78 SHADE IN COFFEE CULTURE. 



Theobroma cacao. Cacao. 



Cacao is recorded by Lock as having been planted for coffee shade in Ceylon, 

 though evidently in plantations already started, since the coffee is said to have 

 shaded the cacao at first and to have been shaded in turn after the cacao had grown 

 large. Outside the assistance rendered by the cacao in keeping down the weeds, 

 the mutual benefit, if any, is probably to be explained by the more complete 

 shading of the ground desirable at the low elevation at which cacao would flourish. 

 With this fact in mind it is apparently not impossible that a mixed culture like the 

 present would succeed better than thick planting of one crop, particularly if the two 

 plants differed in what they required from the soil. 



Tobacco. (See Nicotiana tdbacum.) 



Trema orientalis. 



Synonym. — Sponia wightii. 



Common names. — Charcoal tree (British India); Indian nettle tree (British 

 India). 

 Much used in India for coffee shade, but said by Raoul to be objectionable in many 

 ways not specified. A quick-growing, small tree yielding a bast fiber used for 

 cordage and even for coarse cloth. The wood is sort and is preferred for charcoal 

 which is to be used in gunpowder. The species occurs abundantly from the Hima- 

 layas to Ceylon and Singapore, and frequently appears spontaneously in forest clearings. 

 It was formerly thought to belong to the TTrtdicaceae or nettle family, but is now 

 reckoned as a member of the Ulmaceae or elm family. 



Trophis americana. 



Common name. — Rarnoon. 

 Recommended in Jamaica by Dr. Morris for windbreaks about cacao plantations. 

 The foliage is said to be of use as food for cattle. 



Ule (Mexico). (See Castilloa elastica.) 



Upas tree. (See Antiaris toxicaria). 



Vanilla. 



The combination of the culture of vanilla with that of coffee is one A the more or 

 less impracticable propositions often advanced by those who are anxious to enlarge 

 the apparent possibilities of tropical agriculture. Even if the cultural requirements 

 of the plants did not conflict, the climatic necessities would render it unwise to attempt 

 to bring the Arabian coffee and vanilla together, since the latter requires an extremely 

 warm and much more humid atmosphere than coffee will bear with advantage. The 

 coffee trees are also not at all suitable for support for the vanilla. The latter might 

 possibly be grown to advantage on the shade trees of low-lying plantations. The prac- 

 ticability of combining vanilla culture with that of Liberian coffee might also be 

 worth while to investigate. 



Velvet bean. (See JIucuna utilis.) 



Vigna catjang. Cowpea. 



The cowpea might be found useful in some coffee regions, though in truly tropical 

 conditions it will probably be found that, as in our Gulf States, the velvet bean is 

 preferable. 



Voandzeia subterranea. 



A leguminous plant closely similar to the peanut and often confused with it; 

 recommended by Lecomte as a soiling crop with coffee. 



