COFFEE PLANTERS’ MANUAL. 25 
or rag, or any soft substance may be used for the 
purpose. I have known plantain fibre used very suc- 
cessfully. It is soft and strong, and abounds in a wild 
state in many jungles, chiefly in the low country 
however. 
Supeiyine should be carried out whenever you have 
seasonable weather after the first planting, until all 
vacancies have been filled up, and the plants are 
growing. You may sometimes require two or three 
supplyings before all the plants take root, especially 
in dry or uncertain seasons. Ina moist climate or 
‘season, supplies succeed much better than in dry wea- 
ther. But whether the seasons be wet, dry, or vari- 
able, this operation should be persevered in till your 
field be complete, for nothing offends the eye more 
than a patchy field—or a field with clumps cf good 
coffee interspersed with blanks. It is besides not eco- 
nomical, as you have to weed and keep clean the vacant 
spaces which give you no return, as regularly and 
frequently as the planted portion. Strong, healthy 
plants or stumps should be selected for supplies. 
HANDLING or searching, systematically, is a work 
that from this time onward, till the trees be in crop, 
will claim your attention. This consists in taking off 
suckers, gormandisers, cross branches and extra or 
unnecessary shoots—especially all that grow within a 
span of the stem. If this be regularly done while 
the tree is young, or before it come into bearing, the 
work of pruning afterwards will be comparatively 
‘easy, as you will have a regular symmetrical tree to 
work upon, and will not be driven to the necessity 
of cutting and training it back into shape, for it will 
never have left the shape which nature intended it 
to have. The coffee tree has a s'rong tendency to be 
exuberant in the production of wood at this early 
stage of its existence; and if neglected then, and 
allowed to grow as it likes, it will force out shoots at 
every eye far in excess of what is necessary to pro- 
duce crop, and such superfluous production will reduce 
the bearing power of the tree. 
Buiiprines. —Harly in the 3rd year you should select 
sites for your store and pulping-house. ‘lhese are 
frequently built under one root ; but, whether in one 
building or detached, both will be equally required 
this season. No time, therefore, should be lost in 
their erection. Like bungalow and lines, they may 
be made either of wattle-and-daub, if intended only 
for a crop or two, or if permanent they may: be of 
wood, brick, or stone, and tiled, shingled ‘or iron 
roofed, and of a size and style dependent on the purse 
and taste of the proprietor. If he be wealthy, he 
will most likely desire to have his buildings complete 
c 
