2^0 
a?HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
Oct. 1 190L 
Coffee. — A Liberiau coffee clearing of 4| acres was 
plsnted early in April. The distance of the rows 
were 9 ft. apart and the plants in the i;ows 9 ft. 
from one another. These distance, 9ft, x 9ft., wh^n 
pliuted, give 537 plants to an aero. Holes 18" >< 18" 
were cut I'or each plant, and left open for some 
davs and filled in with top soil. The plants were 
only about 6 inches in height and were most care- 
fully planted, each one being shaded with bracken 
fern at the same time. The plants in the clearing 
are now near'y all 3 ft. heigh, a most vigorous 
growth for 8 months, and the clearing has a good 
even cover. This I also attribute to the judicious 
shading. The only vacancies in the clearing have 
been caused by snails (hono-hono) eating the young 
plants, and reattaeking them after shooting out new 
young leaves, until they eventually die. We put 
on Tv'omen every morning going ever the clearing 
collecting the snails which had a slight effect in 
reducing the number. They do their work of des- 
truction at night and early in the morning wend 
their way tack to cover such as bananas, aloes, etc., 
and this is the time to catch them. We have since 
found the best remedy is to put a little lime or 
ashes round each plant. Snails will not go over 
this. They do not attick tea or cocoJi but seem to 
have a particular liking for coffee, fruit, kola and 
shade tree plants, which latter we have to protect 
by fencing with sticks put close together round 
each tree. They will always be a source of des- 
truction to young plants and a means must be 
found of exterminating them. The growth of the 
Libarian coffee plants equals anything I have seen 
in Ceylon, where it is chiefly grown in the low 
country, and the clearing is quite a little pitonre. 
A nursery of yonng L, coffee plantj is coming on 
well at Mpapa and the few vacancies there are will 
be filled up when the planting season comes. 
I would not recommend the further planting of 
Liberian coffee as I am of opinion that Arabian 
would grow well at Dunga, and it is a far mors 
satisfactory variety to grow and deal with in every 
way. Liberiau has a rough coarse berry and is 
hard to pulp and fetches a low price compared with 
Arabian. I think that Dunga is adapted in every 
Way for a Cuffee estate, the lay of the land is good, 
the soil a r'ark sandy loam with sandy clay bottom, and 
the rainfall considerable. Dr. Voelker's report showed 
the soil a'; Dunga fairly rich in phosphoric acid which, 
with lime, is the most important mineral constituent in 
a coffee to 1. A few fabout 20^ Arabian coffee plants 
were pla:.ted at Dunga about 3 years ago and lived 
and grew all through the drought of 1898. I topped 
these a few months ago and they are now forming 
into good bushes, equal to any of the same age 
that L have seen in Ceylon, About 8| acres of land 
has been cleared, lined 6 ft. x 6 ft., holed and filled 
in. The holes were cut 18" deep, 18" wide at the top 
and at the bottom. This clearing will be planted with 
Aiabian coffee v/hen the seasoa comes round. The 
seed was procured from Nyassaland and as the plants 
ara coming on well at Mpapa nursery they will be 
in ly 1 ft. high when planted out. We have also 
orlered J bushel of seed from Nyassaland, which 
will give enough plants for supplies in 1901 and to 
open up a further 25 acres. There are also a few plants 
of Cofea stenophylla in the Mpapa Nursery, the seed 
of which was sent us from Sierra Leone. These 
will also be planted out in the rainy season. 
Tea. — An experimental clearing of about 4-J acres 
was planted in April at the N. end of Dunga near the 
labour houses at the end of the avenue. The plants 
were set 5 ft. by 5ft, giving 1,742 plants to an acre. 
Holes 18" deep x 12" v.ide were cut and, like the 
coffte, left open for some days to take all sourness 
out ol the soil and, pr(jvious to planting, were filled 
in w/tli good top loam. The holes in this way 
contain good f;ef .soil and the young roots of the 
lantt can find their way down without any obstruc- 
fou, Tlis swd of tba pha^ m Assam Hybrid, 
the most suitable variety for low elevation was 
obtained from Horagalla Estate, Ceylon. It was 
packed in charcoal and, considering the long voyage 
it had to undergo, reached here in first rate con- 
dition, quite 50 %, of the seed giving plants, often 
a Very go-id pen.entago for seed sown in local nur- 
series in Geylou. The seed arrived here ra'her Ltte 
in December 1898 and the plants weie only about 
4 months old from seed when put out in the clear, 
ing. Plants phould be at least 6 months in the 
nursery before being mo\ e 1, but as the monsoon was 
on and showed every sign of being a good one we 
decided to plant up the 4?^ acres rather than lose 
a year. There ace some vacancies, the smallest 
plants having died out, but on the whole the clear- 
ing is a success and has a fair cover, most of the 
plants being now over 2 ft. high and looking vigor- 
ous. Tiie growth of these plants has been as good 
as I have seen in the low country of Ceylun, tor 
the 8 months they have been planted out. The 
plants were all shaded lightly with bracken fern 
when planted and to this I attribute the success of 
the clearing. In a country like Zanzibar where the 
we.t.ther is so uncertain and the sun so fierce all 
plants should, in my opinion, ha ligiitly shaded im- 
mediately after planting, even in wet and cloudy 
M'eather, and after they show signs of having set 
the shading can be cautiously and by degrees taken 
off and 80 harden the plants. A half maund (40 ib.) 
of the ?ame Scei arrived from Ceylon in September 
1899. This was put out at the Mpapa nursery, 
and has come up well. The vacancies in the 
clearing will be planted with these plants in April 
next when they will be nearly 7 months old and 
should thrive well. It is most important to always 
have a nursery of young plants comiuK on to 
supply what vacancies have occurred during the 
yeir, whatever size the clearing may b?. as in 
this way alone can an even cover be obtained. 
After the tea is three years old supplies do not 
thrive, so during the 3 years special attention 
should be given to supplying each planting season. 
This holds good for all dealings of coffee, cocoa, 
etc. After supplying the vacanc es in the old 
clearing there will be suiJioieut plants to extend 
the area 2 or 3 acres. Two acres have already 
been lined and holed re=tdy for the planting season 
and as all the plants will be 7 months old from 
seed, with « favourable season this clearing should 
do well. The first planted tea will be ready for 
its first topping about July 1900 when it will be 
15 months old. The plants will be cut down on 
red wood to 18" leaving the young laterals around 
untouched, which will soon reach the level to which 
the plant has been topped and increase the surface 
of the forming bush. From this topping a httie 
leaf can be collected and a few lb. of tea made. 
The bushes will them be left alone till about the 
end of the second year, viz., about January 1901, 
when they will get their 2nd topping. .Should the 
growth be very vigorous a little leaf could be plucked 
a month or so before this topping. The bushes will 
then be cut down to 22 inches on red wood, or 4 
inches above the 1st topping, leaving all lateral 
branches as in the first topping and when they reach 
the level the bushes will have a good surface. 
When the shoots from the 2nd topping have 
reached over 6 inches (or 28 inches in all) they 
will we plucked off' to this height and this wiil be 
the plucking surface of the bushes for the year, 
and anything below this must be left until it 
reaches above the surface. After this the bushes 
will be gone round regularly every 9 days 
and what leaf is ready over the plucking surface, 
plucked off. The bushes should be in full bearing 
by the end of 1901 ; but great care must be taken 
to see they are not over plucked by the labour 
when going round them. Judging from the growth 
of the plants that are coming on now and from 
the forcing nature of the climate as well as by 
the contiau9a8 heav^ dewa »l\ (he ys&v rouad I 
