in
1889, and in 1890 3 cwt. of clean coffee, or at the rate of upwards of a
ton an acre. When I saw the trees in July, 1891, they were looking well,
and had a fair crop on them. There was no shade except a bushy tree here
and there. The proprietor, encouraged by his success, had been extending
his cultivation. In the same garden I also saw cardamom plants about seven
feet high and in blossom; these had been planted eighteen months
previously. There were also some vines, grown from plants imported from
Caubul, which produced large fine white grapes.

It is of course very important to select a good site for the nursery, and
a ready command of water is essential, as it is both costly and
unsatisfactory to carry to the beds even a short distance, and the aspect
should, if possible, be northerly, as in that case very little shading is
required if the ground is on a slope, as, if a line of trees is left at
the head of the slope, a large amount of lateral shade will be thrown on
to the beds. Next to a northern an eastern aspect, if the land is
low-lying, with a hill or sloping land rising rather abruptly behind it,
is by no means a bad situation, as the sun will be entirely off the land
early in the afternoon. Should the planter unfortunately have to fall
back on a southern aspect, this may be aided by leaving forest trees
rather thickly on the western side of the nurseries so as to shield it
from the afternoon sun, or a line of casuarinas may be planted on the
west, and also on the southern side, so as to cast lateral shade on the
nursery. A western aspect is to be deprecated, in consequence of the
scorching heat of the afternoon sun.

There is a common idea, which I myself once shared, that it is always best
to have your nursery on new land, but this is really not at all necessary
if you renew your land by carting on to it top soil from the jungle, or
even a mixture of any fresh soil that has not been trampled upon, and
which has been mixed with cattle manure and some bone-meal. I consider it
most important to retain the same site for the nursery, because, by
growing casuarinas to cast lateral shade on it, you can ultimately
dispense with shading the nursery, as these trees run up quickly, and
attain a great height. The light, too, comes readily through them, so that
their lateral shade is most desirable, and lateral shade, it must be
remembered, allows the plants to benefit by the dew fall. I may add that
the height to whi