io6 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



Vermin. 



Rat coffee. 



resources of the planter. But, then, fortunately they are 

 powerful agents in the prevention and cure of blights, for a 

 vigorous tree may throw off a blight under which a weakly 

 one would wither and die. 



Rats and mice when plentiful are very injurious to the 

 crops. The fruit of the coffee consists of two seeds en- 

 veloped in a sweetish pulp of which these destructive 

 animals are immoderately fond. In crop time one will often 

 see parchment coffee on the ground under the trees, and 

 this is usually called " rat coffee," for the rats have eaten the 

 pulp and dropped the beans enveloped in their parchment. 

 The rats and mice may be caught in traps or poisoned, but 

 perhaps the best way is to keep a good dog that has been 

 taught to catch such vermin. 



Gathering 

 the crops. 



Advantages 

 of Liberian 

 coffee. 



Ripe berries 

 only to be 

 gathered. 



The crop 

 season. 



Character- 

 istics of 

 Liberian 

 coffee. 



Crops. — In the case of Arabian coffee, as soon as the 

 berries become red they must be gathered, for otherwise 

 there will be a great loss to the crops, as the fruit does not 

 remain on the trees for any length of time, but falls to the 

 ground. The reverse is the case, however, in regard to 

 Liberian Coffee, for in this species the ripe berries remain 

 on the trees and they can be gathered at the planter's leisure. 

 This is an immense advantage in places where sufficient 

 labour cannot be obtained to gather in the crops in a short 

 time. The berries are usually picked from the trees ; but, in 

 Arabia, cloths are spread beneath the trees and the berries 

 are shaken into them. This is a preferable way to gather 

 the crops when it can be employed, for by it none but ripe 

 berries are obtained, and unripe fruit will deteriorate the 

 quality of the coffee. The crop time varies in different coun- 

 tries, but coffee is ripe at some period in the second half of 

 the year, August, September and October being the most 

 frequent months. Liberian coffee, however, is much later 

 as the full crop does not often come in until December and 

 then goes on to January and February in the next year. 

 But this species is very prolific, and it bears a few berries 



