OPENING AN ESTATE. 21 



coffee-seed will usually produce about 25,000 plants ; 

 a bushel of fresh parchment coffee, which is preferable 

 to cherry, will produce about double that quantity ; 

 and an acre of nursery will hold 290,000 plants, 

 planted six inches by four, or about 20,000 less when 

 allowance is made for paths between the beds, etc. 



2. Felling and clearing are easy operations when 

 virgin forest is dealt with, but are tedious when tangled 

 thickets of bamboo, or other thorny bushes, are preva- 

 lent. The smaller growth is generally cut first with 

 billhooks, and this is frequently performed by women 

 and boys ; the able-bodied axemen next follow, cutting 

 the trees nearly through, and then felling a tree of 

 larger dimensions, so as to fall on what is notched ; it 

 brings all down in one mass. In heavy, thick forest, 

 several acres are frequently brought down together ; 

 but in gentle slopes, and in thinly-wooded land, each 

 tree has to be cut through separately. It will fre- 

 quently occur that staging has to be erected round the 

 trunks of some of the giants of the forest, as their 

 projecting roots and buttresses prevent access to the 

 real trunk. The forest, of whatever kind, being felled, 

 has next to be lopped, so as to lie compactly, and to 

 ensure a good burn, which usually takes place six 

 weeks or two months after the felling. A bad burn is 

 the cause of much expense in subsequent heaping and 

 burning, and attention should therefore be paid to this 

 operation. 



3. Marking the roads. This should always be 

 done as soon as possible, and all the trees which are 

 lying across the line of roads should be turned off 

 before the lining commences. The time both of 



