THE

COFFEE PLANTER

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CEYLONTHE

COFFEE PLANTER

or

CEYLON.

BY WILLIAM SABONADIERE.

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CONTAINING VARIOUS EXTRACTS AND LETTERS FROM OTHER
AUTHORITY, BEARING ON THE SAME SUBJECT.

GUERNSEY:

MACKENZIE, SON, AND LE PATOUREL, PRINTERS,

LEFEBVRE STREET.

CEYLON AGENTS: Messrs. J. P. GREEN & Co., COLOMBO.

Entered at Stationert’ Halt.DEDICATED TO

F. R. SABONADlfiRE, ESQ.

OF DELTA, PUSSALAVA, CEYLON,

BY HIS AFFECTIONATE BROTHER,

THE AUTHOR.PREFACE.

As planters, like doctors, often disagree, it may be
thought presumption on my part to come forward
with a work on the subject of coffee planting, as at
present practised in Ceylon; yet I think that my
twenty years’ experience in the districts of Pussalava,
Hewahette, and Rambodde justify me in the desire to
employ usefully the leisure time at my disposal for the
benefit of beginners, in writing a work which may
hereafter be useful as a book of reference.

I trust I need not say that I have no wish, neither
do I pretend, to teach men who are as old and
experienced planters as. myself; for had I not felt
confident, before I commenced this book, that a
modern work or manual for young coffee planters was
required, (the want of which has often been deplored,)
I would not have undertaken the task.

I have appended numerous extracts from Laborie’s
work, which, though written many years since, is still
in some respects excellent of its kind, though not
fully equal to present requirements—so much that is
new having been learnt since Laborie wrote.I have also availed myself of various letters, pub-
lished either by the Planters’ Association or in the
local papers, all of which I gratefully acknowledge.
They will, I am certain, add to the value of my book,
as affording corroborative professional authority. I
also acknowledge, with thanks, much statistical infor-
mation, derived from Ferguson’s Ceylon Directory,
1864-5, a compilation very useful to any one who
has interests in that island.

In conclusion, I trust my fellow planters will
excuse the many deficiencies that may be found in
my work, and rely upon their kind and friendly
criticism.

WILLIAM SABONADI&RE.

Guernsey, February, 1866.INDEX.

Page.

Introductory Remarks................................................... 1

Selection of Land, Soil, Elevation, &o................................. 5

Felling, Clearing, and Lopping......................................... 8

Nurseries............................................................. 12

Lining, Holing, and Planting.......................................... 15

Roads and Drains...................................................... 28

Weeding............................................................... 33

Topping, Pruning, and Handling........................................ 38

Manuring, Trenching, &c............................................... 46

Picking, Curing, and Despatching Crop................................. 54

Bungalows and Lines................................................... 63

Stores, Pulping House, and Barbacues.................................. 69

Tools and Machinery................................................... 75

The Enemies of the Coffee-tree........................................ 81

The Malabar Cooly..................................................... 84

Estimates............................................................. 92

Appendix I.

Description of the Coffee-tree, by Laborie............................104

Extract from Laborie’s Remarks on Pruning...........................  109

A Paper on Pruning, by a Member of the Planters’ Association.........119

Pruning : Reply of a Planter to Mr. J. Taylor........................124

Letter of “W. G-.” on Pruning........................................126

Coffee Pruning........................................................129

Mr. Moir on Estate Expenditure........................................135

Mr. Wall’s Letter on Manuring.........................................141

Laborie’s Description of a Pulper.....................................157

Letter on Pulpers, by “An Old File”...................................161

Coffee Statistics.....................................................165

Appendix II.

Districts and Number of Coffee Estates in Ceylon......................166

Revenue and Expenditure of Ceylon, from 1840 to 1865.................167

Shipments of Ceylon Coffee, from 1849 to 1865.........................168THE

COFFEE PLANTER OF CEYLON.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

The date when the coffee-plant was first introduced into
Ceylon has, I believe, never been definitely ascertained. It
is generally supposed to have been brought from Arabia
during the time of the Dutch occupation of Ceylon, when it
was, doubtless, at the same time conveyed to Java. There
the Dutch encouraged its cultivation, but not so in Ceylon, it
being left to British capital arid enterprise to make this
beautiful island become one of the largest coffee-producing
countries of the world ; that coffee, too, being of the best
description, and most in favour in the London markets,
whence the continent is also now largely supplied.

In some of the Kandian villages there are coffee-trees,
which must have been planted during the last century. I
remember General Braybrooke telling me, that when he first
visited Badulla, in, 1817, he noticed there a very large coffee-
tree (which I believe is still extant) in a flourishing condition ;
which proves that planters who have good soil, and carefully
cultivated and manured estates, need not fear their dying out
—as it was once supposed they would, after a period of years,2

not exceeding twenty. The pioneers of coffee-planting in
Ceylon were the justly celebrated governor, Sir Edward
Barnes, K.C.B., and Lieut.-Colonel Byrde, of the 16th and
Ceylon Rifle Regiments. In 1823, they severally opened
“ Gangarooa” near Peradenia, and “ Sinnapittia” near Gam-
pola. The superintendents were W. S. Northway, of the
Staff Corps, for Gangarooa, and Mr. George Byrde for
Sinnapittia. Both these estates are 1600 feet above the sea.
When first planted, the flats near the river were selected,
and I have heard elephants were employed to plough the
land—a system which would now find no advocates. Of
these first plantations only small portions remain, chiefly
under clumps of jack-trees, where they grow in the native
state and are very fine. Some of the same land that had
been “ cheenaed” by natives has now been formed into a very
productive estate, called “ Veean Watte,” and belongs to the
heirs of Colonel Byrde, the original proprietor. Both here
and at Gangarooa, the upper portions of the estate have been
planted; and these two old estates, commenced forty-two
years ago, are still in existence and producing coffee.

Between 1823 and 1835, nothing further seems to have
been done to extend the cultivation ; but in that year, under
the auspices of the firm of Acland, Boyd, and Co., some
estates were opened at even a lower elevation, on the banks
of the Mahavilla Ganga, at Kondasalle, Dodangalla, Pala-
kelle, and Rajahwelle. Some of these estates did not turn
out well, but Rajahwelle and Palakelle are now most pro-
ductive and celebrated properties, the former especially for
its water-works, and the grand law case, which was only
settled by appeal to the Privy Council.

In 1837-8, Lieutenant H. C. Byrde, C.R.R., son of the3

proprietor of Sinnapittia, commenced planting coffee at high
elevations (3000 feet above the sea). It was then thought a
very foolhardy experiment, it being predicted that cold and
wet would kill the trees. At about the same period,
Archdeacon Glennie commenced at Glenloch, Colonel Mac-
Pherson, of the 78th Highlanders, at Helbodde, and Captain
Kelson, C.R.R., and the Rev. N. Garstin, Colonial Chap-
lain, at Pallagolla. The success of these before-named
properties was so evident, that by 1843 many estates had
been opened in different districts; and by the time I reached
the island, in July, 1845, coffee-planting may be said to have
fully developed itself. I find as much as 140,000 cwt. was
the average export from 1841 to 1846, which, in 1865, has
risen to 884,051 cwt., giving an average of 703,502 cwt. for
the last five years. I must not omit to record the rush that
was made for land at Ambegammoa, between 1840 and 1844,
mostly by civil servants, and how ruinous a speculation it
proved to most of them. Bad soil, lavish expenditure, and
inexperience, combined with the disastrous crisis of 1847,
resulted in the abandonment of most of these properties.

Referring to Ferguson’s Ceylon Directory for 1864-5, I

find no less than the names of 802 coffee estates, more than

e

600 of which must have been opened during the last twenty-
three years. It is, therefore, no matter of surprise that
the exports have risen proportionately, and will ere long
exceed 1,000,000 cwt., when the recently formed districts of
Dick Oya, Happootella, Madoolseema, Hewa Ellia, Ouda
Pussalava, Nitre Cave, and Mooroowe Korle come' into full
bearing. Let us hope, by God’s blessing, that the prosperity
which has hitherto attended Ceylon may continue, by the
supply of labour equalling the demand. The increasing4

scarcity of labour is our only fear. That of over production
we need not dread, for, at the rate at which the population of
the world is increasing, there is ample room not only for the
planters of Ceylon, but also for those of India and the
Eastern Archipelago.5

SELECTION OF LAND, SOIL, ELEVATION, &c.

The selection of forest land, for the formation of a coffee
plantation, should be most carefully made—if possible, by an
experienced person, who has a knowledge of the country,
the climate, and the best soil suitable for the growth of
coffee-trees. Had those gentlemen who, in 1843, looked
upon Ambegammoa as a future El Dorado, possessed more
experience, or had they been able to secure the advice of
competent judges, the mistake of sinking money on such
land would have been avoided, and many fortunes would
probably have been saved, instead of lost. The too con-
tinuous rains of that region, and the stiff, clay-like soil,
caused the trees to suffer from what has been termed “ wet
feet ;” and though, in many instances, the bushes looked
luxuriant, they never bore remuneratively, and bad times
ensuing, the abandonment of most of these properties
followed. Had draining and trenching been tried in those
days, the soil might have been rendered more friable; but,
even then, I much doubt whether the soil of Ambegammoa
proper was ever meant to grow coffee ; as that of Matelle,
Doombera, and Ouvah undeniably seems intended by nature
to produce not only luxuriant growth, but heavy bearing.
In Ceylon, there is no doubt that an eastern aspect is
generally considered the best suited for coffee.

The soil best suited for the coffee-bush is that which grows
soft timber. The hard “ doon” wood (useful, however, for6

shingles and beams) is usually found on high, quartzy ridges,
which both the nature of the soil and exposure to wind render
unsuitable ; while the valleys usually abound in trees of a
more tender nature, indicative of a richer and freer soil. The
best land for coffee is a dark chocolate-coloured soil, mixed
with small stones, and overspread here and there with
boulders of granite; for, as Laborie observes, “ if the pivot
(tap-root) finds the quick-stone, gravel-stone, or clay, the tree
will not last long; but if it, as well as the roots, find their
way through stony ground, and if there be a good proportion
of mould, it suffers no inconvenience—nay, the tree may do
better, as the stones keep the mould together.” There is no
doubt of this, for, in my opinion, the finest estates in Ceylon
are of this latter character of soil, and have given consecutive
heavy crops with the assistance of little or no manure ; while
estates with a lighter soil, having lost nearly all the top
mould and having no good subsoil, have to be regularly
manured, and those, where slab-rock, gravel, or clay pre-
vail are worked at a questionable remunerative return, and
must ere long be abandoned, as not paying for their cultiva-
tion. Ceylon not being famed for its good soil, it follows as a
consequence that very fine estates are the exception, not the
rule; and that draining to prevent wash, and manuring to
keep up and enrich the soil, must be largely resorted to. The
railway, therefore, has not come too soon, for it will enable
planters to get manures from Colombo expeditiously, and at
a more moderate rate than at present. Of draining and
manuring I shall treat in their proper place, and now proceed
to write of the best elevation above the sea at which coffee
should be planted.

In Ceylon, undoubtedly, that from 2000 to 3500 feet is the7

best, but climate has also a good deal to do with it. Coffee
grows well at Kaigalle, Kornegalle, and in the Doombera
valley, between 800 and 1500 feet above the sea. In Ouvah,
coffee bears well at between 4000 and 5000 feet above the sea,
owing to the dry air and climate; while on the more western
side of the island, at the same elevation, it either bears only
two or three hundredweight an acre, is a mass of leaves, or
gets covered with black bug—the two latter being chiefly
caused by the extreme quantity of rain that falls. So it is
that, while Rambodde is suffering from excessive rains,
Ouvah is doing so from drought—though, as the crow flies,
they are not really more than twenty miles apart. Could it
be managed otherwise, and Rambodde exchange some of
its superabundant rain for Ouvah sunshine, the beneficial
results to both sides of the country would be very great.

In recapitulating this chapter, we come to the conclusion
that a dark chocolate-coloured soil, mixed with small stones,
under ledges of rock, and bestrewn with boulders, is most
suitable for coffee-trees, and that the best medium elevation
is, say 3000 feet above the level of the sea.8

FELLING, CLEARING, AND LOPPING.

In the early days of coffee-planting — say from 1840 to 1845
— the felling was a far more arduous undertaking to the
planter than it has since become, because he generally had to
live in a temporary hut in the forest or pattena, to superintend
the felling himself, and make his own nurseries ; but as the
country became more opened up, a new comer to a district
was able to secure a temporary domicile in a neighbour’s
bungalow, whence he could visit his work, or — as has lately
been much practised in the New Dick Oya district — the
felling and opening of estates was undertaken by neighbouring
planters, who received payment, and who managed to do the
work either entirely by Cinghalese contract labour, or with
their spare hands before the thick of crop-time. Malabar
coolies are but poor hands at felling forest; and where they
have to be so employed, many accidents happen from their
inexperience and carelessness. None can come up to the
Cinghalese, both maritime and Kandian, for this occupation.
They are perfect adepts, and it is a wonderful and interesting
sight to see a large body of them at work.

Coffee estates being generally formed on hill-sides more or
less steep, the process of felling is to commence from the bot-
tom upwards. First, the small undergrowth and trees that
can be cut down by a “ cattie” or bill-hook are laid low; the
large trees are then half cut through on the lower side, where
there is sufficient incline to admit of it; and then, when all9

is ready, a few large ones at the summit are simultaneously
let fall upon those already half cut through. These, in turn,
falling on the others, cause a whole piece—sometimes several
acres in extent—to come crashing down at almost the same
moment. The wray Cinghalese fell a tree is to commence the
cut on the side upon which the tree is meant to fall, then to
cut somewhat above this incision on the reverse side; by this
means the tree of its own weight comes down before it is
fully cut through. Thus, labour is saved and danger avoided ;
for unless a severe puff of wind interferes, the trees never fail
to fall in the direction they are meant to do. It sometimes
takes four or more men to cut down one of the large doon
trees I have mentioned in another chapter. They are so
enormous at the stem, that a staging has to be erected some
eight or ten feet above the ground, to enable the men to
wrork. When the tree begins to show signs of falling, only
one man remains. It requires great nerve on his part, for
he has to cut until the tree creaks and commences to fall, and
has to get off the staging the best way he can before the
grand crash takes place; but these woodmen are so agile,
that few accidents befall them.

After the felling, lopping is compulsory to secure a good
burn. Lopping is to cut and lay low the branches that stick
jp when the trees are felled, so as to make the mass of wood
as compact as possible, that the fire may run evenly through
it. Of course, where the land is undulating, or on an
unbroken hill-side, the burns will generally be best; but
where rocks abound, the forest is not only in general smaller,
but the broken nature of the ground prevents the even run
of the fire. The subsequent operation of “ clearing up” has
to follow\ Where the burn has been good very little has to10

be done, but where it has been partial much expense is
entailed, from having to pile and burn what the fire has
passed over; but this expense, of course, falls upon the
contractor. The advantages of a good burn are, that lining
and other operations are more easily carried out, and that
weeds grow less readily. A clearing, taken in hand after a
good burn, can be kept clean by monthly weeding at a very
small annual expense. The disadvantages of a good burn
are, that the upper and best part of the soil is burnt up, and
is lost for filling in the holes; but at the same time, it is a
very great advantage to have a new estate free of weed-
seeds, the fire doing much to kill and eradicate any there
may have been in the original forests.

In parts of Ceylon, many estates have been formed out of
what are termed “ cheena lands.” These are patches that
have originally been forest, but have been cultivated by
natives and allowed to grow up again. These, of course, are
far more full of the seeds of weeds than virgin forest, and all
the more care is necessary to keep them clean from the
commencement. I would, in all cases, recommend the weed-
ing to be commenced immediately the burn is over; and
believe such a course would doubly ensure the future cleanli-
ness of the property, as well as be the saving of much future
expense.

The cost of felling, lopping, burning, and clearing up may
be named at from £2 to £2 10s. an acre, more being paid in
some districts than in others ; but as everything is advancing
in price in Ceylon, it will be no matter of surprise to me if
these rates are ere long exceeded.

The superintendent cannot be too careful in keeping his
eye upon the contractor, to ensure the efficacious and11

workmanlike carrying out of the contract. The lopping,
particularly, should be well looked to, as the success of the
burn much depends thereon. In Ceylon, felling is usually
commenced about October and November. The forest
should lie fully six or eight weeks to dry. The best time for
putting fire is between the 1st and 15th of February, when
the usually prevailing dry weather, and not too boisterous
north-easterly wind, favour the operation. The contractor
should be made to fell every tree. Some estates having
many dead trees left standing, these are often great sources
of damage to the coffee and danger to the coolies, when
they are blown down in windy weather.

On an estate I once took charge of, there were more than
a hundred of these large dead trees left standing in the coffee-
fields. I had them all cut down. The damage was not
great, because the whole estate was being heavily pruned, and
many were cleverly thrown down in the rows. Thus, a great
source of danger and damage was removed, and the appear-
ance of the estate very much improved, for the dead trees
standing here and there in the fields gave a most melancholy
aspect to the property.

N.B.—The young planter must understand that the
lopping should commence as soon as a few acres are down, as
the branches are more easily cut when green than dry.12

NURSERIES.

A level piece of virgin ground, not far from water, where
the soil is rich and crumbly, is the most eligible for the con-
struction of a nursery. First, the land must be thoroughly
cleared, and all but the largest stumps of the forest trees
rooted out; the soil must be dug to the depth of nine or
twelve inches, and be made as friable as possible, then divided
into beds with narrow paths between them. The seed, in
parchment (generally taken from the cisterns after being
pulped), should be put in row by row, about six inches apart.
A rope the length of the beds is used for this purpose,
stretched from top to bottom of the beds. Boys or women
then make a furrow an inch or two deep, the seed is
strewn along about an inch apart, and lightly covered over
with mould by the hand; and the rope is then moved on to
the next row, when the same process is repeated. The seed,
if sown in suitable weather, soon makes its appearance above
the surface ; so that a nursery, made in May or June of one
year, has plants fit to put out at the same date in the follow-
ing year. Care must be taken to have the nursery well
drained, and a deep trench cut above it in an oblique direc-
tion, to prevent its being damaged by heavy rains and wash.
Perhaps a slightly inclined piece of land is even more suitable
than a dead flat, because the natural drainage would be better.

The advantage of having a nursery within easy reach of
water is to facilitate watering during ihe prevalence of dry13

weather. Every estate should be provided with a nursery
for the supply of failures. Any excess of plants it is
generally easy to dispose of to neighbours or to young
estates, at a remunerative figure. I have seen pattena or
grass land tried for a nursery, but my experience of it is that
it is not suitable for the purpose. The only advantage is,
saving the expense of cutting down the forest, rooting up the
stumps, and clearing the ground; the disadvantages are,
inferior soil, exposure to the sun and wind, heavier wash, and
fertility of this land in producing grubs, which are injurious
to the young plants.

When the seed comes up too thickly, the young plants
should be thinned out and replanted in a bed, which should
be ready for that purpose. Care must be taken, in replant-
ing, not to double up the tap-root; and if a stick is used to
dibble in the plants, the earth should be so passed down as
to ensure no space being left for water to accumulate and
rot the roots. When the tap-root is very long, I would
recommend its being carefully cut and shortened: it soon
shoots again, and there is less chance of its being bent and
damaged.

One bushel of parchment coffee is calculated to yield about
30,000 plants; so that for a clearing of one hundred acres,
four to five bushels of seed would be required. When the
young trees in a nursery have attained a growth and age at
which their being planted out as plants becomes rather a
doubtful proceeding, with reference to the probability of their
succeeding and taking root, it is better to make “ stumps” of
them. This is done by pulling them up, with as little injury
as possible to the roots, and cutting them down to about six
inches above the root; then, to shorten the tap-root by a14

careful sloping cut; next, to trim the other lateral roots,
which are often needlessly extended. If this he not done,
coolies are generally so careless that they will not spread out
the roots properly, but double them up, as well as break or
injure the tap-root.

The best instrument for pulling up plants is a two or three-
pronged manure-fork. This is preferable to the “ alavunga”
or spade-bar, because it causes less injury to the roots of the
plants; being pointed, it enters the ground freely, and very
little leverage brings up the plants, with nice clods of earth
adhering to them. Coolies have a trick of pulling up plants
by the hand : this should be guarded against, as most inju-
rious to the bark and roots. I am confident that too much
care cannot be taken in this respect, as well as in the actual
planting, of which more anon.

When coffee estates were first opened, nursery plants
were scarce, and planters, not wishing to lose a year in
waiting till they could form nurseries of their own, purchased
stumps largely from the Kandian villagers, around whose
houses there are patches of native coffee, underneath which
plants of different ages and sizes usually abound. Even in
later years village stumps have been extensively made use of;
but I much prefer nursery plants, as, being planted in pre-
pared soil, the roots are much straighter and more healthy;
while the native plant, on the contrary, growing up as it falls
to the ground, has generally crooked tap-roots, is much
harder and more difficult to extract from the earth, and the
roots are consequently exposed to greater damage, and the
bark of the plants to be scraped off.15

LINING, HOLING, AND PLANTING.

As it is advisable to have as much as possible of the estate
ready for planting before the wet season sets in, lining should
be commenced soon after the burn.

Two methods of lining, or staking out the clearings, are
practicable. First, that spoken of by Laborie—viz., a long
line, divided at the several distances designed for the trees
with scraps of red cloth. Secondly, ten or more lines of
stout coir rope of any length, to be used as follows: first, a
base line must be laid down, as nearly straight up and down
the hill as possible, that the rows may be so arranged that,
in the event of stones rolling down or other causes, the bark
and roots of the trees may be less likely to receive injury.
The base line being determined on, a cross line, perfectly
in the square, must be set off from it (for this purpose a
carpenter’s square should be provided); then, the distances
at which the pickets are to be placed are marked off with the
measuring pole, a picket being put in at every six feet, or
whatever the fixed distance may be. To the pickets on the
transverse line the ropes are securely tied, and a boy being-
provided for each rope, takes his rope down the hill or up
and down the undulations, as the case may be.

The next process is to settle these ten ropes: this is done
from the base line as follows. Three or four measuring
poles must be provided, and with these the distances from
rope to rope are measured; so that the ropes are perfectly16

straight, and at an equal distance from each other. This is a
somewhat tedious process where the timber is heavy, where
the ground is rocky, or ravines have to be crossed over ;
nevertheless, straight lining is a very important matter for
the future working of the estate — as well as regards its
appearance—so that no expense should be spared, and the
work be effectually superintended.

It will be necessary, every here and there, where the lines
have to go over either rocks, stumps, or ravines, to keep
them close to the ground with heavy stones, or by twisting
the rope round a picket, and knocking it into the earth.
When these lines are correctly laid down, the boys, every
here and there, place small heaps of pickets handy to be
driven in; and when all is ready, a common piece of stout
coir rope is taken and stretched across the ten lines, held at
each end by the men who have the measuring poles. These
measure the distance, and drive the pegs in the two side rows.
The rope is then hauled taut, and the boys, who are ready in
the eight rows with mallets, strike the pegs in where the
ropes meet; and so they move down, measuring as they go,
until they arrive at the end of the line, when the ropes are
loosened and the same process is renewed, either in conti-
nuation of the 9ame lines or by recommencing at the top.
This process of lining is much more difficult to describe than
to actually perform. Once seeing it done is sufficient to
teach any superintendent of common intelligence.

I will add a few more observations, which may be useful.
When one set of pegs is put down, the measuring with the
stick is only necessary on the unfinished side, as the cross
rope is held from the pegs already put in. Care must be
taken to use the square in settling each set of ropes, so that17

the trees, when they grow up, may be as nearly in squares
as such rough ground admits of. Ten boys and a good
experienced cooly should put in about 2400 pegs a day;
much, however, depends upon the nature of the ground. The
best trees for making pegs are “ malaboddy” and “keena;”
they are soft to cut, and split easily. Eighteen inches to two
feet is a sufficient length for pickets ; a cooly can split about
one thousand for a day’s work.

I must not omit to describe the process of Laborie’s plan.
“ Two men hold the line well stretched, and lay it upon the
ground. If any obstacles (as stumps of trees) happen to be
in the way, the line must not decline to a side, but must
rather be placed straight over it. Other negroes are
provided with pointed wooden pickets, about eighteen inches
long, and plant them where the marks lie, and always at the
same side. When the line is above ground, the picket is set
perpendicularly over the scrap of scarlet, and being dropped,
is placed exactly in its place. Next, the line is moved on,
and its change, determining the distances between two rows,
is measured at both ends and in the middle with sticks of
certain length—so the line goes on.”

The above described plan would be an excellent one were
coffee planted in grass lands, where there are no stumps of
heavy timber (often taller than a man), no rocks or ravines.
My objection to the single rope with the scarlet rags is, that
in a forest clearing it is impossible to keep it near the
ground, and consequently the red marks very seldom lie in
their correct places ; and thus the cross or transverse rows
are never straight. This is not the case with the moving
cross rope I have described. If the ropes meet high off the
ground, a stone or picket perpendicularly held up should be
2] 8

dropped, to ascertain the exact spot where the picket is to be
placed. Also, the rope not being marked out, it does not
matter how much it stretches or how many logs or stumps it
goes over, so long as the straight lines are preserved ; for the
cross rope settles the square.

Where a large stone, rock, or stump comes in the place
where a peg should lie, that tree must be lost. It must not
be placed at the side ; the rows would not only become
crooked, but the trees would grow into each other.

A tally of the number of pegs daily put in should be kept,
and entered into the journal; as well as of holes and plants,
when those works are being carried on.

The best average distance for lining out an estate is six feet
square : this gives 1200 trees to the acre. Some planters
plant five by six feet, or even less ; but, in my opinion, to be
over six by six is better than to be under. In good soil and
favourable sheltered localities, six feet between the trees
and seven feet width of row would, I think, be a very
good distance. It is evident from Laborie, that in the We9t
Indies coffee was planted much wider apart than is now the
Ceylon custom ; but then plantains, yams, &c., were culti-
vated amongst the coffee. This has not been found to
answer in Ceylon, as exhausting the soil and producing too
much shade ; on the contrary, quite open clearings are now
universal.

The best lined estate I have ever seen is that portion of
Delta (Pussalava district) which was planted in 1845, under
the supervision of Mr. Henry Glennie, son of the Archdeacon
of Colombo. The distance is eight by eight feet — somewhat
too wide—but the rows are so straight, and perfect that they
extend from one end of the estate to the other without a19

break. Very long lines and the ten-rope system were used.
The cost was, I believe, 17s. an acre, which, in those days of
cheap labour, was a very high rate. Nevertheless, I think it
has paid by facilitating weeding and all other field labours ;
and, moreover, the trees are much larger and finer than they
would have been if more closely planted.

Another advantage of wide planting is, that coolies can get
along the rows without doing damage to the branches, either
by breaking them, or knocking off blossom and berries; also,
that the trees get plenty of air and sunshine. The sole
drawback is, that more of the surface is exposed for the
growth of weeds.

Quincunxing is a system I totally deprecate, as entirely
obliterating the rows, as well as causing the trees to grow one
into the other; thus doing away with all the advantages in
favour of wider planting above alluded to. A badly lined or
quincunxed estate is far more difficult to work, because, from
the frequent running into each other of the rows, the coolies
are always quarrelling and make it an excuse for idleness.

