go COFFEE I ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT, 



natural protection against the sun, they make all 

 reasonable haste to supply its place by the artificial- 

 grown foliage of quick-growing Australian or other 

 trees. 



" I find it impossible to quit this subject of 

 shade," remarks Elliot, in his " Experiences of a 

 Coffee Planter in the Jungles of Mysore, " " without 

 saying a word for the numerous advantages planta- 

 tions of Coffee have that can be grown under shelter 

 of the original forest. In the first place, from the 

 greater part of the land being only cleared at first of 

 the underwood, and from the fact of that being 

 burned in separate heaps, a large proportion of the 

 soil is entirely uninjured by fire, and the valuable 

 surface mould entirely preserved. In the next place, 

 from the preservation of such a portion of this 

 vegetable matter, and from the land being annually 

 recruited by the fallen leaves, the rain water, instead 

 of running off, washing the land, and so depriving it 

 of a great deal of its most valuable constituents, 

 soaks gradually into and lodges in the soil without 

 the loss of a single drop. Thirdly, the forest trees 

 afford shelter to innumerable birds, which are not 

 only pleasant to see, and many of them to hear, but 

 which are of incalculable service as insect-eaters. 

 Then the planter with his shade, if he does not 

 altogether laugh at dry seasons, in a great measure 

 neutralizes their influence by preventing the sun and 

 wind from drying up the soil and parching the plant. 

 And, finally, both the planter and his people can 



