‘THE COFFEE PLANTER OF CEYLON.” 65 
The cost of the leading manures and composts, in- 
cluding application, is given; but for the detailed 
figures we refer to the work. On> result is clear: 
in addition to £25 to £39 an acre, which (including 
buildings) an estate of 200 acres will cost by the 
time it is brought into full bearimg, an annual ex- 
penditure of from £1 10s. to £3 103. an acre should 
be calculated on for trenching and manuring. Trench- 
ing, closed and open, is described, as we'l as modes 
of loosening the soil, applying swampy soil, &c. But 
we have dwelt long enoug», thdugh not too long, on 
this important subject of mmanuring, the great ques- 
tion on which the prosperity and permanency of cofiee 
estates depend. Knowing the large direct benetits de- 
rived from a complete system of paths and carb roads 
through an “estate (as well as the indirect benefits 
from the loosening of the soil in making them), Mr. 
Sabonadiére strongly advises the thorough roading of 
a property as one of the earliest operations, and he 
is doubtless right, although even the sacrifice of coftee 
bushes on old estates is as nothing compared with 
tke benefits compared by paths and cart roads for 
which they are sacrificed. In glancing over the book 
some curious facts strike us. In ordinary farming, 
cost of seed is an important and ever-recurring item. 
In the case of coffee-planting, the quantity and cost 
are, we should say, the smallest that can possibly 
occur. Five bushels of parchment coffee at the most 
will be sufficient for a nursery yielding plants tor 
100 acres. So that the equivalent of less than 2 cwis 
of clean coffee, value say £6, would suffive to yield 
plants for an average estate of 200 acres. In the 
estimates we see that the cost of plants is taken at 
£100 for 200 acres in one case, at £45 for 100 acres 
in the other, or 63. per thousand. We believe the 
cost of good plants in Dimbula is now Ss. per thou- 
sand. But, even taking grubs and the necessity of 
supplies into account, the cost of plants is about the 
smallest item of all. In sugar planting and other 
planting pursuits, the case is very different. ‘The 
instructions for lining, holing, and planting are full 
and precise. The importance of keeping estates clean 
from the first is shewn by the astounding fact men- 
tioned by Mr. Sabonadiére, that if weeding costs 3s. 
per acre per annum, then the sum expended on only 
800 estates was £288,000 annually. Now the sum 
cannot be under £300,000, an average of £300 for 
each estate. The prevailing weed, as our readers are 
aware, is the goat weed (ageratum conyzoides), which 
unfortunately feeds on the very elements required by 
the coffee plant for its healthy existence. Botanists, 
who ought to know, tell us it is not indigenous, but 
