6g 



CHAPTER VI. 



FOREST CLEARINGS. 



His nursery well under weigh, the planter whose 

 life is a busy one for the three first years of his 

 estate's existence turns his attention to the felling 

 and clearing of forest land intended to receive Coffee 

 plants. It will be understood that the land is every- 

 where uneven in Coffee districts, and overshadowed 

 for the most part by luxuriant forests in which 

 giant trees shoot up to the sky, and interlock their 

 branches in impenetrable canopies, while every 

 glade and watercourse is filled with waving reeds, 

 wild arrowroot, or ginger; and vast tangles of 

 creepers many of them beautifully flowered after 

 the rainy season twine serpent-like over the bare 

 rocks forming almost hopeless tangles. 



The first business is to decide upon the size of 

 the intended clearings, and the next to mark them 

 out roughly, in order that the fellers may get to 

 work. With regard to the best size for clearings, 

 there are many different opinions fifty acres is a 

 fair plot. One set of planters hold that larger fields 

 are much superior for many reasons. They main- 

 tain that if you have nothing less than a hundred 

 acres in extent you enjoy freedom from the hosts 



