866 
THE TKOPfCAL AUKIOULTURIST 
[Ju.vK 1, 1«99. 
We know tliab the China is an old country, 
find tea has {{lown on the same land there for a 
larf,'e number of years, so that ir is possible thxt 
die soil may beciiine exliausted; wlmreas in 
Assam and the Dooar.s, y()ii have virgin soil. T iiat 
would make a dill'ereiice. would if not?— I do not 
think so, because tlie original j^arden > where 
the China seed was planted were also ou virgin 
soil. 
I do not say what the ilin.irce would amount to, 
but there wouhJ be that additional diU'erencc ? — 
Of noui se, it is ;i newer soil nndonbiediy. 
And, therefore, a better soil ''—There is no 
doubt. 
PLANTING IN B. C. AFRICA: 
COFFEE IN MLANGI, 
(Bi/ an ex Ceijlon Planter.) 
In the middle of our cold season the th-Tuio- 
nietor durins,' the ni,L;ht goes as low as 4< and 
deg. and during' the day seldom above 03 deg. 
Tiie oold commences with the middle of our crop 
season, July; but unfortunately the drought 
during the Ldossoming months left us little to 
trouble about, tso no one was very busy, for 
the study is to keei) down expenditure. 
COFFEE 
iiere is not the succef?s I anticipated. This country 
is subject 10 pario'lical droughts during the blossom- 
ing months, .September, October and iNovemhcr, 
accompanieil with hot winds from the plains 
between the sea and here, which do a tremen- 
dous amount of damage to cottee ; bi^sides burn- 
ing uj) tiie blossoms and set crop. It scorches the 
trees to such a degree that it takes about two years 
for them to recover: not only is the wood Itilled, 
but tlie very trees, especially young ones (one 
or two years old) are so nnich damaged that they 
never recover, being burned right into the ground. 
The result of those scoarehings is that canker sets in, 
the trees are bark bound, the sap cells become 
diseased and black and empty beans become in 
course of years so numerous thr,t the only 
visible remedy is the cutting tlown to the ground. 
This no doub:/ accounts for the stumping of old 
coffee, which has been done iu this country by 
planters from time to time. After stumping a good 
sound crop is obtained again, the same as the 
maiden crops usually are; 
The necessity for 
SHADE 
is now recognised and most planters in the country 
are going in for it by either planting local trees 
or imported ones. I upist say I prefer the latter, 
at least those that have been proved cood coffee 
shade trees such as the dadap, aibizzia nioluccana, 
&c. ; but the diiiiculty is in getting seed im- 
ported as it is only procurable from the East 
where leaf-disease is so prevalent. We have some 
excellent shade trees in the countiy, but they 
don't grow so fast as the da<lap and oiheis 
familiar to nie in ('eyion. 
I never saw coffee ou the Uva-side or any- 
where else in Ceylon 
BLOSSOM 
the same as it ('.oes here : 10 to 15 spiko in a 
cluster is the usual number. >So you iieeJ not wonder 
at 8 cwt. an acre being secured from the prim- 
aries as a maiden crop, whicli is qiiil;e common, 
if a favourable season is got ; but older coffee 
gets weakened by repeated droughts, and sui)pos- 
ingit gets favourable weather during the blossom- 
ing season, the berries drop off even wheii the 
Hze of peas, t le same as they used to do in 
Ceylon through the eHects of leaf-disease. This 
(Iocs not occur, however, whore there is any shade, 
eve:i that of au individual tree or two eatKoeii 
to save the crop. Our climate i«, I suppose, w 
suitable as any m the world (an<l our soil iu 
mo.ir districts is exceptionally good^ for the suecess- 
tnl culiivation of collee, wore it not for those 
occ isKuial dry scrtsons. so dis.xstrous to the health 
and vigour ot ihe cofiVe tree. 
f am strongly «f opinion that the best and 
ni ost siiccessfui way u. treat colfee here and en- 
sure the best results is to allow it to run up 
into 
N.vrn'K COFFKK 
or at lea^t till it reaches six foet the same as is 
jlone lu Java, so tint the crop wjuld be matured 
higher off the ground a:id the cover elfecied by 
the lofty trees would keep the gionnd cool. At 
present cultivating, as we do, our treeh. well 
handled and pinned leaving little w<K>d. aia 
forced too much, beyond their strength, blossom- 
ing to the tune of a ton per acre, which tliey 
a:e unable to stand, when tlie thermometer re- 
gisters 96 deg. and 98 deg. in the shade and the 
ground dues not during the night, lose the 
heat of the day before, being quite warm in the 
inorning. ^o dew falls as a rule durin? this time 
(October and November our best blossoming 
inouths) Owing to the country busii-grass burn- 
ing night and day at this time of the year, the 
air is fearfully dry. The objection niight be 
raned to allowing coffee to run up to 10 or 15 
feet, VIZ. wind (the trees' greatest enemy). I know 
most <l.stricts in Ceylon, some where I've seen 
the colfee pulled up by the roots by wind and 
others whe.e you had to get off your Lor.se and 
hold on to the gia.<:s by your teeth, aiul others 
where bullock bandies were blown off the road, 
witu H ton loads in them ; and yet coflee with 
staking when young stood it all an^i paid well. 
\/e liave no sucn wind here, coffee is never staked, 
ana does not need it, in any of the districts I have 
seen. 1 am quite convinced that low topping. 
espcciallij m ,jreen wood, doas a fair amount of 
harm to our coffee and this is usu,ally done to 
try and secure a biu' maiden crop. I myself 
tried It and nearly killed some beautiful young 
cottee: m fact it has never recovered the 
snoclv It got, with a diy season to boot. 
We are now in 
TELEGRAPIUC COMMCJ.VICATION 
Nvith the old country and it is expected that we 
siiaii havea railway from the coast before long. 
J. lie Fort;ugue.se Government is to build a line 
from Qailimane to Chiroino : the line has been 
surveyed and the funds voted for the construc- 
tion of this line which is very necessary to con- 
nect with our mountain line into the Shire High- 
lands as the river from Chinde (our coast port) 
to Ciiiromo and Katungas is a very uusatisfac- 
toiy means of transport, as the water is very 
low for half of the year, rendering it almost un- 
navigable for the smallest draft steamers con- 
structed. It is just as bad as your Kelani and 
Kalugaugaare in the dry season. 
Our projected 
RAILWAY 
from Chlromo into the Highlands and from thence 
"h" Nya.5sa has oesn twice surveyed over by 
Mr. McLrombe on account of the African Lakes 
Company and a party of Engineers are'now at 
work between Blantyre and the lake on account 
o! Government. So this line which is an absolute 
nec3ssl^y for the future development of the 
