370 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 May, 1902: 
Tropical Industries. 
THE LEEMING SYSTEM OF COFFEE CULTIVATION. 
The proceedings of the United Planters’ Association of Southern India for 
1901 include a very interesting account of the method of coffee cultivation 
adopted by Mr. Leeming, a Madras planter, on his estates of Scotforth and 
Kooderoy Panjan on the Shevaroy Hills. Although the method has been. 
called the Leeming system for convenience, Mr. Leeming does not claim to 
have discovered anything new. He says he has merely thought out and 
applied to cotfee-growing the principles carried out by practical and scientific 
growers of fruit trees in various parts of the world, and his system, as it stands: 
at present, is the result of careful observation and experiment carried on over 
several years. I was taken over every field in these two estates so that I 
might see for myself the effect of the system on both good and poor soils, Mr. 
Leeming answering all my questions without any reserve whatever. 
The system may be said to have been instituted seven years ago when he 
ceased to either prune or handle, and allowed suckers to grow, the trees being 
left to Nature, but he continued to cultivate and manure the soil more carefully 
than ever. The result was that his crops increased and his trees suffered less 
from leaf disease, but it was apparent that they were so crowded that they 
could not give nearly as good crops as they might. In 1898 he began 
cutting out in field No. 10 of Scotforth, reducing the number of trees 
from 27,000 to 13,500, just half, and giving them a space of 12 x 12 feet in 
which to spread—i.e., about 600 trees per acre. In 1899-1900 he picked. 
1,500 struck bushels of ripe cherry from this field, equal to nearly 7 cwt. per 
acre. Last season he picked 1,700 bushels, nearly a ton more than in the 
previous year, and in April he again thinned out the field to 10,200 trees, and. 
the estimate for the coming crop is nearly 10 ewt. per acre. ‘These figures I 
took from the estate books myself, and are unquestionable, and a better record 
than this can hardly be imagined. ‘The other fields were similarly treated in 
1899 and 1900, and now his object is to finally get about 300 trees per acre 
and no more. In field No. 3 of Scotforth this has been done. No sooner had 
the trees got root and air space, than they at once began to fill out laterally, 
and the long branches came sweeping down to the ground, thereby increasing 
the bearing area enormously, and suckers grew very slowly. What suckers. 
there were grew before the thinning out process began. 
These trees are now (writes Mr. A. M. Elder), who visited Mr. Leeming’s 
estates and afterwards wrote this account of the system, 10 to 12 feet high, 
and the branches have a spread of over 15 feet, and I agree with Mr. Leeming 
in thinking it will take another five years to see them at their full development. 
I merely give the figures of field No. 10 because it was the first to be cut out, 
but those relating to the other portions are equally good. When thinning out 
from 600 to 300 trees per acre he first cuts off the primaries, leaving the 
suckers for a couple of years, thus giving air and some root space to the trees. 
that remain, but he is not certain that it would not pay better to take them 
out at once. 
When going over Kooderoy Plantation he took the same trouble in order ~ 
that I might see part of each field. I remember seeing this estate some eight 
or nine years ago, when, although it grew very find oranges and silver oaks, the 
coffee was very poor indeed. Now, under this system, there is a complete 
transformation. Oranges, &c., have disappeared, and avenues of great coffee 
shrubs, healthy and vigorous, with dark, glossy leaves, and laden with crop,. 
have taken their place. 
When Mr. Leeming took charge of it eight years ago its crop was 13 tons 
off 65 acres. Last year, off the same area with some little assistance from the 
