208 COFFEE : ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



cure for the black bug blight, and has a very favour- 

 able effect upon some earths, though, according to 

 Liebig, in analysis this grass shows only in its ash 

 3 per cent, of potash and 2 of chloride of potassa 

 against 8ii of silica. The effect of the grass is 

 important enough to justify us in letting one of its 

 most enthusiastic users speak in its behalf: 



" Mana grass is most useful, both as bedding for cattle and 

 a litter to be applied on the surface of the soil. When used 

 for the former purpose its chief advantages are its abundance, 

 and the facility with which it may be cut and carried. When 

 applied to free soils that abound in vegetable matter it is 

 scarcely of any use except to keep down weeds or to kill 

 running grass ; but on cold, wet soils its effect is almost 

 magical, exceeding that of a heavy dose of cattle manure. I 

 have applied it to a cold, heavy, yellow soil, in which Coffee 

 bushes could scarcely exist, and where their scraggy branches 

 had only a few small yellow leaves on them, and the effect was 

 most surprising. Not only were the trees soon clothed with 

 fine dark green foliage, but even the soil appeared to be 

 changed, and, to the depth of three or four inches, became 

 friable and dry. How this change was accomplished, whether 

 by the acids resulting from the decomposition of the grass, or 

 by the protection afforded to the soil, I do not pretend to say, 

 but I can speak confidently to the fact. 



" Effect. The increase of crop obtained through the agency 

 of this manure, in the instance above alluded to, was at least 

 5 cwt. per acre. 



" Cost. The cost of this method of manuring is much less 

 felt on a weedy estate than on a clean one, because on the 

 former it almost supersedes the necessity for weeding. The 

 principal item of cost is the carriage of the grass. I have, 

 therefore, restricted the use of mana grass to places within one 

 hundred trees of the spot where the grass is grown. Under 



