SHADE IN SOUTH AMERICA. 37 



entirely without shade. Patriarchal coffee trees are reported which 

 remain fruitful after nearly a century of production; also giant trees 

 which are asserted to have borne 12, 15, 20, and even 40 pounds of 

 coffee in one season. It has also been noted that these exceptional 

 individuals generally stand quite exposed, out of reach of the shadow 

 or the roots of other trees of any kind. The possibilities of these 

 unusual natural conditions do not, however, affect the question of the 

 desirabilit}^ of shade in less favorable surroundings. Maximum results 

 are possible without shade trees, but this by no means detracts from 

 the utility of the latter when needed. 



To what extent the coffee culture of Central America has been 

 influenced by that of Brazil and the East Indies is not known. It is a 

 curious fact, at least, that in Central America, where much coffee is 

 grown without shade, cacao is planted with shade, while in Colombia 

 the open culture of cacao is in vogue, though coffee is regularly shaded. 

 In Venezuela shade seems to be habitually used for both coffee and 

 cacao. This variety of method is supported by equally diverse opinions 

 on the part of the planters of the different localities, a fact which well 

 demonstrates the lack of definite experimental knowledge or establishd 

 principles of general application. The coffee culture of Venezuela and 

 Colombia may be said to have taken a step in advance of that of other 

 countries in that there is definite allegiance to the proposition that only 

 leguminous trees should be planted for shade. Furthermore, the idea 

 has also dawned that the leguminous shade trees influence the relative 

 fertility of the soil, though this notion, for the lack of a satisfactory 

 explanation, has received thus far no wide credence or sympath}^ 1 



1 Shortly before the completion of this paper two references have been found which 

 might appear to vitiate the claim that the question of coffee shade is universally mis- 

 apprehended through failure to recognize the fact that the good results are largely 

 ascribahle to the fertility rather than to the shade supplied by the trees. In reality, 

 however, these statements strengthen the above position, since they demonstrate that 

 even though the possibility of such effect came before the mind the strength of tra- 

 ditional opinion was such that it received but the most casual notice. Thus in the 

 Journal fur Landwirtschaft, 1897, 45: 18, Dr. M. Fesca, of Berlin, offers the follow- 

 ing opinions: 



The coffee trees grow wild only in the semidarkness of forests; they can not endure 

 the intense direct radiation of the tropical sun. * * * For purposes of shade 

 individual trees are accordingly left when the original forest is cleared away, and for 

 wind-breaks narrow strips of forest are also left on the borders of the plantation. 

 Commonly special shade trees are also planted, and for this purpose leguminous trees 

 are particularly adapted, since their feathery leaves furnish a light shade and permit 

 an adequate circulation of the air, and, moreover, they bring about the fixation of the 

 free nitrogen of the atmosphere through the production of bacterial tubercles on their 

 roots, and thus directly enrich the soil with nitrogen. 



With reference to cacao a similar possibility had been noted in a similarly casual 

 manner three years before by Mr. J. H. Hart, superintendent of the Royal Botanical 

 Gardens of Trinidad. In reporting the introduction into Trinidad of a species of 

 Lonchocarpus used in Nicaragua for shading cacao, he says: 



The tree belongs to the order Leguminosae, to which the "Bois Immortel" (Ery- 

 thriua umbrosa) also belongs. The common name for the "Immortel" in Trinidad 



