SHADE FOR SEEDLINGS. 17 



small to have roots extending down to the level of permanent moist- 

 ure, though even when full grown the largely superheial character of 

 the root system justifies any precaution necessary to avoid the danger 

 of drying out from overheating the upper layers of the soil. Thus 

 shade has in some countries direct bearing upon the problem of irriga- 

 tion as applied to coffee, a subject which has received the most meager 

 attention in spite of the fact that the traditionally superlative coffee of 

 Arabia is largely an irrigation product, and that in Mexico most 

 promising results both as to quality and quantity have been reached 

 by means of irrigation. Moreover it is claimed that with irrigation 

 paying crops can be harvested after two years from the time the 

 plants are set, instead of in five or six years, as is customary under 

 ordinary conditions of open or shade culture. 



SHADE FOR SEED BEDS AND TRANSPLANTED SEEDLINGS. 



The seeds of coffee will not survive desiccation either before or after 

 planting, so that the seedlings must be very carefully watered if 

 planted in the dry season. The shading of seed beds is thus a neces- 

 sity in many countries, since exposure during a few bright days may 

 dry out and kill all the germinating plants, though even here the 

 danger is from the dryness rather than from the light. In countries 

 practicing the open culture of coffee, it is customary to cover seed- 

 beds with lattice work, mats, leafy branches, or other temporary cover- 

 ing which can be removed gradually as soon as the plants are well 

 established, since they may become spindling if shaded too long. 

 Where the method of permanent shading is in use planters often 

 neglect entirely the making of seed beds, and stock their plantations 

 from the spindling chance-grown seedlings. But, as shown later, the 

 failure of such seedlings when transplanted to unprotected situations 

 is by no means a valid argument against open culture, although it has 

 undoubtedly figured as one of the more important reasons for the use 

 of shade. In countries subject to dry seasons of considerable severity, 

 but where open culture is still practiced, considerable caution is advis- 

 able in removing shade from seed beds and nurseries, though it is in 

 such localities the more necessary that the seedlings become accus- 

 tomed to exposure to full sunlight before transplanting. Either the 

 shade should be taken away very gradually or it should be removed 

 during the rainy season, when harmful severity of heat or dryness is 

 not to be expected. 



SHADE AS A LOCAL NECESSITY. 



The well-known inability of the coffee to withstand prolonged 

 drought makes it readily possible to understand that in localities sub- 

 ject to a severe or prolonged dry season, coffee, if grown at all, must 

 have irrigation or other protection from too great dryness. When 



14652— No. 25—01 2 



