PITS AND PEGS. 85 



contains the best nourishment, might be saved from 

 the flames, which would bake it to a brick a result 

 to be avoided, if possible, yet which would assuredly 

 happen if the " pitting" were delayed until after 

 burning. So we fill up the holes far and wide, our 

 chief care being to see that the top soil really goes 

 to the bottom of the pit, as the coolies are apt to 

 scrape soil in just as it lies. After the burn, we 

 should be able to tell the position of each pit by 

 the earth being a little higher over it than else- 

 where. The bigger the pits, as a rule, the better, 

 since the plants have a larger amount of readily 

 "available capital" to draw upon when first 

 established. 



Occasionally, when pressed for time, we have 

 known the soil in the spots to be planted just 

 levered up and loosened by crowbars, but this is a 

 slovenly and unsuccessful arrangement. Again, 

 another planter has been known to declare against 

 pits of any size, maintaining that it inevitably makes 

 the plants " pot bound," and discourages them from 

 seeking food and moisture naturally. But ninety- 

 nine out of a hundred planters make pits as large 

 as their money and patience will allow. 



Regarding the finances of these undertakings, 

 pegs are cut at the rate of, say, five hundred pegs 

 a-day by a workman whose wages are probably 

 5 annas. The cost per acre will depend upon 

 the distances apart you grow your Coffee, but with 

 the help of the table given under " Planting," you 



