Distance Between tbe plants* 303 



is to plant them three varas apart, from tree to tree and from furrow to 

 furrow. Some time ago this distance began to be regarded as too 

 short, and plantations were laid out with the trees three and a half, 

 four, and even four and a half varas apart. Afterwards a reaction set 

 in, and there is now a tendency to shorten these distances. 



I think that the distance apart at which trees should be planted de- 

 pends on the zone, altitude, temperature, and kind of land selected for 

 the plantation. In a climate and soil favorable to their fullest develop- 

 ment, the trees should be planted farther apart than when they are 

 planted where the conditions are less propitious. 



The question of distance is also intimately connected with that of 

 the pruning of the trees, as by means of this operation the trees may 

 be considerably reduced in bulk, and may therefore be planted even a 

 shorter distance apart than in localities more favorable for coffee, as 

 will be seen farther on. This question, however, will be better under- 

 stood and a correct decision more probably reached after a considera- 

 tion of the data to be given farther on. 



B. Number of Plants in each Cuerda. A cuerda of land, which is the 

 unit of agrarian measurement in Soconusco, and which contains twenty- 

 five yards square, or six hundred and twenty-five square * varas, will 

 contain, in round numbers, thirty-nine trees, planted four varas apart 

 on all sides; planted three varas apart, from plant to plant, and four 

 yards from furrow to furrow, the cord will contain fifty-two trees; 

 planted three and a half varas apart on one side and three varas on the 

 other, the cuerda will contain fifty-nine trees ; planted three yards apart 

 on each side, it will contain sixty-nine trees; and one hundred and 

 four if planted two varas apart from plant to plant and three from fur- 

 row to furrow. Planted in this way there will be a square, or a rec- 

 tangular parallelogram, between each four plants. 



In some plantations the system is followed, when the trees are 

 planted farther apart than three varas on each side, of planting an ad- 

 ditional tree in the centre of each of the squares or parallelograms 

 formed by the plants. 



The results of that manner of planting are the following: When the 

 trees are planted four yards apart on each side, each cuerda will contain, 

 planting a tree in the centre of each square, twenty-seven additional 

 trees ; that is to say, a total of sixty-six trees instead of thirty-nine. If 

 the same thing is done when the trees are planted four yards apart on 

 one side and three on the other, the cuerda will contain thirty-eight ad- 

 ditional trees, or a total of ninety, instead of fifty-two. If the trees 

 are planted three yards and a half from furrow to furrow and three 

 yards from plant to plant, the cuerda will contain forty-six additional 

 trees, which gives a total of one hundred and five trees. In squares 

 1 Yard is used here for a Mexican vara. 



