hockings garden manual. 



151 



on the top. as is done in America, may, no doubt, be 

 followed with advantage. 



Manure : As most of the land of the Sea Island 

 plantations is so much impregnated with salt as to be 

 apparent to the eye, and some of it but recently re- 

 claimed from salt marshes, it is but reasonable to 

 suppose that saline manures would be most suitable to 

 the Sea Island cotton crop in this colony. 



COFFEE. 



The coffee plant thrives and bears most abundantly 

 in rich friable soil on the slopes of hills, protected 

 from high winds ; but the small berry produced in the 

 sandy, dry, hot soil and arid climate of Arabia has the 

 advantage in flavor. In the West Indies the mango 

 and other fast-growing, umbrageous trees are planted 

 on the upper part of the land to protect the plantation 

 from wind. Bananas are also used for shelter, planted 

 in rows about every fourth row of coffee. The plants 

 at present in a bearing state in the vicinity of Brisbane 

 do not appear to have suffered from the absence of 

 shelter ; but it is as well to observe the practice of 

 other countries where the plant is successfully grown, 

 and only plant on the sides of hills where they will be 

 protected from prevailing winds. 



Plant in good soil at eight feet apart, giving shelter 

 and water if required until the plants are well esta- 

 blished. March or April would be a good time for 

 transplanting in favorable weather, as the plants would 

 make new roots before the winter stopped them, and 

 there would be less risk of loss from a dry spring ; in 

 dripping seasons, transplanting may be performed as 

 late as August and September. As the plants grow, 

 the tops are generally stopped, to prevent their grow- 

 ing too tall, and to encourage the production of lateral 



