no COFFEE: ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



extent of plant is also required which can be safely 

 carried in view of the prevailing winds. 



In American States, as a rule, Coffee bushes are 

 allowed to grow far taller than in India or Ceylon. 

 They overtop the stature of a man at maturity, and 

 thus their crop has to be gathered from stageings, 

 a plan that does not recommend itself to English 

 planters. Grown, as they generally are, in sheltered 

 hollows, they may be allowed to reach any height 

 with safety as far as wind is concerned, but in our 

 own possessions plantations usually occupy slopes of 

 wind-swept hills; hence " toping" at a moderate 

 distance from the ground is essential. Perhaps, 

 where wind is likely to be strong and soil is not very 

 rich, 2 ft. to 3 ft. may be regarded as a judicious 

 height to arrest further upward growth by removal 

 of the topmost bud of the main shoot. " In a 

 sheltered situation, where the soil is good and the 

 climate moderately warm and humid," says Hall ; 

 " in other words, under conditions the most favour- 

 able to the growth of the Coffee tree, a maximum 

 height of 5 ft. may be adopted. It must be remem- 

 bered, however, that very rarely is such a combination 

 of favourable circumstances to be met with, and that, 

 consequently, this will not be found a suitable 

 height." The opposite extreme is when planters 

 cut their bushes on monsoon-swept ridges down to 

 1 8 inches, with very satisfactory results, it is said ; 

 though for our own part we should hardly care to 

 plant such land, or, if it were planted, should try at 



