82 COFFEE I ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



shifted to the required distance before running the second base 

 line at right angles to the first. After the base lines have been 

 laid down, the coolie at one of the ends of the rope should 

 place his staff immediately alongside the first base line peg, 

 either to right or left of the centre peg, the man at the other end 

 of the line measuring with his staff, and the boys with theirs 

 likewise, the same distance, to right or left of the base line 

 as the case may be. When the measuring sticks are then in 

 line, from top to bottom, the boys insert a peg into the ground 

 below each ' pu ' on the rope. This process is repeated till 

 the whole of the clearing is finished. By the above method of 

 laying down the base lines, four parties of liners can be 

 employed at the same time, and the work done quickly. The 

 usual mode of inserting the peg is for the boys to drop the 

 peg from the ' pu,' marking the spot where the point touched 

 the ground, and then insert it ; but the best plan is to place the 

 stick the boys use for measuring perpendicularly from the * pu ' 

 to the ground, and insert the peg at its base. The line will be 

 straighter. To insure this work being well done and nothing 

 is so pleasing to the planter's eye as to see straight lines of 

 Coffee it should be well looked after. 



" Some planters now employ a lining instrument and staff, 

 and these, if properly worked, ought to give very straight base 

 lines. A row of long straight white sticks, or rather poles, 

 placed one behind the other, and run the whole length of the 

 clearing, will probably answer the purpose quite as well for all 

 practical purposes. If one is acquainted with surveying, the 

 best base lines will of course be run with the aid of the 

 theodolite tracer. The system of using double ropes of equal 

 length, so as to get the Coffee into squares, is quite unnecessary, 

 and can seldom be properly carried out on very rough and 

 broken land. The ropes used in lining should be about 160 

 feet in length. If the ropes are of greater length the lines are 

 apt to get crooked. On sheltered flats lining might be done 

 with advantage at such distances as seven by eight feet, thereby 

 leaving plenty of room for manuring and digging round the 

 trees, and in such situations they might be allowed to grow to 

 the height of five feet, but so little land in the high districts is 



