40 SHADE IN COFFEE CULTURE. 



been favored even by some who approved the use of shade in Java 

 or elsewhere, because the Brazilian coffee region lies near the limit of 

 tropical conditions and suffers from low temperatures in the winter 

 season. This might render shade at that season undesirable, but such 

 a difficulty could be avoided by the use of deciduous trees, so that 

 other reasons will be needed if the failure to plant leguminous trees is 

 to be rationally explained in the districts where coffee is known to 

 suffer from heat and drought, to say nothing of the possibilities of soil 

 improvement. The climatic or other conditions may forbid the use of 

 the shade trees popular in other countries, but there is every proba- 

 bility that species able to meet the local requirements could be secured. 



As noted elsewhere, the earlier writers on the coffee culture of the 

 East Indies are silent upon the subject of shade, and in the extensive 

 industry formerly existing in Ceylon open culture was the rule. 

 Gradually, however, and more especially in Java, the good effects of 

 proximity to forest areas or to individual leguminous trees became 

 appreciated by planters. The benefit was ascribed, however, to 

 shelter from winds, and the leaving of belts of the natural forest and 

 the planting of hedges or wind-breaks came into favor. Latterly the 

 opinion has gained ground that a slight open shade, such as that cast 

 by an occasional tree of the open habit and finely divided foliage of 

 some of the leguminous species, was extremely beneficial to the coffee. 

 Thus a reason was found for the planting of leguminous shade trees, 

 the advantage of which has gained increasingly wide appreciation and 

 is now general in the British as well as in the Dutch colonies. The 

 failure to realize what is here taken to be the true function and chief 

 value of leguminous trees is, however, shown in the fact that even in 

 Java frequent attempts are still made with nonleguminous species. 

 On a recent visit to Java, Mr. David G. Fairchild, agricultural 

 explorer of this Department, saw plantations in the vicinity of Buiten- 

 zorg shaded with the kapok or silk-cotton tree (Oelba pentcmdra), which 

 is mentioned as eligible for this purpose in a paper published during 

 the present year. 1 Planters who use this species will probably con- 

 clude that their land is not suitable for coffee and console themselves 

 with the cotton crop. The silk-cotton tree would be of little use 

 where shade is really needed, and in any situation may be expected to 

 discourage the growth of anything else within reach of its enormous 

 superficial roots. 



But by approaching the problem from a different standpoint the 

 planters of Java have avoided the errors of overcrowding and over- 

 shading which have often brought the shade method into disrepute in 

 America. But notwithstanding more i ntelligent observations and more 

 scientific study of other phases of coffee culture, there has been no 



1 Beihefte zum Tropenpflanzer 1: t>8. 