Holing.—The tools best suited for this work are a strong
steel-faced hoe, or “ mamotie,” and a spade-bar; besides
which, the cooly usually provides himself with a cocoa-nut
shell, with which to scoop out the loose earth. Before the
picket is removed a circle should be cut round it, to preserve
as much as possible the centre, represented by the picket.
Coolies, to avoid the labour of cutting out a root or removing
a big stone, are disposed to cut the hole to one side : this
should be prevented, and the straight line preserved. Eigh-
teen inches square is the size of hole most commonly
approved of; it is sufficiently wide and deep to give ample
play to the young roots.20

The system of dibbling is much practised on the Ouvah
side of the country, where the soil is rich and loose, so that
a stick can with ease be pushed into it one or two feet deep,
but it would not answer in stiff and poor land ; and, for my
own part, had I a property to plant in soil equal to Ouvah, I
should still be disposed in favour of holes, which need not,
however, be more than one foot square. The stiffer and
poorer the soil, the larger the hole should be. Thus, in the
Pussalava district, it is usual, when planting pattena or grass
lands, (which was largely done by the Messrs. G. and M. B.
Worms,) to cut holes two feet square, or even larger; besides
which, to dig up the whole surface nine inches to one foot
deep, to loosen the soil, and extricate the fern roots with
which it abounds.

I have seen very fine young coffee in pattena lands, but it
was very highly cultivated and manured. It is generally
admitted that nothing equals virgin forest land for the
growth of coffee. There may be a few exceptional patches
of pattena that might be named, but they are few and far
between; and, in any case, this soil is not likely to last as
long as that of forest land.

The process of dibbling is done in two ways. The first is
to give each cooly a stout stick, pointed at the end, about
four feet long ; sometimes a spade-bar is used. The pointed
stick is stuck into the ground exactly where the picket was
placed, and moved about until a sufficient depth is obtained ;
the plant is then slipped into this hole, and the loose earth
pushed in with the foot. The stick is used to tighten the
earth and ram it in round the plant, and a tread or two of
the foot finishes the operation.

The second system is to dig with a spade-bar about a foot21

deep around the peg’, and loosen the earth around it without
turning it over. A cooly follows with the plant; he makes a
hole in the loose earth with his hand, inserts the plant,
spreads out the roots (or ought to), and takes care not to
bend the tap-root; he then carefully treads around the tree,
until it is so well fixed in the ground that a medium attempt
to pull it up does not prove successful. Of these two plans, I
much prefer the latter.

It appears, therefore, that by the dibbling system the
holing, filling in, and planting are done at the same time, and
much expense saved ; as two coolies should put in 160 trees a
day by the second plan, while by the first a single man might
plant — I should say—150. One objection to this mode of
planting is, that a hole for the accumulation of water is often
left, which causes the roots to rot and the young plant to
die. There is also much more likelihood of damage to the
roots, than by the process of planting to be subsequently
described.

Filling in is the operation that follows holing. I have
been told by an experienced planter, that leaving the holes
open for some time is very beneficial to the soil in a chemical
point of view. Consequently, by the dibbling system the
soil does not derive the same benefit, as the plant is at once
put into the ground, no hole being required. Filling in, like
every other work on a coffee estate, should be carefully
superintended ; it being a comparatively light work, women
and boys are usually employed.

The process must greatly depend upon local circumstances.
If the top soil is good, it should be used to fill up the hole;
but all roots, stones, and gravel should not be scraped in. If
the soil that has come out of the holes is better than the top22

soil—for instance, where quartz abounds on the surface —
that soil should be returned. I have heard of cases where
good earth has been carried from a distance to fill up holes,
rather than use the inferior top soil. The hole should be
well filled up with earth, to allow for the subsequent treading
in, and a picket should be placed in the centre to mark it.

Coolies are very apt to scrape in everything as it comes.
This, I am sure, is injurious to the young roots ; for it stands
to reason that the more the soil put in to fill up the holes is
like garden mould, the more quickly are the young plants
likely to take root and thrive. It is no use filling up a hole
that has a very large stone or slab-rock at the bottom,
because the tree will die when the tap-root comes in contact
with the stone.

Planting. — Of all operations in the formation of a coffee
plantation, the actual placing of the plants in the holes is
the one that requires the utmost care and attention. The
planting season commences in May, and extends to the end
of November. It stands to reason that early planting is
advantageous, because the trees have the benefit of the entire
rainy season, and are sure to give a larger maiden crop.

First of all, the plants must be carefully removed from the
nursery, as previously described in the chapter on nurseries
—that is, with as little injury as possible to the roots and
bark. If it were only the case of a few hundred, instead of
many thousand, plants, undoubtedly the best mode would be
to put in each plant with the original ball of earth, and thu9
doubly ensure its success in its at once commencing to grow;
but the time and labour required for this, and the additional
expense, put it out of the question ; besides which, the nurse-
ries would have to be immense, and the plants sown very23

wide apart, to secure an unbroken clod of earth for each.
The usual course adopted is as follows.. When the plants
are pulled up, those with crooked roots should be picked out
and thrown away. An experienced cooly should then trim
the roots with a sharp knife, diminishing the length of the
tap-root sufficiently to prevent the likelihood of its being
bent or broken. When the plants are put in, the fibrous
roots should also be trimmed, as they are generally too
extended, and coolies have a trick (if not prevented) of dou-
bling them up and putting them in anyhow. Their being
reduced in length puts a stop to this injurious mode of proce-
dure, and enables the cooly to spread them out similar to
what they were before they were taken out of the ground.
It is the practice of some planters to allow the cooly to use
a mamotie when putting in a plant. He should certainly
have one at hand, to cut more earth if required to fill up the
hole; but should not, in my opinion, be allowed to use
anything but his hands when actually planting the young
tree. The cooly should level the piled-up earth over the
hole, and remove any bits of stick or stones that may have
got amongst it; he should then, with one hand, scoop a hole
of sufficient depth, put the plant carefully into it with the
other, and gradually fill up the space, taking care to keep
the fibrous roots extended and the tap-root straight. The
plant should not be put deeper into the earth than it was
before it was pulled up. When the earth has been thus
filled in it must be carefully pressed down with the hands;
then the cooly must stand up and tread the earth firmly
down, commencing at the outer edge of the hole and gra-
dually approaching the plant. The test whether a plant is
sufficiently firm in the ground is to endeavour, not too24

forcibly, to pull it up; if it resists, it is a proof that all is
well. Care must.be taken not to allow any hollow to
remain for the accumulation of water, which is likely to kill
the plant by rotting the roots. A picket may be put in, in a
slanting position, to protect the plant and prevent its being
trodden on or injured by coolies when weeding; and in case
of the plant’s death, the picket marks the hole.

I observe that Laborie thus writes about planting : “ Three
or four inches of the hole are left open, which the earth
above will, in process of time, fill up. The sapling must be
set so deep that its two inferior branches be rather under the
level of the ground.” This plan, I have heard, was tried on
Nilambe estate, and, I suppose, on estates planted about the
same period (1838). Mr. Louis Byrde, the then superin-
tendent, has informed me that it totally failed, and that some
time afterwards the trees had to be raised. Nature should
be followed as closely as possible, but having two pair of
branches underground is running contrary to it. Besides
this, new roots are generated above the natural ones; the top
soil is often washed away and exposes them, resulting in
many instances in the destruction of the tree.

Another objection is, having branches too near the ground,
the evil effects of which are: first, causing too much shade
and damp, and preventing the circulation of air; secondly,
such branches seldom bear much fruit, being too full of
leaves to bear, and only needlessly exhaust the tree ; thirdly,
being so near the ground, these branches are in the way of
the labourers, who cannot help knocking them about, either
when weeding or cutting holes for manuring; and fourthly,
they tend to conceal, and act as a nursery for, weeds or
young plants, which come up if any crop has fallen to the25

ground. It is better, in my opinion, to sacrifice lower
branches even in full-grown coffee, for the reasons I have
given above. I have often ordered it to be done by pruners,
much to the relief and future improvement of the tree.

Staking becomes necessary on the generality of estates,
when the trees are about one year old. This work should
be completed by the middle of May, before the setting in of
the south-west monsoon, when the high winds are injurious
to the young trees, and the soil being much softened by the
heavy rains renders the trees all the more liable to be blown
over. The pegs or pickets for staking should be fully four
feet long, or even longer if the young trees are two instead
of one year old, and they must be pointed at one end.
Pickets may be made of young forest saplings, called in
Tamul “ varrachies,” or wood from logs may be split. The
stakes must be driven in, in a sloping direction, on the side
from whence the wind blows, fully eighteen inches deep to
ensure firmness. The tie or fastening is made either with
coir or jungle rope : perhaps the latter is the most service-
able, if of the best quality and easily procurable, because it
is less likely to cut into or damage the bark of the young
trees.

Some planters tie the young plant to the stake, but I
believe this mode to be injurious, because the friction of the
stake and tree rubs off the bark. A brother planter (Mr.
W. W. Wynn) taught me the system of tying in a loop,
which I deem to be by far the best. The advantages of this
system are, that while the stem of the plant can move slightly
without being chafed, the loop prevents its being blown over,
and there is less likelihood of the rope cutting the bark.
The width of the loop must, of course, depend upon the wze26

of the tree — allowance be made for growth — and there must
be a double knot between the tree and the stake, to which
it must afterwards be firmly tied. It is not a bad plan to
coal-tar the rope at the conclusion of the operation, as it
prevents its being stolen by coolies, renders it less liable to
the attacks of insects or rats, and prevents rotting from wet
and exposure. Attention should be directed occasionally to
the young fields, to repair damages caused either by wind or
by ropes becoming untied.

Supplying is the term in use with planters for filling up
the vacancies caused by the death of plants. If possible,
this should be looked to once or twice during the planting
season, because it ensures regularity in the fields, and no
spare ground is lost. During the dry weather, in February,
March, and April, young plants in many districts suffer from
the attacks of a very large grub, which eats the bark in a
circle just above the ground; and the flow of the sap being
thus stopped, the trees droop and die. Estates with a light
reddish or quartzy soil suffer more than those where rocks
and stones are plentiful. All these failures must, of course,
be supplied or replaced, the holes being reopened and the
process of planting gone over a second time. The younger
the plantation is, the more likely are the supplies to succeed;
so the operation should not be delayed, for young plants
seldom come on well amongst old trees. The cause of this is
attributed partly to the soil being in some measure exhausted,
and the tendency of the roots of the old trees to make their
way to the new hole and fresh soil prepared for the supply;
thus it is choked by the roots of the old trees, and generally
wears a stunted appearance. The best remedy is to manure
the supply and occasionally cut a trench round it, to prevent27

the roots of the old trees from stopping the growth of the
young plant.

Stumps are often considered more suitable than plants for
supplies, as, being more hardy, they will throw out three or
four shoots or suckers, the best of which should be selected
after they have attained a height of from six to nine inches,
and the others should be carefully pulled off without damage
to the bark. A supply should always be protected by a
strong picket, for on weedy estates they are apt to be hidden
by the weeds and cut down by the weeders, if their position
is not indicated by the picket; there is then no excuse, and
the cooly uses his hand to pull up the weeds, instead of his
hoe or mamotie.28

ROADS AND DRAINS.

To cultivate and supervise a coffee plantation in an effective
manner requires that it should be well “roaded.” If the
“lay” of the land and natural facilities admit, a road of easy
gradient, running through the centre of the property, should
be opened, sufficiently wide for the passage of manure-carts;
and, if possible, branch roads leading to the different fields
may also be opened, of the same width. From these main
lines paths must be cut, communicating with other parts of
the estate ; these should not, if possible, exceed a gradient of
one foot in ten, rise or fall.

It is not often that it is possible to carry a cart-road to the
summit of an estate; but it is evident that the more the
estate is opened to cart traffic, the greater are the facilities
for carting manure, grass, crop, or any materials required for
the working of the property ; and that a great amount of
expense, labour, and wear and tear of coolies is therby saved
is undeniable. Strange to say, this fact is often lost sight of,
because a somewhat larger expenditure is entailed at first;
whereas a judicious outlay at the commencement, in opening
cart-roads, is sure to more than repay itself from the saving
of labour ere much time has elapsed. Unfortunately, in
many cases the labour may not be forthcoming at the right
time to open cart-roads; so that in after years, when the
coffee is full-grown, proprietors are loth to cut down trees in
full bearing, as well as to incur the injury that the coffee,29

through which the road has to be cut, must sustain ; conse-
quently, it is best to open these roads of the requisite width
while the plantation is quite young.

I do not, however, mean to say, that if an estate has not
been well roaded at the commencement it should never be
so. My opinion is, that the coffee must be sacrificed, as
roads and paths are indispensable for the proper working
of the estate. Even where the ground is steepest and most
rocky, there is all the more need of its being made accessible,
both to the superintendent and the workmen. In rocky
ground it is impossible to keep a regular gradient, so tha*
the paths must be traced in accordance with the obstacles
which may intervene, and in and out amongst them ; but as
long as people can traverse them, it does not signify much
how steep or undulating they are. Facility for the cooly
to get to his work, and easy access to the master to look
after him, is the grand desideratum. It is only natural that
one should avoid those places which are difficult of access;
while the cooly himself, knowing that the particular locality
is not likely to be efficiently supervised, slurs over his work,
to the detriment of the field, which, had it been opened up,
might have been as fine coffee as any other portion of the
estate.

During my twenty years’ experience of coffee planting, it
has fallen to my lot to be put in charge of several estates,
which were not only in wretched order as regards cultivation,
but sadly deficient in roads and paths. My attention was
invariably at once directed to remedy this deficiency, and
the result was a marked improvement in the cultivation and
appearance of the fields thus opened up.

Coffee-trees below a road always look and bear well,30

because the soil about them is loose, and is constantly being
renewed from the sweepings of the drain and road. This
proves that cutting numerous paths and drains, and loosen-
ing the soil, would be most beneficial. All roads and paths
should, if possible, act also as drains; and where cross drains
are necessary, they should be carried on through the coffee
into the nearest natural ravine or artificial drain, so that
wash may be avoided.

The cost of cutting roads varies very much, and entirely
depends upon the nature of the land through which they
pass and the manner in which they are completed. Through
average ground, I should say a bridle-road, six feet in the
solid, and with an inner drain one foot wide and deep, might
be cut for. from £20 to £25 a mile ; and a cart-road, ten
feet in the solid, with eighteen-inch square drain, for from
£75 to £100 a mile; but if gravelled or macadamized, the
cost would of course be much greater. Estate cart-roads
may be cut at as steep a rise as one foot in fifteen, but
a more gradual ascent is far preferable, and does not try
the bullocks and carts nearly as much.

I have found it a very good plan to cut what I called
a boundary road or path along the entire edge of the estate.
This is not only serviceable as a boundary line, but prevents
the growth of the jungle and thorns into the coffee, as well
as gives access to corners and out-of-the-way places which
would otherwise be neglected. These boundary paths must
of necessity often be so steep, that the only way is to cut
steps. The contract weeders should he made to keep all
paths clean and drains open.

Drains have only within the last few years come into
general use. Their utility had, strangely—like shingled31

roof9 for bungalows and lines, stone buildings and pillars,
spouting, guano, and compost manures—not previously been
considered necessary. Drains, like roads and paths, should
be cut as soon as the estate is commenced, or at all events
before the trees cover the ground, or the’ same causes will
obtain with reference to damage being caused to the coffee-
trees. These drains must be about fifteen inches wide and
deep, at the distance of every fifteen to twenty trees—i.e.,
120 feet apart; the gradient should not be' more than from
one foot in ten to one foot in fifteen. These drains should
be directed into the natural ravines, and these may also with
advantage he cleared of obstacles, such as logs and large
stones, so as to open out the water-way.

I have been told by a fellow planter (Mr. W. King), that
the whole of his estate at Matelle is thus thoroughly drained,
and that he has made a large pit at the bottom of the estate
into which the drains empty themselves. A great deal of the
washed soil is by this means saved, boys and women being
employed before crop in top-dressing the adjacent coffee with
it, to the evident benefit of the trees. Drains should be
constantly kept open. I believe it would be worth while to
tell off one or two men for that special purpose; and after
heavy rains, even a large force should be employed to repair
any damages that may have been caused by the choking up
of the drains or by land-slips.

I should also recommend one or two coolies (as required)
being employed to keep roads and paths in order, as weeders
cannot be expected to do more than sweep them. At
Glenloch, I kept more than a mile of Bandy road in
excellent condition, by having one man constantly employed
upon it; and during the fine weather, he was able not only32

to complete his work on the cart-road proper leading to the
store, but also kept the ground about the bungalow in order,
and some portions of the roads on the estate. I have always
been much in favour of the mileage system for the up-keep
of roads, and have ever regretted its not being adopted by
the Commissioner of Roads, for there is no truer old adage
than “ a stitch in time saves nine.”33

WEEDING.

Weeding should be commenced as soon as the clearings are
burnt off, even before the plants are put in. Weeds are the
bane of coffee estates. Thus, allowing 800 coffee estates
(see Ferguson’s Diary, 1864-5), of an average extent of 200
acres, and that the cost of weeding averages 3s. per acre
per annum, we have the enormous sum of £288,000
expended annually in Ceylon solfely for the one item of
weeding. Kanganies and coolies are very willing to take
weeding contracts, particularly on new estates. I have
known contracts as low as 18s. per acre per annum; the
average will, however, probably be 24s. per acre on new
and clean estates, and 40s. on old weedy estates. Thus,
a 300 acre estate of the latter description, if weeded once a
month, would cost £600 per annum for weeding alone. The
cost of weeding old weedy estates might in some measure be
reduced if the weeding were kept up monthly, without a
break, for two or three years, as it might be hoped that
much of the seed would by that time be eradicated ; but,
unfortunately, the cases where weeding can be kept up
through crop are few and far between from scarcity of
hands, the contractor’s coolies having in most cases to be
taken off the weeding to save crop. A middle course may
be adopted by one weeding every six weeks being contracted
for ; this will keep the estates sufficiently clean not to suffer
from the weeds, and the cost will be reduced one-third. On
334

new estates the weeding is usually done with a pointed stick
or a “scraper;” however, the less the soil is scraped the
better—indeed, where the burn has been a good one, and
the coolies have only to look for weeds, the few they meet
with (whether grasses or seed-weeds) are best taken up
with the pointed stick, which eradicates the root effectually.
These weeds are generally gathered into a small bag which
each cooly carries round his waist, and are afterwards burnt
on the paths or other convenient places.

On old estates the system has to be different; the weed-
ing-hoe or mamotie has to be used, and the soil must
unavoidably be cut up. This is when the drains come in
usefully by preventing any great accumulation of water
during heavy rains, thereby saving much of the soil that
would otherwise be washed away into the ravines and lost.
On weedy estates coolies, finding it easier, usually weed out
from, instead of in towards, the stem of the tree ; the conse-
quence is, that in process of time the earth accumulates in
a mound in the middle of the row, and the rain-water passes
near the trees, washing away the soil and exposing the roots.
This is very injurious, and should be guarded against. The
cooly must be made to scrape the earth towards the trees,
by which means the roots will be kept well covered, and the
wash will pass down the middle of the line until it finds its
way into the drains. All ravines should be kept clean, and
swampy places cleared up, drained, and planted with Mauri-
tius grass, which makes capital fodder for cattle. As this
grass is given to spread, a drain should be cut round the
boundaries of the swamp as a limit for the grass; and the
weeders should be made to keep this drain open, and so
prevent the grass spreading into the coffee.35

It is usually a portion of the weeder’s duty to pull off
the suckers or shoots, which grow up from the top of the
coffee-trees where they have been topped. Where a new
plantation adjoins a weedy one, all the more care is required
as regards weeding, because the seed is blown in and will
very quickly spread, unless eradicated the first time it
springs up.

The most common weed on estates is the white goat-
weed—the “ hoolangtalla” of the Cinghalese. It is called
the wind-weed because the seed is blown about, and has now
spread itself all over the country, having,'I have been told,
been originally introduced as a flower into the botanical
gardens, Paradenia, by a Mr. M'oon, who — unfortunate
man — little knew the evil he was bringing ufxjn the country,
for the weed is not indigenous. The Spanish needle is
another very common weed. Cootch and other grasses
also get into the soil, particularly on old estates, the former
being very difficult to eradicate.

I have noticed that a discussion has lately taken place in
the Ceylon papers relative to a system of contract weeding.
I am in favour of it for the following reasons. I believe it
to be an additional inducement to kanganies and coolies to
resort to the estate as a means of making money. I have
tried giving the whole estate contract to one man, but found
it injurious. It was putting one’s self too much into his
power, gave him an unbounded opinion of his importance,
and, as he did not behave well to his own coolies, it worked
very badly for the estate.

The system of small contracts to different kanganies works
well. It prevents jealousies, and while it enables them to
earn a little more than their pay it makes them content, and36

is the means of inducing them to keep up the labour supply
of the estate. The weeding being provided for, what is
generally the all-absorbing work of the property becomes
merely a matter of routine. Daily visits should of necessity
be paid to the contractors, to keep them up to their work.
Still, the superintendent is able to devote his chief attention
to other estate operations ; and I am sure all planters will
agree with me, that it is an immense relief to the mind to be
assured that the weeding is provided for, and goes on like
clock-work.

Another advantage is that, undoubtedly, the kanganies can
get the coolies to do more for them than for the master.
This I have pointed, out to them, but with no good result,
and it is therefore useless to quarrel with a system which
benefits the estate indirectly. I am certain that the weeding
would cost more if done on estate account. Most works on
estates should, if possible, be done by task, that being the
best way to get work out of coolies; they will then exert
themselves to get away earlier to their lines.

To return to weeding contracts. The contractors should
be made to pay their coolies in the presence of the master,
and all complaints should be carefully investigated, and the
contract taken from the offender. While at Glenloch, I
never had any complaints against the kanganies; and as I
spoke the language fluently, and was ever ready to listen
to complaints, I am sure I should have heard of any over-
bearing proceedings on the part of the contract kanganies.

The weeders should be made to sweep all paths and roads,
as well as remove any earth they may push down into the
drains when weeding. Light steel hoes have lately come
into use for weeding, and are very handy, especially for37

women and boys. Another advantage of contract weeding
I have omitted to mention is, that often the work is com-
pleted before the end of the month, and many additional
coolies become available for other estate works. In crop
time, also, contract coolies may be looked upon as a sort
of reserve to come in to help in any emergency; and last
year, I made my contract kanganies stipulate to give me
up all the men that could prune, and do their weeding with
boys and women. They of course prefer selecting the most
able and intelligent of their men ; but I pointed out to them
that the pruning could not be neglected, and that if they
would not give me the pruning men I must find work for
the women, boys, and inferior coolies, by taking the weeding
upon myself. They found it their interest to yield, and so
both the pruning and weeding progressed satisfactorily.38

TOPPING, PRUNING, AND HANDLING.

When the trees have arrived at the age of from one year to
eighteen months, the operation of topping is usually com-
menced. The coffee-tree, if allowed to grow to its natural
size, would be ten or twelve feet high. The reasons for
departing from nature are the following, as given originally
in Laborie’s work: “ First, it brings the fruit within easy
reach of the hand, and prevents the branches being broken ;
secondly, the tree acquires strength and vigour both below
and above ground, and the stem becomes larger in circum-
ference ; thirdly, it affords less hold to the winds ; fourthly,
the form of the tree is more beautiful; and fifthly, it loses
none of its inferior original branches, which, as nearer the
source of vegetation, are better nourished, and of course
more productive.”

The height at which trees are topped must depend upon
width of planting, soil, aspect, and elevation. I prefer not
topping the trees too early, and believe that if they were
allowed to yield the maiden crop before they were topped,
it would be very much to the future benefit and endurance
of the tree.

Many planters, anxious to get crop as soon as possible,
top the trees in the green sappy wood, as soon as they reach
the required height, when it may be done with the finger
and nail; but I am convinced it would be better not thus
to force them into a heavy maiden crop, which often weakens39

the tree excessively. Moreover, when topped so young, the
part at which it is topped decays and dies down an inch or
two, one pair of primaries being thus lost. On the contrary,
if the tree is allowed to have the brown bark well formed
before it is topped, there is much less likelihood of its dying
down, and the tree is not hurried into giving, at too early
a stage, a heavy exhausting crop.

The way I have usually topped trees is as follows, viz.
to remove the two primaries at the required height from the
ground, close to the stem, with a sloping outward cut; then
to cut off the top, holding the knife in a slanting direction.
Thus, the top of the tree when topped will be something
in the shape of a cross. The advantage of this mode is,
that a firm and natural knot is formed, and that even if the
piece above it is broken off or dies there is no danger of the
tree being split down, as is often the case when it is topped
too early ; the weight of the heavy bearing bough, or a care-
less pull by a cooly, causing the injury above named.

The only disadvantage of late topping is that the young
trees are exposed longer to the effects of monsoon winds;
this, however, may be obviated by additional staking, the
stakes to be cut longer and larger, and to be driven deeper
into the ground. A greater height than four feet has not
been found to answer well in Ceylon, and in some windy
and exposed localities, or where the soil is inferior, trees are
topped at three, two and a half, and even as low as two
feet from the ground. No definite rule can be given for
topping; much must be left to the judgment of the superin-
tendent, who must be guided by circumstances. After the
trees have been topped, they will soon begin to throw out
numerous shoots in all directions. This is the consequence40

of nature having been thwarted, and if nothing is done to
regulate and diminish this exuberance of vegetable juice,
the trees in process of time will grow into a mass of
entangled boughs, inaccessible to the genial warmth of the
sun and deficient in the powers of fructification. First,
vertical green suckers, or “ gormandizers,” spring up under
the- primary boughs: these must at once be plucked off,
without injury to the bark. From the primaries, or original
branches, other branches or secondaries shoot out, with two
opposite knots along them; two, three, and sometimes four
shoots at a single bud, some in a backward direction. All
these superfluous shoots must be plucked off when they are
young and tender, and that which is strongest, and has the
best direction towards the circumference of the tree, alone
retained.

This mode of plucking off superfluous wood with .the hand
is called “searching,” and also “handling.” It must be
done when the shoots are so young that they will easily
yield, without injury to the bark. If this system is scrupu-
lously attended to from the commencement, pruning will
become a far more easy task, and the severe pruning
denounced by some planters need never be resorted to. In
all cases the remedy must be consistent with the disease or
actual condition of the tree. Thus, regular yearly pruning
and handling will ensure much less heavy cutting ; whereas,
if the trees are neglected for two or three years, they grow
into such a matted and confused state that the hand-saw as
well as the knife is required to restore them to their proper
condition.

No secondary should be allowed closer than six inches
from the stem. They must be cut close enough to destroy41

the eye, so that they may not shoot again. This plan
secures a circumference of one foot in the centre of the
tree, allows free ventilation, the sun can get at the roots,
and it prevents moss and parasites from growing over the
bark.

If coffee estates were no larger than nursery gardens, and
only a few hundred trees had to be pruned, I believe it
would be possible so to prune them—by only allowing
alternate secondaries to b'ear year by year—as to secure
heavy and regular crops; but on estates several hundred
acres in extent, where the trees count by hundreds of
thousands, such a course is impossible. General rules can
only be given in accordance with the state of the trees. The
best and most intelligent coolies must be selected for the
work ; even women may be taught to use the knife in a
very workmanlike manner. This I found when compelled
to make use of their services on account of the scarcity of
men. For handling, women and boys are usually employed,
and answer the purpose remarkably well.

