ar
planters.

The following is private information from a correspondent:--

"We generally plant about 200,000 trees within a space of 500 feet,
choosing the strongest soil. I have adopted a different system from
the one generally in use here, for they usually plant the trees too
near each other. I find by giving them space and air, that the plant
develops itself and yields more beans. It is very important to
protect the trees from the rays of the sun, for which purpose I
plant bananas at intermediate rows; their broad leaves, like
parasols, shed a delightful shade round the coffee plant, and tend
to accumulate the moisture which strengthens the roots of the young
tree.

When the tree is about two years old the top branches are lopped off
for the purpose of throwing the sap into the bean. Some planters cut
the trees so short, that they do not allow them to stand more than
five or six feet above the ground; but I allow mine to attain
greater height prior to lopping them, whereby they produce larger
crops. Nor do I allow my negroes to beat the trees, or force them to
pluck a certain quantity a day, for I discovered that they picked
the ripe and unripe beans indiscriminately--frequently injuring the
trees. I only allow them to shake the tree, and pick up the beans
that have fallen during the night."

Coffee exports from the ports of Havana and Matanzas, in Cuba, for the
years ending December in

Quintals.
1839 344,725
1840 402,135
1841 212,767
1842 314,191
1843 223,265
1844 186,349
1845 42,409
1846 65,045
1847 106,904
1848 31,674
1849 92,974
1852 42,510

Porto Rico exported 85,384 cwt. of coffee in 1839.

_Africa_.--Coffee will require some four years to grow before it will
give to the cultivator any income, but it should be known that after
that time the tree, with little or no labor bestowed on it, will yield
two crops a year. The quality of coffee grown in the republic of
Liberia, on the western coast of Africa, is pronounced by competent
judges to be equal to any in the world. In numerous instances, trees
full of coffee, are seen at only three years old. 214 casks and bags
of coffee were imported from the western coast of Africa in 1846.