42 PLANTING IN UGANDA 



mended elsewhere, when the Coffee is ready to come 

 out, the land will be fully occupied by rubber trees. 



An interesting experiment could be made by 

 cutting down old worn-out Coffee close to the 

 ground, and allowing a new stem to grow up. In 

 our new land it is not exhaustion of the soil 

 which is entirely responsible for the falling off in 

 crop, but merely that the framework of the tree is 

 worn out. Proof of this can be obtained by allow- 

 ing a worn-out tree to extend its axis a few feet. 

 It will be found to produce a luxuriant head of 

 new r branches, equal in vigour to those it produced 

 in its first years of growth, and as fruitful. 

 Possibly cutting down the trees would give them 

 another equal period of f ruitfulness, and save the 

 cost of planting elsewhere. 



There is a common idea that the early fruiting 

 of our Coffee should be prevented by picking off the 

 first flowers. We have not found any harm result 

 from allowing these to develop. Often the pick- 

 ing off of flowers only induces the trees to flower 

 again the following month. A second lot of 

 flowers does not come on the same part of the 

 branches from which the others were removed. 

 Hence all crop from these is lost. 



