196 COFFEE 



Every subsequent operation must be carried on by coolies from 

 Malabar and the Coromandel coast, as no temptation of wages 

 and no prospect of advantage has hitherto availed to overcome 

 the repugnance of the native Singhalese and Kandyans to 

 engage on any work on estates except the first process of felling 

 the forests. The fallen wood having been burnt or removed, 

 and the ground dug up, the young coffee-trees are transplanted 

 from the nurseries when about eight inches high, and set at 

 intervals of four or six feet. April and October are the best 

 time for this operation, on account of the heavy rains. At least 

 once a month the plantation must be carefully weeded, and the 

 pruning of the young tree takes place at the end of the first year. 



The chief harvest is in December and January, but many 

 plants bloom the whole year round. 



The produce of the plantations in lower situations is more 

 abundant, but the quality improves and the beans become longer 

 as the vertical elevation increases. The best coffee grows at the 

 height of four thousand feet. 



The coffee-plant very soon exhausts the alkaline substances of 

 the soil, and as the depth of vegetable mould is not considerable, 

 and liable to be constantly impoverished by transfiltration or 

 draining on the sloping hill-sides, good crops can only be 

 obtained by plentiful manuring. The best soil for coffee is 

 chalk, or a loose decomposed gneiss ; clay is not so favourable, as 

 it prevents the roots from penetrating to a sufficient depth. 



The plantations generally yield a profit of from 20 to 30 per 

 cent., but as capital in Ceylon is not to be obtained under 1 5 or 

 20, the large produce of many estates is merely imaginary.* 



Though the free labour of the coolies does not require the 

 large sum which the Brazilian planter is obliged to invest in 

 the purchase of his slaves, yet the emigrant to Ceylon who 

 intends to devote himself to the cultivation of coffee must not 

 come empty handed or seek to begin his operations on credit 

 alone. It is a perfect illusion, fostered by badly informed 

 travellers or interested agents, that colonial produce can be 

 raised to any advantage with small means ; and as experience 

 is necessary, Professor Schmarda f advises the future planter, 



• Tennent's Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 202. 



t Reise um die Erde in den Jahren 1853—1857, vol. i. p. 387. 



