42 PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURAL REVIEW. 



favorable, the cacao, abaca, and coconut growing districts of the 

 Archipelago are perhaps better adapted than other sections to 

 the culture of robusta coffee. 



CULTURE. 



Propagation. The place selected for seedbed and nursery 

 should be well drained, with a loamy soil, the richer in humus 

 the better. A light bamboo frame should be erected above the 

 nursery plot about 2.5 meters high, and covered with grass or 

 split bamboo to provide about half shade. The land should be 

 spaded thoroughly to a depth of 30 centimeters, and all stones, 

 roots, etc., removed. One meter is a convenient width for seed 

 and plant beds. 



The seeds should be sown broadcast, not too thick, covered 

 with not more than 1 centimeter of earth, and then watered 

 thoroughly. Hereafter the seedbed should be well watered from 

 time to time whenever the soil appears dry. Frequent light 

 sprinklings that do not allow the water to penetrate more than 

 a few millimeters below the surface are harmful rather than 

 beneficial both in the seedbed and the nursery, in that they 

 encourage a shallow root formation. 



As soon as the first leaves are fully expanded the seedlings 

 should be transplanted to the nursery beds, which should be 

 prepared like the seedbed. If the land is poor it is well to spade 

 in -a liberal quantity of well-decayed manure or compost. The 

 plants should be taken up carefully, the taproot nipped off with 

 the thumb nail, and then transplanted with the aid of a pointed 

 stick or small dibber spacing them 10 to 15 centimeters apart 

 each way. In doing this care should be taken that the roots 

 are not doubled up in the hole and that the soil is well packed 

 around them. More plants should never be removed at one time 

 from the seedbed than can be conveniently transplanted before 

 they show signs of wilting, and the dug plants should not be 

 left exposed until the roots dry out. The plants should be 

 thoroughly watered before and after transplanting, and the 

 beds kept free from weeds and watered as often as necessary. 



Clearing and planting. Wherever possible, the land to be 

 planted in coffee should be stumped, and plowed once or twice, so 

 that after the plants have been set out animal-drawn cultivators 

 can be used to keep down the weeds. Thus the cost of weeding 

 is lessened during the early years of the plantation while the 

 plants are small. If plowing is not feasible holes 1 meter in 

 diameter and at least 30 centimeters deep should be grubbed 

 where the plants are to be set. 



