MANURES AND MANURING. 77 



yard manure and bone dust, making a splendid compost. 

 The former is generally composed of horse, cattle and 

 sheep manure, wood ashes and general sweepings. 

 The best results have been obtained from this latter 

 form, and if sufficient quantities of the first substance 

 could always be obtainable, readily and cheaply, it is 

 without exception, the best yet discovered for coffee 

 manure. Bone dust, when used alone fails, though 

 valuable as a berry producer, to give that dark green 

 leaf and growth of strong young wood which is 

 absolutely necessary to produce abundantly. 



The manner of applying manure is not the same in 

 all countries or cases and no manure should be put more 

 than one foot below the surface of the ground, nor less 

 than eighteen inches from the stem of the coffee bush. 

 On flat land, where there is no danger of wash, the 

 manure may be spread over the surface and hoed into a 

 depth of from nine to twelve inches, or, better still, a 

 square hole may be cut between each four shrubs and the 

 manure buried in it ; while on slopes it is customary to dig 

 a hole above each bush. For bulky manures it may be 

 two feet long by one and a half feet wide and one foot deep, 

 but for concentrated manures these dimensions must be 

 considerably reduced. The holes should be filled up with 

 any prunings of other vegetable matter at hand and then 

 covered down firmly with the loose top-soil and the new 

 earth from the hole should be spread around the stem of 

 the neighboring tree to protect its roots. Ordinary man- 

 uring is sometimes supplemented by other methods of 

 improving the soil, one of which is to loosen it by driv- 

 ing a long bar or a manure-fork deeply into the ground 

 and then prying up the earth without turning it over. 

 Another operation is that known as "mulching" or 

 "ground thatching," which consists in simply covering 



