PREFACE 
TO THE 
COFFEE PLANTER’S MANUAL, 
(Hirst Edition. ) 
WuHeEn, at the request of the Proprietor of the Ceyloa 
Observer, I commenced writing the Manual, it was 
with the double intention that it should be published 
first in ‘‘ Ferguson’s Directory,” and again in pamphlet 
form—as a sort of vade-mecwm that any Superintendent, 
Assistant, or Conductor, could without inconvenience 
carry in his coat-pocket, to the field or elsewhere. 
Both these objects demanded conciseness, and I fixed 
upon thirty pages as the probable quantity that would 
be convenient for the Directory, and sufficient to give 
a cursory description of the whole art and practice of 
coffee-planting. ‘To confine my remarks as nearly as 
possible to those limits, I was obliged to touch but 
slightly on the various processes explained. Those 
considered most important, and those least likely to 
occur naturally to the mind of the beginner, received 
most attention. Compress as I would, however, the 
work has extended to forty pages. It has met with 
guch a favourable reception at the hands of experienced 
practical planters, that, in reproducing it in this form, 
I feel bound in deference to the suggestions of some 
of these friends to amplify somewhat my remarks on 
Lining, Roads, Manuring, Cisterns, and Estimates. 
Tun AUTHOR OF THE MANUAL. 
THE PyBLISHERS have to add, by way of explanation, 
that the principal portions of the information added 
to the Manual—and especially the Summary of practical 
opinions on Manuring—have been’ included by the 
