52 



COFFEE. 



and temperature required by coffee will generally be found. In ele- 

 vations below 2000 feet, tlie great beat of tbe climate causes so rapid 

 a growtb of vegetation that it is extremely difficult to keep down 

 tbe weeds, and wbere, as at a tolerable elevation, one monthly 

 weeding would be amply sufficient, two at a lower elevation would be 

 quite necessary to keep an estate clean. Moreover, the malarious 

 atmosphere of estates in low situations is a condition which, though 

 suited to the coffee plant, is not conducive to human health. 



The most suitable soil in the East Indies for the coffee plant is that 

 which grows soft timber. The latest authorities seem to confirm 

 the opinion of Laborie, who observes : " If the first or tap-root 

 finds the gravel, stone, or clay, the tree will not last long ; but 

 if it, as well as the roots, find their way through the stony ground, 

 and if there be a good proportion of mould, it suffers no inconve- 

 nience, as the stones keep the mould together." The finest estates 

 are said to be of this latter character of soil, and have given con- 

 secutively heavy crops, with the assistance of little or no manure ; 

 while estates of a lighter soil, having lost nearly all the mould, and 

 having no good subsoil, require to be regularly manured. In a word, 

 a dark chocolate-coloured soil, mixed with small stones, under ledges 

 of rock, and bestrewn with boulders, is the best, and the most favour- 

 able elevation is 3000 feet. A level piece of virgin ground, not far 

 from water, where the soil is rich and crumbly, is the most eligible 

 for the construction of a nursery. First, the land must be thoroughly 

 cleared, and all but the largest stumps of the forest trees rooted out ; 

 the soil should be dug to the depth of nine or twelve inches, and be 

 inade as friable as possible, then divided into beds with narrow paths 

 between them ; the seed, in parchment (generally taken from the 

 cistern after being pulped), should be put in, row by row, about 

 six inches apart. A rope, the length of the beds, is used for this pur- 

 pose, stretched from one end of the bed to tho other. The seed, if 

 sown in suitable weather, soon makes its appearance above the surface ; 

 so that a nursery made in May or June of one year has plants fit to 

 put out at the same date in the following year. A slightly inclined 

 piece of land is more desirable for a nursery, because the natural 

 drainage would be better; and it is important that care should be 

 taken to prevent damage by heavy rains. One bushel of parchment 

 coffee is calculated to yield about 30,000 plants ; so that for a clear- 

 ing of 100 acres four or five bushels of seed would be required. When 

 the young trees in a nursery have attained a growth and age at which 

 their being planted out as plants becomes rather a doubtful proceed- 

 ing, with reference to the probability of their succeeding and taking 

 root, it is better to make " stumps " of them ; this is done by pulling 

 them up with as little injury as possible to the roots, and cutting 

 them down to about six inches above the roots ; then to shorten the 

 tap-root by a careful sloping out; next, to trim the other lateral 

 roots, which are often needlessly extended. Filling-in is the opera- 

 tion that follows holing. It has been ascertained by experience, that 

 leaving the holes open for some time is very beneficial to the soil in a 

 chemical point of view. Filling-in, like every other work on a coffee 

 estate, should be carefully superintended. But of all operations in 



