312 Coffee Culture on tbe Soutbern Coast ot Cbiapas. 



have a thriving appearance, and will be in good condition for trans- 

 planting. 



I think the system of forming the plantation from plants grown 

 from seed the best, however. 



G. Nursery of Plants for Selling. When there is no nursery at 

 hand, in the locality where a plantation is to be formed, it is necessary 

 to make one; this will require in some localities as long as two years. 

 To avoid this delay it will be better to buy the plants already old 

 enough to be transplanted. 



When these are scarce, as is generally the case here, a very high 

 price must sometimes be paid for them. Thus it is that nurseries are 

 sometimes formed for the purpose of raising plants for sale; and this 

 is sometimes a very lucrative business. In Guatemala coffee plants in 

 good condition for planting have brought as much as $40 per thou- 

 sand. In Soconusco, plants in good condition have been sold as high 

 as $15 per thousand. Plants that have grown up wild have been sold 

 here at prices ranging from fifty cents to $5 per thousand. 



As the total cost per thousand of raising plants from seed does not 

 exceed $2.50, it will at once be seen that the business of keeping nur- 

 series for the sale of young plants is a profitable one, and at the same 

 time one by which coffee cultivation is favored and facilitated. 



H. Nurseries in Ceylon. In Ceylon a piece of virgin land of the 

 best kind, level if possible, and near the water for convenience in 

 irrigation, is chosen for the nursery. This is cleared; the trunks of 

 all but the largest trees are removed. The ground is dug up to a 

 depth of nine or ten inches, and then laid out in ridges, with narrow 

 paths between them. 



Coffee in the hull, generally taken from the tanks after it has been 

 pulled, is used for seed ; it is planted in furrows about six inches apart. 



In planting the furrows a cord, stretched from end to end of the 

 piece of ground intended for the nursery, is used for measurement. 

 An opening an inch or two in depth is made the whole length of the 

 furrow, and the seeds are deposited in it an inch apart, and covered 

 lightly with earth of the best quality. This done, the cord is taken to 

 the next furrow, where the same operation is repeated. 



The necessary drains to prevent the rains from injuring the plants 

 are then made. 



The young plant soon appears above the ground, and at the end 

 of a year it is ready to transplant. 



When the plants spring up very close together, some of them are 

 taken up and planted in the next ridge. In this operation care must 

 be taken that the tap root of the young plant be not bent ; to avoid 

 this a stick is used to make the hole which is to receive the plant. 

 Care must also be taken that no hollow space remain about the root, 