The rules generally given to pruners are the following:
first, to take off all gormandizers and shoots within six
inches of the stem ; to take off all branches and shoots
that point in towards the tree. or go across the other
branches; to thin out the shoots and only leave one at
each bud, and to make the tree as orderly and neat-looking
as possible. When the tree is overloaded with wood, I
would recommend the sacrifice of several large secondaries
or tertiaries ; and in old neglected coffee, that has not been
pruned for some time, it is often a good plan to take off the
two lower primaries bodily. These generally lie on the
ground, exclude the air and sunshine, and are in the way for42

either weeding or manuring operations. They are usually
a mass of tangled branches, and seldom hear much fruit,
being too near the ground and in the shade ; so that the
sacrifice is really not of consequence, while the gain, in
my opinion, is very much greater. All planters will have
observed, that the part of the tree most exposed to the sun
and air usually bears the heaviest clusters ; therefore, the
more the tree is thinned out the more it bears. This is
exemplified by young trees in th&ir second and third crops,
which bear very heavily, chiefly from the primaries and
secondaries.

The great art in pruning (yet to be attained in most cases)
is to adopt a system which will yield fair and regular crops,
without exhausting the tree. Commonly, coffee-trees bear
heavily one year and lightly the next. In my opinion,
regular pruning and searching are the best mode to arrive at
this desired end. Moral courage is also required to sacrifice
and cut off* crop actually on the trees, if it is evident that
the quantity of fruit, if allowed to come to maturity, will
exhaust them. Many proprietors may not like to make this
apparent sacrifice, and many superintendents would shrink
from so heavy a responsibility ; yet I am of opinion that
sacrificing, as above suggested, would not only secure regular
crops, but increase the vigour and longevity of the trees.
The trees, instead of having so much crop on them as to
leave no sap for making wood for the next season, would
produce both crop and wood, and thus—due allowance being
made for the effects of weather, &c., over which the Almighty
alone has control — would yield average crops, which would
render fluctuations of labour less to be feared, and return
more regular and certain profits to the planter.43

Pruning should be commenced immediately after crop,
and, in Ceylon, should (as in old times) be completed by the
middle or end of March, if possible. On most estates, it is
now very difficult to attain this desirable end, not only
because the labour force is reduced, but there is, nowadays,
a much greater proportion of women, boys, and inferior
coolies, the latter not having sufficient brains to be taught
to prune properly. Weeding contracts, as I have already
pointed out, take off the best men, unless the superintendent
is able to provide against it, as I fortunately did last year.
There is no doubt that it is an advantage to have the pruning
completed before the blossom comes out. Mr. J. Taylor, a
well-known Hewahette planter, thinks the reverse as regards
high estates, and published some theoretical and well-written
letters on the subject in the “Colombo Observer,” in May,
1865; but I quite differ from him. As he was ably replied
to by “A Planter” and “W. G.” in the columns of the
“ Observer” and “ Ceylon Times,” I have taken upon myself
to add these valuable documents to the appendix of this
book, which will, I feel sure, enhance its value in a practical
as well as professional point of view, as it is evident that
those gentlemen and myself are in perfect accord as regards
the best mode and the best season for pruning.

The handling should, if practicable, be done twice before
crop. If the force on the estate admits of it, the prunings
should be buried in trenches between the trees. They soon
turn into vegetable mould, and the loosening of the soil and
cutting of the long fibrous roots very much invigorate the
trees. In the same manner, the young wood, after the
searching, may be buried with great advantage to the
surrounding trees.44

No branch should be allowed to bear more than two, or at
most three, crops; it should then be removed to make room
for a fresh one. As the same wood never bears twice, the
branches, if allowed to bear more than three crops, degene-
rate into mere whips, bearing only a few berries at the
extremities. No definite rule can be given for pruning old
trees ; it must be done according to the state of the tree, and
such was the order given on the estates which I super-
intended. For instance, I once took charge of an estate,
some portions of it at a high elevation. The trees had not
been pruned for soma years, and were a mass of thick cross
branches and matted leaves; a man might have made a bed
on the top of them. It would never have done to reduce
these trees at once to mere primaries or parrot-poles. The
course pursued was to saw out the cross branches, and open
out the centre of the trees about eighteen inches in cir-
cumference ; then to take off and thin out about half the
remaining wood: the effect was wonderful. They were
afterwards handled once or twice, and the result has been
a very good crop, on a property which had not yielded a
remunerative one for many years. This pruning also seemed
to drive away the bug, and much reduced its ravages.

It does not follow, that if pruning is not finished before
the end of March, it must not be proceeded with after that
period ; on thS contrary, it must be carried on until com-
pleted, for it is one of the works absolutely necessary for the
proper up-keep and welfare of the estate. Only during the
three or four days of blossom time is it advisable to stop
pruning, otherwise much damage may be done and crop lost.
After the blossom and when it has set, all the more care is
needed to prune carefully, the best branches being retained;45

while those which should have come off, even if they have
crop upon them, must not be left. Sufficient pruning must
be done to ensure a supply of new wood, and to give health
and vigour to the tree to mature its crop. The knives and
saws used for pruning should be kept sharp. It was my
custom to allow one man for this purpose, who kept the
other coolies’ knives in order; he had always an extra knife
ready, which he handed to the cooly whose knife required
sharpening, so that he should not be kept waiting, but
resume his work at once. If the top of the tree has to be
cut, it should be sloping to the north from above down-
wards; thus, the sun strikes less upon it, and the moisture
runs off. All places where the saw has been used must
be dressed and pared with the knife, because the saw tears
and notches the bark. In very heavy pruning, coolies can
seldom get over more than thirty or forty trees a day. In
lighter pruning they may do from sixty to a hundred, but it
is entirely dependent upon the condition of the trees.

The subject of pruning is so inexhaustible, that I have
deemed it advisable to add to other authority on the subject
many of Laborie’s remarks and descriptions, which, though
written many years ago, are still so much to the point and so
valuable, that a place should be made for them in this book.
They will be found in the appendix, under their proper
heading.46

MANURING, TRENCHING, &c.

In the early days of coffee-planting in Ceylon, manuring was
not much thought of, or even deemed necessary. The
general belief was that estates would last a certain number
of years, and then die out as the soil became exhausted ;
many probably thinking their fortunes would be made long
before this consummation. Now, on the contrary, the
subject is one of daily increasing importance as estates
become older, and exhibit, more and more plainly, the
symptoms of decay.

It has now been effectually proved that draining to pre-
vent wash and waste of soil, and a system of manuring when
the trees are still young and vigorous, tend to prolong the
age of estates, and that under such a system there is every
reason to believe that coffee-trees may have as long an
existence as other evergreens — excepting, of course, such
contingencies as over-bearing, attacks of grubs, the tap-
root coming in contact with rock or becoming rotten from
swampy soil, all of which bring the tree to premature decay.

The best of all manures for coffee-trees is nothing more or
less than cattle dung ; there are many others, (see Mr. G.
Wall’s letter, in the appendix,) which I have inserted as
being well worthy a place in a book on coffee-planting, viz.

Bones.

Poonac,

Guano.

Superphosphates.

Salts.

Wood Ashes.47

Composts.

Lime.

Burnt Clay.
Charcoal.

Pulp.
Prunings.
Mana Grass.

The usual mode of applying manure is to dig a hole, fully
eighteen inches from the stem, on the slope of the hill above
the tree; the larger roots should not, if possible, be cut.
The cutting of the small ones acts beneficially; it is a sort of
pruning, and causes them to shoot with renewed vigour.
The width and depth of the hole must depend on the nature
and quantity of the manure to be applied. Cattle manure
being the most bulky, and requiring an ordinary basketful
(say half a bushel) to eaeh tree, of course requires larger
holes than guano, bones, or poonac, which are more con-
centrated manures. Where the land is flat and the trees
regular, a square hole may be cut between four trees to
receive the manure; but on steep lands, it is best to cut the
hole above the tree, that the manure may percolate down to
the roots and benefit the entire tree. Another advantage of
this plan is that the manure is under shade and shelter of
the branches ; whereas, if put out in the middle of the rows,
it is exposed to the exhaustive heat of the sun and atmo-
sphere, and is more likely to generate weeds, which, unless
quickly pulled up, will absorb the manure before the trees
have been permanently benefited therefrom.

Poonac, guano, and bone-dust are applied also above the
tree, in a semicircular hole, six inches wide and nine deep.
All kinds of manure holes are filled up with the surrounding
loose top soil, weeds, or any such debris which may be at
hand. The manure must be well covered up and trodden
down, to prevent its being washed out by heavy rains or48

turned up by the weeders. When poonac alone is applied
it must be well mixed with earth, to prevent the wild pigs
eating it; for it is notorious how fond they are of it and how
quickly they find it out, insomuch that on some properties
it is necessary to have watchmen at night, who blow horns to
frighten the pigs away.

The cost of applying cattle manure varies. On some
estates near high roads, manure is procured from native
cart-sheds at a trifling cost, and is carried up to the estate in
estate carts. On other estates bordering grass lands, the
cattle are only grazed, so that the manure is not so expensive
as when cattle are stall-fed, and the grass to feed them is
produced by cultivation, either of ravines or forest lands
felled especially for the purpose. I have been informed by
an experienced planter, who had a large cattle establishment
on the property which he superintended, that the cost was
about £1,200 a year, and that he computed 400 acres were
manured annually ; thus giving the actual cost of the manure
at £3 per acre, exclusive of application, or another 20s.
to 30s. per acre. The gain in crop was calculated at from
three to five hundredweight per acre, so that the balance
was largely in favour of the manuring, besides the improved
condition of the estate.

Bones are a lasting and efficacious manure, and should
be applied in dust or small broken pieces. It never came
under the range of my experience to apply them, but I have
heard them well spoken of by all who have used them; and
Mr. Wall calculates that the effect of half a measure to a
tree, or five hundredweight an acre, lasts six years, and gives
an increased crop of at least two hundredweight an acre.

Poonac is very effective to the growth of the tree, and49

produces luxuriant foliage: the quantity to be applied to
each tree is about three measures. Poonac, I believe, may
be usefully combined with bone-dust, as the one would give
wood, the other crop. I recommend all planters to make
a trial.' The cost of poonac, labour, and everything else has
much increased since Mr. Wall wrote nine years ago;
allowance must therefore be made for this when studying
his treatise on manuring.

Guano.—Mr. Wall’s trial of guano as a manure for
coffee-trees does not seem to have influenced him in its
favour; but in 1857 its application was only experimental,
and Mr. Wall shows that he did not apply it as is now
customary — i.e., buried, as before described, in a trench cut
above the tree, and mixed with the soil when put into the
hole. Peruvian guano is the best; half to three-quarters of
a pound is the proper quantity to apply to each tree. It
seems to prefer dark to light soils — that is, its effects are
more lasting where the soil is already good. In poor soil
it hurries the tree into a full crop, and often kills it from
overbearing; the planter must therefore ■ be careful how
he uses this manure. I think it might also be mixed with
poonac, pulp, burnt clay, and other manures with advanlage.
I have applied guano myself, and have seen it applied on
other estates ; the result was very beneficial, and the effects
lasted two years. The expense was heavy, as the guano
cost about £1 a hundredweight, delivered on the estate;
and the total outlay, applying the manure included, was
calculated at £7 per acre. The gain in crop must have been
from four to five hundredweight per acre. I believe that in
future years, when railways and branch lines will have been
completed, manuring with guano and other concentrated
450

manures may be more cheaply effected than at present,
with cart-hire ruling at extreme rates. The best time for
applying guano, and in fact all manures, is during showery
weather, any time between April and September. It may be
done immediately after crop if absolutely necessary, but the
heat and dryness of the weather do not then favour the
operation; moreover, there are seldom sufficient hands on
the estate, coolies being anxious to return home as soon as
picking and pruning are completed.

Never having myself used superphosphates, lime, salts,
wood ashes, burnt clay, charcoal, or composts, I refer my
readers to Mr. Wall’s treatise for the result of his expe-
rience and remarks thereon.

Pulp should not be wasted. A pit should be prepared
for it near the pulping house, in such a manner that the
water may drain or be carried off. Its value as a manure
is not so great as other more powerful manures; still, it
undoubtedly does good to the trees, partly restores what
has come from them, and causes them to produce wood.
It must be well decayed before it is applied; two baskets
may be allowed to each tree, the holes to be cut in the same
manner as for manuring with cattle dung.

Prunings make very good vegetable manure. They
should be buried in trenches when green, and the earth must
be well trodden down over them.

Mana grass must also be buried in trenches, longitudi-
nally cut across the face of the hill. The trees not only
derive benefit from the decayed grass, but from the digging
of the trenches. I do not approve of the mode of littering
the surface of the ground with mana grass, except on very
old and weedy estates. On clear estates I should be afraid,51

by so doing, of encouraging the growth of grasses, which*
if once allowed to take root, are very difficult to eradicate*

In recapitulating the foregoing remarks, we find that the
manures generally used on coffee estates are the following t
cattle dung, poonac, guano, bone-dust, and pulp; and that
a judicious use of them is certain to ensure a full and
remunerative return to the planter. Cattle manure, being
the heaviest to carry, should be applied where it can be
conveyed by carts; while guano, bone-dust, and poonac,
being easier of carriage and requiring a comparatively less
quantity in bulk for each tree, should be used for the more
distant and less accessible portions of the estate.

Trenching is an operation which confers great benefit
on the trees ; it consists either of open or closed trenches.
Open trenching is to make trenches four or five feet long,
one foot to fifteen inches broad, and fifteen to eighteen inches
deep; they are left open, and the soil taken from them is
spread over the roots of the surrounding trees. These open
trenches not only act as catch drains, but also as reservoirs
to receive wash, weeds, primings, decayed wood, dead leaves,
&c., and will in course of time become quite filled up,
when fresh ones should be cut. The trenches should be
made longitudinally across the face of the hill. On an
old estate, where there are not many roots and stones,
a cooly can easily cut forty a day, which, with labour
at the average rate of ninepence per diem, would be
j£l 2s. 6d. per acre.

Closed trenching is to cut longitudinal trenches across the
entire length of the rows of coffee — say two feet broad and
two deep — and to fill them with mana grass, the grass and
clearings of swamps, leaves, or young boughs of trees,52

or any vegetable substance nearest at hand ; they are then
covered over and well trodden down, the remaining freshly
turned-up soil being neatly spread amongst the tree9. The
effects of this rather costly work are very lasting, and answer
particularly well in the stiffer soils, enabling the roots to find
their way a,nd penetrate into the softened and decaying
matter with which the trenches are filled up.

Another mode of loosening stiff soil on old estates is
to use a long steel-pointed bar, with a cross handle, or a
strong three-pronged manure-fork will also answer the
purpose. Either of these tools must be driven from a foot
to fifteen inches into the soil, which is then prized up, cracks,
and loosens ; but it must not be turned up. The effect is to
loosen the soil to admit air and moisture, and to permit the
free growth of the roots. After this process, liquid manure
answers well. The advantage of loosening the soil without
turning it over is obvious, as rendering it less likely to be
washed away by heavy rains; indeed, in my opinion, regular
digging should only be practised on well-drained flat lands.
The cost of renovating, or loosening the soil with the fork,
is about the same as open trenching, as I think a cooly can
easily do forty trees a day. The tallest and strongest men
should be selected, as it is a trying and laborious operation.

Another mode of manuring, or top dressing, was men-
tioned to me by a brother planter (Mr. W. King), as
practised by him with much benefit to- the trees. On the
estate in question the swamps were allowed to grow up, and
every year, before crop, the spare labour of women and boys
wras employed in clearing them up, and making large heaps
of the jungle undergrowth. This gradually decayed during
crop-time, and was ready to be carried out by the same53

women and boys and spread broadcast among the trees,
which, my informant told me, most undeniably showed the
benefit they had derived from the operation.

In closing this chapter, I can only recommend to all
young and inexperienced planters Mr. Wall’s able pam-
phlet, which, added to my own remarks, will give them
all the necessary information on the most important item
of manuring.

The keep and cost of stock is usually included in the
estate accounts, under the head of manuring. I can give
no definite information on this point, as so much depends
upon the mode adopted on different estates. Undoubtedly
the stall-fed cattle produce the richest and largest quantity
of manure; but the cost is more enhanced than on properties
where the cattle are grazed all day, and are only kept in at
night—Mauritius grass, out of the ravines, being cut and
prepared for them during the day-time. The selling of
cattle does not prevail as yet to a very large extent. I
believe most planters are loth to part with their best cattle,
to replace them by emaciated beasts, who may perhaps bring
with them the seeds of murrain or other diseases, which
in Ceylon so often decimate estate cattle.

I would recommend, when practicable, the keeping of
several head of cattle suited to draw small single bullock
carts or “ hackeries.” With these, the manure should be
carted into the most central part of the estates, where depot
pits and sheds should be provided. These carts are also
useful for carting grass or any estate materials, and, if the
estate is near a high road, in collecting manure at the native
cattle-sheds.54

PICKING, CURING, AND DESPATCHING
CROP.

On low-lying estates, coffee begins to ripen early in August,
and crop is over by the middle of December. On high
estates, not much coffee is picked before the early days
of October, and crop is not over till the middle of January.
Sometimes the seasons vary, and are either a month earlier or
later. On high estates, coffee generally ripens more gradually
than on low plantations, where the crop mostly comes in
with a rush, and causes an insufficiency of labour to be even
a more serious matter than it is on the former properties.

I quote Laborie for the description of the cherry, when
ripe. “ The fruit of the coffee, when perfectly ripe, appears
like a small oval cherry, under a red and shining skin. A
whitish, clammy, luscious pulp presents itself, which gene-
rally encloses two seeds. These seeds have one side flat,
the other hemispherical. The first is marked with a longi-
tudinal fissure, and the flat sides are applied to each other.
If the seeds are opened, they are found covered with a
white, ligneous, brittle membrane, denominated ‘ parchment,'
on the inside of which is another silver-coloured membrane,
exceedingly thin, and seeming to originate from the fissure
of the seeds. Here the seeds, properly so called, lie, and
seem to consist of a sprout and two original leaves. Some-
times the cherry has only one seed or grain, which then is in
the form of a small egg; but the skin, parchment, and55

membrane are preserved. This is peculiar to old decayed
trees, or the extremities of some small branches.”

This oval-sliaped coffee is called “ pea-berry, ” and usually
fetches a high price in the London market. The reason
assigned is that being round it roasts better, and it may also
be thought more to resemble Mocha than the long canoe-
shaped beans of the high estates.

When coolies are turned out for gathering or picking,
they are provided with one large “ jail” or “ gunny bag,”
holding from two and a half to three bushels, and with a
smaller one holding a little more than a quarter of a bushel,
and called by them “koutti sacks.” These small sacks are
tied round the waist, the people pick into them, and when
full they are emptied into the large bags, which are kept
on logs, paths, or other convenient places nearest at hand.
Five koutti sacks usually make a fourteen-inch box, two
of which are the task in full picking on most estates, being
equal to two and a half imperial bushels. If the coolies
pick these two boxes, they often receive a bonus of one
penny, and they are also paid at the rate of fourpence a
box for any extra quantity they pick. Owing to this induce-
ment of cash in hand, the coolies on heavy-bearing estates,
where they have not very far to carry and deliver the
cherry, can easily make their shilling a day during the
thick of crop-time.

When gathering, it is less confusing to make the cooly
pick each side of the trees in his row or line; thus he need
not turn round or move into another line. The only objection
to this is that the more nimble-fingered push on ahead of the
slower ones, and are apt to pick more than their share of the
trees. In steep ground, my orders invariably were to pick56

from the top of the hill. My reasons were, that if any coffee
dropped it rolled down forwards and was more likely to be
seen and picked up, and because the coolies were not loaded
when near the top of the field, so they had not to come down
to empty their small bags and then have to go up again
—perhaps to finish only a few trees — which they are very
loth to do, their natural object being to complete their task
as quickly as possible. Coolies should always have an effi-
cient superintendent or assistant over them in the field. He
must keep a sharp eye on the trees as he walks along, to see
that they are cleanly picked and no ripe coffee left upon
them. He must not allow stripping—that is, pulling off
green fruit with the red. He must also keep a bright look-
out, and send round a trustworthy kangany to catch any
“ fly-pickers” — that is, skulkers, who go here and there
about the estate picking at random, and who not only do the
work carelessly, letting quantities of ripe and green fruit
fall to the ground, but spoil the picking for the regular
pickers, who have to follow in the ordinary rotation of the
estate.

It is considered best not to pick the stalks with the cherry.
Tamuls, particularly the women and girls, are far better
pickers than Cinghalese; these .latter are generally trouble-
some when they have to be employed at this work, for they
not only pick unripe coffee, but refuse to turn out on wet
days.

As the number of estates increases annually, and coolies
become proportionately more scarce, the attention of planters
is naturally directed to the best mode of economizing labour.
Thus, water-wheels, patent pulpers, steam engines, and iron
spouting are becoming the rule, and not the exception, on57

the generality of estates. Where there is a sufficient decli-
vity and a sufficiency of water, spouting should be made
use of to transmit the cherry to the pulping house from
distant parts of the estate. Along the lines of spouting,
here and there, in convenient spots where paths converge,
receiving houses must be put up, into which the coffee is
taken and spouted down to the works. The coolies, being
thus enabled to deliver their loads near at hand, are not only
spared the toil and labour of a long and, in wet weather,
sometimes a dangerous journey to the pulping house, but
time, which is always money, is saved; the coolies are able
to gather a larger quantity, and they are saved bodily wear
and tear. With a force of 200 coolies in the field, an
increase of at least 100 bushels, or 10 cwt. a day, may be
safely reckoned upon, amounting, say to 300 cwt. for the five
heavy weeks of picking, and representing a money value
of fully £1,000 in the London market.

To any one acquainted with the danger of loss attendant
on an over-ripe crop, from its splitting and falling to the
ground when heavy rains come on, the value of spouting
will be self-evident. The first cost should not be regarded,
though heavy, (I believe as much as £250 to £300 a mile,
if of the best galvanized iron,) as it may probably repay
itself in one season. When practicable, the spouting should
follow the undulations of the ground; small pillars, about
one foot high, must be built for it to rest upon. In crossing
ravines, pillars or posts must be erected ; but the former
when practicable are best, as they should last as long as the
estate, if well built, while wooden ones speedily decay and
have to be constantly renewed.

Brass, copper, and tin checks, or tickets with the name58

of the estate stamped upon them, are mostly used during
picking time, and are handed to the cooly as he delivers his
load. They represent full boxes, half boxes, and quarter
boxes. The plan I adopted for taking in cherry coffee was
to have a sheet of double foolscap paper, with the names of
all the coolies, in their different gangs, written upon it, and
a space of about one inch left blank between the rows of
names for the insertion of moveable slips of paper, to be
daily stuck on with a wafer or a little boiled rice. On
these slips, opposite each name, the quantity of coffee deli-
vered by each cooly morning and evening was marked down
and added up in the evening, when the cooly’s name was
also entered into the check roll as having performed a day’s
labour. All extra coffee was paid for in cash. The quantity
of coffee picked daily was entered into the journal and the
total to date brought forward, so that the quantity secured
could be told at a glance.

Many planters enter the coffee .as it comes in opposite
the coolies’ names in the check roll; but I adopted the plan
I have described because it saved time in turning over leaves,
and prevented the roll itself from being dirtied and torn.
There was a great advantage in having all the names before
me, and custom made it so easy that the quantity picked
by each cooly was put down almost as soon as he had called
out his name and gang.

The ripe coffee is measured in a box raised on a form or
table and swung upon a pivot, so that when full it is easily
turned over by an attendant kangany or cooly on to the
pulping floor. He keeps a tally of the number of men,
and the superintendent, who should have a raised seat and
desk from whence he can look into the box, calls out the59

quantity and puts it down opposite each name. When the
coffee is taken in at the receiving houses, tickets and checks
are mostly used, which the coolies have to deliver in the
evening to have their name and quantity put down ; but the
double foolscap sheet plan saves time, and is only a little
extra work for the superintendent in the evening.

Curing, in planter parlance, consists in passing the ripe
coffee through the machinery, washing, and drying it in the
parchment state, ready for despatch to Colombo, where it is
finally prepared for shipment. When fully ripe, the sooner
the coffee is pulped the better, otherwise it heats and the
colour of the parchment is spoiled. In dry weather it is
sometimes necessary to sprinkle water over the cherry, and
to let it soak for some hours, to make it pulpable; otherwise,
if passed through the pulpers in a dry state, it would be
much cut and damaged.

When the coffee has passed through the machinery, (to
be more fully described under that head,) it flows into large
cisterns or stone vats ; here it lies until it has sufficiently
fermented the outer pulp, which is whitish and clammy.
The period it should be allowed to lie varies with the eleva-
tion of the property and the state of the weather: at 3000
feet above the sea, coffee pulped on Monday is usually fit to
be washed on Wednesday morning. The receiving cisterns
should have a drain underneath to carry off the water, in
addition to the doorway through which it is passed into the
washing cistern. When fit to be washed, water must be let
into the receiving cistern ; the coffee in it must be moved
about with wooden “ matta-pallagies,” (boards about two feet
long and nine inches broad, with curved sides and long
handles,) until the body of water collected is sufficient to60

carry the coffee into the washing cistern. In the washing
cistern, which is on a slope, it is passed through several
waters until the mucilage has been entirely washed off,
and parchment then assumes a whitish-yellow appearance.
The washing cistern being on a slope causes the light coffee
and skins to be carried to the lower end, where they are
caught in sieves or baskets ; such as do not float are allowed
to pass on into the “ tail,” or refuse cistern, which is made
on purpose to receive them, and is on a lower level than the
washing cistern. When washed, the clean parchment is
heaped upon the draining platform, where it remains till the
next morning ; if, however, the weather is wet, it must lie
longer ; and if there is any continuance of wet weather, it is
carried up to the store and laid as thin as space admits upon
the coir matting floor, to be dried by the action of the wind,
and must be carefully turned over at least three times a day
to prevent its getting heated. In very long spells of wet
weather, when store-room is exhausted, the only thing to do
with wet coffee is to keep it on the barbecues, keeping it well
turned over, and preventing its heating by throwing fresh
water upon it daily. I have known four weeks of continued
rain and cloudy weather, in which it was impossible to dry a
berry of coffee in the sun, and as a consequence some of the
berries began to germinate: this was unavoidable, as I had
not sufficient store-room to spread it thin. Two days’ expo-
sure to a hot sun is sufficient to render it safe to despatch the
coffee to Colombo, but three days are of course preferable.
When coffee has been well washed and dried soon after-
wards, it has a most clean and dazzling white appearance.
Indeed, the whole preparation of coffee is a clean proceeding
from beginning to end; and thi£, added to the care with61

which it is cured and cultivated, has obtained for it that high
position which it now justly holds with the Mincing Lane
brokers.

The light coffee, tails, and dried cherry which accumulate
in the tail cistern are washed over again, separated, and
dried when opportunity offers. When crop is over, this
inferior coffee is usually pounded and sifted by women, and
sent to Colombo clean, whence, if fit for shipment, it is sent
to England; if of not sufficient good quality, it is sold in
Colombo.

The greatest care must be taken in the store to prevent the
coffee getting heated or musty. The parchment coffee
must be constantly moved; even when quite dry it must be
turned over once a day. When sufficiently dry for despatch,
the bean, when the parchment and silver skin are removed,
has a bluish look, which, when perfectly dry, turns to a
greyish-green.

