9 



4. That it is a heavier bearing tree when once fairly started : those in evi- 

 dence now yielding 10 to 20cwts. per acre, calculating on the clean 

 coffee yielded, and admitting that only some 700 trees to the acre 

 can be grown instead of at least double that number of the old kind. 



0. That being a deep-rooted plant, it is not affected by drought, while 



a very slight shower is quite sufficient to bring out and set the 

 blossom ; which, moreover, has the further advantage of fading 

 and falling off within the day of its opening, so that it is hardly 

 possible that it can be injured by rain or hail as is so often the 

 case with the delicate Arabica blossom. Even in the very driest 

 season, when the other plants appear on the point of destruction, 

 these look cool and green and not turning a leaf. 



6. That the cost of cultivation is comparatively little. There is no 



pruning to do beyond pulling off the suckers for two or three 

 years to prevent the tree from running up into too many stems, 

 the crop is carried on the same wood (and extensions of it) year 

 after year, and there is, therefore, no old wood to cut out. The 

 shade of a thick, tall tree like this, where they pretty well cover 

 the ground would effectually prevent weeds from becoming 

 troublesome, and as the roots are deep down, the debilitating 

 effects of weeds even if they did grow, would be very little felt. 



7. The berries (of the size of a walnut) remain firmly fixed on the 



tree for many weeks after they are ripe enough to pick ; eventually 

 they fall off, and may be gathered off the ground. In the case of 

 a scarcity of labour this might be an advantage. 

 Against these good points we may set the following : — 



1. That this species gives very little return till at least the fifth year, 



while in low-lying districts some return is got from Arabica in 

 the second year. 



2. That the value in the London market, from a sample lately sent 



home, is about 10 per cent, lower than that of ordinary coffee. 



3. That in districts under the south-west monsoon, whose flowering 



season is in March and April, the crop instead of beginning to 

 « ripen in October and finishing in January or February takes a 

 whole 14 months to ripen. The flowering season is the same as 

 the other, but though some berries will turn ripe in the following 

 April much of it will not be ready to gather until July. Thus 

 the tree carries two crops at the same time, and all mixed 

 together on the same branches. Sometimes at the end of the 

 spring we may see at the same time the crop of the previous 

 season as large as plums, and partially turning red. the crop of 

 the current season the size of peas, and a further sprinkling of 

 the curious eight-petalled, heavily scented blossoms as large as 

 the palm of a child's hand. All these mixed together among the 

 the large dark, glossy leaves, give the tree a most rich and hand- 

 some appearance. 



There are now one or two points about which some information may be 

 of interest. 



Picking. — There is no difficulty about this : a notched bamboo enables 

 the coolie to get up among the branches, and he theu strips off all that is 

 ripe, or nearly so (taking care not to rip off the small berries), dropping 

 it all on the ground, and collecting afterwards into baskets. 



It takes four bushels of these huge cherries to make one of parchment 

 (instead of two as with Arabica), but even so, the fruit being so large, a 

 coolie can pick quite twice as much as of the other, and the cost per ton of 

 clean would be much the same. 



