COFFEE. 



73 



vastatrix made its appearance (for there is not a shadow of that 

 fungoid disease in Java at the present time), is that the climate, 

 except in reasonably dry years, is far too forcing. The trees appear 

 to produce a great luxuriance of leaf and wood, but only a moderate 

 proportion of fruit, 4 cwts. per acre being considered a very good 

 average crop ; but 10 cwts. are sometimes obtained in exceptionally 

 favourable years. No such thing as an average of 8 or 10 cwts. per 

 acre is known ; and yet this was not uncommon, I believe, in Ceylon, 

 as long as the trees remained healthy. The lower estates come into 

 bearing much sooner, and produce more than the higher, but they do 

 not last so long, ten or fifteen years being the limit of profitable life 

 for trees at 1000 feet above sea-level ; whilst those at 3000 and 4000 

 feet attain to forty, fifty, or even more, years of age. At Makmedon, 

 some 20 miles south-east of Buitenzorg, and at an elevation of be- 

 tween 2000 and 3000 feet, there are trees still alive, but neglected 

 and bearing no crop, which were planted in 1786. They are now 

 some 40 feet high, with trunks of the thickness of a man's thigh. 

 What care, instead of persistent neglect, might have done for them, it 

 is impossible to say ; but I see no reason to think that a centenarian 

 coffee tree must of necessity be an unprofitable one, at least in Java. 

 On the higher estates at present under cultivation, many of the trees 

 reach a height of 30 or 40 feet, and the crop is picked by means of 

 ladders. These trees are planted 25 feet by 25 feet, on terraces 

 25 feet wide (a row of trees for each terrace), grass being planted at 

 the edge to prevent the friable soil being washed down during the 

 rains. Most frequently the terrace itself is covered with grass, which 

 is either cut for cattle or dug up round the roots of the tree, accord- 

 ing to the taste of the planter. The yield of such trees is about 6 

 or 7 lbs. of prepared coffee per tree, i. e. between 3 and 4 cwts. of this 

 per acre. No pruning, of course, can be done on a tree of this kind, 

 and it is left entirely to the tender mercies of nature and the women 

 who pick the crop and break the branches. 



" But I think that instead of a desultory description like the above, 

 I had better give you an account of the estate on which I stayed two 

 days, and where I obtained most of my information on this subject, as 

 you will understand better the daily routine of a planter's life and the 

 method of cultivation than if I gave you a lot of isolated statistics. 

 The estate alluded to is situated on a plateau about 800 feet above 

 the sea, some 12 miles distant from Samarang, and belongs to a 

 Mr. Grave, who is very anxious to introduce all the advantages of the 

 Ceylon method of cultivation into the Dutch system, and for that pur- 

 pose intends shortly paying a visit to the Kandyan provinces, where I 

 do not doubt he will be hospitably welcomed by his brother planters. 

 The land of the estate was formerly under forest, and the right to cut 

 timber having been sold to an Englishman many years ago, a short 

 lease of the land for the purposes of coffee cultivation was afterwards 

 granted by the Government, at an annual rent of a few guilders per 

 acre — generally from two to six — according to the value of the soil. 

 The teak having been cut down and sold, the clearing is burnt in the 

 same way as in Ceylon, and then laid out with roads in square 

 or oblong plots, about 30 acres each, the nearly perfectly level 



