COFFEE. 



Ha- plants an* thus tiilf^n from the ground, it must be moistened 

 to make the earth adhesive. 



Planting the coffee trees. The plants, which, after the above 

 operation are called " ball plants," are then placed in a bamboo 

 wicker frame, and are carefully carried by two men to the place 

 where they are to be put into the ground. They are then taken 

 out of the frame and placed in the holes next to the pickets. The 

 pickets are removed, and the plant is fixed upright ; the leaf sur- 

 rounding the ball is made loose, but not taken away ; the planter 

 presses the plant down with his hand and fills up the hole with 

 fine loose earth, and the business of planting the coffee tree is 

 finished. 



Planting the Dadap tree. This is a species of Erythrina, pro- 

 bably j&. indica, or E. arborescens ; that used for the purpose in 

 the West Indies is E. Corallodendrum. In Java, as soon as the 

 coffee is planted, the operation of planting the dadap tree is com- 

 menced. The best sort of dadap comes from Serp or Mienyak ; 

 it is smooth and broad-leaved, and shoots up quickly. Thick 

 young stems are chosen, about three feet long, and the lower part 

 is pointed off. If the dadap is moist or juicy, it should be cut 

 twenty -four hours before it is planted. The dadap is planted uni- 

 formly by measuring the cane in the same way as the coffee itself. 

 Between every two rows of coffee one of dadap is planted, not on 

 a line with the coffee plants, but alternately with them ; thus, if 

 the coffee is eight feet by eight, the dadap is sixteen by sixteen. 

 The dadap is planted to the depth of a foot, with somewhat of a 

 westerly inclination, in order that the morning sun may fall on a 

 larger surface of the stick. The ground must be stiffly trodden 

 round the bottom of the stem, and the upper part of it should 

 have some kind of leaf tightly bound around it to prevent the sap 

 from escaping. When the coffee and dadap plants have thus been 

 put out, every fifth day the young plantation should be carefully 

 inspected, and a picket placed wherever there is a failure, as a 

 mark to the planter that a new plant is there required. This ope- 

 ration of replacing failures is carried on all through the wet season, 

 and the dudaps which have not succeeded are at the same time 

 changed. 



Keeping up the estate. In the first six months after planting, 

 the estate should be cleaned each fortnight with the hoe ; the 

 ground being well moved and the weeds taken out. Those weeds 

 which are too close to the plants to be removed in this manner, 

 must be pulled out with the hand. When the plantation is thus 

 wholly or partially cleaned, the earth must be taken off the weeds, 

 and they must be collected and thrown on the pathways. 



The weeding in this manner gives at first a great deal of trouble, 

 but it is most advantageous in the long run, as the weeds are thus 

 easily kept down. 



Great c-aiv must be taken to do away with an old custom of 

 bun ing tin- \\eeds in large holes on the estates. It conduces to 



