390 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 May, 1902. 
To study an untopped tree, one will find generally that the lower primaries 
are fairly strong (unless the tree is old or the coffee very close together), the 
middle branches scanty and whippy, and the top like a tuft, thick and top 
heavy. (For reason of this, see Article No. 5, “ Disbudding,” Queensland 
Agricultural Journal, February, 1901.) The height at which it would seem to 
require topping (generally about 3 feet) will appear obvious, and this height— 
z.e., where the stronger lower primaries cease, and higher ones look thin and 
sick—is the point at which Nature often does her own topping by breaking off 
the stems. Although the height at which to ep may seem obvious in such 
cases, the tree can be grown higher with safety, for on looking at such trees 
again, another point will be specially noticeable, and that is that, however tall a 
tree, unless especially well situated, it will only carry a given amount of bearing 
wood or a certain number of primaries. And this amount is made up of the 
lower or good portion of the tree, and the tuft at the top. Should the tree 
grow higher, the neck or non-bearing stem increases, but the amount of green 
bearing wood does not. Now, these vary, of course, but will be found to 
aggregate on the average from 4 to 43 or perhaps 5 feet. This then gives us 
the answer to our first question, and it will be generally found that from 4 to 
43 feet is a good average height at which to top coffee. 
While this may be taken as a general rule, variations of it are necessary, 
when the soil is especially rich or the situation specially protected, when greater 
height may be allowed, say from 5 to 5} feet, and under inverse conditions it 
must be lowered to 33 to 4: feet. JI have known poor and exposed ridges, even 
when planted as closely as 4 x 5 feet, to be topped, and pay to be kept topped, 
at 3 feet; but this is exceptional. Again, trees planted close together, say 
6 x 6 feet, may generally be topped higher than those planted 8 x 8 feet, as it 
will be obvious that less spread is available. 
In fixing on a uniform height at which to top his estate, the grower must 
not be led away by the apparent ease with which he can reach the top of a 
coffee-tree when it is young, but remember that, when the young top primaries 
(perhaps only a few inches long when topped) are 4 to 6 feet long, even a 4-foot 
tree would be quite sufficiently difficult to reach over in picking. 
When to Top.—The season of year when the trees may be topped is nota 
very vital point. Some authorities advocate topping just before the rainy season 
sets in, some just after it, some just after the crop—z.e., pruning season—and 
some say that coffee should not be topped until the wood at the point at which 
it is intended to be cutis matured. With respect to the former question, I 
would say do not top at, or about, blossoming time, because the retarding of the 
vertical growth has a tendency to bring out flush in the place of spike, and, 
though this may occasionally be no disadvantage on a young estate with an 
inclination to over-bear, it is, as a general rule, not advisable to hinder the 
formation of spike and blossom. 
With regard to the latter point, the maturing of the wood at the point 
at which topping is determined on necessitates an extra growth of 1 foot to 18 
inches, which has subsequently to be cut off, and besides this the flow of sap 
having become habitual the tendency to sucker is great. Experience has shown 
that allowing a young plant to produce this foot or more of stem and branches 
merely to be cut back involves a waste of vitality not otherwise compensated 
or. 
Therefore, I would advocate topping the trees just as soon as they have 
attained the desired height, whatever time of year it may be, with the one 
exception mentioned. 
Against this early topping it may be argued that the growth of fruit- 
bearing wood is unduly forced, but practice has not found it to be so. When 
nipped off while quite young and green, the tree does not feel the operation to 
the same extent, and the subsequent growth of suckers is proportionately far 
less, and lateral expansion is quickly noticeable. 
