24 COFFEE : ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



tends towards showing it has a wide range of 

 tastes. 



"The following opinions of writers on the question 

 of soil will be read .with interest, and are instructive 

 in marking the uniformity of judgment amongst 

 them. 



Sabonadiere says, in " The Coffee Planter of 

 Ceylon:" 



"The most suitable soil for the Coffee bush is that 

 which grows soft timber. The hard ' doon ' wood (useful, 

 however, for shingles and beams) is usually found on high 

 quartzy ridges, which both the nature of the soil and 

 exposure to winds render unsuitable. The best land for 

 Coffee is a dark chocolate-coloured soil, mixed with small 

 stones and overspread here and there with boulders of 



granite Those estates where slab rock, gravel, 



or clay prevail are worked at a questionably remunerative 

 return, and must ere long be abandoned as not paying for 

 their cultivation." 



In Mr. Hull's opinion (" Coffee Planting in 

 Southern India") : 



"When the soil is dark in colour, loose, and full of 

 roots, it is rich in organic matter, and therefore good for 

 Coffee, which is a hardy plant not on the whole difficult to 



please in this matter The best criterion as to 



the quality of the soil is the luxuriousness or otherwise of 

 the vegetation it produces in its original state. For instance, 

 in forests which, in addition to a large growth of timber, have 

 a dense close underwood and abound in mosses and ferns, 

 if may safely be concluded the soil is good." 



An experienced writer in Balfour's excellent 

 " Cyclopaedia of India " says : 



" In Ceylon the best soil is a deep chocolate colour, 

 friable and abounding with blocks and small pieces of stone. 



