ZTime for pruning 333 



3. As the saw injures the bark around the cut surface, both the 

 bark and the trunk of the tree should be trimmed off with the knife. 

 When this is done, the wound heals more quickly and the bark grows 

 better. 



4. When the branches are pruned with the knife, the branch is to 

 be held firmly with one hand, and with the other a sharp, quick blow 

 is to be given it with the knife, from above downward. If the branch 

 should not be severed at the first blow, this is to be repeated, bending 

 the branch a little, but not so as to split it. If it should split, all the 

 split part must be cut off. 



5. The branch should always be cut close to its root. 



6. When a secondary branch is pruned, this must be done very 

 near its root, especially when it grows under another that has been 

 already cut off. 



7. To prevent many young shoots from growing in the place where 

 a branch has been cut off, a piece of the bark is to be cut out at the 

 top of the incision. 



h. Time of Pruning. Some planters prune the coffee-tree when it 

 is two years old, or before it has borne fruit. It seems preferable, 

 however, to prune it after it has reached maturity, that is, after it has 

 given its first crop, for in this way it is not forced to produce a large 

 crop, which would exhaust it. 



Tapping should be done after the season of blossoming is over; for 

 if it were done while the plant is in blossom the sap would go to pro- 

 duce blossoms and fruit, instead of strengthening and increasing the 

 branches. 



Pruning should begin immediately after the gathering of the crop 

 and should be finished before the plant has begun to blossom. 



Pruning is so essential to the success of a plantation that it should 

 be suspended only for the four or five days during which the plant is 

 flowering. It should then be performed with great care, so as not to 

 destroy the flower, which contains the germ of the fruit; but it should 

 not be altogether stopped. 



After the flowering is over, the branches that have many blossoms 

 should be left, and those that are exhausted and have few should be 

 cut off. 



The months of March, April, and May are the best months for 

 pruning in Soconusco. 



D. Cultivation of Coffee in Ceylon. Coffee culture in Ceylon is much 

 more complicated and costly than it is in Soconusco, as, in addition to 

 the operations already described, with the modifications indicated when 

 speaking of each of them, it is necessary to perform others also which 

 are not customary in Soconusco, and the necessity for which has not 

 yet beon felt. These labors are the following: 



