134 COFFEE CULTIVATION AND MANURING. 
when the previous ones have nearly disappeared, 
adding at the same time valuable manuring matter to. 
the soil, returning indeed the greater portion of what 
the tree-growth has taken from the soil, in addition 
to the carbon compounds the foliave has been deriv- 
ing from the atmosphere. It is true that after burn- 
ing and clearing you have a good deal of vegetable 
matter in the shape of tree roots remaining in the 
ground, but this disappears in a short time, and 
you begin to run short of vegetable mould a manure 
so desirable for such plants as the coffee, which I 
suspect grows on the margins of forests, as so many 
of the tribes do. It is saddening to contrast the large. 
amount of invaluable soil washed from a coffee estate 
into the drains and streams, an? the insignificant 
quantity of soil which the rain dislodges from the 
virgin forest. A great deal of this waste of precious 
soil might be prevented, it seems to me by a proper 
system of littering, combined with good drainage 
arrangements.” In another letter Mr. Thwaites ob- 
serves, in reference to a letter asking his epinion on 
planting estates and letting the trees grow to their 
natural height :—‘‘I fancy that the present planters’ 
system will hold its own at elevations above 3,000 
feet, as regards distance apart of the trees and their 
pruning, but the wash should be prevented, and at 
the same time supplies of vegetables mould be fur- 
nished to the soil, to prevent the wearing out of the 
estates, which must be taking place under the present 
system. Communications to the newspapers are some- 
times read hastily and often misunderstood, and then 
referred to as advocating something entirely different. 
from what is stated. For example, any one reading 
the letter of ‘Shuck Coffee Tree’ in the last Observer 
would suppose that I had recommended manure to be 
buried two feet deep, wheréas by my plan the larger 
portion by far would be from near the surface, to 
half the depth.” 
‘* As regards littering, Ican myself,” says Mr. Sa- 
bonadiére, ‘‘ testify to the benefits effected by thatch- 
ing with mana grass, and no doubt it would pay 
well to use the virgin soil from the forest for man- 
uring purposes, lucky those, therefore, who have any 
reserve forest to fall back upon. As regards draining, 
it should be commenced at once an estate is planted, 
and the trees should be encouraged to cover the ground. 
This is partly the reason why shuck coffee near lines 
is always so fine, and above all weeds should never 
be allowed to get in, so that there would be no ne- 
cessity for scraping the surface soil. Let our young 
planters take a lesson from the experience of others, 
otherwise it will be the case with Dimbula and Dik- 
