Edel I0; GUTS TRIE BY 19 
should be available. The seed can be sown quite thickly in these beds, in which case 
when the young plants have reached the age of six to eight months they can be 
removed, care being taken not to break the tap root, and transplanted to another larger 
area of well prepared soil, there being placed in rows about six inches apart in the row 
and with rows twelve to eighteen inckes apart—here to be left till the plant has reached 
the age of eighteen to twenty months. At this time the young plants will have from 
three to four pairs of leaves, and will be ready for transplanting to their final position 
in the coffee plantation being made. 
The distance at which the young plants should be placed in the final plantation is 
one which has been the cause of considerable discussion among our growers. Theory 
indicates that the greater the distance between the trees the more room will be given 
them for development and the greater will be the resulting yield of each tree, but prac- 
tical experience, while acknowledging the truth of this theory, has demonstrated that a 
profit can be made by sacrificing the maximum yield of each tree with a corresponding 
gain in economy of plantation up-keep. The result has been that distances of from 
four to five and a half feet from tree to tree has been demonstrated to be the best from 
an economic agricultural standpoint, the choice of distances within the limits just men- 
tioned being determined almost entirely by the character of the soil upon which the planta- 
tion is established—in poorer soils the shorter distances being the rule, while in richer 
lands, where the life of the plantation will be greater and where the development of each 
tree will be fuller, the longer distances prevailing. It is found that by planting with the 
trees separated as indicated heavy crops are obtained, and the dense shade resulting from 
the coffee trees and from the growth planted to shade them limits to a great extent the 
possibility of the growth of weeds and other objectionable vegetation, thus tending toward 
economy in the expenses required for cultivation. 
The shade that is required in all young coffee plantations is variously provided 
among the growers of this product in Cuba. Almost invariably as soon as the land is 
prepared, corn is planted and its quick growth serves as immediate shade for the young 
seedlings. Among the corn either plantains or bananas are set out at regular distances, 
and among these in many cases trees of different kinds are planted. The class of tree 
that is selected is almost invariably quick growing, furnishing sufficient shade at the end 
of four or five years so that the plantation at that time can be relatively independent of 
other shade. The choice of corn and plantains or bananas is, of course, indicated by the 
fact that the product of these plants furnishes an income during the period in which the 
coffee bushes are reaching the size and age at which production commences. This usually 
begins at about three to three and a half years, though, of course, the quantity produced 
at first is small. During the next two years, however, production rapidly increases, and 
at the age of five or six years is heavy, reaching perhaps a maximum at an average age 
of seven to eight years. Practically uniform production is secured thereafter for a period 
of six or seven years more, so that generally speaking production does not begin to 
diminish until from the thirteenth to the fifteenth year, after which, depending, of course, 
on the character of the land and the care that is given the plantation, production will 
continue on a diminishing scale, in some cases till the grove attains the age of thirty to 
forty years. Groves of this age, of course, are the exception rather than the rule. 
The cultivation required in a coffee grove is of a rather simple order. Usually the 
undulating and broken character of the land prohibits the use of modern agricultural 
tools and implements, even were it possible to employ these among the roots and stumps 
left after the original clearing of the forest. Cultivation, therefore, is limited to that 
which can be given by the machete and hoe. As in the case of cane cultivation, great care 
- during the first two years of the plantation’s life results in an almost total absence of 
objectionable foreign growth thereafter. In all Cuba’s forests the seed of a variety of 
morning glory has been distributed by birds. The result is that after the forest has 
been felled and burned the ground is almost immediately covered by the heavy tangled 
mass of vines springing up from these seeds. Fortunately, practically all the seeds of 
this character in the soil will sprout at the same time. The removal, therefore, of this 
erowth of vines will practically free the agriculturist of the necessity of further clean- 