The mode of despatching coffee depends upon circum-
stances. When there is a carriage - road up to the store,
it is at once put into the carts ; bags that hold three bushels
being best for the purpose. When the buildings are away
from the road, the coffee has to be sent down in two-bushel
bags on coolies’ heads. The bags are usually sewn up with
twine ; some planters merely tie them round the mouth with
coir rope. The cart-men take charge of the coffee, which
they have seen measured, and sign the way-bill, undertaking
to deliver it in like quantity and good order at Colombo
within a certain number of days. Printed forms for this
purpose are provided, by the estates in triplicate — one to
be kept, one for the cart-men, and one to be sent by post
to the agents in Colombo. This and the registered number62

of the carts is the only safeguard left to the planter. Con-
tract carts the contractor in Colombo is responsible for, and
load as per contract—fifty bushels being a nominal load.

Robberies of coffee by cart-men have been more frequent
of late years.^ What plan will be adopted when the railway
shall have been completed has not yet been decided upon.
As coffee will probably only be received in bulk and number
of bags, the only way will be to send a trustworthy kangany
with it all the way to Colombo, who will deliver it over to
the agents. Better and more secure bags will have to be
used, and the name in full of the estate will have to be
stamped on them.

As the planter has nothing lo do with the curing in
Colombo, I need only say it consists of drying the coffee
until it is quite hard, peeling—that is, removing the parch-
ment and silver skins—winnowing, sizing by perforated
machines, and garbling—that is, picking out all the damaged
and broken beans, which go home as “triage.” The sizes
of coffee are, No. 1, No. 2, pea-berry, and triage. Planta-
tion coffee is now universally shipped in casks or barrels.63

BUNGALOWS AND LINES.

Thousands of pounds would have been saved in after years
had those who were the pioneers of coffee-planting put up
buildings of the permanent nature now considered absolutely
necessary. As regards stores, perhaps such a sweeping
assertion ought not to be made—instance the fine buildings
on the Nilambe, Odoowelle, Dunally, and Delta estates, and
a few others ; but as regards bungalows and lines, I think no
reservation need be made, saving the famous Huntly Lodge,
and Wavendon bungalows in the Rambodde district, which
are commonly believed to have cost £3000 each. The
former, owing to the misfortunes of its original proprietor,
has become a ruin, but the latter still exists in very good
repair, and from its verandah commands one of the finest
Ceylon hill scenery views—i.e., the cul de sac of the Ram-
bodde valley at the foot of the Newera Ellia Pass, hemmed
in by high mountains, with lovely views of several water-
falls, coffee plantations, the Kolmalie valley, the noble
Peacock mountain, and distant bungalows and stores dotted
here and there on the landscape.

Why permanent stone and shingle-roofed buildings were
not originally erected on estates can only be accounted for
by the belief, that inferior buildings would last the time of
the proprietor, who, in the palmy days from 1840 to 1845,
doubtless hoped to make his fortune, and leave the country
in a very short number of years. Another reason may have64

been (as I have already pointed out elsewhere) the uncer-
tainty which existed as to the number of years coffee would
last, which deterred many from putting up expensive build-
ings. Also when the hard times of 1847-8 came, many
planters who were sadly pushed for want of cash were
obliged to manage as cheaply as possible. Now that the
durability of estates for several decades has been certified,
if kept in good order and manured, quite another system
is followed. Permanent stone buildings, iron roofs, and
expensive machinery are erected, and doubtless pay best
in the long run, as these should last as long as the property;
and the fear of having to put up new buildings need not be
entertained, which had to be done on many of the older
estates.

Permanent buildings, machinery, spouting, and cart-roads,
all increase the value of a property; so I advise all who have
yet to put up their buildings to do so in the manner afore-
said, and not to be afraid of the first expense, which is sure
to repay itself.

Bungalows are now built chiefly of mud and stone, well
plastered on both sides. If the walls or pillars are very
high, lime or “ chunam ” must be used in their construc-
tion, but for the generality of walls mud and stone has
been found sufficient; but care must be taken to keep a
perfectly tight roof over them, for if once they get wet the
mud becomes moistened, and they will tumble down. A
very good plan is to build all the outer walls of stone, and
inner ones of sawn timber and mud ; the sawn timber, how-
ever, must rest on a stone foundation, to prevent decay and
the attacks of white ants. The roofs of bungalows are
invariably (where procurable) made of shingles; these are65

split eighteen inches long and six wide, and are laid and
nailed down very similarly to slates. The red doon, or
any wood with a straight grain that splits easily, is best for
shingles, blocks of which, eighteen inches long, are sawn
for the purpose. Not having a natural gift either for
engineering or architecture, I cannot take upon myself
to give plans of either houses or stores, but will endeavour
to describe both as plainly as possible.

This book being written in the main for the use of
embryo planters, who will most probably be employed on
or adjoining old estates, they will be able to judge for
themselves, and select the plan of buildings they think
best. Besides which, there is now in Ceylon (and there
will also doubtless shortly be in South India) abundance
of professional advice to be had, both as regards buildings
and machinery.

For the accommodation of an unmarried man, a cottage-
like bungalow, with verandah, containing five rooms, is
sufficiently large — viz. dining and sitting rooms, spare bed-
room, and office. Outbuildings must be added—viz. kitchen,
servants’ room, store-room, bath-room, &c., with (if prac-
ticable) a stream of water running through; also stable and
room for the horsekeeper. All the foregoing cannot be put
up in the generality of districts for much less than £300.
The cost of a bungalow for a married European gentleman,
with a family, would be fully £200 more. Twenty years ago,
when materials were more abundant and skilled as well as
cooly labour more reasonably priced, the cost would have
been diminished nearly one half; but I do not think I am
going over the mark when giving the above figures, though
there may yet be localities (such as Dick Oya) in which
566

similar works are contracted for at a more moderate cost
than in the older districts.

Lines formerly were mere mud and stick sheds, with
thatched roofs; now, on the contrary, they are built of mud
and stone, with sawn timber and shingle roofs. The cost
is of course much enhanced, but the durability is propor-
tionate. On some estates, double sets of lines are put up,
with a verandah about six feet wide on each side. Coolies,
however, prefer smaller houses; they consider them warmer
and more “ cosy.” It stands to reason, however, that the
larger and higher the rooms the better the ventilation, and
the coolies resident therein are less liable to suffer from sick-
ness or epidemics. Rooms twelve feet by twelve are a very
fair size, and will hold ten coolies, as they have no objection
to be packed tolerably close. Of the coolies’ particular
habits I will write more at length in another chapter. A
cheap sort of lines I built at Glenloch in 1865, which were
much liked by coolies, were of the following description:
rooms, say eight feet by ten ; walls, four and a half feet
high at the back; front wall, five and a half feet high;
verandah post, four and a half feet high; width of verandah,
three feet. The back wall was of mud and stone ; the inner
walls were built up one foot high of stone, on which the
jungle posts rested ; thus they were not only prevented from
rotting, but were in no danger of fire, as many old lines
have been burnt down from the posts catching fire and
setting the roof in a blaze, as the coolies invariably make
their fires close up to the walls. The wall-posts of the lines
under remark were of jungle sticks, as also the rafters ; the
roof was of shingles nailed upon sawn timber reapers. Such
lines would in the Pussalava district cost about £5 a room,67

properly and neatly completed. In a new district, where
timber is cheap and abundant, the cost might not be more
than £3 or £4 a room.

Coolies are not at all cleanly in their habits. I have there-
fore made it a practice to select a low caste cooly, generally
an old man, to act as scavenger. When the lines are full, he
should be employed daily; at other times, cleaning once or
twice a week is sufficient. The scavenger’s duty is to sweep
round the lines, keep open all drains, and bury all refuse
about the lines. Coolies are extremely dirty and untidy
in their habits, and offensive smells, which usually pre-
vail about the lines, are sufficient in themselves to breed
disease, even amongst a less closely lodged number of
human beings. I therefore advise all planters to pay more
attention than is usually given to this matter, if they would do
all in their power to make their coolies and estates healthy.
Nothing is more injurious to a property than its getting a
bad name as an unhealthy estate.

It is a very good plan to build lines near a running stream,
or where water can be brought to them, so as to give the
coolies ample opportunities for bathing, as well as to have
water for cooking easily at hand. Water should also be
conducted in such a manner that a running stream may cir-
cumvent the lines, passing along the drain which carries off
the water from the roof; this is not only a healthy but most
cleanly plan; the congee and rice-water thrown out by the
coolies is thus floated away, and all offensive smells are
likewise carried off.

The advantages of shingled roofs for lines are, that they
are not so liable to catch fire as thatch; the smoke also
passes through easily, and the ventilation is superior. Coo-68

lies usually sleep on mats on the earthen floor of the lines :
this amongst Europeans is not considered a healthy custom,
but coolies are used to it; still, I would recommend the erec-
tion of planked bed-places, something* like the bunks in ships,
called by coolies “ attaleys, ” on which I am certain they
would have no objection to sleep, as they often rig jungle-
stick ones for themselves.

Note.—I have forgotten to mention how seldom coffee
planters take any interest in planting fruit-trees about their
bungalows, making nice flower gardens, and other improve-
ments of the kind, which would benefit those who succeed
them. This want can only be accounted for by the feeling
that Europeans do not come to Ceylon as permanent emi-
grants, but merely as “birds of passage,” in the hope of
securing an independence and returning home to enjoy
the fruits of their labours. I am, however, happy to say that
a better feeling is springing up in this respect, and it is only
right it should be so. Any amount of young fruit-trees or
garden plants may be obtained from Mr. G. H. K. Thwaites,
the talented and obliging superintendent of the botanic
garden at Paradenia. The attention of coffee planters should
also be directed to the planting of “ chinicona” trees, for
which much of the land, too elevated for coffee, is most
suitable.69

STORES, PULPING HOUSE, AND
BARBECUES.

The two largest estates in Ceylon, strangely enough, adjoin
each other, the high road to Newera Ellia alone separating
them; one is “ Rothschild,” the other “ Delta.” On these
two properties are to be seen the largest and most complete
buildings of any yet erected on a Ceylon estate. To Messrs.
Worms is due the credit of putting up these fine stores,
pulping house, and buildings, which have lately, as well as
the estate itself, become the property of the Ceylon Company
Limited ; and to my brother, Mr. F. R. Sabonadiere, is
solely owing the “ cudos” for planning the east Delta works,
put up under his inspection, with which there are few that
can compare in efficiency, beauty, and completeness.

Formerly, stores were in some cases built of mud and
sticks, with a thatched roof; then a system of building tim-
ber stores, supported upon large beams (which were raised
off the ground on pillars two or three feet high) followed;
but neither of these plans could withstand the effects of a
Ceylon climate upon timber. Nothing answers so well or is
so durable as stone or brick pillars, erected ten or twelve feet
apart, and two and a half to three feet square; these pillars
are of sufficient strength to bear the weight of two floors,
the iron roof, and of several thousand bushels of parch-
ment coffee. The lower floor of a coffee-store is generally
boarded or laid with flat stones or broken macadam, and70

“ chunamed,” or, still better, cemented over. The two other
floors are upon joists, crossed by two by one and a half inch
reapers, upon which coir matting is tightly stretched. The
advantage of coir matting is, that the air is drawn down
through the coffee, and serves as a ventilator. A still better
but more expensive material for the flooring of a store is
“ wire;” prepared in England for the purpose, and I believe
now very extensively used in granaries. The first cost would
'be heavy ; but it would last as long as the building, and need
not be replaced, which has to be done every three or four
years with coir matting. The lower floor of the store might
also with advantage be of coir matting or wire gauze, but
it must be raised at least two feet from the ground to allow
a free current of air underneath, and to admit a cooly boy
to sweep the space below and keep it free of weeds and
lumber. The sides of the store between the pillars should
be boarded for about two and a half feet above each floor,
the rest reapered in a slanting position like jalousies; so
that while it gives admittance to the air, it at the same time
throws off the rain. The two ends may either be boarded in
or built up of stone, and should be well lighted with large
glass windows. Plenty of air is requisite to keep up the
circulating medium, and to prevent the coffee getting heated
or damaged. I therefore advocate the jalousie system in
preference to that of completely shut up stores.

A store, one hundred and twenty feet long and thirty
wide, with three floors, is sufficient to take in a crop of
9000 bushels parchment — say 2000 cwt. The cost of such
a building put up complete, as above described, with stone
pillars, sawn timber, and galvanized iron roof, would be from
£1000 to £1200. Adjoining the larger building, a rice-71

store, tool-store, and a room for the storekeeper, should be
built. The height between the floors of the store should
not be less than six feet. The pulping house should, if pos-
sible, be built on a sloping hill-side, the pillars of stone
or shingled, supported on sawn timber, and the roof of
iron. First, a cherry loft must be provided on the upper
floor, below it the platform on which the machinery stands ;
this should, if possible, be roomy and on the solid, as
better able to bear the weight of the machinery, and caus-
ing less noise and vibration. The level of the receiving
cisterns should be three feet below the pulping floor, and
two feet lower again comes the washing cistern; in fact, it
should be a series of steps, for the easy flow of coffee from
one into the other, aided by water. The receiving or
“ fermenting ” cisterns were formerly built of two-inch
planks ; but stone is now universally used, the bottom
and sides being asphalted or well cemented over to make
them watertight. A large iron door, two or three feet wide,
must open out upon the washing cistern to admit the fer-
mented coffee into it to be thoroughly washed. In the
centre of the cisterns should be a perforated iron aperture,
over a covered drain leading under the receiving cisterns, the
object of which is to carry off the water when the pulping
process is going on without its interfering with the washing,
and also to drain off the foul water from the coffee during
the fermenting process. The fermenting I allude to does
not in any way injure the berry, which is fully protected by
the parchment skin; the plan is adopted only to heat the
coffee sufficiently to make the gummy substance wash off.
A very convenient size for fermenting cisterns is twelve feet
square; the washing cistern should be thirty feet long by72

nine broad, and have a slope of four inches. A “ tail” cistern
should be sunk below it to receive the skins, scums, &c.,
and be so arranged that the water can escape through a wire
grating without letting any coffee-beans through. Spouts
must be arranged to let an ample body of fresh water into
each of the cisterns; that for the washing cistern should
be at the head of it, that the water flowing down should
carry the skins with it, leaving the good parchment, which
sinks, at the bottom of the cistern. The cherry coffee from
the loft is admitted to the machinery by a vertical spouting,
leading into the “hopper” or feeding trough. A good
stream of water must flow in with the coffee to pass it freely
through the pulpers, and prevent its being cut- and damaged.
Every pulping house should be provided with a draining
platform, conveniently placed next to the washing cistern,
so that the wet parchment may be heaped upon it. The
floor of this draining platform should be either of wire gauze
or coir matting, laid over a strong floor of sawn reapers.
Coffee may lie for two or three days in this wet state with
safety, but even then it is erring on the right side to have it
turned over in case of any accidental heating.

On estates where there is an abundant supply of water,
a water-wheel should be erected to turn the machinery.
Where water is scarce or its supply uncertain, I would
recommend the adoption of a small steam-engine; and where
neither of these means are feasible, the pulpers must be
worked by hand or by a cattle-mill, which I have seen done
on one or two estates in Ceylon.

Barbecue is the name given to the platforms on which
the coffee is dried in the sun. They vary in size and shape,
as they have to be constructed in accordance with the nature73

of the ground on which the store stands. The aspect which
is exposed longest to the sun is of course the most preferable.
Where the ground about the store is level, one large bar-
becue suffices ; but where the ground slopes, they have to
be made in terraces supported by retaining walls. The usual
mode of construction is to give barbecues a slight inclination
to allow the water to run off. Stones, the size of macadam,
are broken and spread over the levelled ground as when
metalling a road. Over this lime or chunam is thickly
spread and smoothed ; the last operation of the masons, when
the chunam is dry, being to polish the surface and stop up
any cracks. On some estates, the barbecues are painted with
coal-tar: the advantage attributed to this plan is, that black is
said to attract and retain the heat, and the tar prevents cracks
and breakage ; while, on the contrary, white throws off the
heat, and the glare from it is very trying and injurious to the
eyes.

Barbecues laid over with cement would be more durable
than chunam, but the cost of the material is at present too
great. Flagstones would answer the purpose excellently
laid as in kitchens in England ; so would thick squares oi
glass of the bull’s-eye kind ; but until the completed railway
brings the planter cheap and%handy transport, such expensive
materials are out of the question. On some estates, the
barbecues are not chunamed at all, coir matting or hand-
trays being spread upon them, on which the coffee dries very
well.

I must not omit to allude to the plan of trays on wheels,
which are run under the store during the night or in rainy
weather, and run out whenever the sun makes his appear-
ance. This plan of running trays is an excellent one, and I74

am much surprised it has not been more generally adopted ;
for it is not only a very clean and inexpensive way of curing,
but has this advantage, that coffee can either be wheeled in
or out at the shortest notice, and that the coffee, once laid
down, remains there till it is fit to be permanently stored,
and thus time and labour are saved. Warping of the timber
is the sole drawback; but this might be guarded against,
and iron rails provided for the wheels to run upon.

I have omitted to mention what is called a “ Clerihew
store” — a patented process which has found advocates, and
is particularly suited for rainy districts. This store is a
closed one, and either hot or cold air is drawn through
the coffee by fans, which are turned by the water-wheel,
and thus the coffee is kept sweet and prevented from heating.75

TOOLS AND MACHINERY.

The tools requisite on a coffee plantation are as follows :
Mamoties, for holing, trenching, roads, and heavy eartL
works.

Steel Hoes, for weeding and light work.

Axes, for felling timber, cutting logs and roots.

Catties, or bill-hooks, for cutting jungle and thorns.
Grass-knives, for cutting mana and other grasses.

Heavy Crow-bars, for road work.

Miners’ Tools, do. do.

Spade-bars, for holing and trenching.

Spades, for earth work.

Shovels, for use in pulping house.

Sledge Hammers, for road works and breaking stones.
Stone-crackers’ Hammers, do.	do.

Carpenters and Masons’ Tools.

Pruning Saws and Knives.

Cross-cut Saws and Shingle Knives, forsplitting shingles.
Measures, of one, half, and a quarter bushel.

Pick-axes, for road works and cutting roots.

Manure Forks, for use in nursery, or loosening soil
round old trees.

Lanterns, for store and pulping house.

Screw-wrench and Keys, for unfastening bolts and
screws of machinery.

Wooden Matta-pallagies, for washing coffee, and
Wooden Spades, for turning over parchment coffee in store.76

A large stock of picking and despatching bags, koutti
bags, manuring baskets, store baskets, hand-sieves for
cistern use, cocoa-leaf sieves for sifting light coffee, ekel
brooms, packing needles, twine, nails of sizes, oil for machi-
nery, and lanterns, should always be provided before crop
comes on.

It is always prudent to have spare sheets of copper ready
punched in case of any accident to the pulpers.

Matting and hand-trays are required for drying coffee
upon, in addition to the prepared barbecues. Two or three
tarpaulins are also very useful for covering over coffee during
the night, or when a sudden shower comes on before there is
time to put it into the store.

Where large quantities of grass are needed for stall-feeding
cattle, grass-cutting machines may be used with advantage.

The Machinery requisite for separating cherry coffee
from the husk are pulpers, which are turned either by
hand, water, or steam-power, and occasionally by cattle-
mills. In Laborie’s days, what modern planters now call
the “rattle trap” was the only machine known; and it
is saying a good thing for its inventor, that with some
simple modifications it is still a general favourite. It
is now made with an iron in lieu of a wooden frame,
the only wood used in its construction being that portion
of the cylinder upon which the perforated or punched
brass or copper plate is closely nailed with copper tacks.
In the appendix will be found Laborie’s description of
what a pulper was seventy or eighty years ago; and I
also add a very interesting letter, lately published in the
“ Colombo Observer,” which gives a very good description
of the pulpers now in use.77

Besides the original rattle trap, or wooden pulper, with
sieve attached, we now have “ double iron pulpers,” com-
bined with crusher, circular sieve, and buckets on the
dredging machine principle, for returning the “ tails” to
the feeding hopper. This machine—first set up by Mr. A.
Brown, engineer to Messrs. Worms, of Rothschild, Pussa-
lava—is, as I have before observed, still the favourite; it,
however, requires a very large and unfailing supply of water
to drive this machinery by a wheel, which the introduction
of steam-power will tend to remedy, for it is not on every
estate that a sufficient quantity of water is procurable to
work it by that less expensive process. The same principle
governs all pulpers—viz. the cherry is crushed by a revolv-
ing cylinder against the upper chop, whereby the berry is
detached from the skin ; this or (as in some modern inven-
tions) another revolving barrel draws the skin over another
iron bar, placed against the punctured or roughened surface,
thus separating the skin from the berry, dragging and caus-
ing it to pass behind the machine; while the coffee itself falls
forward upon the sieve or into the spout leading to the
circular sieve, where it is sifted.

The good coffee falls through into the drain leading into
the receiving cisterns; the husks and unpulped berries which
come forward are jerked on to the pulping house floor,
picked up by coolies in baskets, and returned to the hopper.
Where there are buckets, they fall into the well through
which the buckets revolve, and are thus drawn up and fall
back into the feeding trough, to be again passed through
the machinery. With Laborie’s description, and the letter
by “ An Old File,” it is needless for me to enter into any
further description than to name the various modern pulpers,78

and say what my opinion is of them from personal observa-
tion, or the remarks of others I have heard made upon
them.

In addition to the pulpers already alluded to, there are the
following: Wall’s pulper, Butler’s pulper, Walker’s disc-
pulper, Gordon’s breast-pulper, and Brown’s vertical pulper.
They are, I believe, all patented. The chief object of their
inventors has been to do away with a sieve, by pulping
the coffee free and clean of skins, and to admit of its being
at once passed into the cisterns.

My experience of patent pulpers is, that they work fast,
pulp cleanly, and without doing damage — conditionally on
their being most accurately set, and the cherry coffee being
perfectly ripe and of an even size. But should the least
thing go wrong, they cut, squeeze, skin, and damage the
berry to a much greater extent than the common pulper.

I agree with “ An Old File” that Butler’s pulper is the
most perfect machine yet invented to pulp coffee without a
sieve. I refer my readers to his remarks thereon.

Walker’s disc, I believe, answers admirably for low-lying
estates and small native plantations, the coffee at those
elevations being of a.size suitable to the machine; but on
high estates, the cherry being less even, it is apt to squeeze
and skin the berry, but this might be remedied by having
the grooves cut suitable to the size of the coffee. Mr. Chip-
pindall, of Opalgalla, always spoke in favour of Wall’s
pulper, and I believe made some alteration in the position
of the chop, which caused a marked improvement in the
quantity pulped by that machine.

Gordon’s breast-pulper works very fast, but it must be
most correctly set.79

Brown’s vertical pulper I have never seen, but have
heard it praised. For my own part, I think two iron pulpers
with a circular sieve worked between them, driven by a
water-wheel of adequate power, (fourteen feet diameter,)
sufficient for the purposes of an estate bearing crops of
2000 to 2500 cwt.; such a machine, correctly set and in
good order, should pulp eighty to one hundred imperial
bushels an hour, and would get easily through three
hundred boxes in five hours. The advantages in favour
of the old pulper is its simplicity, the easy mode of setting
it, and its not being so liable to get out of order.

Wherever machinery is used, it is always prudent to have
a spare hand-pul per in readiness to provide against a break-
down, for cherry coffee cannot be kept long without getting
heated; and when cherry arrives at the unpulpable state, the
only way left is to dry it in the husk, but this is a weary and
cumbersome process, and entails additional time, labour, and
expense. Mr. Brown, formerly Messrs. Worms’ engineer,
was, I believe, the first to avail himself of steam-power
for driving pulpers : his example is now being gradually
adopted, and will ere long become much more general.
In preference to a stationary engine, the boiler of which
has to be built in, I would recommend to the notice of
planters the portable engines, now extensively used in Eng-
land for ploughing and thrashing; their adoption would save
the expense of building in the boiler, always a very expensive
and nice process, which should be supervised by a profes-
sional engineer.

The portable engines are on wheels; they would need no
protection but a light shed over them, and would stand
outside the pulping house, the machinery being driven by80

a band attached to the large fly-wheel of the engine. The
cost of an engine in London is, I believe, £80 to £100. The
price of an iron water-wheel complete, and two iron pulpers
with circular sieve, would be from £120 to £150 ; but more
correct information may be easily obtained on application
either to London or local engineers.

The pulpers or crushers are fed from the cherry loft. An
aperture two inches square is sufficiently large, and if the
cherry coffee is well heaped over this hole it will feed the
machinery unassisted for a considerable time ; there should,
however, be a cooly constantly on the watch.

Much saving in labour has of course been effected by the
adoption of steam and water-power, and the cooly has been
saved the very laborious and wearing work of hand-pulping.

Pulping during the day-time is preferable to night-work,
but it is customary on estates to work off the coffee as it
comes in; so that the pulping house coolies are sometimes
retained till seven or eight o’clock, for which they are paid
at the rate of one penny per hour. In the old days of hand-
pulping a tot of arrack was sometimes given in addition
or in lieu of the cash payment; but I never adopted this
plan, deeming it best not to encourage coolies to drink
ardent spirits, though in the case of the “ polleus” and
“ parriahs” such a precaution availed little, the love of
drink being inherent.81

THE ENEMIES OF THE COFFEE-TREE.

With coffee planters, as with English farmers, there is
seldom a season when everything goes right. Thus, if the
crop is a good one, there are not sufficient coolies to pick
it; or when there is a short crop, there are so many hands
that one is puzzled how to employ them. At other times,
scarcity and dearness of rice, exorbitant cart-hire, excess
of rain or drought—all more or less tend to make the planter
anything but a contented man.

In addition to the drawbacks enumerated above, the
coffee-tree suffers from the attacks of various creatures of
the *animal and insect kingdoms. In its youth coffee is
attacked by large grubs, which eat round the bark of the
plants just above the ground, so that the stems break and
the plants generally die off. Ashes and lime are sometimes
spread round the tree in hopes of averting this evil, but with
no very great success. I am inclined to think that coal-tar
applied to the stem would be more efficacious in stopping
the ravages of these insects, which are particularly destruc-
tive at the lower elevations, where the soil is light, dry, and
quartzy.

Rats are at certain periods very destructive, particularly to
young plantations, as they bite off the primary branches and
leave the young trees like parrot-poles. As the ravages of
these jungle rats are periodical, their attacks upon the coffee
plantations are attributed to the dying off, every seven years,
682

of the “ nelloo,” a forest plant upon which they are believed
to feed. A native told me rather a curious story, when I
asked him if he could account for the attacks of these
animals. He said that the rats feed upon the seeds of the
nelloo, which seeds periodically; this makes them blind
and forces them to travel downhill, devouring all that comes
in their way, until they get into the paddy-fields, ravines,
and streams, where they are drowned or killed in large
numbers by the natives.

But the coffee-bug, of which there are two species, is by
far the greatest enemy the planter has ever had to con-
tend with. As Mr. Neitner, of Fernlands, (a very good and
acknowledged authority,) has scientifically treated this mat-
ter, I cannot do better than refer my readers to his able
pamphlet, and confine myself to the practical treament of
the subject.

