20 SHADE IN COFFEE CULTURE. 



that, when other conditions are favorable, coffee will thrive in the 

 rockiest places, where the roots must be continually meeting obstruc- 

 tions. While it is, therefore, entirely possible that plantations in .shal- 

 low soil have been destroyed which shade trees might have saved, this 

 fact enforces merely the necessity of intelligence and caution in select- 

 ing suitable locations, and in making a proper use of shade trees or 

 other means of protection against drought, but it does not warrant any 

 general proposition regarding the necessity of shade or of irrigation. 

 In deep soils a large measure of protection against drought may be 

 obtained by raising the coffee from seeds planted in the permanent 

 location of the trees. In this way injuiy to the taproot is avoided, 

 and the tree thus has much better access to the permanent moisture of 

 the soil. In transplanting, the taproot is almost always broken or 

 cut away and is seldom effectively renewed. The difficulty of starting 

 seedlings in the regular plantation is, however, considerable, since in 

 most countries they require to be shaded and carefully attended to 

 during the first few months. A recent writer 1 advises the excavation 

 of holes 18 or 20 inches square and nearly as deep, which are then 

 filled up to within 3 or 4 inches with humus or loose surface soil on 

 which eight or ten seeds are laid and lightly covered with decaying 

 leaves and humus. These little seed beds are shaded with split cross 

 sticks raised from the ground by two thicker pieces of wood, one 

 on each side of the hole. The weaker seedlings are gradually removed 

 one of the last two being taken away at the end of the first year. The 

 shade is also gradually lessened, but not entirely removed except to 

 permit the seedlings to groAV through the slats. However advanta- 

 geous the results of this method, it evidently involves much more 

 labor and careful attention than the old s} T stem. Moreover, it seems 

 not at all improbable that, even if permanent shade trees are not to 

 be used, a judicious selection of catch crops, such as Indian corn and 

 pigeon peas, might be made to assist in supplying the protection neces- 

 sary in the early life of the seedlings, to say nothing of the value of 



in succession when no rain falls. Possibly from this cause the coffee trees have 

 remained unproductive, although they seem to grow and blossom normally. Some 

 of the planters believe that the cause of failure is the lack of shade, which they are 

 now supplying, while others ascribe it to the exhaustion of the shallow, porous soil 

 underlaid by lava rock. Many plantations have been abandoned, while in others 

 sugar cane is being substituted. These facts were brought to my attention by Dr. 

 Henry Hayes, of Hilo. Hawaii. 



Although it is not impossible that the few days of dry weather may affect the 

 coffee, owing to the shallowness of the soil, it seems rather unlikely that this is the 

 sole cause of the difficulty, which deserves careful investigation. The rain may 

 wash away the pollen or prevent the visits of fertilizing insects, or the soil may 

 prove to be deficient in some element requisite for the coffee, to say nothing of other 

 possibilities. 



1 H. Eodatz, in Der Trope npflanzer, October, 1900. 





