MANURES AND MANURING. IQ5 



and swamps. If land would need draining for 

 any ordinary cereal crop, it must undoubtedly be 

 drained for Coffee. " Wet feet " is an ailment 

 the latter plant is especially sensitive to. All 

 "sour" land must be thoroughly reclaimed, and 

 if that is not possible except at great expense, 

 then the next best thing is to abandon it. 



This, however, is not a matter that need cause 

 much uneasiness, as very little Coffee soil in 

 India or Ceylon suffers from stagnant water. Such 

 spots of course there are upon every garden, but 

 they are usually abandoned to nature, who rears 

 crops of her own sowing upon them. 



Serving the same purpose of conserving soil 

 is the system by which water holes, previously 

 mentioned, are dotted over the clearings. " These," 

 we are told, "were first introduced as holes intended 

 to be filled with manure. The article, however, 

 running short the holes remained open, and it 

 was found after, some time that the tree took a 

 fresh start of growth, partly, perhaps, caused by 

 the temporary exposure of the roots to the sun 

 and air, and partly by the loose earth that 

 gradually dribbled into the hole again, together 

 with whatever accumulations of leaves, timber and 

 other decayed vegetable matter lay about on the 

 surface of the ground near. It has since become 

 a system to make water holes between every four 

 trees, or between every eight or twelve trees. 

 These are generally made about 2 feet square 



