10 
of earth fruited as against 85 per cent of the check trees. The crop 
from the former, tree for tree, considerably more than doubled that 
from the latter, whether the fruiting trees only are considered or 
the entire planting. 
These plantings indicate a definite method of obtaining a more 
rapid development of the coffee tree and a large increase in early 
yields. 
RECOMMENDATIONS. 
The following method of handling young coffee seedlings is recom- 
mended : 
Mature seed, selected from trees of desirable types, may be planted 
immediately after pulping or may be washed free of the slimy coat- 
ing and kept well spread out in an a*iry shaded place for a period not 
longer than three or four months previous to planting. 1 Excessive 
drying must be avoided, as this will destroy the viability of the seed. 
The seed should not be planted deeply, a quarter of an inch of soil 
being a sufficient covering. The seed may be sown in the nursery or 
in boxes from which they can be transplanted to the nursery when 
the cotyledonous leaves have hardened. Previous to germination the 
soil should not be allowed to dry out. In the nursery the seedlings 
should net be less than 8 inches apart. Here they may remain until 
the second rainy season after planting. 
Too dense shading or an exposure to too full sunlight should be 
avoided, as either extreme is injurious to the best development of the 
young plants. 
Provided the soil and exposure throughout the projected planting 
are favorable, numerous small scattered nurseries are preferable to 
fewer and larger ones, and they greatly facilitate the transportation 
of the trees at the time of planting. 
Transplanting of moderately large coffee seedlings either from or 
into a heavy clay soil should unquestionably be done with the roots 
still incased in the soil in which they grew. Many roots are injured 
when the plants are taken out and freed from soil of this type, while 
on resetting plants in such soil it is difficult to secure a proper spread 
of roots or to fill in around them, especially if the clay is wet. 
A heavy clay can be cut with the aid of a spade or a machete into 
blocks (PI. I, fig. 1) easily carried without crumbling. If the soil is 
liable to crumble, it can be reinforced by wrapping large leaves 
around it. The trees with their blocks of earth should be placed 
immediately in a flat tray or box, so arranged with a pole at either 
side that it can be carried by two men (PL I, fig. 2). 
The trees are then carried to holes prepared in advance. 2 The 
poorer the soil in which the planting is made, the greater the neces- 
1 Porto Rico Sta. Rpt. 1911, p. 29. 2 Porto Rico Sta. Circ. 15 (1912). 
