SHADE. QI 



work all day and seldom feel the fierce rays of the 

 tropical sun ; and this consideration alone is of 

 immense money value to an estate. And yet, in 

 spite of all these considerations, we have seen shade 

 and shelter ruthlessly cut down all over the country, 

 and often in parts so hot and arid that it would be 

 difficult to conceive circumstances that could be 

 more fatal to the existence of Coffee." 



In what planters term the charcoal-tree a poor, 

 watery, large-leafed, light-barked shrub, so called 

 from its rising out of charcoal-littered ground we 

 are told we have Nature's natural shelter for more 

 valuable timber whilst young, and all those seedlings 

 wherewith barren spots are recovered in time. But 

 the charcoal-tree is not quite up to the modern 

 planter's needs. Sometimes it is suffered to grow 

 in clumps amongst Coffee, making a better shelter 

 perhaps than the tall grass Dutch planters leave 

 between their rows. Usually it shares the fate of 

 other lesser weeds in clearings, only growing on the 

 margin of "belts" and untouched forest a vivid 

 green band of leaves between the soil of the plan- 

 tation and the superincumbent masses of tree 

 foliage. The older this bush gets the poorer its 

 shade is ; and though it may be of temporary ser- 

 vice, there are other and better trees which should 

 be growing whilst the Coffee is young. Several 

 species answer this purpose. The most popular of 

 them, and that with which I protected my own 

 garden, is the Jack-tree (Artocarpus integrifolius), 



