814 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST, [June i, 1888. 
estimate 1he crop on them to be nearly ten hundred 
weight per acre. This is over and above what has 
been already picked off this season. Mr. Riciard 
is of opiuiou that from three to four pounds of coif re 
per tree could be gathered yearly. The trees were 
in excellent condition, very little shaded, and free 
from blight, except only in the case of a few isolated 
trees which were almost completely choked withHilo 
grass, and in a sickly and dying condition. Diseases 
and plagues of all kinds are less apt to attack trees 
of vigorous health, and free from objective influences. 
Weakly trees and fhose exposed in consequence of 
neglect in the way described, are sensitive to all kinds 
of pests. Mr. Kinney, formerly manager of Onomea, 
Hilo, has planted quite a large quantity of coffee on 
that plantation. I am informed by him that he has 
planted out fully 50,000 trees, which are now being 
uprooted to make way for sugar cane. Elevation 
about 1,000 feet above sea level. These trees have 
been planted far too close together, a very common 
error, and allowed to grow naturally. The effect is 
patent; at the age of three to four years the 
branches interlace, a shade is cast on the lower 
primaries, which become, in consequence, weak, 
spindly and unproductive. To make matters worse, the 
coffee trees have been planted under too dense a 
shade. In fact sunlight and daylight have been more 
than semi-excluded. Accordingly the tree is drawn 
up to seek the light, which hampers it as a pro- 
ducer. Coffee never blossoms freely under shade, and 
without blossom there can be do crop. Daylight, and 
all the daylight, is absolutely necessary for coffee. No- 
where in the world are shade trees planted among 
coffee, except only to protect it from the scorching 
rays of the sun, and in localities only where there 
is an insuflicient rainfall, and where there are long 
periods of dry weather. Shade, under these conditions, 
is always planted, and that judiciously and with care. 
Mr. Kinney informs me that from three to four 
pounds of clean coffee could be reckoned as an average 
annual return from trees grown under the best au-pices, 
which agrees with all the other accounts that have 
reached me. 
KAU COFFEE VERY FINE. 
In Puna I saw very little coffee. In the district 
of Kau, above Hilea Plantation, there are several 
patches of coffee, by far the best I have seen. Ex- 
posed to sunlight and daylight and quite free from 
blight. But again too closely planted to return their 
best results. I should estimate the crop on these 
patches to be at the rate of twelve to fifteen quin- 
tals (100 lbs.) per acre. The soil is very similar to 
that of Hamakua and Hilo ; deep friable loam, cho- 
colate colored, and a subsoil drainage. These trees 
were totally free from any indications whatever of 
bright. 
COFFEE IN KONA. 
In Kona there has been a great deal planted, but 
nowhere did I see an intelligent effort. No one ap- 
pears to have had any knowledge of the require- 
ments of the coffee shrub. All attempts are alike. 
One person appears to have copied the method of 
his neighbor, without any regard as to whether he 
was right or wrong. Throughout the whole of Kona 
I saw but very little blight; indeed only in the case 
of isolated trees surrounded and choked with Hilo 
grass, or overshadowed and touched by the guava 
tree. Everywhere, removed from these influences, 
the coffee was as fine as coffee can possibly be' 
I never saw better conditioned trees than the ma- 
jority of those in Kona. Nowwhere is coffee machi- 
nery employed of any kind. This is very much to 
be regretted, as a .single pulper can do as much and 
better work than a hundred men, with the primi- 
tive methods used. Peeling and sizing machinery 
too, is quite unknown. In regard to coffee blight, 
which I was told would for ever prevent coffee being 
a paying industry, I may say that this experience 
is not confined alone to these Islands. 
HUdHT IN CEYLON. 
The Dimhula district of Oeylon, was at one time, 
threatened to be exterminated as a coffee country. 
The plague was so bad that planters contemplated 
abandoning their estates, but looked forward hopo- 
fully to the etemal "next year," for a prospect 
of a new order of things. Their perseverance was 
rewarded. The trees became acclimatized, and to- 
day, in fact, for many years past, there has b< p-n 
scarcely a vestige of the pest io be seen. Dimbula, 
when I left, was the largest sheet of uubrokeu 
coffee in the world. * My opinion in regard to the 
coffee at present planted here, is that the trees, as 
was the case in Dimbula, are acclimatized, or be 
coming so very fost. In confirmation of the abve 
statement I beg to quote the following- extract from 
Ferguson's Directory, Ceylon: — "In the early days, 
black bug or blight affected the coffee plant very 
seriously. Whole fields were prevented from crop- 
ping by this evil, and it was mainly on accunt of 
the prevalence of bug that any extension of culti- 
vation to Dimbula and Dikoya was condemned. 
But who ever hears of blight nowr 1 One hundred 
thousand acres have been planted in the wilderness 
of the Peak since then, and the area affected by 
bug there or elsewhere in the island, has been most 
trifling. But the place has been more than filled 
by the most terrible of all diseases, Hemilea vast- 
atri.v, or coffee leaf disease. " Of tbe terrible effects 
of this coffee fcourge, I need only say that since the 
year 1869, when it made its first appearance, the 
coffee crops of Ceylon fell off during the first de- 
cade of years, more than one-half of their greatest 
production. 
DANGER OF BRINGING- THE DISEASE HERE. 
In a letter which I addressed to the President of 
the Planters' Association, Honolulu, from Honokaa, 
Hawaii, I urged upon them, at this meeting, the 
necessity of drawing the attention of the Minister of 
the Interior to the danger to this country of would- 
be benefactors, bringing plants of coffee from the 
East Indies, with a view to change the seed here. 
I desire to embody a similar warning in this report, 
so that it may reach every one interested in plauting 
on Hawaii. There may be even now plants on their 
way for the very purpose suggested ; I would 
strongly advise them being destroyed before landing. 
The pest was introduced into the Fiji group of 
Islands in this way, where I saw it and reported 
upon the matter. It has also extended its ravages 
to Southern India and Java. These Islands are quite 
isolated, and it is easy to keep them free from 
contamination. A great industry undeveloped, has 
as much right to be protected as those already 
established. Scientific men shake their heads at 
the idea of leaf fungus disappearing in the 
same mysterious way that it began. " It has 
found its food, and why should it go, so long as 
there is a coffee tree left for it to live on, " fairly 
represents the opinion of Dr. Thwaites, Dr. Trimen 
or Marshall Ward ; the eminent mycologists have 
not given the planters much more comfort. 
HOW TO PLANT COFFEE. 
As I have before stated, tbe first qualification is 
rich, deep soil, as coffee is a large producer and 
calls equally largely from the soil. The amount of 
return of crops is regulated according te the ferti- 
lity of the soil ; like cinchona, it rejoices more in 
sloping, and even steep lands, than flat. I would 
strongly advise caution being observed in selecting 
pahoelwe formation covered with a layer of soil. Like 
cinchona, coffee is also very sensitive to " wet feet,'' 
and any land of a spongy nature that retains water 
will assuredly kill coffee. A-a formation containing 
a sufficiency of soil is best adapted to the require- 
ments of the coffee shrub, as it takes very kindly 
to stony or rocky land, if accompanied by a subsoil 
drainage. The degree of decomposition, however, of 
the a-a must be taken into consideration. The older 
the flow the better ; I do not need to enlarge upon 
this, as everyone will easily understand my meaning 
who has the least knowledge of the formation of 
this country. 
DISTRICT OF PUNA. 
The district of Puna is a vexed question to me. 
* If Mr. Forsyth returns in a few years he will 
find it a sheet of tea.— Ed 
