ich hollows that are able to maintain
the coffee in good condition and produce good crops continuously? To such
questions no distinct answer can be given, and we can only conjecture that
coffee, when it wants its food, must, for some unknown reason, have a
considerable supply at hand. There is, however, one test which, I think,
always shows conclusively whether this food is present in the quantity
required to supply the needs of the plant. Just before the hot weather the
coffee trees throw out a small flush of young wood. Now if the trees have
given a fair average crop, and at the same time have a good show of
bearing wood for the next season's crop, and are also throwing out a good
supply of vigorous young shoots, then you may be sure that your land is
well fed. But if the trees throw out no young shoots at that time, or very
few, then you will know that your land is not as well fed as it ought to
be.

It might naturally be supposed that I could furnish some guide to the
planter, from our experience in Mysore, as to the quantity of manure that
should be put down, but I regret to say that I am unable to do so, as I
know of no estate where a regular and continuous system of manuring has
been carried out. But in North Coorg, and very close to the Mysore Border,
the continuous practice on Mr. Mangles's Coovercolley Estate of 500 acres
gives a fairly approximate idea of what can keep an estate in a well-fed
condition. There the practice has been to put down every third year from 7
to 10 cwt. of bone-meal an acre, and one-third of a bushel of cattle
manure, and, besides this, composts of pulp, mixed with top soil and lime.
Now this is the finest estate I ever saw. The coffee was even and of a
beautiful colour, and when I saw it towards the end of 1891 there was a
fair crop of coffee on the trees, and an ample supply of young wood for
the following crop, and the land was so well fed with nitrogen that an
experimental application of nitrate of soda to a part of the land had
produced no perceptible effect on the trees. From what I have previously
said as to the application of bone-meal being overdone, I think it
probable that the estate would have presented as good an appearance had
the land, after once being well stored with phosphoric acid, been treated
with small applications of lime instead of bones. Then another estate I
saw in 1891 in Coorg, in the Bamboo district, furnished some guide as to
the amount of manure required w