“THE COFFEE PLANTER OF CEYLON.” 71 
Fourth Notice. 
We would just cull a few further facts from Mr. 
Sabonadiére’s volume. ‘‘ Native” coffee bushes of great 
age are scattered all over the country, but they grow 
under conditions different to a great extent from those 
which exist on regular plantations. On the oldest 
formed plantations in British times, however, bushes 
more than forty years old still exist and still produce 
coffee. The best average distance for coffee bushes is 
six feet square, which will give 1,200 to the acre; 
while 18 inches square is the size of hole most com- 
monly approved of, and the holes can he advantage- 
ously left open for some time before being planted. 
Plants for the nursery should be carried out in bas- 
kets, their 100ts covered with wet moss. The drying 
up of the small fibrous roots is supposed to be the 
reat cause of failures. In going over the book we 
find the following further reference to bug : — 
‘‘During tue dry weather, in February, March, and 
April, young plants in many districts suffer from the 
attacks of a very large grub, which eats the bark in 
a eircle just above the ground; and the flow of the 
zap being thus stopped, the trees droop aud die. 
Estates with a light reddish ot quartzy soil suffer 
more than those where rocks and stones are plentiful.” 
Another quotation is as follows :— 
*‘ Drains, like roads and paths, should be cut as 
soon as the estate is commenced, or at all events 
before the trees cover the ground, or the same causes 
will obtain with reference to damage being eaused to 
coffee trees. These drains must be about fifteen inches 
wide and deep, at the distance of every fifteen t» 
twenty trees—i. e. 120 feet apart; the gradient should 
not be more than from one foot in ten to one foot 
in fifteen. These drains should be directed into the 
natural ravines, and these may also with advantage 
be cleared of obstacles, such as logs and large stones, 
so as to open out the water-way.” 
Large pits for the drains to empty soil in will, of 
course, be most useful. Contract weeding, carefully 
regulated, is the best. Fruit trees should be planted 
round estate bungalows. 
ESTIMATES. 
We (compiler of ‘‘ Handbook”) add two other 
‘Estimates’ from distinct sources to that of Mr. 
Brown’s, in order to shew the great differences between 
the views of different planters. The first is one of 
those given by Mr. Sabonadiere in his ‘‘ CoFFEE 
PLANTER OF C&eYLON” :— 
