PEODTJCTION AT OTHER POINTS. 159 



as a test, saying that wherever it grows the climate is suitable for coSee. 

 There seems to be no doubt that the coffee will endure more cold than the bam- 

 boo, so that the latter fails to serve as an indication of the northern limit of the 

 coffee. And for this reason, both the coffee and the orange will grow at a 

 height so cold as to prevent their having fruit. But as the Southern summer 

 has a genuine hot-country temperature, the coffee would bear, as the orange 

 does, in the season, if it could be carried through the winter. 



This is the crucial point. Even in the plantations below the frost-line the 

 coffee suffers at times from an extraordinary visitation of frost, or from the cold 

 ' produced by a hail-storm, and it is generally admitted that a frost will kill it. 

 On the other hand, it is said to grow, in peculiar circumstances, above the frost- 

 line. Here in Bogota, for instance (temperature 60° F.), it will grow, without 

 bearing, in the open air about the houses, but it will not live out on the plain 

 where there are frosts so heavy as to often kill the potato. This is merely an 

 illustration of the fact, well understood in the North, that a frost, like a dew- 

 fall, and unlike a freeze, can be guarded against by a slight covering — the shade 

 of a tree or building often serving to protect the vegetation in its vicinity while 

 that more exposed is blighted. Now it, is deemed essential that the coffee-plant 

 should be shaded. The usual plan is to plant the coffee and the plantain 

 together, so that the latter, by its rapid growth, may furnish shade before the 

 coffee needs it. Some prefer to plant, also, certain fruit- trees to take the place 

 of the plantain at a later date. The excessive heat of the summer in the Gulf 

 States would certainly call for a liberal shading of the plantations. The ques- 

 tion then arises as to whether the shade provided for summer would serve to 

 protect the plants from frost in the winter. As I have no personal knowledge 

 of the severity of the winter or of the character and habits of the trees available 

 for this purpose, I cannot form even an opinion as to the probability of the suc- 

 cess of the experiment. The question would still present itself whether it 

 might not be feasible to protect the plants by keeping the ground wet, which is 

 said to be sufficient to save the potatoes here, or by coverings of straw, or by 

 smoldering fires raising clouds of smoke on exceptionally cold nights. I believe 

 that the large profits of the coffee culture would warrant even these measures 

 if they were found to serve the purpose. 



The best crops that I have seen have been on a rich black loam, too rocky to 

 be worked with the plow, and on the slopes of ravines. It is said that the plant 

 dies out in a few years on clay soil. But the Liberian plant is said to flourish 

 on such soil. It belongs, however, to the very hottest of climates. I attribute 

 the better condition of the plants on sloping ground to the fact of their being 

 more shaded. If the shedding of water more readily has anything to do with 

 it, that could be effected on level ground by proper drainage. It is generally 

 held that the coffee will not flourish on wet ground, though the best plants I 

 ever saw were within a few feet of an unfailing stream. 



The fact is that agriculture in tropical countries is done in such a slovenly 

 manner ; so few experiments are tried, and those few so carelessly ; there is 

 such a lack of accurate observation and comparison of notes, as well as of enter- 

 prise and sound judgment, that it is difficult to arrive at broad and accurate 

 generalizations on many of these subjects. As a rule, each man attributes to 



