35° 
THF TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1889, 
To the Editor. 
THE SUN SETTING LEMONGR&SS ON FIRE. 
Dear Sir, — I beg to enclose a cutting from " Tit 
Bits" Inquiry Column of September 7th, and shall 
be glad to learn whether you or any of your readers 
can verify the statement about the sun setting fire 
to the "lemongrass. I have had several years' 
residence on the Kandyan hills, but no such oc- 
currence has come within the range of my experience, 
nor do I think it probable in a country where 
paddy-straw is the usual material for thatching 
native houses.— I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 
LEMONGRASS. 
" 3830. Do the rays of the sun ever set fire to natural 
substances without the aid of a burning glass? In 
desert and tropical regions, this more or less frequently 
occurs as there the earth gets the full direct power 
of the sun, with the result that everything becomes 
dried up and heated till it is like tinder, and ready 
to burst into flames on the slightest provocation. In 
Oeylonthe sun frequently sets the lemon grass, which 
grows on the Kaniiian Hills in that country, in a blaze. 
A peice of phosphorus when moderately heated in the 
air by the sun will take fire." 
[We certainly never heard of the sun setting 
lemongrass on fire in Ceylon, nor is Buch a state- 
ment made by Tennent or any other of the writers 
on Ceylon so far as we can recollect. — Ed.] 
COFFEE PLANTING UNDER SHADE: 
A COORG PLANTER ADDRESSES HIS 
CEYLON BRETHREN : 
COFFEE PLANTING EXPERIENCE OF 29 YEARS IN COCBJ AND 
MYSORE— PLANTING OF COFFEE IN THE OPEN AND ITS 
UPKEEP SOUTHERN INDIA V. CEYLON— REPLANTING OF 
OLD ESTATES WITH COFFEE SUCCESSFULLY TRIED- 
SYSTEM OF SHADING PRACTISED IN MYSORE AND THE 
PLANTS MOST SUITABLE FOR THE PURPOSE. 
Mercara, Coorg, October 5th, 1889. 
Sir,— The question of introducing into Ceylon 
the Coorg aud Mysore system of planting under 
shade is one I often see referred to in your columns. 
A few remarks, therefore, from a practical planter, 
suggested by an experience of 29 years in Coorg 
and Mysore, may not be unacceptable to some who 
are contemplating a trial. 
As to the planting of coffee estates in the open, 
and keeping of them after, I do not think South 
Indian planters have got up to the level reached 
by advanced Ceylon men, but while paying that 
well-deserved tribute to the perfect culture estates 
in Ceylon have had, in strict cleanliness and pru- 
ning, I have heard men say that South Indian 
planters do more to the soil, in the way of libera- 
ting it, by forking every year, in the dry season ; 
and to the trees by more liberal applications of 
manurial composts. These are questions, however, 
beside what I intend to write you about, namely, 
" shade culture, and the kinds of trees preferred." 
I should like to say, if I can without running too 
far into your precious space, that thoughtful men 
here are beginning to believe that it is not the 
land that is so much exhausted, as the trees them- 
selves that require renewal ; and the replanting of 
old colfee estates, not with tea, but with coffee, 
has been successfully tried by several Mysore 
men. The ground, in that direction, was brokbn 
first, I believe, by Mr. Arthur Jupp, of Igoor, 
in North Mysore, who, as well as being a good 
planter, is a ready writer, and may be induced to re- 
cord his experiences. Ten years ago, when I saw his 
work, he had some very promising young plantings 
on land that had been under coffee for over 30 
years. He had taken out all the old giant coffee 
trees, and planted up with Coorg plants, raised 
from seed I sent him. I had at the time in the 
same district myself a good large acreage (about 
7<<0 acres) under old Mysore coffee of the caste 
that no one now thinks of planting, namely, the 
chick tree, with straight upright branches, a very 
sparse bearer, but when it can be induced to give 
a crop, it produces what put Mysore coffee into the 
front rank in the London market : (Cannon's high- 
priced Mysore is from the old Mysore chick trees.) 
It is not, however, found to pay; as, whsn the trees 
are old, they bear only once in 3 or 4 years, so 
that the quality, in a commercial sense, does not 
make up for quantity. I hesitated in going to the 
length Mr. Jupp went, so I duplicated my places, 
by planting a seedling from Coorg seed between 
the old coffee trees in the linos of coffee, leaviDg the 
space between the lines for working. As the seed- 
lings grew, the branches of the old coffee trees 
were sawn off until the stem was free of branches ; 
a couple or more of suckers were then allowed to 
grow from the tops of the old trees, that thickened 
out, and afforded shade, and the sight of these 
high suckers, often bent down with crop, was a 
novel one. This hacking about renewed the vigour 
of the old veterans probably, and set the sap flow- 
ing in a new direction, I suppose, for they bore 
crops for a while ; but there is not one of them 
left now: they have all been uprooted by my brothers, 
who have since worked the places, and instead 
of the unproductive old trees, there are 700 
acres of as fine Coorg coffee as any planter 
would wish to see. I mention this, as many of 
your Ceylon men will be interested in learning 
what can be done by re-planticg old and exhausted 
estates, with coffee instead of with tea, as appears 
to be the rule in Cevlon. Your shrewd observer and 
writer, Mr. W. A. Tytler, has, I believe, seen the old 
estates I have mentioned, and may tell us what he 
thinks : I hope he will, as his ideas are always 
original, and to the point. In leaving that branch 
of the subject I set myself to write you upon, I 
should say, that in all cases of reclamation in 
Mysore the most careful attention has been paid to 
the covering of the estates with shade trees, of the 
most approved kinds. 
The system, as to shading, practised in Mysore 
and Coorg may be classed under two heads : 1st, 
planting under the original forest ; and 2nd, plant- 
ing in the open, on the Ceylon plan, and raising 
shade afterwards. You will not have space for any 
lengthy remarks under the first head, and I will 
dismiss it as a plan not suitable to your climate 
and rainfall. Should any planter require, however, 
information and will state his wants, I will reply. 
The most successful and most lasting properties 
in these parts (Mysore and Coorg) are at a ruling 
elevation of 3,000 feet with an average rainfall of 
50 to 80 inches. It is found that estates with the 
lightest rainfall produce the highest priced coffee 
and this may be accounted for probably by the 
fact that the trees do not get a severe check in the 
monsoon, and go on growing and maturing their 
produce while those in more severe climates stag- 
nate in the cold winds and rain. I myself 
have a conspicuous example of that theory, in an 
estate I have in Mysore, with a mild climate and 
an annual rainfall of about 40 inches. Climate 
there is moderated by perfect shade, almost all 
secondary or planted, and the coffee bean produced is 
bold and dark green, bringing top prices. Without 
the perfect shade it is under, it could not exist : 
coffee growing in the open in that dry climate 
being impossible. To describe the system practised 
in these parts as to shading, I cannot do better 
than mention the best and most thorough piece 
of work in my opinion that has been done in 