The white bug—an insect so called from its colour—gene-
rally makes its appearance on the coffee-trees shortly after
the blossom has set, during the prevalent hot weather of
February, March, and April. It settles amongst the clusters
of newly formed berries, and gathers round itself a white
glutinous substance, the effect of which is to rot away the
stems of the young fruit, which fall off, and may be seen
thickly strewn on the ground beneath the trees.

The black bug is an insect which attacks the leaves, fruit,
and branches of the coffee-bushes, and seems to exist under
a small thin shell, shaped somewhat like that of a limpet.
The effects are to make the trees assume a black, sooty
appearance. This is caused by a thin gauze-like membrane
which covers the leaves, which, if rubbed off, exhibits the
green leaf beneath. The black bug has also the effect of83

diminishing the productiveness of the bushes to a minimum
extent, only a few berries being yielded by trees in this
condition; or, if it attacks a tree with crop already upon it*
it causes a large quantity of the fruit to drop off. Black bug
generally makes its appearance in swampy and sheltered
nooks, and then spreads to the adjacent fields. The period
over which it remains varies, but is generally supposed to be
three years. Low-lying estates suffer less from black bug
than those at a higher elevation, the cold and prevalent wet
weather to which they are subjected making it less easy for
them to shake off this dreaded scourge.

One of the best modes of driving away the black bug
(though it does not always ensure success) is to apply coal-
tar to the roots, gently scraping the top-soil off them, and
sprinkling a small cocoanut-shellful round the stem, and
afterwards replacing the soil. This plan succeeded on
Bluefields estate, and was also extensively adopted by the
Messrs. Worms, of Pussalava. Other modes adopted, with
more or less success, are to prune and thin out the trees,
apply manure, thatch the trees with mana grass, and dig
open trenches. Anything that will invigorate the trees,
and give them additional power to shake off this pest, may
be safely tried. I have seen coffee-trees covered with both
black and red ants, which prevented the coolies working at
the trees or picking the coffee. These may be considered
as enemies to the coffee-tree, and are not easily got rid of
without damage to the bushes upon which they have built
their nests.84

THE MALABAR COOLY.

The Malabar or Tamul cooly is an inhabitant of the southern
part of India, known as the Carnatic. Those who resort to
Ceylon come from the districts of Tanjore, Trichinopoly,
Arandangy, Madura, Ramanadaporum, Palamcottah, and
Tinnevelly. A few, speaking a different dialect, come from
Travancore and Mysore; the former speak Malleyalum, the
latter Cannareese.

Malabars have the same cast of features as Europeans,
and vary in complexion from the deepest brown to a light
copper-colour. They are generally very light, active, and
supple ; some of them are handsome, well-made men. Of
the women, not a few are graceful and pretty when young,
but age soon tells upon them ; they then become the veriest
of old hags, and are notable for their garrulity, the language
of Billingsgate being quite refined compared with what
these old crones indulge in ; and it is one of the superin-
tendent’s hardest tasks to make them keep silence in the
field, and stop their quarrelling in the lines.

The coolies who resort to Ceylon are of various castes.
Those mostly preferred by planters are the low castes, such
as “polleus, ” “ shanars,” and “parriahs,” as being more
accustomed to, and fit for, hard work; but as a class they
are more given to drink, spend their money more freely, and
are more quarrelsome than the higher classes, whom their
caste forbids to drink arrack or spirits, and who are more85

cleanly in their habits, better behaved, (as fearing to lose
caste,) who have land of their own on the coast, and are
more interested in working regularly and saving their wages
to take away with them. Planters have—fortunately for
themselves—not yielded to caste prejudice to the extent to
which it prevails in India; and although the high caste men
cannot be persuaded to use the same cooking utensils or
inhabit the same room, they will nevertheless live under the
6ame roof, stand near each other at muster and in the field,
and altogether fraternize to an extent they would not admit
of in their own country. I have even known cases of high
caste men cohabiting with low caste women, for which breach
I believe they have sundry penances to perform and gifts to
offer in the Ramissaram temple; but they cannot marry a
lower caste woman than themselves without being totally
excommunicated and cast out. The fact that coolies to a
certain extent give up some of their caste prejudices, when
working on the coffee estates, may lead to the hope that,
as years pass on and education becomes more general, the
absurdity of this custom will become apparent to the people
themselves, and so gradually die out.

Tamuls have not earned for themselves the character for
gratitude and affection which has hitherto been freely yielded
to the African negro, though late events in Jamaica may
tend to alter the general opinion in that respect. Tamuls
certainly very rarely show proofs of affection or gratitude,
though they certainly in a manner attach themselves to some
popular masters or favourite estates, but I believe this is
caused more from personal interest than real affection.
Amongst themselves they often exhibit much selfishness
and even cruelty, turning sick people out of the rooms86

into the cold night air, and abandoning their fellow labourers
when on the road from or to Ceylon. Happily these cases
are becoming more rare, as the better accommodation and
supervision, now provided on their route by the Ceylon
government, have tended to reduce these evils. Untruth-
fulness comes as naturally to a Tatnul as mother’s milk.
No dependence whatever can be placed upon the statements
of coolies as a class. If it is best for them to tell the truth
they will do so, but if it is to their interest to lie they will do
so quite as readily.

The religion of Tamul coolies is, in the main, the worship
of a deity named “ Muneandy.” He is an evil spirit whom
they occasionally propitiate by gifts and offerings, and by this
means they believe they can keep themselves free from evil.
Coolies acknowledge a Supreme Being, but they pay him
no special regard, being more careful to propitiate a spirit
that can do them evil than ask the blessing of one who can
do them good. As regards conversion, very little has
been really done, though every credit is due to the Church
of England Cooly Mission for their sincere and earnest
endeavours for the conversion of the coolies on the coffee
plantations; but until a system of education is generally
practised all over the south of India, and caste prejudices
swept away, very few real and sincere conversions are to be
expected. As there is an exception to every rule so there
is to this, and missionaries will justly point to the district of
Tinnevelly as the result of what has been and may yet be
accomplished.

As a general rule, superintendents give every encourage-
ment to the catechists of the Cooly Mission, who pay the
estates periodical visits, by allowing them to preach to the87

coolies at morning muster, and by giving them free access to
the lines ; but as these catechists are few in number and the
mission funds inadequate to provide additional men for this
work, much cannot be expected as the result of three or four
annual visits. In due time, when funds are more abundant
and catechists more plentiful, so that one or two may be
appointed to each coffee district, the results may be more
satisfactory ; but I confess that I see little hope of* any large
numbers being truly converted, while caste prejudices remain
as powerful as they are at present.

I now proceed to give the result of my experience in the
management of coolies. They may be compared to a lot of
school-boys, ever ready to take advantage of the master’s
laxity in not efficiently looking after them; for they are
naturally inclined to get over the day’s work as easily as
they can, and to talk and idle away the time in the field,
unless efficiently supervised and a system of task work
generally adopted.

A method somewhat similar to the patriarchal system
is, I think, most suitable for the management of coolies.
Indeed, it is common for them to say to the superintendent
of the estate they are at work upon: “Now I am in a
foreign (‘yellenga’) country, you are my father and my
mother, and must take care of me.” Coolies are not
unreasonable beings; they are well aware when they have
done wrong, and are quite content to receive the punishment
they know is their due. It is an incalculable help to the
superintendent to be able to converse fluently with his men ;
nothing tends more to win their respect and affection, as far
as that is worth. The superintendent must be firm and
strictly just, and willing to yield when yielding is the safest88

course to pursue; but he must be master in more than the
name, and should endeavour to instil a fear more like that
of a father over his children than that of a hard and selfish
task-master, whose interests are foreign to, instead of in
common with, his men. But he must at the same time
be careful not to become too familiar with them. The
advantages in favour of a superintendent who can talk the
language are numerous. In the first place, he is able to give
orders himself and to direct the work without the assistance
of an interpreter; he is able to listen to the coolies’ com-
plaints, and can act as arbitrator in any serious disputes that
may be brought under his notice; by this means much
“going to court” is avoided, while the coolies themselves,
being fully aware how well the master knows their tricks,
are less likely to be troublesome. Thus everything, both in
the lines and field, goes on happily and pleasantly.

Several letters have at different times been published in
the papers by the well-known and esteemed writer “B. W.,”
and I may safely hold him up as an example of a good
superintendent. His devotion and philanthropy are well
known, and no estates in Ceylon are better managed or more
plentifully supplied with labour than those under his manage-
ment. The best way to punish coolies is to stop their wages,
by striking one or more days’ work out of the check-roll.
They feel the loss of money far more than corporal punish-
ment, which I consider injudicious. A friend has told me
that his mode of punishment was to keep the men longer
at work, and that he found it answer.

The sanitary condition of coolies, while on the coffee
plantations, I believe to be much more satisfactory than
in their own country. They are are better fed and housed,89

and have blankets (“ cumblies”) provided for them; many
also purchase coats and other garments for themselves. On
their arrival from the coast, fever contracted on the north
road frequently breaks out among coolies, which by prompt
attention is easily cured. For the treatment of this and
other diseases common to the country, a series of “ Medical
Hints,” compiled by the late C. Elliott, M.D., has been
published in Ferguson’s Ceylon Directory, (and which may,
I believe, be obtained in the form of a pamphlet,) a copy of
which should be provided on every estate by its proprietor.
Fever, diarrhoea, and dysentery are the most common
diseases to which coolies are subject, but they can usually
be very satisfactorily treated by superintendents with the aid
of the “ Medical Hints” referred to.

On the estate on which I resided, I made it a practice of
late years to employ one of the kanganie6, whose duties were
about the store, to take round medicine to the lines for the
sick coolies three times a day. Being versed in the native
practice, he not only quickly got into the way of knowing
and giving the requisite medicines, but the coolies had
confidence in him, and were far more willing to take “ mas-
ter’s” medicine when administered by him, and the results
were most satisfactory, very few deaths taking place. In
addition to this regular treatment, the estate was visited
weekly (or more frequently, if necessary) by a native medi-
cal practitioner, who had been a pupil of Dr. Green, at
Jaffna. He answered the purpose very well for the
Pussalava district; and it would be well, in my opinion,
if the practice were more generally adopted, and an hospital
near the doctor’s residence erected in each district, in as
central a position as possible.90

Though coolies are very fond of bathing, they are not as
cleanly about their lines as could be wished ; and the
scavenger plan I have suggested in another chapter should,
I think, be adopted on every estate.

Before concluding this chapter, I must not omit to point
out to all new comers that the kanganies and coolies will,
when a new master assumes charge, endeavour to gain
ascendency over him; but he must be firm and just, and
show no personal fear of them. The consequence of this
will be, that they may strike and not work for two or three
days, but the victory will rest with the master, for they
will soon come to their senses when they perceive the
material he is made of, and that—to use a vulgar expression
—they “ cannot come over him.”

That coolies are less tractable and more difficult to manage
than formerly is an undeniable fact. I attribute it to the
advance system and the yearly addition to the already large
number of coffee estates, which causes an increased demand
for labour, the supply of which becomes proportionately
deficient. In fact, coolies are beginning to learn their value
to the planter, and know that without their aid he cannot
succeed. The advance system, now (when too late)
universally abused, has been an immense evil, as putting
planters completely into the hands of the conductors and
kanganies, who have fed and fattened upon it; while coolies,
who, previous to the custom, were content to quit their
homes with the small sum requisite for their travelling
expenses, now refuse to move under heavy advances,
varying from ten to twenty shillings a head. Other evils
subsequently ensue—the kangany often uses this original
debt as a cloak for chicanery and extortion — the cooly91

is dissatisfied and works unwillingly, or, worse than all,
runs away. I do, indeed, hope that planters will for once
be unanimous, and all adhere to the proposal lately started
by the Planter’s Association, not to give advances above
certain fixed rates. This plan, under present circumstances,
is the only one that can be looked to, to effect a partial
remedy and put an end to the abuses which, in most cases,
are engendered by this baneful custom. As a rule, I feel
confident that coolies are well and kindly treated on coffee
estates; indeed, it is the planter’s interest that they should
be so, and, if anything, the fault has lately been to yield too
much to the cooly for fear of driving him to another
property. As a consequence of this, the complaint arises
of the increased cost of production, and of less work being
done by the coolies than in former years. All this is very
true, and had prices not risen proportionately vpith the
increase of production, a return to the bad times of 1847-8
would have been the consequence.

Coolies’ wages are now nominally eightpence per diem ;
but with kanganies’ wages and the calculation for loss on rice,
it is really much nearer tenpence per diem. What the result
will be when all the new land that is being opened comes
into full bearing, God alone knows. We must look hope-
fully to the future, and trust that the extension of railways
will bring us labourers from more distant parts of India than
now resort to Ceylon ; and if that source fails us, we must do
as Mauritius, the West Indies, and other colonies have set
us an example, and import labour from more distant and
expensive fields.92

ESTIMATES.

Under this heading will be found three estimates, made out
by three experienced Ceylon planters, who resided in dif-
ferent districts. Of these, one has had over twenty years,
the other twenty, and the third ten years’ practical knowledge
of coffee planting.

It will be observed that estimate No. 1 does not set down
the original purchase-money of the forest land, and perhaps
justly so, because the price may vary from £1 to £5 an acre.

In this estimate the 200 acres are set down as being all
felled, holed, and planted in one season. This is a consum-
mation seldom realized in these times of scarcity of labour,
except in very favoured districts ; and even then it is in great
part effected by Cinghalese contract labour. Twenty years
ago it was thought nothing wonderful to fell and plant 300
acres in one season, and in 1845 as much as 600 acres were
planted on the Delta estate; but such cases are no longer
common, and it is now thought a very good season’s work to
get 100 to 150 acres planted.

The advantage of planting 200 acres the first year is
shown by the large maiden crop of 800 cwt., which at once
clears off £2600 of the expenditure ; whereas, in Estimate
No. 3, only half that amount of crop is calculated for.
Estimate No. 3 enters more into detail than No. 1 ; but the
results are very much the same when price of land, commis-
sion, &c., are added. Thus, Estimates Nos. 1 and 293

(allowing everything included) make the cost of three years
£25 an acre, and No. 3 £27 10s., which proves the calcu-
lators are not very far apart in their estimate of the different
items.

We may, therefore, come to the conclusion that a coffee
estate, under ordinary circumstances, may be brought into
bearing and all buildings erected for from £25 to £30 an
acre; and that if all prospers as it should, the capital ought
to be repaid in seven years from the commencement of the
estate. My unprofessional readers must not, however,
understand that I guarantee such a result. Nor must they
be dazzled with the very satisfactory consequence set forth in
Estimate No. 3, for it is very seldom that estimates can be
strictly adhered to ; and circumstances over which planters
have no control constantly happen, bringing down their
castles in the air, insomuch that a great many properties*
which at one time gave every promise of success, were
years and years in repaying the first outlay, while many
still remain involved. In addition to what I have said
above, I should also point out that though a considerable
extent of forest land is yet available, it is far removed from
roads and means of communication; neither is there that
selection which might have been had twenty and twenty-five
years ago. It must also be borne in mind that year by year
prices of food,, labour, and materials increase, and that
therefore the same results cannot be looked for. To myself
but one great difficulty is apparent—that labour will not be
sufficient to meet the demands made upon it when the
numerous estates lately planted, and which are still being
opened, come into full bearing; and I cannot help express-
ing my anxiety, and questioning the wisdom of those who
go on opening land in the face of this uncertainty.94

No. 1. —ESTIMATE FOE BRINGING 200 ACRES OF COFFEE

LAND INTO BEARING.

First Year.

Value of land, nominal.

Felling and olearing 200 acres, at £2 10s
Holing, lining, and planting, at £3 15s...

Plants ..............................

Tools ...............................

Lines ............................

Temporary bungalow...................

Roads................................

Drains...............................

Suckering............................

Weeding..............................

Superintendence......................

£500 0 0

............ 750	0	0

£100 0 0
..100 0 0

----------- 200 0 0

..200 0 0
..60 0 0

----------- 260 0 0

..200 0 0
..300 0 0

----------- 500	0	0

... 30 0 0
..200 0 0

----------- 230	0	0

............350	0	0

			£2790	0	0
Second Year.					
Planting, topping, and 6uckering						... 100	0	0
Store and machinery							...1200	0	0
Completion and extension of lines			100	0	0		
Permanent bungalow 					300	0	0		
			— 400	0	0
Repairing roads, drains, &c				... 100	0	0
Weeding				... 200	0	0
Superintendence				... 350	0	0
Sundries				... 50	0	0
			£5190	0	0
Third Year.					
Handling				... 60	0	0
Repairing buildings			0	0		
Spouting			500	0	0		
			550	0	0
Repairing roads and drains				... 100	0	0
Crop expenses—say on 800 cwt., at 10s 				... 400	0	0
Weeding				... 200	0	0
Superinteudence				... 350	0	0
Sundries				... 100	0	0
			£6950	0	0
Less value of 800 cwt. in London, at £3 5s				.. 2600	0	0
			£4350	0	095

REMARKS ON ESTIMATE No. 1.

Estimates depend upon so many things—the current rate
of labour and contract work; the style of work done; the
description of land, whether it be steep, rugged, and rocky ;
whether the soil be rich and climate forcing; and whether
the situation adjoins weedy estates or abandoned cheena,
&c.—that it is quite impossible to give an estimate which
would not, in some way or other, be open to objection.

The majority of estates can easily be kept clean at £1
per acre per annum, if a regular system of weeding is

commenced directly the fields are burnt off. ------is

now twenty years old, arid has been kept perfectly free from
weeds for this long period at the above rate per acre. But a
low country estate with very rich soil, and surrounded by
weedy cheenas and native gardens, cannot be kept perfectly

clean for less than £2 per annum. ------costs £1 16s.

per annum.

On some estates, where soil is very fine and small holes
answer, of course the cost of planting would be from £1 to
£1 10s. less per acre than I have calculated upon in the
above, and roads in the same proportion.96

No. 2.—ESTIMATE FOR THE BRINGING INTO COFFEE CULTI-

VATION 200 ACRES OF FOREST LAND.

First Year : Sept. 1, 186—, to August 31, 186—.

Purchase of 300 acres of forest land—say at £1 per acre......£300 0	0

Government Burvey fees......................................... 60	0	0

Felling, lopping, burning, clearing, cutting pegs, lining, and holing,

(6 by 5,) at £5 per acre; 100 acres....................... 500 0	0

Filling in holes, planting, and supplying ; 100 acres, at £1 per acre. 100 0 0
Purchase of 150,000 plants for planting and supplying, at 6s. per

thousand..................................................   45	0	0

Making nursery and purchase of seed ..........................  10	0	0

Stone pillar and shingle lines, 60 by 20....................... 70	0	0

Superintendent’s bungalow...................................   300	0	0

Conductor’s bungalow........................................... 30	0	0

Loss on rice................................................... 50	0	0

Purchase of took............................................... 30	0	0

Roads, 3 miles................................................  45	0	0

Weeding 100 acres, from March 1 to August 31; 6 months, at

2s. per acre per month...................................... 60	0	0

Superintendent...............................................  100	0	0

Conductor.....................................................  50	0	0

Contingencies.................................................. 50	0	0

General transport.............................................. 50	0	0

£1840 0 0

Second Year : Sept. 1,186—, to August 31,186—.
Felling, lopping, burning, clearing, cutting pegs, lining, and holing ;

100 acres, at £5 per acre.......................................

Filling in holes, planting, and supplying, at £1 per acre..........

Making nurseries and purchase of seed..............................

Stone pillar, one set, and shingle lines, 60 by 20.................

Roads, 3 miles ....................................................

Planting gross.....................................................

Weeding, 1st clearing for 12 months, at 2s.........................

Loss on rice......

Purchase of tools .
Superintendence ...

Conductor.........

Contingencies ....

General transport.

500 0 0
100 0 0
10 0 0
70 0 0
45 0 0
30 0 0
120 0 0
60 0 0
70 0 0
10 0 0
150 0 0
50 0 0
50 0 0
50 0 0

£3155 0 097

Third Yeah : Sept. 1, 186—, to August 31, 186—.

Superintendence...........

Conductor.................

Weeding 100 acres, at 2s. 6d,

Handling.....................

Draining 200 acres, at 15s...

Stone pillar and shingle lines .

Roads, 3 miles, at £15.......

Cart-roads..................

Brought forward,

.........£3155	0	0

..........200 0 0

........... 50	0	0

.......... 150	0	0

.......... 120 0 0

........... 30	0	0

.......... 150	0	0

.......... 70 0 0

£45 0 0
.200 0 0

---------- 245 0 0

Pulping house, store, purchase and putting up of machinery.1000 0 0

Iron coffee spouting........................................... 300	0	0

Purchase of tools............................................... 20	0	0

Loss on rice................................................... 100	0	0

Contingencies.................................................. 50	0	0

General transport.............................................. 50	0	0

Picking, pulping, and drying 400 cwt. off 100 acres—viz. 4 cwt.

at 6s....................................................... 120	0	0

Transport to Colombo, 1900 bushels, at Is. per bushel.......... 95	0	0

Colombo charges : curing,4s. 6d.; export duty, Is. per cwt.=5s. 6d. 110 0 0

Total expenditure...........................£6015	0	0

Loss : 3 years’ loss of exchange on £6015, at 6 per cent....... 360	0	0

Total expenditure...........................£6375	0	0

Less net value of 400 cwt. in London, at 67s. per cwt....... 1340 0 0

Estate Dr...................................£5035	0	0

Note.—The superintendence in this estimate is calculated as if the property
was opened by the manager of an adjoining estate.

798

No. 3.—ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE TO PLANT 200 ACRES OF

LAND WITH COFFEE AND BRING IT INTO BEARING.

1865.

First Year.

September.—Purchase of 300 acres of land, at the nominal value

of £1 per acre.....................£300 0 0

Survey fees on above................. 41 0 0

----------£341 0 0

Nursery or purchase of plants................. 50 0 0

1866.

January.—Superintendence, European, one	year......120	0	0

Allowances.............................. 40	0	0

Native Conductor........................ 50	0	0

----------- 210	0	0

^Felling, lopping, and clearing up 100 acres, at 50s.

per acre...................................... 250	0	O

Holing 100 acres, at 25s. per acre....125	0	0

Lining	,,	at	7s.	„	  35	0	0

Planting	,,	at	9s.	„	  45	0	0

Filling in	„	at	9s.	„	  45	0	0

----------- 250	0	0

Roads, 1 mile, at £50................. 50 0 0

„	2 „ at £15..................... 30 0 0

March to
December 31

-----------80

Draining 100 acres, at 15s......................... 75

Weeding to December ; 100 acres, at 20s. per annum. 73
Buildings, viz.

Superintendent’s bungalow (permanent)300 0 0

Conductor’s bungalow.................. 60	0	0

Stone pillar and Bhingle lines, 60 by 20..100 0 0
Rice and tool-store.................   25	0	0

------------485

General transport.................................. 36

Tools and portable machinery....................... 50

General contingencies.............................. 50

Loss by rice....................................... 60

'Medicines and medical attendance.................. 15

Loss by exchange on £2000, at 6 per cent.

£2016 16
. 120 0

£2135 16 099

Second Yeae.

^Superintendence, European............£150	0	0

„	Native................ 50	0	0

Allowances............................. 36	0	0

1867.

January to
December.

Felling, lopping, burning, and clearing up ;

100 acres, at 50s. per acre..............250 0 0

Holing, lining, planting ; 100 acres, at 50s.

per aore.................................250 0 0

£236 0 0

500 0 0

Roads, 1 mile, at £50................. 50 0 0

„ 2 „ at £15. .................... 30 0 0

------------- 80 0 0

Draining 100 acres, at 9s. per acre.............. 75 0 0

Weeding	„	at 2s.	„	......120 0 0

„	„	9 months, at Is. 8d.

per acre.............................. 73	16	0

----------- 193	16 0

Permanent buildings, viz.

One set lines, 60 by 20......................... 100	0 0

General {transport.................... 50	0	0

Tools and portable machinery.......... 30	0	0

General contingencies ;..............  50	0	0

Loss by rice.......................... 50	0	0

\ Medicines and medical attendance..... 15	0	0

----------- 195	0 0

£1379 16 0

Loss by exchange on £1300, at 6 per cent................. 78 0 0

£1457 16 0

Thibd Yeae.

^Superintendence, European............200	0	0

,,	Native............... 60	0	0

Allowances............................ 36	0	0

296 0 0

1868.
January to ^
December.

Topping and handling.................. 25 0 0

Supplying failures.................... 25 0 0

50 0 0

Roads, 1 mile, at £50................... 50	0	0

„	„ at £15..................... 15	0	0

Roads and drains, upkeep of. ........... 40	0	0

--------- 105 0 0

Weeding 200 acres for 12 months, at 2s. per aore ... 240 0 0

Carried forward

,£691 0 0100

1868.

January to
December.

Brought forward.................£691 0 0

/Buildings, viz.

Store, 120 by 30, three floors, iron roof,
permanently built on stone pillars.£1000 0 0

Pulping house, water wheel, and machi-
nery .............................. 500	0	0

Iron coffee spouting............... 250	0	0

Set of permanent lines, 60	by	20 .. 100	0	0

-----------1850	0	0

Crop expenses, viz.

Picking, pulping, and ouring 400 cwt.,

at 6s............................ 120	0	0

Transport of 1900 bushels parchment to

Colombo, at Is. 3d................118 15 0

Colombo curing charges on 400 owt., at

4s. 6d............................ 90	0	0

Export duty on 400 cwt., at	Is...... 20	0	0

----------- 348	15	0

General transport..................... 75	0	0

Purchase of tools .................... 30	0	0

General contingencies ................ 75	0	0

Loss on rice.......................... 75	0	0

t Medioines and medical attendance ... 20	0	0

----------- 275	0	0

£3164 15 0

Loss by exchange on £3100, at 6 per cent.................. 186	0	0

£3350 15 0

Recapitulation.

First year’s expenditure ................................£2135	16	0

Second „	„	  1457	16	0

Third „	„	  3350	15	0

£6944 7 0

Less value of 400 cwt. in Loudon market, at 67s. net per cwt.1340 0 0

Estate Dr., Jan. 1,1869......................£5604 7 0101

REMARKS ON ESTIMATE No. 3.

This estimate has been framed for an old district, where
timber is scarce and labour expensive. The average rate of
cooly labour has been calculated at ninepence per diem.
The price of £1 is the nominal value of the land, that being
the common government upset price for waste lands; but
as competition takes place at the kutcherries that price
is usually exceeded, and £2 10s. per acre might be a more
even average for the present cost of forest lands. Blocks
of land do not always consist entirely of forest. Sometimes
there is a large quantity of pattena or grass land attached
(useful as grazing ground). Sometimes a portion of the
land runs up to an elevation at which it is unwise to plant
coffee; it is therefore only useful as a reserve for timber, and
may in future years serve for tea or chinchona plantations.

The sums put down in this estimate for the construction
of buildings and setting up machinery may appear excessive,
and may be questioned by planters who have been able to
execute the same works at a more moderate cost, but the
framer prefers to be rather over than under the mark ; and
a9 every succeeding year enhances the value of labour and
materials, it is perhaps as well that a liberal margin should
be given under this head. For the sake of brevity, the
writer ha9 concentrated the entire cost of buildings within
the three first years, the result having been the same in the
end ; but it is often customary to build only the pulping
house to take in the maiden crop, it being temporarily
arranged for the purpose, and to purchase only one hand-102

pulper, that being sufficient to pulp off the small crop
usually looked for.

The above plan avoids the necessity of throwing the entire
cost of buildings into one year, when the crop also is but a
small one.

