MANURING, 99 
-earth raised over it. Ere twelve months had passed 
away, the planter looked fondly at his trees, and 
called his friend’s attention to the way in which the 
cattle manure was “‘telling.” Marked improvement 
was no doubt visible, as it was expected to be; for 
cattle manure is one of those good things that will 
not fail to improve coffee, however injudiciously it 
may be applied. But, while the coffee was feeling the 
benefit in one direction, let us see how matters stood 
in a general way. The planter had dug a hole as 
deep as the tap-root; and the greater part of the 
manure put there had subsided to a distance which 
rendered it impos ible for the surface roots to get 
any food from it. The loose soil taken from the hole, 
and used for covering the manure and heaping round 
_the stem of the tree, begins to disperse with the first 
heavy rains. Ere long, and the ‘‘ere long”? means not 
many months, it finds its way to the nearest road or 
ravine. The steeper the land manured happens to 
be, so will this result be hastened, but, let the slope 
be stiff or easy, one thing is certain, the soil you took 
from the manure hole will be washed to the bottom 
of the hill. In the majority of cases this soil was at 
least as valuable as the manure you replaced it with, 
if you only knew how to manipulate it. However, 
you chose to give the streams and paddy-fields the 
benefit of it, and pinned your faith to the paying 
results of its more expensive substitute. What profits 
you obtained are best known to yourselves, but I may 
tell you that the next time you found it necessary to 
have recourse to manure, these fields had become im- 
poverished to an extent you were not aware of. And 
as the operation is repeated the ruin goes on, till 
after a few years the tree gets nearly all its sustenance 
from the manure, and hardly anything from the soil 
in which it was planted. Hence the notably shuck 
condition of coffee, once well manured, but now left 
to take care of itself. How can it be otherwise, when 
you sent all its valuable soil to the sea, and left its 
roots maimed and bare, to look down from above on 
the surface they may not enter again. The result, 
therefore, of your burying system is this, you lose 
the benefit of a great part of the manure by stowing 
it away beyond reach of the roots, and you lose not 
a little of your soil at the same time. 
Some planters had long ago recommended what they 
called ‘‘ wash holes,” in the hope of preventing the 
waste I have been describing. Wash holes I grieve 
to see find advocates even now, A more mischievous 
system of cultivation, or one less adapted to stop wash, 
IT could not point out. Any reader of this will be 
familiar with its results, if not on hig own estate, .at 
