Jt Jel 10) CO 183 Bl TRIB EIB; LY 17 
Coffee is known to be a lover of rather deep fertile soils containing a sufficient quantity 
of vegetable matter so as to be highly retentive of moisture, yet capable of either excellent 
artificial drainage or naturally well drained. The tree is also a lover of that moist humid 
condition of atmosphere and surface soil which is the result of either partial or fairly com- 
plete shade. These conditions are found among all the hill areas of Cuba. A number of 
different kinds of soil varying from a rather heavy clay to the much preferred sandy clay 
loam have been used for coffee production in Cuba, and all have given fairly good results. 
Experience has shown, however, that the deep clay loam situated in the valleys lying 
between the hills of the three coffee districts of Cuba is the soil to be sought when heavy 
producing, long lived, healthy coffee trees are to be grown. The majority of the soils 
upon which coffee is grown here are dark in color, bordering upon black, although in some 
districts the red hill soils are used, and at one time a very considerable coffee industry was 
situated upon the red, level lands covering the western portions of Havana Province and 
the eastern part of Pinar del Rio, with Artemisa and Bainoa as centers. The coffee 
plantations were at that time divided into small groves by means of rows of royal palms, 
and these are still visible as the traveler goes toward Pinar del Rio or Matanzas on the 
railroad lines diverging from Havana. Sugar cane and pineapples, however, have taken 
the place of coffee in this district. As an exception to the general run of lands upon which 
coffee is produced here, can be cited a small area of grayish-white soil located in the 
Yateras district of south-central Oriente Province, the groves on which have proved to be 
among the longest lived and heaviest yielding of the Island. Explanation has been sought 
of the extremely favorable results secured in this soil, and further interest has been excited 
on account of the fact that bodies of land apparently precisely similarly located on the 
southern slopes of the mountains of the same Province have proved absolutely valueless 
for coffee production, but up to the present time no satisfactory explanation has been 
obtained of the peculiar value of the soil in this particular locality. 
Coffee is never planted upon anything but virgin soil, and by virgin soil in Cuba is 
understood only that which is covered by forest; the higher the trees, the greater their 
diameter, the more thickly they are distributed over the ground and the heavier the mass 
of underbrush and shrubbery growing between, the better is the soil regarded and the 
more lasting is its fertility. The first step, therefore, in the planting of a coffee grove 
is, naturally, the felling of the forest covering the ground which is going to be used. 
This is done to various degrees. Inasmuch as coffee is believed to require more or less 
shade for its protection and fullest development, in some instances only the underbrush 
and smallest trees in the forest are removed, these being piled in rows sufficiently far 
apart so as not to interfere too greatly with the planting of the young coffee bushes, 
and in the shade furnished by the remaining forest the coffee is planted. This custom, 
however, is by no means as prevalent as is that of felling the entire forest, the trees and 
brush thus cut down being left to dry for a sufficient time so as to burn fairly completely, 
the smaller trees and whatever brush remains being then piled in windrows, leaving only 
the larger, heavier trunks on the ground. These remain there, and in the course of years 
decay, affording a certain amount of humus and always conserving humidity in the soil 
immediately under and around them. 
In the land thus prepared plantings are made, in the case of large areas the fresh 
coffee bean itself being used as seed, while in smaller areas where the number of plants 
required is not great, young coffee plants themselves are used with which to establish 
the plantations. In many instances these young plants are obtained in old coffee plan- 
tations where the berries have fallen to the ground and have sprouted of their own 
accord, but among the more progressive planters seed beds are established, only selected 
berries from trees whose productivity has been demonstrated during preceding years 
being used from which to grow the seedlings. The preparation of a seed bed is a matter 
of some care. The soil itself should be deep and friable, and should be well forked over, 
thus providing at least a foot of well-worked, finely subdivided earth in which the young 
plants can develop readily their root systems. In the ground thus prepared, the fresh 
coffee berries are planted, covered lightly with fine soil, and, if possible, means of watering 
