42 



COFFEE. 



crops. Thousands upon thousands' worth of crop are yearly cut 

 away. Many planters, and experienced ones too, prune their trees 

 to bear to a certain average according to the capabilities of the 

 soil and the climate they have to deal with, oblivious that drought, 

 or excessive rain, or high winds, or some other of the ills coffee 

 is heir to, may deprive the trees of a large percentage of their 

 berries, in almost any stage of development. It is more prudent to 

 prune for a heavier crop, than it is to prune lighter, if all the blossoms 

 set, and if apprehensions are entertained of the trees overbearing, 

 they can be backed up in time, but this must be done in May, June, 

 and July, at the latest, with some quick acting manure, such as 

 poonac, superphosphate of lime, and a little guano, or sulphate of 

 ammonia added ; a liquid manure poured over the compost will be 

 found a good substitute. If all the crop does not come forward, and 

 blossoms do not set well, you have a better chance of securing your 

 average, than if you had pruned heavily, to a fixed standard. 



" Frequent and judicious handling is another very important matter. 

 The usual practice is to handle twice a year, foui' times would be far 

 more advantageous ; but it must be done with much greater care than 

 is customary with some planters ; women and childrenj often with 

 little or no preparatory training, are put to this work. The most 

 essential point to be considered, especially upon high estates where 

 wood matures more slowly, is the retention of those shoots you require 

 not only to carry your next, but the following crop as well, and to 

 strengthen these shoots by giving them all the nourishment possible ; 

 you must remove all superfluous ones as they appear. I need scarcely 

 add that the riper the wood the better the chance of crop, but every 

 planter does not know that at elevations of 4000 feet and upwards it 

 takes two years to mature wood properly. 



" Again, as regards manuring, upon the supposition that you have a 

 worn-out or neglected estate to deal with, don't be discoui'aged if the 

 first application of manure, or even the second, in extreme cases, does 

 not give the results you anticipate. Don't manure too heavily at 

 first in such cases ; you force the trees beyond their strength, and you 

 waste money. Eecollect that you have to put the trees into condition. 

 First of all you have to restore their partially dried-up arteries 

 through which the impoverished sap is only languidly circulating. 

 Your first application will give tone and quality to the sap ; the tree 

 will begin to show signs of increased vitality, and throw out wood. 

 Don't allow too great an excess of that ; select the shoots you wish to 

 keep for the next year, remove the rest, especially the old sickly 

 attenuated wood, but leave rather more than less of the new. Follow 

 up with another manuring, of a more stimulating nature, and you may 

 depend upon a crop in nineteen cases out of twenty, but on no account, 

 because you have got it, think that you have done enough, that you 

 may rest from your labours, and that pruning and regular weeding 

 will now be sufficient ; you are still dealing with an invalid, though 

 convalescent, not cured. Persist in the same course ; never leave off 

 manuring, even for one year, it is ruination, your patient would lose 

 more in one than it had previously made in two years, under generous 

 treatment ; and you could probably never recover the lost ground. 



