41 



NOTES ON " NOTES ON COFFEE FROM 

 LABORIE'S COFFEE PLANTER " 



By J. A. Stephens. 



Climate. — Probably 2,500 ft. to 3,500 ft. is the most paying altitude. 

 He is a bold man who plants much above that. 



Soil — Most hard woods, such as " Bully" and " Iron" wood, grow 

 best on the bed land, about here. [Radnor] 



Laborie meant that plenty of running water would be required for 

 the works, for driving wheels, pulp ng, washing, etc , he did not mean 

 that it is good to have running water near coffee fields, (as the " notes" 

 might lead some to suppose) ; for at a higher altitude than 2,000 feet, 

 coffee should never be planted near running water, for if so planted 

 the spray that arises from even small water-falls is wafted over the 

 fields by the wind, and together with the cold currents of air that run- 

 ning water itself creates, keeps the cofEee wood green and soft, prevents 

 it maturing, and often causes the trees to drop their leaves altogether. 



Planting out. — The method of planting out should vary with the 

 nature of the land, for instance, in light land " firm" with the two feet, 

 and then throw a little more earth round the plant ; in heavy land, only 

 just " settle" the plant. If coffee is planted in stiff land so deep that 

 the " lower branches are below the level of the ground," the plant may 

 live, but certainly they will not grow as they ought. 



Shade during 1st year. — When Laborie wrote, he had to feed his la- 

 bourers. Boiled green corn and beans (locally known as " red peas") are 

 good and " filling" food, but the plan of planting corn and beans through 

 young cofEee cannot be too strongly condemned, the cost of weeding the 

 young coffee would be greatly increjsed by this plan, and a good deal 

 would be taken out of the land that ought to go solely to the cofEee trees. 



Pruning. — As regards the pruning of lower fields, Laborie has said 

 all there is to be said, but my system on the higher fields differs from 

 his. My system on the high fields is — cut out many of the uuder 

 boughs right " home" to the main stem, so as to let in air and light 

 under the trees, to dry up the moisture of the ground, doing as little 

 as possible to the heads of the trees ; from the heads of the trees only 

 cut back exhausted boughs, break out dead wood, pull suckers, single 

 riders, and " lead out" what riders are left on, so — 



cut off A B and leave on C to spread out and increase the circumference of 

 the tree ; by this plan the trees become more or less " umbrella trees," 

 but they bear more than the few berries on the heads that Laborie despises . 



