IOO COFFEE I ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



put out in the field when they have three pairs of 

 leaves, but of course at the proper season, during 

 the first rains of the monsoon. The advantages of 

 the baskets are that they present little obstruction 

 to the spread of the roots, and will be rotten 

 thoroughly in a few months ; the plants never feel 

 that they have been removed, or have their growth 

 stopped for a day, saving thereby a greater or 

 less percentage of loss, according to the circum- 

 stances of the season. 



Regarding the actual planting, when the plants 

 have been gently lifted from the seed beds they 

 are, as we have said, transported to the field in 

 baskets, forty or fifty at a time. The work of 

 removal and inserting in the ready holes should go 

 on on the same day, so that the seedlings may be 

 as short a period as possible out of the ground. 

 Arrived at the rows, the planting coolies fill a corner 

 of their cumblies with the young Coffee, which they 

 then proceed to establish in its new home. In doing 

 this the great things to be remembered are, that 

 the tap root must not be bent or bruised in any 

 way, though a few inches may be cut off if it is too 

 long ; and, secondly, side roots should be spread out 

 as they have been growing, and not squeezed in 

 round the stem. Sometimes this planting is done 

 with an alavanga, a light crowbar, a blunt stick, the 

 two halves of a split bamboo, the hands, or small 

 mamotie. Probably the latter is the best and most 

 expeditious way, but watchful supervision must be 



