent; 

 indeed he rarely makes an effort to restrict it. It 

 is in the nature of the Coffee tree to have only one 

 main stem which produces branches regularly 

 from the base of each leaf as the tree grows up- 

 wards, the top branches being always the youngest. 

 As the tree lengthens and branches higher up, the 

 lower branches fall off, the head keeping always 

 about the same size. A growth of this nature is 

 a very inconvenient one for the planter, and he 

 resorts to topping the tree at 6 feet to keep the 

 crop within reach of the pickers. The Coffee 

 tree bears on young mature wood, and never bears 

 a second time over the same area. The portion of 

 the branch which fruits loses all its leaves before 

 ripening the crop, consequently it is necessary for 

 the tree to make an entirely new set of growths 

 each year of equal strength and vigour if the crop 



