1 May, 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 871 
young coffee, he picked 25 tons. For seven years he never pruned, and in 
1898 he cut out to 600 trees per acre, and there is a good deal of it now thinned 
to 80u trees per acre. 
The coming crop is estimated at 11 tons, and, judging from the wood now 
making, it should easily be followed by 30 tons. The way trees that were a 
mass of sticks from overbearing, both here and at Scotforth, are making new 
wood is simply marvellous. 
The new clearings on both estates are planted 7 x 7 and 8 x8 feet apart, 
and, beyond topping the trees that are intended to be permanent, they have 
never been touched with a knife. Those trees that are intended to be cut out 
eventually will have their primaries cut off, and a crop or two taken from the 
suckers. I have never seen finer clearings ; soil, climate, and deep cultivation 
being all in their favour. 
Regarding cultivation, Mr. Leeming believes in deep drains (8 to 4 feet 
deep), and 40 feet apart to enable those large trees to send their feeding roots 
deep into the soil; a 6-inch digging with quintaines (forks?) once a year, and 
#-lb. bone-meal, poonac, and nitrate of potash scattered evenly over the surface 
and dibbled in. The supervision of applying the manure has been very greatly 
simplified under the new system, and each individual tree can be studied and 
manured according to its needs. 
He is also growing a legume (a creeping pea) in the middle of the rows, 
which, when growing, will cover the ground and act as a mulch in preventing 
wash and loss of moisture, and induce the earthworms to come up and make 
casts. I was shown examples of these casts as we wentalong. Just before 
flowering, the legumes will be dug into the soil and will enrich it with a cheap 
store of nitrogen. He very kindly gave me a supply of the beans to try in our 
district. 
The advantages of the Leeming System as compared with our present 
method are :—Economy, in that no pruning or handling are required, and only 
half the quantity of manure is necessary. (Mr. Leeming believes in manuring 
at least once a year.) Improved quality of bean, as leaf disease is not nearly 
so virulent now that none of the leaves, which are the lungs of the tree, are 
sacrificed in pruning, and the crops are not only more regular, but are much 
better. These large trees are not nearly so easily affected by a bad blossoming 
season, although they will always do best in a good one. Mr. Leeming’s 
figures speak for themselves; the results are, as Mr. Hodgson remarked at the 
Conference of the U.P.A.S.1., “simply astounding.” Whether we in Mysore 
are ever likely to achieve such results is doubtful, as the Shevaroys are, 
generally speaking, much more savouraDly situated as regards soil, climate, and 
rainfall, but even if we only receive a third of Mr. Leeming’s success we will 
improve our position enormously. 
The system has been objected to on the score of “borer,” but I find Mr. 
Leeming has had worse “borer” than we ever get, and yet he has no fears on 
that score. He says it is only destructive on the clearings, and that old trees 
are rarely attacked, as the branches are close and come down to the ground, 
thus protecting the stem; and this is borne out by the fact that those trees 
that have suffered have been bored near the top, where the damage amounts 
to very little. It has been alleged that if trees are neither pruned nor handled 
they will lose their primaries, but this is not the case if they get room to 
spread. In fact, the tree seems to change character and to adapt itself very 
readily to its new conditions. Mr. Leemingis in favour of the system on poor 
soils, even although the trees do not crowd each other, for although there may 
be plenty of air space, the roots want much more room in which to search for 
nourishment than in rich soils. I do not anticipate that the results from 
cutting out will show themselves nearly so quickly on our estates where the 
trees have been pruned and handled as on Mr. Leeming’s that had been 
untouched for several years, and this is a fact that must be borne in mind. 
Deep cultivation, fairly liberal manuring with earth mulching (if nothing 
else is available) in the shape of light diggings are absolutely indispensable to 
