68 SHADE IX COFFEE CULTURE. 



to secure seed through the regular trade, and careful experiments in Porto Rico and 

 Hawaii are to be expected. Mucuna pruriens, supposed to be the original wild form 

 of this plant, is native and grows luxuriantly in the American tropics. 



Mulberry (India). (See Morus indica.) 



Musa. Banana. (See PL I.) 



Bananas and plantains are planted very generally with coffee. In some regions 

 they are employed for the temporary protection of the young plants while the per- 

 manent shade trees are still small, but it is also customary in parts of Mexico and 

 Central America to maintain bananas throughout the life of the coffee, with or with- 

 out other shade. In the extremely rich and deep volcanic soils of Central America 

 this system may be permissible, but under ordinary conditions it is probable that 

 the banana is not a desirable shade plant, and many intelligent writers emphatically 

 condemn it as exerting a distinctly harmful competition with the coffee. Analyses 

 in Venezuela, reported by Dr. Delgado, indicate that from a given area planted to 

 bananas or plantains the fertilizing materials annually drawn from the soil are nearly 

 twenty times those required for coffee in full bearing, and it is accordingly claimed 

 that secondary shade by means of bananas should not be employed, even for a few 

 years, since it hinders the growth of the young trees and induces a debility from 

 which they never fully recover. In Porto Rico many plantations are smothered 

 with bananas to an extent obviously harmful, the young seedlings having oppor- 

 tunities for only the most spindling and weakly existence and requiring many years 

 to attain even to the meager fertility with which their owners seem to be satisfied. 



The popularity of bananas for coffee is probably largely due to the value of the 

 fruits, which, even though produced incidentally and not exported, furnish an 

 important part of the food of the laboring population in Porto Rico and other coffee- 

 producing regions. 



In such regions many peasants and small farmers derive a large part of their sub- 

 sistence from the bananas, while the small amount of coffee obtainable is still 

 sufficient to supply their slender needs in the way of imported articles. The culture 

 may be a success from their standpoint, but this is no indication that the method 

 is adapted to commercial production which will yield a profit after the expenses of 

 hired labor and management have been covered. 



It may be added that as a shade tree the banana is also objectionable because, 

 unless planted so thickly as to smother the coffee, a part of the latter is exposed 

 while the remainder is too densely shaded. The tall varieties are also liable to be 

 blown down in heavy winds and often fall upon and injure the coffee trees. The 

 large leaves may also keep the rain off some trees while pouring torrents upon 

 others. 



In Porto Rico bananas are often planted indiscriminately among the coffee, though 

 some planters arrange them in alternate rows. This is altogether too close to permit 

 a normal growth of the coffee, which never attains proper stature or productiveness. 

 In Mexico and Central America it is customary to run from two to six rows of coffee 

 between the rows of bananas. The middle rows of coffee under this arrangement 

 are but little shaded, and the trees are larger and more fertile than those which 

 stand nearer to the bananas, showing that the effects of the latter, if not negative 

 entirely, are confined to the general protection against wind and drought. 



If for any reason the planting of bananas with or near coffee is found to be desir- 

 able, the utility of the dead stems and leaves as manure should not be overlooked. 

 These may be used as a mulch. The so-called "trunk" is in reality a bundle of the 

 sheating bases of the succulent, herbaceous leaves, and retains its moisture for a long 

 time, usually until thorough' decomposed. According to Gomez, it is customary to 

 bury the stems and leaves of the banana about coffee trees in the vicinity of Urua- 



