COFFEE PLANTERS’ MANUAL. “41 
‘your trees be old and their roots exposed, you will 
“do well to throw what you take out of the holes over 
the exposed roots. The loose earth about them and 
“the cover from the blazing sun will serve as well as 
a manuring to the fields so treated: and when in 
2egourse of time it washes back, the hole is there to 
‘catch it up. 
~ Tur Brartne in full of the coffee tree begins in 
‘the third year from its being planted out. Then the 
‘tree generally yields its first full crop. It gives what 
‘is called a maiden crop in the second year. This 
sometimes amounts to a considerable quantity. I have 
‘known estates yield from 7 to 9 cwts. per acre in the 
‘second year. This is unusual however, and is gener- 
ally the result of particularly good soil and a par- 
ticularly favorable season. low estates with’ good 
soil yield as a rule a much larger first crop than do 
the higher altitudes. Yet from a field on a planta- 
tion at an elevation of 4,000 feet above the level of 
+he sea, I once had 9 cwts. per acre at 2 years and 
2 months old. It was good soil and in a dry climate. 
A high elevation combined with a dry climate gener- 
ally bears well. A high and wet climate on the 
other hand sends a great deal of its growth to wood. 
The sap that would otherwise nourish the berry goes 
to a considerable extent to feed the branch. This 
tendency to excessive production of wood requires to 
be kept in check by judicious handling. 
' THE BLossoMING is the most beautiful sight that 
can greet the planter’s gaze. For weeks before it 
opens, he has seen the buds peering out irom every 
‘branch, studding the tree all over lke jevels in’ a 
casket. He has watched their spear-like form push- 
ing out into longer spikes until ready to burst: and 
then he rises’: some fine morning to find they have 
~opene? during the night, and his fields are covered 
with full-blown flowers, waite as flakes of driven snow, 
toading the air with the most fragrant perfume. 
This is also an anxious period, and he watches his 
trees with care till these blossoms set. No work is 
allowed which may shake the tree or rub off the 
flower. Pruning is stopped, and weeding and all works 
which would bring the laborers in contact with the 
blossomed fields, This is a precaution within the 
planter’s power. But he has no control over the ele- 
ments, and must be watchful still, for too much rain 
‘at this period may wash off a blossom, while too 
much sun may burn it off. The same great Being, 
however, who ‘‘tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,” 
moderates the elements to suit the blossoming season. 
‘And we generally find, for a few days about this 
‘time, close, cloudy, and hazy weather, dense fogs fre- 