In this estimate, no mention is made of interest of money,
which must of course be taken into consideration, and should
be added to the total expenditure.

Loss on rice is now a heavy charge on the generality of
estates. The nearest properties to Colombo suffer least;
those furthest away often lose at the rate of four to five
shillings a bushel. This loss is caused by the prevalent
custom of providing coolies with rice at a given rate, (now
eight shillings per bushel,) any excess in the price over
that figure having to be borne by the estate. It is not
deemed expedient to raise the price of rice to the cooly,
as it would be compulsory to give him an equivalent increase
in wages; it must therefore be hoped that the completion of
the railway will give cheaper transport, and so enable that
necessary “staff of life” to be landed on the estates at a
more moderate rate than at present.

The result of this estimate is to show, that at the expiration
of three years an estate of 300 acres—200 of which are
planted, 100 acres two and a half years old, and another 100
acres one year and a half old — with all necessary and
permanent buildings erected, would, after deducting the
value of the maiden crop, represent to its owner (interest on
capital excluded) a debt of £5604 7s., or at the rate of
£27 10s. an acre.

Under ordinary circumstances, the next three, or at most
four, crops should entirely clear off this incubus ; so that103

taking the planter’s year from the 1st of July to the 30th of
June, a property commenced in 1865-6 should be clear, at
latest, on the 30th June, 1873, or at the rate of seven years’
purchase ; and would then be worth, say from £12,000 to
£14,000 in the market.APPENDIX I.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COFFEE-TREE, BY
LABORIE.

The improvement and appropriation to our use of the
productions of nature is the general object of culture, with a
view both to increase the quantity and ameliorate the quality.
But the science of culture is like the science of medicine.
In both it is the general and particular object to assist nature,
which, in such case, will gladly conspire with our exertions;
but if thwarted, at least for a length of time and with rude-
ness, will be found rebellious. Hence, a proper study of the
plant, the object of our care, demands our first attention.
We ought to make ourselves familiarly acquainted with its
origin, its progress, its decay, its temperament, its disposition
—I had almost said its habits and inclinations. In conse-
quence, I beg leave to expatiate on some circumstantial
particulars relative to this subject.

The original reproductive sprout of the coffee-tree is in the
seed. Thus, the bountiful hand of the Creator has multiplied
it almost to infinity. Take a seed, and open its fissure or
stigma, you will hardly perceive the sprout; it is, indeed,
exceedingly delicate. If the seed is kept long in a state of105

siccity it withers into sterility, whereas, when it is green, it
shoots out with wonderful ease and strength.

Let the 6eed, with its parchment, be laid only upon a wet
soil—you will see it open itself a little. A pedicle peeps out,
an extremity of which leans towards the ground. Here two
radicals are seeking and soon grasp their nurse. The other
extremity rears itself up, loaded with the whole seed. In a
short time two follicles, almost round, and of a thin yellow
colour, unfold themselves from the very substance of the
seed, and shake off the parchment. The stigma or fissure
seemed to mark their separation on the flat side of the seed,
and on the round side they seemed perfectly blended
together ; but now they part of themselves. Thus, it is the
seed itself which spreads out into these two follicles, which
turn green by the contact of the air.

From between them a small top rises. Its point is acute,
and divides itself into two leaves of lanceolous form. The
sappling rises again and again, still in the same manner,
bearing its leaves two and two, or axillary, at equal distances,
and every pair opposite to each other, above and below.

When the sappling has several leaves, the two original
follicles fall. When it is about twelve or fifteen inches high,
the boughs begin to make their appearance at the eye, close
above the stem of the leaves. When these boughs, which
originate from the trunk, and which may be distinguished as
primary, have acquired strength, the leaves at their original
fall.

The sappling rises, always bearing leaves, and afterwards
boughs above them by pairs, or in axillary form and opposite.
These boughs lengthen themselves in the same manner and
proportion, and as they grow they always end as the trunk,106

in a sharp point, which divides itself into two leaves, which
also spread out a proper distance, and so on.

In their turn, secondary branches shoot out directly above
every leaf of the primary ones. These make their growth as
the former, and bear tertiary branches if the tree is luxuriant.
Where that goes farther it is always in the same order.

Here a material observation is necessary, as it is, in a great
measure, the foundation of the whole system of lopping or
pruning.

The vertical sappling or trunk has been shewn bearing its
boughs, or primary branches, in opposite pairs, so that the
inferior ones exhibit the figure of a cross with the superior—
thus, the four branches spreading in four different directions;
and this is necessary, that the tree be garnished all round
without being embarrassed. Exactly from the same principle
of avoiding encumbrance, the arrangement of the secondary
and tertiary branches is different. They are all placed by
pairs on both sides of the mother branches, so that all spread
out horizontally, and with a direction, in some measure,
towards the circumference. If any should grow upwards or
downwards, they would become intricate, and the tree
embarrassed. Nature makes no such blunders; and if such
happen to be the unintentional effects of art, art must redress
them, as we shall see in its place. It must also be observed
that, the tree being in its natural state, two branches seldom
grow from the same leaf or bud.

Now, I suppose the tree to be about four or five feet high.
The boughs near the ground will extend wider as they are
nearer the source of vegetation, so that the shape of the tree
is pyramidal. All those branches, of three orders or more,
garnish it richly; but, as all are horizontal from below107

upwards, all diverging from the centre more or less, all
placed either at the four faces of the trunk (and these at
distances at least eight or nine inches from each other at the
same face) or both sides of the mother branches, the
profusion of nature can neither be perplexed nor intricate.

That beautiful economy of nature must be remembered,
and the accidental wanderings checked and repressed into
that order; for a period will arrive when the hand of man
must force nature from her common directions and arrange-
ment. The redress of that wrong is the business of culture,
as the article on pruning will explain.

The coffee-tree is classed among the shrubs. Its natural
height will seldom exceed fifteen or eighteen feet. The size
of the trunk is proportionable, but being probably improved
by culture, it is usually from two to five inches in diameter, in
correspondence to the difference of soil. In infancy, the
primary boughs shoot out near the ground; but when the
tree becomes fully grown it is probable they would fall, and
the tree, if left to itself, would have the form of all others
—that is, a naked trunk and a branchy head.

Confined to the usual height, the coffee-tree is one of the
most elegant productions of nature. Its shape is that of a
fine bush, pyramidical and luxuriant, without confusion. Its
leaves are of a deep green colour, lanceolous, polished, and
shining chiefly on the superior surface. Its blossoms,
spreading a sweet, pleasing fragrance, are absolutely like
small white jessamines, supported by short stems composed
of a calix, four follicles, and a pistil, with its stamina lightly
tinged with yellow, the whole .upon a short stem. If they
happen to be blasted they fall immediately, burnt; but if the
infant fruit forms a knot, then the flower falls to the end of108

the pistil, and remains there suspended, the pistil still adher-
ing to the fruit till both are dried and fall together. The
little green fruit grows on until it becomes yellow. As it
approaches ripeness, it spreads itself over with red spots and
streaks, which widen till the fruit is perfectly ripe, and of
deep shining purple colour. Both the flowers and fruit
spring forth in large clusters, going off from every leaf or
bud and at the diverging of the branches ; and in both
states, nature is nowhere more profuse and beautiful in the
variety of its colours and forms.

The coffee-tree is endowed, in an extraordinary degree,
with vegetable life ; being cut, it grows again in many sprigs.
Its branches, cut and placed in the ground by either of their
ends, have been seen to bear roots and leaves indifferently.

I saw one fallen from a height of thirty feet with its clod ;
it stopped on a road and there bore fruit for several years,
and perhaps even now. The bark of the tree is grey,
compact, and moderately rough ; its wood is white, but hard,
knotty, with very little sapwood and central pith. Under-
ground, it has a pivot or perpendicular root three or four
feet deep. The roots, at first large, end in an immense bulk
of capillary fibres. If the pivot finds the quick-stone, gravel-
stone, or clay, the tree will not last long ; but it, as well as
the roots, find their way through stony ground, and, if there
is a good proportion of mould, suffer no inconvenience; nay,
the tree may do better, as the stones keep the mould together.109

EXTRACT FROM LABORIE’S REMARKS ON
PRUNING.

It appears that because the trees have been stopped, and
the heights to which the soil and the vegetative power seemed
designed to rear them has been circumscribed, an impetuous
and overflowing sap breaks out from all quarters. If
nothing is done against this exuberance of vegetable juice,
the trees in process of time will grow into a maze of entangled
boughs, inaccessible to the genial warmth of the sun, and
deficient in the ordinary powers of fructification. It is the
business of the planter to check the excess of vegetation, and
to assuage, so to speak, the wrath of offended nature, by a
strict subserviency to her laws and original intentions.

I had carried in my plantation this plain natural idea a
step further, in strong grounds, and more particularly in the
cool expositions. I plucked from the main boughs all the
two secondary branches, next to the trunk, from above
downwards. Thus, I diminished the quantity of wood, which
in the centre is more exuberant. I thus formed round the
trunk a large opening, through which air might circulate,
and the sun penetrate even to the earth. Thus, vegetation
was cherished, and moss, which arises from moisture, and is
very hurtful, was produced in less abundance. Success had
crowned my industry, easy and simple, when the revolt. .	.

God knows what is become of my poor trees, since the eye
of their friend has been withheld from watching over them.110

This does not entirely exempt the trees from the saw and
the pruning knife, chiefly when they grow old; but the
work will be short and easy where the preceding precautions
have been taken, and it must be performed after every crop.

If a head is spoiled it must be sawed. If any of the
superabundant branches have been left through neglect,
these must be cut off.

If a bough has been broken by accident, and if any
branches have become spent and withered from too great a
load of fruit, these must be pruned. In short, everything
that is defective must be completely taken away, but without
retrenching anything else.

The pruning of a bough of consequence will make a
charm in the tree, if it is not otherwise made up. This may
be effected by a kind of device, which I shall endeavour to
explain.

ABD represent the bough, which is spoiled at its end.
BD must be cut, the sound portion AB being preserved.
The object in view is to make the former grow again, so as
to furnish a circumference in the same direction, and, as
much as possible, resembling that of the former bough.

For this purpose the bough ABD must be cut immediately
above a knot, where two, or at least one, good secondary
branch may be found as in B.

Then, cut the secondary branch so as to cut also the
tertiary branch, and preserve the opposite tertiary, and then
the branch will be in the state described by the fig. 3. If,
instead of tertiary branches, buds only are found, it is the
same thing. Cut off the branch and the posterior bud, and
preserve the anterior, which will give out a branch. In
both cases the bud or branch will contend with all the sapIll

which was designed for the whole part cut off; the bough
will again exhibit the proper figure, for it will reach in its
turn the circumference, loaded with secondary and tertiary
branches, and the crook will always tend to conform itself to
the vacancy.

This ingenious and simple operation of nature, assisted by
art, often occurs in full pruning, as well as in the present.

In both, if long branches interfere with the neighbouring
trees, they must be shortened as much as is necessary. Moss
and other parasitical excrescences must be removed.

Some planters, who have no idea of lopping regularly,
content themselves, after the crop, to break the dry branches,
but a careful husbandman will not imitate them.

After this operation, nipping may be necessary. When
the above plain and easy practice has been neglected, the
trees, particularly in strong grounds and cool expositions,
grow into impenetrable thickets. Vegetation is entirely
attracted to the summit by the air; there a mass of small
branches makes a deep cover, which smothers the inferior
boughs. These wither and decay if the tree is left long to
itself. Then it exhibits the figure of an umbrella, bearing
only a few cherries on the upper branches. If the exposition
is still cooler, the tree loses its leaves, the end of the branches
wither, and upon the whole the tree bears scarcely any fruit.

Great toil and great loss are the consequence of this
neglect, for full pruning is the only remedy.

The saw and the crooked knife are the tools employed for
this and the former operations. The small English hand-
saw, about two inches broad at the handle, is the best. The
blade of the knife ought to be strong, at most an inch broad
and five inches long, besides the fork, which must be pointed.112

The blade, for greater length and for other reasons equally
obvious, ought to be of one piece with the handle. The
master and the drivers have always lesser crooked clasp-
knives in the pockets, to cut what occasionally falls under
their eye.

Pruning is generally considered as the most arduous part
of this culture. Why so ? Because in general men, instead
of seeking for a sure and simple principle—the consequences
of which are obvious and easily applicable in practice—usually
proceed by one routine or other ; and as nature, simple and
uniform in the principles of her proceedings, is extremely
fruitful in sportive deviations when driven by art out of her
own ways, routine becomes a difficult and embarrassing line
of conduct. But when once observation has discovered the
more general and systematic proceedings of nature, it is
obvious to common sense and reason that the best means to
redress her sportive wanderings and deviations is by conduct-
ing her gently to her more usual paths and her original
forms. The means of succeeding are easily deduced from the
same observation. It is for this reason I have insisted at
large upon a natural symmetry of ramification, and upon
the causes of deviation from it. In the application, therefore,
of this principle, as may be collected from what has been said,
it is obvious to common observation that pruning consists
(and can, indeed, be allowed only to consist) in cutting
off what deviates from natural symmetry, preserving what
corresponds with it, and directing the vegetative principle to
purposes of order, use, and regeneration.

I will not deny that this demands attention ; but it is so far
from being extremely difficult, that I had myself above thirty
negroes capable of pruning trees, which they had learned113

by routine. As knowledge of a higher source cannot be
expected from people of this description in the beginning, I
sent five of them to work for a week at a neighbouring
plantation ; these succeeded pretty well, and taught to others
those crude lessons which they had themselves learnt;
Nothing was left to me but to direct their routine into the
path of nature, from which, as I had observed, the negroes
of my neighbour had not deviated.

It may be objected, and I by no means deny, but that the
great variety of grounds, of climates, and expositions may
occasion differences. These, however, never alter the leading
principle—namely, of conducting nature in her deviations
back into the usual systematic path. They only affected
the modifications more or less, and less than is generally
supposed.

The tree is everywhere the same. Its nature, its shape,
and temperament are all alike. The differences arise from
foreign circumstances, such as soil, climate, and exposition.
According to this short and easy system, pruning must be
considered as the true medical aid of the coffee-tree; and
it must be proportioned, I shall say, rather in the circum-
stances or local situation, than directed by supposed difference
of temperament in the patient. Towards this the negroes
must be particularly directed by an uninterrupted watch-
fulness on the part of the master. I return to the several
applications.

But in sultry expositions and good ground, though it may
have been neglected, it will be still sufficient to clear the trees
perfectly. First, whatever is rotten, withered, or broken
must be taken off, always attending to the method of
regeneration. Next, the gormandizing vertical and cross
8114

branches, as well as the supernumerary, and those which
diverge from natural directions, must be plucked off, or
cut, if too strong. The spoiled heads must be sawed,
but with great economy; the summit and the centre
must be particularly laid open, to admit the sun and
air. Lastly, if the tree be still too thick, some secondary
branches, those which diverge most from natural direction,
must be taken out, for the primary ought never to be
touched; in this, as well as in the preceding operations,
some mechanical rules must be attended to.

I come to the third and last degree of pruning, which must
never be employed but in trees which are in cool aspects,
and in the situation described.

Trees which require this process are in general so very
thick and intricate, chiefly at the top, that the pruner is at
a loss where and how to begin. The crown or lop must be
first cleared, by plucking all the small branches that abound
in every direction. Next, crooked large branches, as they
are met with, must be cut. Lastly, if the head is rotten
it must be sawed, without sacrificing any of what is sound.
This economy can never be too strictly attended to.

The whole tree is then easily seen, and what is to be pre-
served or cut will not escape the pruner’s observation.

All the primary boughs which have kept their natural
direction must be preserved for this reason, that once cut
off they never grow again. However, if they are entirely
broken or spoiled at their rise, they must be lopped off
notwithstanding. It is the same if they have taken a wrong
or cross direction at their origin; but here, reserve and
economy are necessary. If there is a single knot sound and
well-directed, and still more if there are two or four, these115

must be cautiously preserved. If the farthest knot be a
secondary branch it must be treated. If it has not, it must
be still left, for it will bear several twigs, the best of which
may be chosen in the next operation to make up the main
bough. Thus, all the boughs must be examined from above
downwards, and treated as required.

Lastly, where the situation is exceedingly cool, and the
trees are decayed into barrenness from the great overload
of wood, all the boughs must be stripped of their secondary
branches, both with a view to renew the first bearing ones,
and to give a stronger direction to the sap ; as also, if the
extremities of the boughs are withered, (as happens in the
trees stripped of their leaves from severity ,of cold,) or if
they interfere with the neighbouring trees, they must be
pruned and shortened.

As the operation of pruning ought, in all cases, to be made
with economy, it is obvious that still more economy is
necessary in rectifying the disorders of those trees which
have lost their inferior branches, and are distinguished by
the correct appellation of umbrellas; such are actually very
deficient in wood, and pruning will diminish it still more.

I tried to replace those inferior boughs, by suffering a
gormandizer sucker or two to shoot up as near the ground
as possible, which I stopped under the umbrella. I hoped
that these might have produced fine boughs ; but whether
it was that the mother trunk engrossed all the substance,
or that the umbrella, growing thick, smothered the suckers,
these never answered my expectation. In cases where the
tree was low I have suffered one to shoot up, which I
stopped when it had four or six boughs. This succeeded
only a little better; and those trials have satisfied me, that116

the best method (particularly where the umbrella is small)
is to cut the tree close by the ground.

I now come to the manual dexterity of pruning in general.

1 st.—In order to saw the trunk at any part, the saw must
be managed with one hand and the trunk held fast with the
other, both for the purpose of preventing the tree from being
shaken too much, and to facilitate the working of the saw.
The trunk must be cut sloping from above downwards,
the oval surface of the cut facing towards the north, and
very much inclined; in which case the sun will strike less
forcibly upon it, and fain will more readily pass over, for
if it enters into large cracks or fissures, it will hurt the tree
extremely.

2nd.—The larger boughs, which cannot be conveniently
cut with the knife, must be sawed and held fast in the
manner above described. But in these cases, the saw should
never be used where the knife can be employed. If a very
large bough is gently bent down, and the cut made with an
even quick stroke upwards, the power of the knife is sur-
prisingly great.

3rd.—As the saw tears and notches the bark around the
edges of the cut, both wood and bark must be dressed and
pared with the knife. After this, the bark grows better, and
the wound cicatrizes more rapidly round the cut.

4th.—In order to cut a branch, the branch must be held
firm with one hand, and with the other the knife applied
forwards and drawn steadily and quickly. If the cut is not
performed at a first stroke, the stroke must be repeated in
the same manner, still bending the bough gently, but being
careful not to split it. Should this happen, the whole
damaged part must be taken off; should the hand shake117

the business will not be well done, and the knife is apt to
be notched, if its temper is too hard. The defect of the
temper, however, is remedied by dipping the knives, for
a short time, in boiling water.

5th.—In all cases it is necessary to cut very close. Thus,
where a secondary branch is cut, let it be done very close
to the mother bough, more particularly behind the cut; and
if it is wished to prevent the shoots from rising up in
crowds, cut a little of the bark of the mother bough round
the cut.

When the tree is completely pruned, the moss and other
parasitical excrescences are scratched from the tree with a
wooden knife, taking care not to injure the bark.

A common negro can hardly prune, every day, more than
thirty of those thick and overgrown trees; from which the
tediousness of lopping, where several thousands require this
operation, may be conceived. As the prunings are made,
the bough must be cut in pieces and spread upon the
ground, so as to occasion little incumbrance.

For the better performance of the work, care must be
taken that the knives and saws be sharp, which must be
effected by means of a grinding-stone and triangular file.
After the business of pruning is over, the instruments must
be collected together, rubbed with tallow, and kept for
another year.

Where the choice is left, March, April, or May are the
best seasons for pruning ; the trees requiring a relief after
the crop, which they find fully from the vegetation of the
summer. It may, however, be performed in any season of
the year, so that some planters appoint for this purpose alone
a certain proportion of negroes, who continue the employ-118

ment the year round, unless in the short times of full
blossom. In general, however, the rapidity of crop admits
of no other work being done at that time, the intervals being
sometimes even too short to allow of weeding.

Upon the whole, when any branch requires to be cut,
neither blossom nor fruit is of consideration, however
unpleasing the havoc may be. Besides, the trees in general
would be exhausted, or sink under the loads of fruit, if all
their flowers come forward. If the fruit is ripe, the pruners
begin to work two or three days before the reapers, who
pick the cherries from the branches as they lie down upon
the ground, and are still fresh.119

A PAPER ON PRUNING, BY A MEMBER OF
THE PLANTERS’ ASSOCIATION.

Pruning may be said to begin when the tree is topped, and
can only be successfully carried out by carefully following up
the two operations of hand and knife pruning. The topping
of the tree, as is well known, were it allowed to remain,
would very soon form the tree into an entangled mass, not to
be easily regulated afterwards, unless by cutting the tree to
pieces; and which, in some measure, assisted to wear out
many a good old estate, in those days when it was a planter’s
boast to have “ lots of wood.” In olden times, I have seen
a green shapeless mass, that you could not push your hand
into, held up as a pattern of what a tree should be. To
prevent this, coffee should be handled within a few months
after topping, and before it has blossomed. However
pleasing it may be to have a large virgin crop, it is more
desirable to train and strengthen the trees for their first full
crop; as also more profitable in the end, than if they had
been allowed to overbear and check their strength when
young.

To ensure a regular and strong tree, then, handling must
be resorted to early. In doing so, take off all the branches
that are within six inches of the stem, and make an opening
of one foot in circumference in the centre of the tree. This,
besides strengthening the primaries, will admit the sun and
air to penetrate, both of which are beneficial to the growth120

of the tree, as well as the ripening of crop. Next, run along
the primaries and single out the secondaries, leaving no pairs
blit one secondary only at each joint, on either side of the
primary alternately. This, I know, is thought very unneces-
sary by a large class of planters, but if they will only study
the tree itself, they will find that although nature throws out
the secondaries in pairs, almost invariably one is stronger
than the other; and by a little care the strong ones can be
left, and the weak ones taken off. It is better to look to the
strength of the wood than quantity of it. As secondaries
left on too near the stem tend to weaken the primaries, so do
they when left in pairs, cramping, as it were, that expansion
which takes place under the treatment I advise. To those
who would wish to leave everything on for the virgin crop I
would say, that I have known coffee trained under the above
system give a virgin crop of seven cwt. per acre.

To handle a tree well, it will be seen that it requires a
great deal of care and attention, and should be done only
with picked hands. Some, I know, differ from me, and
think that anybody can prune. Perhaps they can pull off a
quantity of wood, if that can be called pruning, but that is
not always what should come off. In some instances, so
little care is taken with what I consider the most important
operation in coffee culture, that all hands, including men,
women, and children, are put on to handle at times when
the weather is too bad to do anything else. Careful handling
ensures, more than anything else, equal crops, instead of
a large and then a small one. A properly handled tree
should never have more bearing wood than it can bring the
fruit of to maturity, and grow wood for next year. If too
much be left, then all the strength of the tree is required to121

ripen the crop, and no young wood, or very little, is made;
hence a short crop the following year. It is a mistaken idea
to say, “ I had a short crop last year, aud so must leave
plenty of wood this yearor, “ I must prune heavy this
year, as my trees bore heavily this year.” Of course you
must, because your trees have overborne and have no young
wood, but this is only following up a wrong system. The
practice of handling, which I have endeavoured to explain,
will ensure a strong tree, a good bearing tree, and one that
will bear nearly equal crops year after year.

Now for knife pruning. From what I have already said,
it will be apparent that this process is made laborious, or
otherwise, as the handling has been attended to. If this has
been well done, that will be comparatively easy, and you will
not have to think twice before you cut; only the wood that
has borne has to be taken off, and there will be a sufficiency
of young to take its place. With badly handled trees it is
very different, and becomes a puzzle to know what to cut
and what to leave; in fact, you are inclined to cut it all to
pieces, and call in the assistance of nature to reform your
trees for you. I would not advise this cutting 1o pieces,
even when a tree has overborne, but would rather prune it
as lightly as possible, even at the risk of its being called
“ shocking pruningleaving as much old wood as is
requisite to make young wood, and taking care of it next
time. It is only badly handled trees that are difficult to
prune; and it is the handling, not the knife pruning, that
regulates the crops. It is also more exhausting to a tree
to be allowed to run wild, overbear itself, be cut to pieces,
and grow up again to have the same treatment repeated,
than it is to bear a good average crop yearly.122

To the class of planters who say, “ never cut a primary,”
I would add, “ till it requires it.” Generally speaking,
primaries require cutting after the first full crop ; not all,
but the few of the lower ones that have become long and
straggling, and are better to be shortened back to the first
good secondary, which will then take the lead. A primary
that is reduced, it may be, to a pair of yellow leaves at the
point I should not cut—it will push out in time. If it is
cut off short—say within two joints of the stem—and the
circulation of sap thus suddenly checked in the hot months
of January and February, the chances are ten to one it will
die; and hence a scarcity of primaries so often seen. Leave
it, if even it be dead at the point; it is more likely to recover
sooner than if cut short. If coolies, who are otherwise most
excellent pruners, are once allowed to cut primaries, they
sometimes commit great mistakes by cutting close back to
the stem, thus depriving the tree of its primaries altogether.
In contradistinction to the “ never cutting a primary” system,
a theory prevails, the technical term of which I am ignorant,
of nipping off the points of the primaries, (to give them a
set upwards, it is said,) and thus keep the secondaries up
from the ground. I do not think it has the desired effect,
and would not recommend it for this reason, that I would
never cut a primary till it requires it.

I have been induced to write the above few remarks
on the subject of pruning, not so much with the expecta-
tion of giving as receiving instruction, by rousing a spirit
of emulation among members of the Association, calling
forth the experience of the body on this and other leading
topics of coffee culture, by which alone perfection is to be
attained.123

In offering the result of my experience to the chairman
and members of the Planters’ Association,

I beg to subscribe myself,

Their obedient Servant,

W.

Central Province,

June, 1859.124

PRUNING: REPLY OF A PLANTER TO
MR. J. TAYLOR.

To the Editor of the “ Colombo Observer.”
Dear Sir,

I cannot permit Mr. J. Taylor’s remarks on coffee
pruning for high estates to pass unnoticed, as I firmly believe
that gentleman to be mistaken in his conclusions. My own
experience satisfies me that if we are to expect good crops
from high estates, (and I call those high which exceed 3500
feet,) we must prune very considerably. It is a notorious
tendency of coffee-trees on high wet estates to run much to
wood. What, then, is the obvious remedy ? Surely to
remove the superabundant branches ; and I never yet saw
an estate where judicious pruning has not proved of the
greatest assistance to the trees in making blossoms — in other
words, (weather permitting,) giving crop. Coffee-trees, as is
well known, never bear a second time on the same spot;
new wood must be created for each successive blossom.
This being the case, the bearing branch should be left, on
high estates, to do its work for three seasons only, and then
be removed. If allowed to run on farther, the branch
becomes a mere whip, devoid of leaves and fruit except
almost at the very end, where exhausted nature can then
only produce two or three pairs of leaves and as many eyes
of blossom. All such whiplike branches should, therefore,
be removed; and, indeed, the pruner never ought to have125

anything to do but to cut out such shoots from the primary
or main secondaries as have given three blossoms.

