Aug. 1, 1902.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
85 
and amide bodies, nitrogen, free extract and ether 
extract. 4t the Pennsylvania station it w.-is found 
that the loss in fermentation was greater with tobacco 
fertilised with barnyard manure than with tobacco 
grown with other fertilisers. 
When it is considered that, commercially, tobacco is 
divided into four classes, viz. ; cigar, cigarette, snuff 
and export, it becomes evident that the systematic 
observations as briefly described are invaluable to 
growers, who must, of necessity, produce tobacco 
suitable to the requirements of the markai.— Imperial 
Institute Journal. 
COFjPEB CULTIVATION IN INDIA. 
EEPORT ON THE LEEMING QUESTION. 
The following report on the " Leeming System " of 
coffee cultivation was supplied to Messrs. H, J. Gar- 
diner and Co., Loubon, by Messrs. Binny and Co., 
Madras :— 
Messrs. Binny and Co., Madras. 
Dear Sirs, — As requested by you in your letter of 
the 9th instant I went to the Shevaroy Hills and 
visited Scotforth, Mr. Learning's estate, on the 12th 
and Kooderay Panjan Estate, of which he is manager, 
on the following day, and beg to report as follows ; — 
The system of cultivation carried out on these 
properties has, for the sake of convenience, been 
called the Leeming system, but Mr Leeming does not 
claim to have discovered anything new. He says he has 
merely thought out and applied to coffee growing the 
principles carried out by practical and scientific 
growers of fruit trees in various parts of the world, 
and his system as it stands at present, is the result 
of careful observation and experiment carried on over 
several years. I was taken over every field in these 
two estates, so that I might see for myself the effect 
of the sysrem on both the good and poor soils, Mr. 
Leeming answering all my questions without any re- 
serve whatever. 
The system may be said to have been instituted 
seven years ago, when he ceased to either prune or 
handle and allowed suckers to grow, the trees being 
left to nature, but he continued to cultivate and 
manure the soil more carefully than ever. The result 
was that his crops increased and his trees suffered less 
from leaf disease ; but it was apparent that they were 
so crowded that they could not give uearly as good 
crops as they might. In 1896 — only three years ago 
— he began cutting out in field No. 10 of Scotforth 
reducing the number of trees from 27,000 to 13,500, 
just half, and giving them a space of 12 by 12 feet in 
which to spread, i.e., about 6U0 trees per acre. 1899- 
1900 he picked 1,500 struck bushels of ripe cherry 
from this field, equal to nearly 7 cwts. per acre. Last 
season he picked 1,700 bushels, nearly a ton more than 
in the previous year, and in April, again, he thinned 
out the field to 10,200 trees, and the estimate for the 
coming crop is nearly 10 cwts. per acre. These 
figures I took from the estate books myself, and are 
unquestionable, and a better record, than this can 
hardly be imagined. The other fields were similarly 
treated in 1899 and 1900, and now his object i:i lo 
finally get about 300 trees per acre, and no more. 
In field No. 3 of Scotforth this has been done. 
No sooner had ths trees got root and air space than 
they at once began to fill out laterally, and the long 
branches came bweeping down to the ground, thereby 
increasing the bearing area enormously, and suckers 
grew very slowly. What suckers there are were grown 
before the thinning-out process began. These trees 
are now iO to 12 feet higher, and the branches have a 
spread of over 15 feet, and I agree with Mr. Leeming 
in thinking it will take another five years to see them 
at their full development. 1 merely give the figures of 
field No. 10 because it was the first to be cut out, but 
those relating to the other portions are equally good. 
When thinning out from 600 to 700 trees per acre, he 
first cut off the primaries, leaving the suckers for a 
couple of years, thus giving air and some root space 
to the trees that remaifl, but he is not certain that it 
would not pay better to take them out at once. 
When going over Kooderay Panjan, he took the same 
trouble in order that I might see part of each field. I 
remember seeing this estate some eight or nine years 
ago, when, although it grew very fine oranges and 
silver oaks, the coffee was very poor indeed ; now, 
under this system, there is a complete transformation, 
oranges, etc., have disappeared, and the avenue of 
great coffee shrubs, healthy and vigorous, with dark 
glossy leaves and laden with crop, have taken their 
place. When Mr. Leeming took charge of it, eight 
years ago, its crop was 1} ton off 65 acres ; last year, 
off the same area, with some little assistance from the 
young coffee, *he picked 25 tons. For seven years 
he never pruned, and in 1899 he cut out to 600 trees 
per acre, and there is a good deal of it now thinned 
to 300 trees per acre. The coming crop is estimated 
at 11 tons, and, judging from the wojd now jnaking, 
it should easily be followed by 30 tons. The way 
trees that were a mass of sticks from overbearing, 
both here and at Scotforth, are making new wood 
in simply marvellous. 
The new clearings on both estates are planted 7 
by 7 and 8 by 8 feet apart, and b«yond topping the 
trees th.i,t are intended to be permanent, they have 
never been touched with a kuife. Those trees that 
are to be cut eventually will have their primaries out 
off, and a crop or two taken from the suckers. I have 
never seen finer clearings, soil, climate, and deep 
cultivation being all in their favour. 
Regarding cultivation, Mr, Leeming believes in deep 
drains (3 to 4 feet deep) and 40 feet apart to enable 
those large trees to send their feeding roots deep into 
the soil, a six-inch dfgging with a quiutanies onoe 
a year and J lbs. bone meal, poonac, and nitrate of 
potash scattered over the surface and dibbled in. The 
supervision o£ applying the manure has been very 
greatly simplified under the new system, and each 
individual tree can be studied, and manured according 
to its needs. He ia also growing a legume (a creepsng 
pea) in the rniddle of the row, one to each tree, which, 
when growing, will cover the ground and act as !i 
mulch in preventing wash and loss of moisture, and 
induce the earthworms to come up and make casts. 
I was shown examples of these casts as we went 
along. Just before flowering the legumes will be dug 
into the soil, and will enrich it with a cheap store 
of nitrogen. He very kindly gave me a supply of the 
beans to try in our district. 
The advantages of the Leeming system, as compared 
with our present methods, are : Economy, in that no 
pruning or handling are required, and only half the 
quantity of manure is necessary (Mr. Leeming believes 
in manuring at least once a year ; improved quantity 
of bean, as leaf disease is not nearly so virulent now 
that none of the leaves, which are the lungs of the 
tree, are sacrificed in pruning, and the crops are not 
only more regular, but are much better. These 
large trees are not nearly so easily affected by a bad 
blossoming season, although they will always do best 
in a good one. Mr. Leeming's figures speak for 
themselves, the results are, as Mr. Hodgson remarked 
at the Conference of the U.P. A.S.I, simply astounding 
Whether we in Mysore are ever likely to achieve 
sii'jh results is doubtful, as the Shevaroys are, 
generally speaking, much more favourably situated 
as regards soil, climate, and rainfall, but even if 
we only receive a third of Mr. Leeming's success, 
we will improve our position enormously. 
The system has been objected to on the score of 
borer, but I find Mr. Leeming has had worse borer 
than we ever get, and yet he has no fears on that 
score. He says it is only destructive on the clearings, 
and that old trees are rarely attacked, as the branches 
are close and come down to the ground, thus protect- 
ing the stem, and this is borne out by the fact 
that those trees that have suffered have been brode 
near the top, when the damage amounts to very 
little. It has been alleged that if trees are neither 
prnued nor handled they will loso their primaries, 
