1 May, 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 391 
How to Top.—There are several ways in which the topping may be done. 
The most general is perhaps the one whereby the top of the tree is cut off 
between the knots or eyes on the stem, either just under or just above young 
primaries. This is to be deprecated, because the stump left very soon dies off, 
and the tree when it gets older, possibly not tillit is ten years or more old, is 
liable to split from the weight of crop or other causes; and once split, with 
moisture in the pith, the tree soon dies back, and even if recovering the two 
top primaries at least are lost. 
The next method is to cut one young primary with the stem, allowing the 
other to grow (see illustration). This leaves life in the knot of the stem and a 
natural top to the tree of one primary, obviating the chance of splitting. 
This method may be adopted on steep land, the single primary being left on 
the upper side from which, in after years, it may be more readily reached. In 
windy localities it is, however, inadvisable, as the primary is apt to be twisted 
and broken. I have seen this system adopted when coffee has been topped low 
-and subsequently raised with good effect. The third method is for general 
purposes the best. This is to cut off two primaries as well as the stem at the 
required height, leaving three points like a trident at the top of the tree (see 
illustration) ; on level land this is most satisfactory. Apart from the mere 
appearance, it will be found that a tree so topped will keep the knot green for 
a comparatively long time, can be suckered with less trouble, and the field of 
coffee will present a more even surface to wind and weather and suffer less in 
consequence. 
Tn a young estate, especially one growing abnormally fast, it may often 
prove adyisable to top down to a height of 33 or even 3 feet, allowing the tree 
six months or a year later to grow a sucker which may then be topped at the 
desired height. This strengthens the stem, and makes the tree sturdy and 
broad, so that it quickly coversthe ground. The accidental topping of a young 
tree in this way—as mentioned in Article No.9, Queensland Agricultural Journat, 
June, 1901—will often demonstrate this point far more vividly to the grower 
than my description will do. 
The foregoing may be said to have reference only to young coffee. The 
operation of topping is seldom mentioned with respect to other than young 
coffee, because the work is invariably carried out during the second and third years 
of the life of a modern estate. As older coffee may, however, have to be dealt 
with, and it may be decided that it would be advantageous to bring into order 
an old or overgrown field, the subject may be mentioned here. The height will 
have to be determined by the natural growth of primaries, as mentioned earlier, 
which will show in most cases a very distinct falling off at a certain point. The 
top must then be severed by a clean cut, care being taken not to splinter or 
split the stem in the process. 
Although this height may be lower than the coffee can safely be grown 
at, it is better to cut right back to this point, and to allow a sucker to make a 
new head than to immediately cut to the contemplated height, and leave even a 
few inches of bare stem or stem carrying weak and debilitated primaries. 
Coffee that is allowed to grow in its natural state and untopped from the 
time of planting out will be found in course of time to have no lower primaries 
at all, and in most cases several stems. This is what is known as “native” 
coffee. The crop from such trees is small and poor in quality, and, from the 
height of the trees, is difficult to pick. The recovery of areas that have gone 
as far as this (7.¢., to have no lower primaries) is difficult and often not worth 
while, were it desired, these would have to be stumped rather than topped, 
and subsequently treated as young trees. 
Suckering.—The effect of topping is, as we have seen, to strengthen the 
stem and encourage the lateral growth of the coffee. The first and immediate 
effect that will be noticed, however, is the growth of young, tender, and quick- 
' growing shoots from the stem vertically, from immediately below a primary, 
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