ion applied
should vary with the condition of the coffee. To illustrate this point I
may add that in Coorg, bones and oil-cake are usually applied in the
proportion of two of the latter to one of the former. If, however, a field
has suffered badly from leaf disease (which destroys many of the leaves),
or is not making wood as rapidly as it ought, it is customary to apply a
larger proportion of oil-cake, or in some cases, to put down that manure
without adding any bones. On the other hand, if there is a superabundance
of wood, and it is desirable to throw the whole energies of the tree into
the production of berries, then the proportion of bone manure is increased
and that of oil-cake diminished.

In former times all manures were applied immediately after the crop was
picked, and on estates where labour is scarce, or comes in late in the
season, this system is still carried on. But from results actually
obtained on estates in Coorg, it has now been proved that it is more
advantageous to apply part of the manure immediately after crop, in order
to strengthen the tree when the blossom showers fall (which they usually
do in March and April), and to aid it in perfecting and setting the
blossom, and a second portion after the heavy monsoon rains are over, in
order to assist the tree in growing fresh wood, and in maturing the crop.
The bones, oil-cake, and fish are usually mixed with burnt earth--a cubic
yard to every five cwt. of the manure--and then scattered on the surface
of the land around the stems of the trees, and forked in. The burnt earth,
or indeed almost any good earth, makes an admirable addition to bones,
oil-cake, and fish, for, though the first two, or the last two, furnish
complete manure for coffee, they of course cannot ameliorate the physical
condition of the soil, which, as I have fully shown in the chapter on
manures, is often of more importance than its strictly speaking chemical
condition. The burnt earth, in short, takes the place of cattle manure as
a physical agent, and, for that purpose, I think that the soil, is to be
preferred to cattle manure, as the former would certainly be cheaper and
more lasting in its effects in keeping the soil in a loose and easily
workable condition. On the other hand, it must be considered that cattle
manure would be more moisture-holding than ordinary earth, though not more
so than jungle top-soil, and when first applied, would be perhaps more
opening to the land, than