If Mr. Taylor will do this, and keep the centres of his
trees also well handled, coupled with a little judicious thin-
ning out, he will have better crops in future, without the
eyesore of the long whippy branches. Surely it must be
evident to any one, that the largest crops are borne upon the
young vigorous wood, and these generally spring from near
the centre of the tree, and the reason is obvious—namely,
that such branches enjoy the benefit of vigorous inspissated
sap, which, if run out as whips, they could not obtain. A
glance at any tree, which, having met with an accident, and
has been obliged to be partially cut down, will show the most
casual observer the very kind of branches springing out
which he should seek to obtain. These are always powerful,
sturdy, green shoots, which as soon as matured never fail, to
my experience, to bear heavily. Doubtless it is a fact that
coffee, at high and wet elevations, has a tendency to produce
wood instead of crop. This can only be obviated by artificial
treatment —viz. pruning; and for the very same reason the
remedy can only be applied, to be thoroughly successful,
at the right time of year — viz. at such a period, in advance
of the coming blossom, as shall permit the wood left on
for that purpose to be sufficiently matured to bear it. If
this is not carefully attended to, the tree, by the time the
blossom is due, has only doubled its wood without having
had time to mature the greater part; and hence disappoint-
ment at the critical time of the planter, who, however, has
only himself to blame for not having pruned early enough.
One more observation and I have done. Well-pruned trees
do not drop their green fruit in July and August, like trees126

of the description which Mr. T. advocates. Why? Because,
as I believe, the fruit enjoys more of the vigorous inspissated
sap, and therefore adheres firmer to the branch.

A Planter.

May 31, 1865.

To the Editor of the “ Ceylon Times.”

Dear Sir,

It would appear from what Mr. Taylor says in
his letter, published in the “ Observer” of May 29, that
estates above 3000 feet have all been mismanaged ; “ for,”
says he, “ surely by this time it must have become apparent
to many proprietors, that something is wrong in the manage-
ment of many, especially high estates, &c. ;” and that he is
the great Luther come to reform, and no doubt thinks him-
self perfectly capable to taking charge of a whole district of
estates and teaching his benighted superintendents the noble
art of pruning—but it is easier said than done. The quota-
tions from the great Lindley look very well on paper, and
in fact all that Mr. Taylor has said on pruning; but it is all
more theoretical than practical, and not at all adapted for
coffee. Let us hear what Loudon says, as good an authority
as Lindley, and I question if not better, because he quoted
from the best practical gardeners of his day : “ The amputa-
tion of part of a plant with the knife or other instrument is
practised for various purposes, but chiefly on trees, and more
especially on those of the fruit-bearing kinds. Of two
adjoining and equal-sized branches of the same tree, if the
one be cut off, that remaining will profit by the sap which
would have nourished the other, and both the leaves and127

fruits which it may produce will exceed their natural size.
If part of a branch be cut off which would have carried a
number of fruits, those which remain will set or fix better
and become larger. On the observation of these facts is
founded the whole theory of pruning.”

Now it is my humble opinion, that those who prune before
the flower have as much reason on their side as those who
would take Mr. Taylor’s advice, and prune after the blossom.
Because Loudon expressly means that a fruit-bearing plant
ought to be pruned before flowering, to throw the sap that
would have gone to the shoot cut off into the one which
was left, which would throw out fine, bold, healthy, green,
smooth leaves; to pump up and elaborate the sap, to make
it fit for the formation of buds. I think it very reasonable
to imagine, that if a tree be pruned of a large number of
scraggy branches, with but a few leaves at their points, to
cut them off would throw the sap which was supplied to
them into the shoots left; it would enable the latter to send
out more flower-buds, and of course stronger ones, which
would set better than if they had been weak.

Early pruning is always conducive to sending out young
wood for the following year’s crop.

Mr. Taylor’s system would not suit us for more than
one reason : first, the time at which pruning is usually done
is immediately after crop, and I have no doubt doing it
at that time relieves the tree greatly, after having been
exhausted in bearing a good average crop ; and secondly,
it is the time when estates have a large force on- namely,
the crop coolies ; and one would think that it was the most
useful work they could be employed on, to have the watte
“ a right and tight in thack and rapel,” before Mootama
took it into her head to go to her Seemee.128

I hope that Mr. Taylor will write again, and give us
more of his why and wherefore that late pruning should be
practised.

I am, dear Sir,

Yours truly,

June 17, 1865.	W. G.129

COFFEE PRUNING.

(From the Colombo Observer of June 17, 1861.)

The natural coffee-plant differs as much from the artificial
one as the wild crab-tree of the dingles from the apple
trained on the south face of a garden wall. The natural
coffee-plant differs in appearance with every variety of soil,
climate, shade, or exposure; but in all its various forms its
development is towards the strongest light, its ramifications
never extend beyond stems and primary branches, and it is
never exhausted by overbearing.

When nature is so provident for her own, why is it that
the planter, with care, toil, and expense, imposes and main-
tains an artificial form on his plant ?

The answer to this question is threefold : the artificial form
suffers less from wind in exposed situations ; the harvesting
of the crops is rendered more convenient and less costly;
and, other things being equal, the yield of the artificial plant
is greater ; though it is possible that this latter circumstance-
may be one of those things that everybody believes, while
no one has ever been known fairly to bring it to the test of
experiment.

The first operation in forming an artificial plant is to cut
or pinch off ihe top of the stem. This is an act that declares
a war with nature that admits of neither peace nor truce.
The enemy immediately throws up, from under the highest
pair of branches left, two or more supplementary stems, and
9130

renews them as often as they are removed. The vigorous
prosecution of the contest in this direction forces the sap
back into the primary branches, and carries them out to an
equal length of three feet from the stem. The demand on
the resources of the plant for the elongation of the primaries
ceasing causes the sap to expend itself in the formation of
secondaries, and in the management of these consists the
art and science of coffee pruning.

Nature arranges the primary branches of the coffee-plant
with the most perfect equality in the distribution of light.
Each succeeding pair take a direction a few degrees from
a right angle with those immediately below them ; so that
if there are twenty pairs, no two of them will be in the same
vertical plane. This arrangement gives each primary branch
a fair space and a fair proportion of light; but when the
vertical development is stopped, the planter limits all his
hopes to a space about three feet in depth by six feet in
diameter; and as wood only bears one crop, there would very
soon be no room for young wood unless the old was
removed, because the secondaries, after yielding their crop,
would produce tertiaries, these again quaderaries, and so till
the whole became a complicated mass of twigs, covered with
a verdant shell. The production of healthy bearing wood
takes place only where there is light and space ; therefore,
in managing the secondaries, the first thing is to strip the
primaries of all that grows on them within nine or ten inches
of the stem. This lets light into the centre of the plant, and
carries the bearing wood well out, where it has more space
than it would have nearer the stem. The next thing is to
reduce the shoots, where they are doublets or triplets, to the
one that has the direction of growth nearest to an angle of131

forty-five degrees with the primary, and to the same hori-
zontal plane ; then equalize the numbers on each side of the
primary, and finally, make the numbers on each primary
equal. If the average crop of the land and the wood neces-
sary to bear it be known, it will be easy to settle the number
of secondaries to be retained on each primary; but if the
planter is uncertain on those points, and has any fear of an
exhausting crop, he will go over the plant before the flower-
ing season and cut out to such an extent as will remove all
danger of overbearing; because, if the first crop on the
secondaries be an exhausting one, the plant is thrown into
a bad habit of bearing a light and a heavy crop in alternate
years, and this habit will certainly continue till the planter
can assume magnanimity enough to reduce the bearing
wood to such an extent as to enable the plant to yield an
average crop and wood enough for another average crop
within the year.

As soon as the first crop has been gathered from the
secondaries, every one that has borne to the extent of
becoming fit to produce tertiary branches should be cut out;
indeed, if there is not an absolute deficiency of wood for
the next crop, every secondary that has yielded crop on part
of its length should come out. The operation is very simple
and the work light, if no secondary is left to become older
than two years. As soon after the pruning as the succession
of young wood has shown the direction it takes, it should be
thinned and regulated as in the foregoing season, so that
there may be as little waste wood as possible. There is often
much injury done by deferring this operation, both to the
current crop and the following one, by the removal of a
large quantity of leaf at a time when the demand on the132

resources of the plant is daily increasing, and by allowing
the most vigorous and rapid growth of the season to be
frittered on a multitude of useless shoots, instead of directing
it into the development of the proper number of well-
arranged and well-directed branches. When a good system
is once established it is easy to carry it on—the operations of
one season are exactly those of another. The same descrip-
tion of wood has to be removed in the same manner and
same season ; and though there will be cases for the exercise
of the judgment at all times, they will annually diminish in
number and importance.

It is a simple enough thing to cut or pinch off the top of
a coffee-plant; yet there are good and bad seasons for doing
it, as well as good and bad ways. The stem and primary
branches are the only permanent parts of the plant, and the
only parts on which an original error will be permanently
injurious. The stem should be firm and upright, and
primary branches strong, equal among themselves, and
standing firm at right angles with the stem. Nature has
made no provision for renewing a primary that has been
lost; consequently, the place it should occupy on the stem
remains vacant, and so much space for disposing the bearing
wood is lost. The case is very much the same if any of the
primary branches be much weakened in proportion to others
on the same plant; they never regain the ground once lost,
and consequently never throw out into the space they alone
can occupy their due proportion of secondaries. The most
common cause of the loss, or weakening of the primaries, is
an exhausting maiden crop — maiden being that which is
borne on the primaries. The effect of an exhausting crop on
any coffee-branch is the contraction of the sap vessels and the133

loss of the leaves. This extends so far that it will die and
drop off, or it may be only so much that it will be thrown
back in its growth, while such as have not suffered to the
same extent leave it behind so far that it never recovers the
lost ground. The loss of a primary branch is a loss that
can never be remedied, and the same quantity of bearing
wood can never he so conveniently arranged on the plant
where any of them are wanting; a heavy maiden crop
should therefore be avoided by all means. If the plant be
topped at the beginning of or during the flowering season,
the sap forced back from vertical development will rather
be expended in the formation of blossom and fruit than in
strengthening and enlarging the wood ; the topping should
therefore be performed after the flowering season is over. It
is better to grow wood to be cut off and thrown away than
to weaken and deform the plant by premature bearing. If
the stem be topped immediately above the highest permanent
pair of branches, there is some danger of splitting when the
branches become heavy. This danger will be avoided by
letting the stem run one joint above the highest branches left,
and taking off the pair attached to it within the first pair
of leaves. By this means the top of the stem will be
strengthened, and as the suckers always spring from the
highest buds left on the stem, their removal will be faci-
litated.

In cutting out the secondaries after crtfp, the cut should be
made exactly at the junction with the primary, so that no
stump may be left to turn the succeeding shoots out of their
natural direction, or carry disease into the plant. For some
time after pruning, the plant is full of sap and seeks an outlet
in every direction, expanding every bud and barking over134

every wound that happens to be in the line of the bark, hut.
if a pointed stump be left, that must rot off before the bark
can close over the spot; and in the meantime the hands of
the labourers are cut by the sharp points, unless they exercise
a degree of caution by no means favourable to the rapid pro-
gress of the work.

The quantity of wood to be left for an average crop
depends entirely on the soil, climate, and situation of the par-
ticular spot. No rule can be laid down that is universally
applicable as to the number of secondaries on each primary,
but every one may soon ascertain the point for himself by
observation. At the end of the crop season, the plant should
have an equal number of one and two year old secondary
branches, the former to bear next crop and the latter to be
cut out. If it is found that there are more of the former than
the latter, it is certain that the past crop was less than an
average one, and if all the young wood be left, the next will
be above the average ; if, on the other hand, the older wood
predominates, the past crop has been a large and the next
will be a deficient one. The crops of each succeeding year
will be equal when the old wood cut out and the young
wood ready to blossom are equal, in number if not in length,
at the time of pruning.

To have entered into all the details would have extended
this article to a length for which my readers would probably
not have thanked m5. I think, however, that all necessary to
understanding the system has has been said, and so I bid the
subject farewell, most likely for ever.

W. L.135

MR. MOIR ON ESTATE EXPENDITURE.

Chilmark, Salisbury,

20th November, 1865.

Dear Sir,

The subject of increased expenditure on estates
is of such vital consequence to all interested, that no apology
is necessary from any one to take part in the discussion the
Planters’ Association has called forth, by the offer of a prize
for the best Essay on Reduction of Estate Expenditure. I
hope the call will be well and ably responded to, and I feel
sure that you will afford liberal space in your columns to
any who prefer addressing you to striving for the prize. I
have read Mr. Wall’s letter, addressed to Mr. Rose, and
published in the Overland Observer. In offering a few
remarks, I shall follow that letter as far as it will admit.

I am of opinion with Mr. Wall, that the cooly has not
participated in the increased average pay in the same
proportion as canganies. This alone points to the needless-
ness of the rise. As most canganies have risen from the cooly
ranks, it is unnecessary to pay them so disproportionately
the moment they are promoted to cangany rank. The
cause of this evil, as of most others—tending of late to an
alarmingly increased expenditure — can to a certain extent
be traced to the absence of combination among planters
for the common good, coupled with a spirit of rivalry, and136

a recklessness of expenditure* that did not exist in earlier
coffee planting. Any attempt to decide upon and agree to
a scale of rates for a district is ignored, each individual
evincing a determination to act independently of, rather
than in concert with, his neighbour ; one thinking he has
a specialite in any estate difficult to work, another has a
bad road, another better men; and in each case a higher
rate is the usual result. Others, failing to perceive the
particular specialite, follow; and so, up and up things go.
No system, and no apparent responsibility.

In a worse degree does this apply to cart-hire, tavellams,
and the pay of artificers, than to canganies and coolies.

I am not forgetful of the natural laws of supply and
demand, but I think rates are not seldom unnecessarily
raised in the way I have described.

Conductors I dislike even the name of, and consider them
necessary only when a superintendent has charge of more
than one property, and his personal supervision is divided.
Doubtless they were introduced with the era of coffee
planting made easy, and in too many instances are employed
to do what the superintendent should do himself. It came
to be thought a trouble, as well as infra dig., to attend
morning muster and to working details ; and to such an
extent was this carried, that any one wishing to attend to
his duties was pointed to and styled a cangany. All
apparent responsibility was here again at fault, and con-
ductors became general. In many instances ignorant of
work, it is no wonder that work was both costly and badly
done.

Would planters now combine and agree to some average

* An old friend who has lately visited Ceylon writes : “ Extrnvagancc has
become a fearful rage.”137

rates, they would do much to prevent further increase,
though unable to effect much reduction. Reduction is more
practicable by careful economical management—getting a
day’s work for a day’s pay, checking extravagance, and
working with a view to profitable returns than the lowering
of existing rates, unless where they are excessive, as in the
case of twenty-five per cent, to canganies. These might at
once be safely reduced to a uniform rate of, say ten or
twelve per cent, in the wages of their gangs, and where
they are employed without a gang, a slight addition to the
pay of a good workman would be ample.

Conductors dispensed with altogether except in cases as
instanced, and when employed to be charged to superinten-
dence. European assistants are a great difficulty, and
often a great source of trouble and disappointment. That
they must be employed by some is certain, or where shall
our future managers come from? But, those so doing do
not always meet with the consideration they should.

It is well known, that for some considerable time after the
arrival of a new hand on an estate he is worse than useless.
The coolies, taking advantage of his inexperience, seem to
take an especial pleasure in doing everything knowingly
wrong, and where the young hand is left to himself, appear
to be working hard in doing perhaps a fourth of a day’s
work. It is not to the interest of any employer to engage a
young man for a shorter term than three years. In that time
he may reasonably expect to be remunerated for the useless-
ness of the first portion by the usefulness of the last. The
term used to be five years: I think three fairer, and any
young person ought to serve this gladly, if he will take into
consideration the position he will attain then over those who,138

failing to fulfil their engagements, have sought promotion
earlier. Were this kept in view, there would not be that
hesitation to employ fresh hands that exists.

Employers have here also the remedy in their own hands,
by refusing to employ any one who has not honourably ful-
filled his engagement.

In connection with too rapid promotion is one great source
of increased expenditure. Persons are put in charge before
they understand either the working of an estate or the
management of coolies. The coolies, seeing this, at once
become dictators, and settle both how much work they will
do and what they shall be paid. There is a too prevalent
idea that any one can manage a coffee estate. The in-
creased expenditure goes to prove the error—experience and
ability are as necessary there as anywhere. It should not be
within the province of superintendents to raise rates without
a reference to their principals. The large agency houses*
are especially to blame in this — that they leave every super-
intendent too much to do as he pleases, and as if without any
control. This, I think, arises from a want of system and
insufficiency of inspection. To carry out an efficient super-
vision, more experienced visitors are required to supersede
the present system of one person travelling thirty to forty
miles a day, and visiting a half-dozen or more estates.
Have fewer reports and more personal inspection — the
inspectors really knowing what is being done, not inter-
fering unnecessarily where not required, but guiding and
controlling the inexperienced, consulting with all what to

* Agency charges open up a subject which oan be left for adjustment to
agents and their constituents. It is suggestive of note, how far their interests
can be divided consistent with mutual advantages. For instance, the larger
the disbursements the better are the agents’ commissions. In other words,
the agent gains by inoreased expenditure, the proprietor suffers.139

do, and seeing what is done—working by method, instead of
confusion.

Thus would a check be put to what Mr. Wall fears, that
“ the eoolies will soon be masters.”

Contracts given indiscriminately are not to be encouraged,
because superintendents are inclined sometimes to contract
for what might be performed by the estate force, and hence
all such contracts become increased expenditure. Weeding
by contract I consider advantageous, as it can be both cheaper
and better done than the superintendent can do it ; it
relieves him of a great drag on his time, and permits him to
bestow more of his attention upon other works. I don’t
mean that I would give a contract to any man, or that any
contractor can be left without proper oversight; but this will
occupy a short space of the superintendent’s time, compared
with what would be requisite did he not contract. It is no
more necessary to overpay a contractor than it is to pay a
cooly for an inadequate day’s work. Hence, if opportunity
of loitering be withheld, there is no danger of a bad example.
It is to the interest of contractors to weed clean, and they
know it. I once had occasion to complain of a contractor
being a day or two behind time, (it was his first month,) and
his reply was: “ Ah, Sir, I am taking out all the kellingas,
(bulbous roots,) and next month will be easy !” What day
labourer, I wonder, ever thought of making next month easy!

The rest of Mr. Wall’s letter is taken up with the supply
of coolies, which I think has kept fair pace with the demand;
and I can see no reason why we should not continue masters,
which is the true way to keep down expenditure. Do away
with middle-men, in the shape of conductors and head can-
ganies, whose interest it is to magnify their own importance140

with, and at the cost of, both master and men. Let the
communication between superintendents and their coolie9 be
as direct and easy as possible, and ask the latter which they
prefer.

I am, yours faithfully,

Peter Moir.141

ON THE MANURING OF COFFEE ESTATES.

To the Members of the Planters’ Association.

Kandy, March 14, 1857.

Gentlemen,

In addressing you on the important subject of
the manuring of coffee estates, it is not my intention to pro-
pound any new theories, or to assume to myself the office of
a teacher. I will simply lay before you the results of my
experience, and would beg, in return, to have the benefit of
yours. The subject is one of daily increasing importance as
the estates become older, and exhibit, more and more plainly,
the symptoms of decay. It divides itself into three separate
branches of enquiry—viz.

1st.—What are our available resources for the purpose
of manuring ?

2nd.—What amount of beneficial effect does each ma-
nure yield?

3rd.—At what cost may that effect be obtained ?

A complete answer to each of these questions would form
a treatise, and comprise the whole art of manuring, as applied
to coffee estates in Ceylon. Much more knowledge than I
possess would be required to write such a work; but if each
planter would contribute to the general stock the information
he has acquired by his own observation and experience, we
should soon be in possession of a complete exposition of the142

subject, and one which would be a certain guide to all who
choose to consult it.

The greatest obstacle we have to encounter, in pursuing
our inquiries, is to ascertain approximately the amount of
benefit produced by the application of manures. It is
sufficiently difficult, in most cases, to find out the cost of
procuring and applying the various manures ; but that task
is easy when compared with the trouble of proving clearly
the nature and value of the benefit we derive from them.
In almost every instance, the application of manure has been
found to produce a perceptible improvement in the appear-
ance of the bushes or in the amount of the crops ; but I am
not aware of a single instance in which the value of that
benefit, or that increase of crop, has been reduced to figures.
Even if we knesw the exact increase of crop on the manured
bushes, allowance must still be made for the effect of season,
the influence of more frequent weedings, and other operations
which usually accompany the use of manure. These consi-
derations must be duly weighed before we can ascertain what
share of the increase may be attributed to the manure itself.

The English farmer knows, or may learn, what is the
most suitable and economical manure for the soil he has to
work and the crop he wishes to produce. He knows to
what extent his crops may be increased by certain tillage,
and the cost at which it is procurable. In this he enjoys an
immense advantage over us. It is one, however, for which
he is much more indebted to accumulated experiences than
to the aid of science. If we would emulate his success we
must imitate his example, observe more closely, calculate
more carefully, and impart to each other more freely the
results of our experiments.143

The cost of manuring may be learned with more ease and
certainty than its beneficial effect; indeed, as regards such
manures as poonac, bones, &c., the computation of cost is
exceedingly simple. The principal difficulty, unfortunately,
occurs in regard to that most important of all manures,
cattle dung, the cost of which varies very much, according
to circumstances. Some estates, situated on high roads, may
obtain immense supplies of dung from the natives’ sheds, for
the mere cost of carting away ; whilst other estates have to
procure it by maintaining a costly stock of cattle, which have
to be fed on grass, raised at a great expense on forest land
felled for the purpose. Under circumstances so widely
different, it is quite possible that the same style of manuring
which pays haudsomely on one estate might be attended by
a ruinous cost on another. Hence the importance of know-
ing, with some degree of certainty, the value and cost of
cattle manure, under all the different circumstances of our
estates, lest, as has sometimes happened, we should un-
wittingly be paying for it far more than it is worth.

Our available manures are :

Cattle Dung.
Bones.

Poonac.

Guano.

S uperphosphates.
Salts.

Wood Ashes.

Lime.

Burnt Clay.

Charcoal.

Pulp.

Prunings.

Marna Grass.

Composts.

Cattle Dung.—It would be mere waste of time to des-
cant on the virtue of this manure, its value being universally
acknowledged.

Effect.—I believe that a cooly-load—that is, an ordinary144

basketful of cattle manure, applied to each tree in the usual
way, gives an increase of crop varying from two to five
hundredweight per acre, according to soil and climate ; and
its effect lasts from two to four years.

I have found that the disturbance of the soil, in making
holes to receive the manure, has a very beneficial effect on
the coffee-bushes ; and in one instance, where my stock of
manure was not sufficient for the land that had been holed,
the part that had received no manure appeared to improve,
for a few months, as much as that in which the manure had
been applied.

Cost.—The cost may be classified under the heads of
“capital” and “current expenditure.”

The capital consists of the following items :

1st.—The cost or value of land for grass.

2nd.—The cost of planting it.

3rd.—The cattle sheds.

4th.—The carts, grass-cutting machines, and tools.

5th.—The purchase of the stock.

6th.—The roads required for carting out the manure.
The current expenditure should be set against the current
receipts, in a regular debtor and creditor account, which will
include the following items—viz.

De.

1.	To Interest on Capital Account.

2.	Maintenance of Grass Land.

3.	Repair of Sheds, Roads, and Machi-
nery, &c.

4.	Loss of Stock by deaths and depre-
ciation.

5.	Cattle tending—that is, wages of
cattle keepers, drivers, grass cut-
ters, &c.

6.	Medicines, Tubs, Ropes, Salts, &c.

7.	Application of the Dung—viz. mak-
ing holes, carriage by coolies, filling
up holes, &c.

Cb.

1.	By increase of Stock Calves.

2.	Coolies’ Wages and Carriage saved
by the employment of the cattle for
the purpose of transport.

3.	Fattened Cattle sold.

The balance will shew the net actual
cost of applying.... basketsful of
manure to ... . acres of land.145

There is the strongest inducement for gentlemen interested
in coffee cultivation to classify their expenditure on cattle
manuring as above, and to have the account of it strictly and
regularly kept. I have already stated that the circumstances
of estates differ very widely, and I have good reason to
believe that their influence on the cost of cattle manuring has
not hitherto been generally appreciated. By the kindness of
friends, I have seen many statements of expenditure under
this important head ; but hitherto, not one that was complete.
In some the capital items were altogether left out, and in
others omissions of almost equal importance occurred; and
this not from any wish on their part to deceive or make a
false statement, but from oversight and for want of a regular
and systematic method of keeping the manuring account.

In filling up the foregoing form of account, each planter
would leave blank such of the items as he does not need to
incur, and would fill up those only which compose his actual
expenditure.

Before concluding this part of my subject, I would suggest
that many of us have hitherto used our coolies too much as
beasts of burden, and allowed our cattle to live in indolence.
I am persuaded that much might be done to economize cooly
labour and cheapen cattle manure by the judicious employ-
ment of our cattle.

I think the usual mode of applying cattle dung is
erroneous in principle. It is admitted that it has much to
recommend it for its convenience ; but those planters whose
estates are thoroughly drained, and have therefore no need
to fear from surface wash, would find great advantage in
spreading their manure and digging it into the soil.

Bones I have used extensively and successfully. If any
10146

reliance may be placed on chemical indications, bones ought
to be a most valuable manure for coffee, as their chief
constituent — phosphate of lime—enters largely into the
composition of the coffee-bean.

Effect.—The effect of bones, unless they were fresh and full
of animal matter, is not so perceptible in foliage as in fruit.
The two most striking instances of the utility of this manure,
which have come within the range of my experience, were in
two very different localities and soils. In both, the coffee-
bushes used to become yellow as the beans began to fill up.
The points of the branches failed, blacked, and died, with
withered fruit on them. I applied bones, because I thought
these effects were caused by the want of phosphates in
the soil, and in both cases the evil was completely cured.
The effect lasted for six years. I think the increase of
crop produced by the application of half a measure of
bones to each tree—that is, five hundredweight per acre—
is about two hundredweight per acre per annum on an
average. It was, no doubt, much greater in the cases above
mentioned.

Cost.—The price of bones in Colombo is generally about
3s. 6d. per hundredweight. They may be cheaply broken
up to a suitable size—say oner-inch pieces—by machinery,
or reduced to powder by the aid of high pressure steam, for
about threepence per hundredweight.

The cost of application is very inconsiderable, as their
bulk is small and they are easy of carriage. For these
reasons they are usually employed in outlying and far
distant parts of estates, where heavy manures would not be
suitable. In such situations the cost of manuring would be
about 45s. per acre—namely :147

)at 8d. — 15s.

Ten men to cut small trenches to receive^

the bones.........................

Twelve men to carry and supply them and

fill up the holes.................

Five cwt. of bones, at 6s. on the estate.........30s.

Poonac.—The effect of this manure on the foliage and
growth of the coffee-bush is very surprising ; but I have
not found it contribute proportionately to increase the crop,
nor is its effect very enduring. It is particularly valuable
for bringing forward supplies, and for reviving old trees
that have suffered from long neglect. In such cases, a year
or more of time may be saved by its use.

Cost.—The cost is rather more than that of bones, as a
larger quantity is usually applied ; but the mode of applica-
tion is much the same, and the advantage of portability is
also nearly equal.

