THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURIST. 
[Dec. 1, 1903. 
press Buiprise tbat Mri Leeming undertakes the second 
cutting oat at such an early period, bat practical 
experience and results obtained from experimental 
blocks show that he has made no mistake in acting as 
he has done. The crops are larger and in spite of 
increased bearing, the trees withstand, and recover 
from, the effects of leaf-disease in a way that they 
never used to do before. 
As regards the experimental stage in which the 
system is at present, it will be seen that only a small 
portion of the older coffee of the " Scotforth " estate 
has been left alone since 1900, By far the greater 
area has but lately received its final thinning oat. 
Now Mr. Leeming considers that for the full benefit of 
thinning-out to accrue four years at least must elapse. 
It will thus be seen that it is too early yet to gauge 
the ef&oacy of the system by the crops which have been 
picked, and that several years must first elapse. Mr. 
Leeming acknowledges that had he been aiming at 
large and immediate returns per acre, irrespective of 
quality, he would have left at Si by Sift, a considerable 
portion of the estate which he has since cut out to 
12ft. by 12. Had he done bo, however, he estimates 
that his trees would have got a bad attack of leaf 
disease and would have received a check, from which 
they would have taken a long time to recover. Asked 
what results he had obtained from the gardens which 
first received attention, Mr. Leeming said that an aero 
or so had given him an average of two thirds of a bushel 
per tree, and that when they were more fully 
developed he thought he would have no difSculty 
in getting one bushel per tree in alternate years 
Asked whether he would not prefer to have half a 
bushel only per tree and have it each year, Mr. 
Leeming said :— " Yes, but that is not Dame Nature's 
way.'' He is content, therefore, to take what Nature 
provides even if only in alternate years, and he ex- 
pects the average will work out at least 8 cwts. per 
aore per annum. 
So far we have dealt with Mr. Leeming's expectation 
as regards crops. He has bad, however, two far more 
important objects in view than bumper crops. They 
are (a) improving the quality of his produce and (b) 
cutting down expenses. As regards (o) Mr. Leeming 
who has had some practical experience of the London 
market, holds very decided views as to deterioration 
in the quality of coffee being due to leaf disease, and 
his system is directed to checking leaf disease more 
than to anything else. He has found as a ressult of 
his methods the most extraordinary development in 
the size of the bean his trees produce in spite of a big 
crop. The figures as regards the different grades 
of the "Scotforth " crops during the last four seasons 
as given in the following table, show more clearly 
than can any description of mine the remarkable 
■which Mr. Leeming has achieved . — 
Size of Coffee. 1899-00 1900-01 1901-02 1902 03. 
A. 
B. 
C. 
P. B. 
T 
K. & B, 
6-45 % 
49-76 „ 
2a-81 „ 
3-55 „ 
6.07 „ 
•33 ., 
19 86 % 
49'57 „ 
lS-74 „ 
716 „ 
4-27 „ 
•40 „ 
38 '73 % 
37 ^40 „ 
8- 27 „ 
7-69 „ 
7-60 „ 
•31 „ 
100- r/c 100- p/o 100* p/c 100- p/o 
During the same period the number of bushels 
(struck) of cherry required to produce ton of crop was 
as follows :— In 1899-1900, 266 ; in 1900-1001, 260-80 ; 
in 1901-1902, 238 20 ; in 1902-1903, 21J-60. Tbo figures 
for 1902-1903 would, Mr. Learning is convinced, have 
been better than for any pi-cvioua season had Octo- 
ber, November, and December last not been so ah- 
uormally wet, Mr. Leeming attributes this extra- 
ordinary improvement to the clemination of the evils 
of overcrowding. vl:S; leaf disease, drying up at the 
end of the branches, iili Inmu or white ripe fruit, 
and inability to ripen the crops ) and the greatest 
9f these is leaf disease. 
As regards {h) cutting down expenses, Mr. Leeming 
has modified his system somewhat in the last year or 
two. He has given up all attempts to grow green 
manure and prefers to aim rather at obtaining the 
natural mulch which Dr. Lehmann recommends so 
highly, and to the latter he expresses great indebted- 
ness for pointing out to him the difference between 
natural and artificial mulch. Mr. Leeming has ac- 
cordingly given up trenching and digging in any form 
relying on drains which he has hid dug to a depth of 
three feet all over his estate, at intervals of about 20 
feet. He has found by experience that they accom- 
plish all that is required in the way of aeration of 
soil and that in land so treated his trees always looked 
fresh, however dry the weather. For shade, which a 
bad attack of borer in 1901 led Mr. Leeming to attend 
to without delay, he prefers Erythrina, it being a 
quicker grower, more leguminous and therefore 
richer in nitrogen, and less liable to the attacks of 
insect pests than the indigenous forest trees. 
Excluding the work of planting shade and digging 
drains, which Mr. Leeming consider should be charged 
to capital account, his ordinary expenses are divided 
between weeding and manuring. Ten weedings at a 
cost of R. 88^6)- flsnnani per acre in the aggregate be 
finds to be necessary (but this" item as the shade and 
coffee trees close up and cover the ground more and 
more will in the future be probably reduced) ; and 
an spplioation of 450 lb. per acre of poonao at a cost 
including application, of B.. 11 to R, 12 per acre. All 
such works as pruning, handling, topping, etc., are 
absolutely tabooed, the trees being left free to grow 
entirely as they like. 
The chief arguments which have been brought 
against the system are the following : — (1) That the 
trees will yield two large crops upder it and nothing 
afterwards (2) That the amount of manure required per 
acre will be as much as under the old system. (3) 
That though it seems to answer on the Shevaroys. 
yet it may not be equally suitable for other Districts, 
Now as regards the first of these allegations one may 
ask if the men who make this assertion have ever 
given a reasonable explanation of their statement 
which, from Mr. ^Leeming's experience, is quite con- 
trary to facts. 
As regards (2) one can safely reply that planters 
used to give their trees, if the analyses were worked 
out, far more food than should have been necessary. 
In other words they made little or nothing out of the 
soil which was hardly satisfactory from a monetary 
point of view. So far Mr. Leeming has found 450 lb. 
Li. e, li lb. per tree at 300 trees to the acre] of the 
manure he applies to be sufficient per acre "and the 
analysis shows that he is even then allowing a good 
margin for safety. This can only be explained by the 
assumption that, owing to a more healthy root develop, 
ment the trees at " Scotforth " are now in a position 
to extract some of their food from the soil which they 
were, apparently, unable to do before. The third al- 
legation may be true. However, the principles of "the 
system " surely remain the same though they, may 
require altering to suit local conditions. Otherwise, 
how is that tbey answer so admirably in such an enor- 
mous area [aa compared with Sontbern ludlaj in 
Central and South America ? 
Tbat the Leeming system in the main is the right 
way to grow coffee appears to admit of less and less 
doubt, and its introduction into the several co£fee 
growing Districts of Southern India is gaining ground 
year by year. By the words " in the main " we refer 
especially to giving the tree freedom and space within 
which to expand, which is, the rule in most of the 
countries of the world which grow coffee. That many 
of the methods which Mr. Leeming finds to answer 
best will require modifying and adapting to other 
localities is however, equally certain. On some 
estates, for instance, 3 foot drains may not be necessitry 
on others indigenous shade may be found most snit* 
able ; and on all the particular requirements of the soil 
must be ascertained before any hard fast mle M 
