22 COFFEE ! ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



friable to be open to the passage of air for admitting 

 of " respiration," and possessing a sufficiency of 

 those constituents which are essential to the growth 

 and nourishment of the vegetable. 

 ^ Coffee, as previously jnoted, is tap-rooted, and 

 it is essenHaTjo~lts~proper well-being that this 

 root may -penetrate down into the body of the 

 earth, where should lie those reservoirs of moisture 

 and manure that must be looked to for nourishment 

 and support during trying times of drought and 

 sunshine. This points to the necessity of a deep, 

 and penetrable soil. Where mould, no matter 

 how good, is shallow, and rests on hard clay or 

 " slab " rock at small depth, planting is useless ; 

 an admixture of gravel, however or, more properly 

 speaking, the hill shale so common in Coffee dis- 

 tricts is not a bar to success if the surrounding 

 circumstances are favourable. Ground broken up 

 for the first time under the shade of primeval 

 forest, it will commonly happen, however, possesses 

 such a depth of mould that practically the subsoil 

 is non-existent. In my own region of Southern 

 India much of our Coffee was on four and six feet 

 of rich black earth that crumbled to the touch, 

 being both "warm" and "free" in texture. This, 

 of course, in the more favoured hollows of the 

 valleys, and such a depth is not to be looked for 

 everywhere. 



It will be as well for the young planter to 

 remember that an estate may have everything to 



