Coffee Cultivation* 299 



of any extent indispensably require considerable motive power, and 

 water power is always to be preferred, as it is the cheapest. 



In soil which is not as moist as that of Soconusco, it will probably 

 be necessary to employ irrigation, in which case it would be still more 

 necessary to locate the coffee plantation near some stream. 



8. SITES FOR BUILDING PURPOSES. 



It is desirable that the piece of ground selected for a coffee plan- 

 tation should have a site suitable for the erection of the buildings 

 required. If the ground be level there will be no difficulty in this re- 

 spect. In hilly ground a level place should be selected for the drying- 

 yard, in order to avoid the expense of levelling the ground to make a 

 yard. 



In a plantation situated on level ground the buildings should always 

 be erected in the centre of the plantation, in order that no part of it 

 may be far distant from the place where the coffee is to be prepared 

 for the market. In sloping ground the buildings should be erected on 

 the lowest part of it, in order that the carts or animals employed in the 

 transportation of the fruit from the field to the place of preparation 

 may go down laden and go up unladen, which will facilitate the labor, 

 to the economizing of time and money. 



The situation of the buildings will depend on the special conditions 

 of each locality ; but, as a general rule, it should be determined by the 

 situation of the water, unless there be some means of conducting this 

 to some other place which is more suitable. 



V. 



COFFEE CULTIVATION. 



It is my purpose here to set forth with as much clearness and con- 

 ciseness as may be possible the fundamental principles of modern 

 coffee-culture, to the end that even those who have never seen a coffee- 

 tree, may be able to undertake the raising of coffee with a good prob- 

 ability of success. 



I will consider at greater length because of the important bearing 

 which they have on the success of the undertaking the questions 

 whether or not coffee-trees should be planted in the shade, and what 

 distance apart they ought to be planted ; discussing afterwards the other 

 points directly connected with the cultivation of coffee and its prepara- 

 tion for the market. 



I will make occasional references to the methods followed in the 

 cultivation of coffee in Ceylon ; for I have observed that there is a 

 great similarity between them and the methods that have given the best 

 results here. The excellence of Ceylon coffee is well known. In the 



