The Cultivation of Liberian Coffee. 297 
The trees should be planted if possible at the com- 
mencement of the rainy season, and on no account 
should the seedlings be put out in the fields during dry 
weather ; for, until the plants are firmly rooted in their 
new situations, a few days' sun and dry weather will most 
certainly kill them. Temporary shade may, however, be 
afforded by fixing small branches of trees in the ground 
around the plants, or a few sticks pushed into the 
earth may be made to support plantain or fern leaves in 
such a way as to give light shade to the young coffee 
trees. If dry weather come on suddenly after planting^ 
the coffee trees ought to be watered at least once a day 
until they become well-rooted in their new situations, for 
unless this be done a large proportion will die. 
One cannot impress too deeply upon the planter the 
necessity of giving close attention to every detail con- 
nected with the raising and establishing of the coffee 
trees, and I do not, therefore, need any apology for 
quoting the following paragraph from my little work 
on Liberian coffee. — " Too much care cannot be bestowed 
on planting out the coffee in the fields, for at this time 
the results of all the previous work are liable to be swept 
away by inattention to what to the inexperienced may 
appear to be trifling details."* I am glad to find that 
my remarks on this head are in accord with the published 
convictions of so able a botanist and so distinguished an 
agriculturist as the Director of the Public Gardens and 
Plantations of Jamaica. Mr. D. MORRIS writes as fol- 
lows : — " All the operations connected with planting are 
of so important a character that too much care and atten- 
tion cannot possibly be given them. On the mode in 
* The Cultivation of Liberian Coffee in the West Indies. London, i88x. 
