164 
It must be realized that at the time mentioned above, when this 
product was being exploited here, there was not a great deal of 
knowledge at the disposal of the planters as regards its economical 
cultivation. Most of the knowledge available was brought from 
Ceylon, where. species other than “ Liberian ” had been in vogue, and 
to which this country was entirely unsuited, and we realize now, 
that a great many o f those who encouraged the planting of Liberian 
coffee here, and who honestly believed in it, to the extent of risking, 
in some cases, considerable fortunes, hardly possessed sufficient 
knowledge either of the industry or the conditions necessaiy to make 
a success of the venture ; they were at the same time attracted by 
big figures in consular reports from Brazil and elsewhere. 
Planters of the present day would, we think, soon doom to 
comparative failure some of the propositions of those days when 
land was so often chosen for coffee without regard to the 
requirements of the tree itself. Land chosen in the Ulu containing, 
as we know, not a vast depth of “ humus ” was rarely dealt with 
in a manner calculated to conserve all its resources, and became, 
from one reason and another (mostly by allowing the top soil 
to be washed by heavy rains into the ravines) much impoverished, 
and actually in many cases incapable of bearing average crops after 
the first few years without the aid of artificial manure. 
The best and steadiest crops were recorded from lands of a 
peaty natui’e in the low country, where the only coffee worth looking 
at still exists and is yielding a handsome profit to its owners. 
It lias been the aim and object of a large proportion of planters, 
since the rubber industry was started, to find something in the way 
of a catch-crop that would prove to be an assistance in reducing the 
cost of upkeep. Different varieties of coffee have been interplanted, 
and in many instances a very considerable revenue obtained. 
One well-known company paid quite a respectable dividend for 
a few years waiting for the main product to mature, but generally 
speaking the policy of introducing catch-crops with the above idea 
cannot claim much support, and the scheme is for many reasons 
a dangerous one. It might be assumed that the planter would 
eliminate the catch-crop at any expense as soon as he is satisfied that 
the main crop is suffering, but, in the face of concrete instances, 
unfortunately no such assumption is warranted. 
Again, the catch-crop as a rule receives little or no attention 
in the way of cultivation, and cases are recorded where coffee as a 
catch-crop with rubber has been condemned on account of the soil 
being described as unsuitable when it might have yielded quite a 
good return under conditions altogether dissimilar. 
Under normal conditions a small crop may be looked for in the 
third year from planting and the tree may be considered to be in full 
bearing after the fifth or sixth year. 
