^Transplanting 319 



C. Transplanting with the roots free from earth. 



D. Transplanting in slips. 



E. Transplanting in Ceylon. 



Each of the methods of transplanting mentioned, and the time for 

 performing it, will be considered separately. 



A. Time for Transplanting. Transplanting is to be begun as soon 

 as the rainy season has set in. The trees which are transplanted at 

 the beginning of the rainy season will have the advantage of the rains 

 during the whole of the season, and will take firmer root and thrive 

 better than those that are transplanted in the middle, or at the end of 

 the season. 



JS. Transplanting with the Earth adhering to the Roots, Taking up 

 in their order the different points relating to this manner of transplant- 

 ing, the following will now be considered: 



a. Advantages of transplanting with the earth adhering to the 

 roots. 



b. Method of transplanting with the earth adhering to the roots. 



c. Quantity of earth adhering to the roots. 



d. Size of the plants at the time of transplanting. 



e. Pruning the root of the plant in transplanting. 



Each of these points will be considered separately. 



a. Advantages of Transplanting with the Earth adhering to the Roots. 

 Planting should be done in this manner whenever it is possible, as 

 the plant then scarcely suffers any disturbance consequent to trans- 

 planting. It has been observed that when trees already bearing fruit 

 have been transplanted with the earth adhering to the roots, the tree 

 has suffered so little that it has not lost even its fruit. 



To plant coffee with the earth adhering to the roots it will be nec- 

 essary to have the nursery very near the plantation, as otherwise the 

 transportation of the plants would be a slow and costly operation, and 

 the earth would fall away in transporting the plants to a distance, 

 leaving the roots bare. The safest way, therefore, is first to lay out 

 the nursery, and when the plants are of a suitable size to transplant, 

 which, in Soconusco, is generally at the end of a year and a half, or two 

 years, to transplant them with the earth adhering to the roots. If this 

 be done it is certain that a year after transplanting the plant will yield 

 its first crop. 



Transplanting with the earth adhering to the roots is more expen- 

 sive, and requires more hands than when done with the roots bare. 

 For these reasons, in Ceylon, coffee is transplanted in the former and 

 not in the latter manner. 



b. Manner of Transplanting with the Earth adhering to the Roots. 

 When the ground is hilly, transplanting should be begun in the lower 

 part of the plantation, and from thence continued upward. 



