12 



cultivation chiefly by large landowners, and pointed out that the cir- 

 cumstances operating against any increase in cultivation were scarcity 

 of labour and want of roads which also enhance the cost of p.-oi action 

 and putting on the market. 



At the present time and with the price of coffee so low, it is rather 

 the improvement in cultivation and in the curing of coffee of low alti- 

 tudes than any extension that is desirable. 



Mr. Thomson states that in Colombia at an elevation between 5,000 

 and 6,000 feet, no shade at all, or only light shade, is required ; and 

 between 3,000 and 5,000 feet he recommends certain legaminous trees, 

 Erythrina and Inga. He is in error in stating that u British colonial 

 coffee planters have in the main ignored the application of shade to the 

 coffee." In Jamaica as well as in Colombia the coffee tree at highest 

 elevations does not need any shade, but on the contrary it wants all the 

 sun it can get ; and if for some reason, sush as the proximity of forest 

 land inducing cloud, there is a deficiency of direct sunlight, the coffee 

 berries do not ripen, and cultivation is a failure At somewhat lower 

 altitudes a slight shade is necessary, at any rate during the hottest part 

 of the year. Jamaiea coffee planters in the Blue Mountains use the 

 "West Indian Cedar which is a light shade at a good height above the 

 coffee, the trees being bare of leaves during the winter months. In 

 Manchester at still lower elevations the light shade of the Trumpet tree 

 is made use of, and shade of some kind is quite universal at this and all 

 lower elevations, In fact so far from shade not being used, I have fre- 

 quently pointed out cases where the shade used is too dense, favouring 

 the growth of fungus pests 



There is no need to direct attention to the employment of shade in 

 general but there is need for careful inspection of the kind used and its 

 effects in different localities, and for directions about the adoption of 

 shade trees more suitable than many of those at present in use. 



But the proper use of shade is only one item in an immense number 

 of agricultural operations of which the peasant proprietors are comple- 

 tely ignorant, and have no opportunity of learning, unless instructors 

 are sent amongst them, not to lecture, but to demonstrate by actual 

 work in their fields 



The Grafting of Nutmegs. 



Mr. T. J. Harris, Assistant Superintendent of Hope Gardens, has 

 been successful in grafting nutmegs. His method is as follows : — 



Stocks ready for grafting ten months after sowing ; still in bamboos. 



Select the tree which bears the largest nuts, construct rough but level 

 stages of different heights around the tree ; draw some of the main 

 branches down to the stages with wire attached to pegs driven into the 

 ground : place moss or cloth under the wire to prevent its cutting the 

 bark of the branch. The strongest only of the shoots should be used as 

 scions. 



Cut a thin slice of the bark from the side of the seedling stock/ 

 taking care to cut through the cambium, this cut to be about two inches 

 long and about 4 inches from the base of the plant. Make a corres- 

 ponding cut in the side of the scion at the point at which it is of the 

 same diameter as the stock (it may be eight, nine or ten inches from 

 the tip of the shoot) and opposite the cut on the latter. 