Guano.—I have not employed this manure extensively,
nor have I found encouragement to do so. I tried fine
Peruvian guano in a liquid form, applied to the surface of
the soil, which was loosened for the purpose of absorbing it.
It was put under the bushes, but not near the stem, and
afterwards the ground was strewn over lightly with weeds
and prunings.

Effect.—The only perceptible result was a freshening of
the foliage, which soon disappeared. I applied it at the rate
of three hundredweight per acre, in rather dry weather,
when there were only occasional light showers. I observed
no increase of crop.

Cost.—The guano which I used cost about 12s. per
hundredweight on the estate = 36s. per acre; but the ex-
pense of applying it in the liquid form was such as to148

preclude the possibility of adopting that method, otherwise
than for experiment.

Superphosphate.—I have neither tried this manure nor
seen it used by others ; but I believe there are some mem-
bers of the Association who could give us information, both
as to its effect and its cost.

Saline Manures.—We have already an essay on the
use and virtues of common salt as a manure, written by a
well-known and much respected member. I have had no
experience of its use.

The Salts op Ammonia are very valuable, but their
solubility, and the strong affinity for water they, as well
as common salt, possess, make them particularly liable to
be carried down below the reach of the roots, or swept
over the soil by heavy rain, before they have had time to
be absorbed.

Effect. — I cannot give you any information as to the
amount of benefit to be obtained by the use of these salts,
but I am of opinion that it is quite inconsiderable, when
compared with their very heavy cost.

Cost of sal-ammoniac in Colombo is 35s. to 40s. per
hundredweight. The waste and expense of application make
its use extremely costly.

A much less volatile salt of ammonia—the sulphate—
which would be more valuable as a manure and much
cheaper, may be made by pouring sulphuric acid into the
tanks where the urine of the cattle is kept.

Wood Ashes I have used with marked advantage. This
manure possesses the advantage of being both cheap and
abundant. As we use the ashe9, they contain much soluable
alkaline matter, which, in England, is almost always pre-149

viously abstracted for the manufacture of soap. For this
reason ours are particularly valuable, and cannot fail, when
judiciously used, to give very beneficial results.

Effect.—I cannot state in figures the increase of crop
obtainable by their use, but their composition is such as
to assure even the most sceptical of their possessing a high
value. Besides their fertilizing influence, due to the ingre-
dients of which they are composed, they possess an active
quality, resembling that of lime, for which they are a
valuable substitute.

Cost.—Their cost depends much upon the skill employed
in making them. Large timber, besides being heavy to
cut and carry, contains but a small quantity of ash; whilst
small twigs, which are much more easily procurable, yield
a much greater proportion. In burning for ashes a strong
blaze should be avoided, as the draught it causes will carry
away a great part of the ashes. A smouldering fire is
every way to be preferred. I have manufactured wood
ashes largely by contract at sixpence, and even as low as
fourpence halfpenny per bushel—that is, sifted ashes.

If used as a substitute for lime, they should be dug
into the soil whilst they are fresh, and should not be left
exposed on the surface. They should be applied in about
the same quantity as lime.

Burnt Clay has conferred a name on one of our best
planters, from whose pen I hope you may soon hear of
its virtues, much more clearly and accurately than I could
describe them.

Charcoal I have used in various ways, in pulp-pits and
manure-stacks, and as a filter for separating the mucilage
from pulp-water, as it flows from the washing cistern.150

Effect. — Its effect depends on its property of fixing
ammonia, and will therefore vary very much, according
to the circumstances under which it is employed. It is a
great economizer of manure, and, as such, has a value
peculiar to itself. It cannot fail to be economical and
advantageous, when obtained at the moderate cost at which
it is procurable in this country, and when used judiciously.

Cost.^— The pioneers receive fourpence per bushel for
making it, including the cutting as well as the burning of
the timber.

It deserves much more attention than it has yet received
from coffee planters.

Pulp is not very valuable nor very effective, but it costs
nothing or next to nothing.

To make the most of it, pulp ought not to be left
embedded in a mass by the action of the water which conveys
it to the pit, but should be stacked in layers with weeds and
litter, and afterwards applied whilst decomposing.

Prunings are a useful manure, and they not only cost
nothing, but, if left unapplied, are so great a nuisance in
stopping up drains, that it would almost pay to bury them
in order to put them out of the way. Their application
involves no carriage, as they are dug in close to the spot
where they lie. As it frequently happens that at pruning
time the coolies are anxious to return to their country, it
would be found convenient to have the holes opened before
crop-time, when labour is abundant.

The cost of burying prunings varies very much on dif-
ferent estates, according to the luxuriance of the bushes.
The proportion of men burying to those pruning is about
one to three on an average.151

Marna Grass is most, useful, both as bedding for cattle
and a litter to be applied on the surface of the soil. When
used for the former purpose, its chief advantages are its
abundance, and the facility with which it may be cut and
carried. For the latter [purpose I have employed it very
extensively, and jjwith widely different results. When ap-
plied to free soils that abound in vegetable matter, as those
of Hunasgeria, it is scarcely of any use except to keep down
weeds or to kill running grass; but on the cold wet soil
of Ambegamoa its effect is almost magical, exceeding that
of a heavy dose of cattle manure. I have applied it to a
cold, heavy, yellow soil, in which coffee-bushes could scarcely
exist, and where their scraggy branches had only a few small
yellow leaves on them, and the effect was|most surprising.
Not only were the trees soon clothed with fine dark green
foliage, but even the soil appeared to be changed, and, to
the depth of three or four inches, became friable and dry.
How this change was accomplished, whether by the acids
resulting from the decomposition of the grass, or by the
protection afforded to the soil, I do not pretend to say, but
I can speak confidently to the fact.

Effect.—The increase of crop obtained through the agency
of this manure, in the instance above alluded to, was at least
five hundredweight per acre.

Cost.—The cost of this method of manuring is much less
felt on a weedy estate than on a clean one, because on the
former it almost supersedes the necessity for weeding. The
principal item of cost is the carriage of the grass. I have,
therefore, restricted the use of marna grass to places within
one hundred trees of the spot where the grass is grown.
Under this system the cost of a heavy littering, in which each152

tree has a very heavy cooly-load of grass, is 35s. per acre.
One such heavy littering, and two light ones of about 20s.
per acre each, are sufficient for a year—that is, about 75s.
per acre per annum for weeding and manuring. I am of
opinion, that after two or three years of this treatment, the
land would be able to bear several successive crops without
requiring the assistance of litter-

The effect of surface littering is much increased by the
digging up of the soil, previous to the application of the
marna grass.

Composts have the disadvantage of requiring a great deal
of extra carriage, the materials having to be first collected
together for mixture, and afterwards. In most cases, the
advantage derived from the mixture' is very trifling. Com-
posts are very little in favour amongst practical farmers,
who hold that the ingredients of which they are made up
may be bought much more economically, and applied much
more conveniently in a separate form.

Besides our manures, there are various other means by
which our soils may be improved and economized, and
which are deserving the attention of planters—such, for
instance, as:

Draining.	Terracing.

Digging.	Irrigation.

Open Trenching.

Draining.—I have no hesitation in saying that surface
draining is the most profitable operation in coffee cultivation.
It not only directly accomplishes a most important object in
preventing the washing away of soil by heavy rains, but it
also prepares the way for modes of cultivation which would
otherwise be impracticable.153

It is surprising to see the indifference with which planters
witness the loss of thousands of tons of their finest soil by the
wash of heavy rains ; and whilst they use the most strenuous
efforts to improve their soil, they scarcely do anything to
prevent its being carried away. True economy suggests that,
whatever we may do to improve it, we ought at least to
preserve the soil we have. Draining, if systematically and
judiciously carried out, is an effectual preventive of wash, and
may be done at 15s. to 20s. per acre, according to the nature
of the ground. Scarcely any amount of rock needs to
prevent the effectual draining of a field of coffee, if a right
principle be followed ; neither will it be found necessary to
alter the gradient for such obstacles. The best gradient I
believe to be one in sixteen. All drains should be made to
discharge themselves into the ellas, or natural streams. It is
important to have them wide and flat-bottomed, that they
may not be stopped up by stones; and they must be kept in
order, which will cost about 3s. to 4s. per acre per annum.

The saving effected by drains is almost incredible. Let
any sceptic satisfy himself of the quantity of soil that may be
so saved, by taking a gallon of muddy water out of one of
his streams during a heavy shower, letting it stand a few
hours, and then drying and weighing the sediment. Then
let him compute the number of gallons of water that have
flowed along the stream in that state of muddiness, and he
will find that several hundreds of tons of soil are not un-
frequently carried off his estate by a single shower.

I have heard it objected against surface drains, that they
are liable to be stopped up and to cause great damage, but
this objection has little or no force. Drains, when made,
must be kept in order. The topping of a coffee-tree causes154

a dozen suckers to shoot out to supply the place of the
amputated limb, and these have all to be removed ; yet no
one considers their appearance as an argument against
topping the trees.

Digging is a most important operation, which can only be
carried out safely and effectively on land that is well drained.
It sets the roots free to find nourishment in the soil, and at
the same time it helps to prevent wash by making the ground
more absorbent.

Effect.—I have known the most striking and satisfactory
results from digging. It stands to reason that hard soils, in
which the roots of the coffee-bushes are bound, must be
much benefited by an operation which sets the roots free and
makes the soil easily penetrable. A small field of coffee,
which had been twice manured with very little effect, was
made luxuriant by digging. The manure till then had been
accessible to only a few of the roots, but the digging set all
the roots at liberty to roam in search of nourishment.

The cost of this operation varies according to the nature of
the soil, but on an average it is about 20s. per acre—that is,
when done thoroughly to a depth of ten inches.

Open Trenching consists of making trenches, and leaving
them open to receive wash, weeds, prunings, leaves, decayed
wood, &c. The soil that is taken out of the trenches should
be spread under the trees, to cover any denuded roots there
may be. The trenches will fill up more or less quickly
according to circumstances, and when filled fresh ones should
be opened. They form reservoirs for much valuable mat-
ter, which would otherwise be dispersed and lost. The
shape I prefer is 4 to 5 feet long, 15 to 18 inches deep, and
12 to 15 inches broad; but these dimensions are subject to155

modification, according’ to the steepness of the land and the
character of soil. The trenches should always be made
longitudinally across the face of the hill, and not vertically, or
up and down. I usually make one such trench to each
alternate bush thus, the dots representing the bushes:

* # * #

# * * *

* * * *

* * * *

The cost of open trenching depends on the nature of the
soil and the size of the trenches; but, on an average, they
will cost, when made of the dimensions above recommended,
about 20s. per acre in old land, where the large roots are
decayed.

In considering the cost of open trenches, it should not be
forgotten that they afford a very convenient means of bury-
ing weeds and prunings, and save the cost of those operations
altogether. Moreover, they effect a considerable saving by
detaining stray leaves, &c., and preventing their rolling into
and choking the drains.

Draining, digging, and open trenching, if done carefully
and consecutively, will entirely prevent the loss of soil by
wash, and will form a most efficient and economical basis for
all future manuring operations.

Terracing has been tried, I believe, extensively and with
the most satisfactory results by one of our members, who
I hope will favour us with an account of his operations.156

Irrigation I mention only to express a hope, that the
gentleman who has carried it out so extensively may soon
give us the result of his experience of it.

I conclude by expressing my sincere hope that these
brief observations may prove useful and acceptable.

I am, Gentlemen,

Your most obedient Servant,

George Wall.157

LABORIE’S DESCRIPTION OF A PULPER.

It is the first operation to strip the seed of its outer skin,
leaving it clad with the parchment; and this must not be
postponed, because the cherries, when heaped together, are
disposed to run speedily into fermentation; in consequence
of which the pulp may, in twenty-four hours, impart a
yellow brown tinge to the seed.

This is called to grate, (“ grayer,” in the Creole-French
idiom,) because it is performed by a grater-mill, of which
I shall try to give, as far as I can, a clear and full
description.

First, the cherry coffee is laid upon a floor above the mill,
from which it falls, by little and little, into a hopper. This
being either sufficiently inclined or put in motion by the mill,
drops the coffee into a grater. The structure of the mill is
as follows.

It is supported by a strong wooden frame, three feet high,
six in length, and about two in breadth. The principal
pieces are a roller and grater, two moveable pieces or chops,
a wire grate, and a leaping frame.

The roller is supported, at the fall of the hopper, by an
iron axle-tree running through its centre, which turns
rapidly by means of two handles upon two copper poles,
fixed upon the sides of the great frame. The wooden roller
is commonly fourteen inches in diameter, and about eighteen
in length. If it is large, as in water-mills, the diameter is
less.158

The middle sixteen inches of the roller are carefully
covered with a strong plate of copper, pierced as a grater
with a strong bodkin, so that every hole has, on the outside,
three or four sharp points or asperities; the grater being
accurately nailed upon the roller, all the asperities are turned
outwards.

Moreover, five strong wooden pegs are fixed at equal
distances, at each end of the roller, round the axle-tree.

The moveable pieces or chops are two pieces of wood ;
one is superior, the other inferior. They are fixed in the
great frame or support by their ends, which are square; and,
by means of wedges, they (the chops) may be placed some-
what nearer to or farther from the roller. The middle part
of the chop, opposite to the grater, is cut in a sloping
direction; and their edges, near the roller, are armed with
a band of steel, about a line thick and nine or ten broad,
between the points.

Now the sloping surface of the superior chop falls towards
the roller; that of the inferior falls, on the contrary, back-
wards, and upon the wire grate placed under it. The edge
of the superior slope is placed at such exact distance from
the roller that the cherries are bruised, without injury to the
parchment; the seeds are suffered to pass, and finding their
way through the interstices between the points of the grater,
the skins and seeds then meet with the edge of the inferior
slope too, which is so close with the grater that the seeds
cannot pass. They must, of course, fall back through the
sloping declivity upon the wire grate or sieve; but the skins,
which have been flattened, are besides entangled by the
asperities of the grater, pass between it and the inferior chop,
and fall into a gutter behind the mill. #

* These skins, kept and rotten, are the best possible manure.159

All the pieces before mentioned must be of mahogany,
or other wood, of the best quality. The wire sieve is
stretched upon a square long frame, and the holes are of
such dimensions as to let the naked seeds pass. It is much
inclined, and hangs by the crooks at the great frame and by
the rods at another similar frame — namely, the leaping
frame, which hangs also by its middle from the stirrup, and
from the great frame of the mill. By means of the two
arms of the leaping frame, which are stretched out on both
sides of the roller, the wire-grate sieve is put into brisk
motion by the pegs fixed to the roller, by which means the
arms alternately sink and rise.

Thus the seeds fall through the holes of the sieve into a
gutter under the mill, the slope of which causes them to
glide into the adjoining bason, where they will soak and be
washed. The cherries which happen not to have been
bruised, being too big to pass through the sieve, are tossed
about till they fall down at the back end of the mill into a
box, from which they are taken and put again into the
hopper.

The grater-mill is liable to inconveniences. If some of
the points of the grater are sharper than the others, they
bruise the parchment and the seed, which will leave a black
mark. If anything hard, as a small stone, happens to crush
down any of the points, the cherries that meet them will not
be bruised ; or, if they have been bruised, they will pass out
with the skins behind, and consequently be lost. This must
be prevented by great watchfulness on the part of the
negroes; and when it does happen, the grater must be
instantly mended or changed.

It is also evident that the chops must be exactly placed at160

the proper point. If the upper one is too near the grater, the
seeds will be injured; if too far, the cherries will pass out
unpeeled. If the upper one is too far, the seeds will pass
out; but this can hardly be too near, provided it does not
injure the points of the grater.

It is further necessary that a thread of water trickle
constantly upon the grater, to assist the coffee in passing
more readily.

Eleven negroes are required for the service of a mill: eight
to turn—four and four alternately—one to be upon the floor
to feed the hopper, one to carry away the skins, and another
to carry back the unpeeled cheeries into the hopper. This
hard work is performed in the evening, when the negroes
return from the field, but they like it because it is rewarded
with a small glass of rum.

A good hand-mill, such as that above described, may pass
thirty-three barrels of cherries in an hour. But I shall speak
afterwards of the mill or water-machines, which have been
very usefully and ingeniously employed in the manufacture.161

ON COFFEE PULPERS.

To the Editor of the “ Colombo Observer.”

Kandy, November 4, 1865.

Dear Mr. Editor,

It is a time-honoured custom at this season of the
year to have a discussion in your columns relative to the
merits of the various coffee pulpers in use, but this year
every one seems so absorbed in League and Anti-League
movements as to have forgot all about the pulper grievances.
I have just thought of them and beg to open the question,
trusting that those interested will take up the subject and
keep it alive until thoroughly ventilated. Of late years
many improvements have been made to our pulpers, but
there is still room for more improvements, both in principle
and detail; and if planters of experience could be induced
to sit down and record on paper the advantages and disad-
vantages of the various machines they have taken in crop
with—giving particulars of the system of feeding, quantity
pulped per hour, percentage of cut coffee, description of
machine and any contrivance invented to facilitate work—
they would not only instruct the griffin, but might receive a
wrinkle in return from some brother planter, and at the
same time give hints to the engineer for the construction of
his new machinery.

We have now the combined crusher and pulper, with
buckets and circular sieve, (commonly known as Brown’s
ll162

double pulper,) the rattle-trap, Butler’s pulper, Walker’s disc
pulper, Wall’s pulper, Brown’s vertical pulper, and Gor-
don’s breast; all different in design and management, but
the same in principle. The cherry is crushed by a revolving
cylinder against a piece of iron or other substance, whereby
the berry i9 detached from the skin ; then this or another
cylinder draws the skin over an iron bar placed against its
roughened surface, thus separating the skin from the berry,
on the principle that a mouse will go where a rat can’t
enter; and the question of which is the best pulper resolves
itself (according to our present enlightenment) into the most
effectual arrangement of crusher for detaching the berry
from the skin without injuring the berry, and the best
arrangement of the iron bar and surface of cylinder to
separate the skin from the berry, without giving it a touch
in the passing.

The double pulper is the favourite machine, but it requires
a large amount of power to drive it, and a large supply of
water to work it after it is driven ; and on estates short of
water this is a serious objection. The introduction of steam-
power remedies this to a certain extent, but it would be a
great advantage to obtain the same results from a less
cumbersome machine, requiring less water and easier driven.
I have found the double pulper work best with a good deep
upper chop, say about three inches deep and nearly straight,
the top of the lower chop to be filed flat about one-eighth of
an inch. The speed of the cylinder should be about one
hundred revolutions per minute, but the working of the
machine depends a good deal upon the action of the sieve;
and it is a question whether a long crank with a slow regular
motion, or a short crank with a quick and rather jerky163

motion, is the best. So far as my experience goes, I prefer
the latter for getting through the work. The great
desideratum is to get rid of the sieve and buckets altogether,
as they are not only heavy to drive but subject to derange-
ment, and therefore inconvenient and expensive.

The Butler’s pulper is, in my opinion, the most perfect
machine yet invented to pulp coffee without a sieve ; but
unfortunately it is not appreciated as it deserves. The
cylinders are allowed to wear blunt, the edges of the chops to
be ground away ; and because some trace of the grooves on
the small cylinder remain, the owner is surprised that it will
not take the tails away or squashes the berry against the
worn-out chop, gets disgusted with it, and throws it on one
side. To make a Butler work well, the grooves of the small
cylinder must be brought up to a sharp edge on the
periphery, the chop filed square across and sharp at the
edges—they cannot be made too sharp ; then adjust the
distance between the cylinders to the size of the cherry,
so that the berry will be squeezed out of the skin without
being injured ; then screw up the chop until just clear of both
cylinders. Wherever I have seen these conditions complied
with, this pulper has given every satisfaction. There may be
room for many improvements in the details of the machine,
but it must be borne in mind it remains just as Mr. Butler
left it when he died—a fatherless pulper, which no one was
interested in or particularly cared for.

Mr. Walker’s disc pulper is the next machine for pulping
coffee without sieve or buckets, and where the coffee is fairly
ripe has given, I believe, splendid results; but dry and green
berries are apt to get skinned or torn to pieces. The latest
design of this pulper has a crusher attached, and it will be164

interesting to know the results of this addition to the machine,
which cannot fail to be an improvement. I am not aware of
any peculiarity in setting this machine, beyond seeing that
the discs run true, that the lower plate of the chop is straight,
the depth of the groove suitable for the coffee, and above all
that the chops are fairly screwed down to the plate, so that
the coffee may not press them away from the surface of the
discs. The manager of a large estate in Kotmalie contrived
a disc with grooved sides, but has not, so far as I know, made
the results of this and other improvements public.

Wall’s pulper is the best we have for working off tails;
and, connected with a good crusher and sieve, (as at Opal-
galla,) is equal if not superior to the double pulper and
crusher, seeing no buckets are required. Still there is the
sieve, and the machine is just as unwieldy as the double
pulper and crusher.

I have not seen Mr. Brown’s pulper at work, and cannot
say anything about it; but the last of the category — viz.
Gordon’s breast — is the most extraordinary machine of all.
I have known it pulp at the rate of one hundred bushels per
hour, and not cut more than about half per cent.; and
another planter, with a similar machine, could only get
through about thirty bushels per hour, and cutting then about
seven per cent.

The iron cylinder is a great improvement in this pulper, as
there is great difficulty in keeping a wooden cylinder to fit
the breast; and it is much easier to fit the breast to the rings
cast on the rims of the cylinder.

Yours faithfully,

An Old File.165

COFFEE STATISTICS.

In the ten months ended 3l9t of October, 1865, 107^ million
pounds of coffee were imported into the United Kingdom.
In the corresponding period of last year, the quantity was
not so large by 14f million pounds. Of the total imports,
Ceylon contributed 68 million pounds, other British posses-
sions 18| million pounds, Brazil 9^ million pounds, Central
America 4^ million pounds, and all other foreign countries
1\ million pounds. The quantity on which duty was paid
in the first ten months of this year amounted to 25f million
pounds, which is a diminution, in comparison with last year’s
returns for the same period, of 772,8691bs. A gradual
decline in the consumption of coffee has taken place within
the last four or five years, and is attributable in part to the
greater demand for chicory, and in part to the increased
liking for tea. Of chicory it may be observed, that last
year 99,564 cwt. were entered for duty, whereas in 1862 the
amount was only 9,883 cwt. notwithstanding that the rate
of duty had increased in the interval from 12s. to 12s. 6d.
per cwt. The quantity of coffee exported from this country
in the same months of this year was 82 million pounds,
or nearly 17 million pounds in excess of the shipments
for the like period in 1864 ; Holland, France, Hanse
Towns, Russia, Prussia, Belgium, Italy, Austria, and Tur-
key having been the principal customers. In the bonding
receptacles, the stock on the 31st October last was 30 £
million pounds, or about four million pounds less than on
the same day in 1864.APPENDIX II.

DISTRICTS AND NUMBER OF COFFEE
ESTATES IN CEYLON.

Name of District.	No. of Estates.

Allagalla, or Kaduganawa North.......................12

Ambegammoa and Dick Oya..............................43

Badullah, or Ouvah, including Passera, Bullatwatte, Ma-

doolseema, and Hewa Ellia..........................67

Dimboola, Upper......................................14

Diraboola, Lower.....................................18

Dolosbagie...........................................46

Doombera.............................................15

Hantane..............................................31

Hewahette, Upper.....................................11

Hewahette, Lower.....................................30

Happootella and Wilson’s Bungalow....................42

Hunasgeria...........................................23

Kaduganava...........................................36

Kaigalle............................................. 4

Kalibokka............................................10

Knuckles.............................................20

Kornegalle...........................................46

Kotmalie.............................................30

Matelle, East........................................56167

Name of District.	No. of Estates.

Matelle, West.........................................30

Maturatta.............................................19

Merlamahanewera...................................... 28

Nilambe...............................................22

Pusilawa..............................................39

Rambodde and Poondhooloya.............................23

Rangalla..............................................15

Saffragam.............................................27

Wallapane, Lower...................................... 4

Wallapane, or Ouda Pusilawa...........................14

Yacdessa..............................................18

32 Districts ; total Estates, 802
N.B.—The above information is derived from Ferguson’s
Ceylon Directory, 1864-5.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE OF CEYLON,
FROM 1840 TO 1865.

The following table will show the progress Ceylon has made
since the commencement of coffee planting :

Year.	Revenue.	Expenditure.
1840		.£331,200			£355,298
1845		..454,146			448,242
1850		...415,667			390,425
1855		..476,273			405,610
1860		..767,100			705,440
1863		..952,790			738,194
1864		..867,728			843,291
1865 (estimated).	..943,210			838,518

Note.—The falling off of the revenue in 1864, as com-
pared with 1863, was owing to the failure of the pearl fishery.168

SHIPMENTS OF CEYLON COFFEE.  Coffee Exports frpm Ceylon in the Seasons ending October 10, from 1849 to 1865 ; distinguishing Plantation from Ordinary or Native, and excluding all Coffee not the produce of Ceylon ; with total value and average prices per hundredweight.	Total.	Average per Cwt.	.	-h|* -Hfrf  'HOOOHOHNCOMrKOWOOOOCOCOO rH	r-H  00	r-i	HHHHH	CP  '■p  N
		Value. •	CCOOCDHWHNO01>OJ^0OWeOH C0HH^005\flCD0DC0iMHOOl>N03H CDHCOOO	^	1> l> O^CO CO OO^r-^C^r-^  ctf co *> r-T r-T i> of ©f i-h co oo of tfT ^ oT uf ao  iO^OHOCOONN05l>tf)OiCDrtCDHU5  rfi co	co aaoiOicq  HrlrlrlrlHNHC!!	20,945,337
		Quantity.	(O OHN^KOWi C5N HlfllM OCO WOW •!M0HOO)GOOO^'fa)O5CDa5^TflOOCO t	J> 05	O O)	r}i CO	O  r? x>	of	oo" of rf co	co c> cd	i-h id	of o' t> ccf of  ^CONOOOCqWCOWNiOOCOHOOWCQ  COCOOq^COTft^l^iDiDCDCDCOCDaOCD©	8,964,604
	w  %  ft	Average per Cwt.	.	•H* «|tJi «|* w|«* h|*	-jH'H*  ^OCOOOvflNO)OCOO)HOOOOOOO rH	rH  tel>CONOON«5COO)CODOOOOOOO H H H	H f—i rH H	rH	1 16 3
		i  Value.	©aooxocooocooqoo^Poqao^oqaooq  OOCDlOr—lCDrf<r-lt>C<l^H©I>COTf©©--H  (vj >d i> i> oo o ^ co^ oo^ co_ ^ cc ^ co^ ©q cd^ ^cfoftft>cf©q~vrf©fofofa>cfcrt>cD'Tjfcf Hl^-^HOOCOlXMiO^QOCOCOTpHCOiM HHH(MHNN(MCOCCCOCOCQNCOH^I	4,402,412
		j Quantity.	C5COX>r-!CDOOOqrHlDt^t>CDOi(MrH^CO • cooqccoqiDt>cocD©oq©cocDoqiD©o tcOCO(MCCHHCOHCO(MCOC5Ht>HHOO  r? i> co o' of of o’ cd" of rH of cd © of oo of t}T  'jNOOWHC0CCHC0I>05C0C0(MU500H iH r-H	rH rH-j-H rlHHHHHrIrIH	Ol	2,400,684
	Plantation.	Average per Cwt.	.	«h#  -Wfc-rHjHO^OOOMaOOOOOo©  OjjHNNNIMNNlMNlMNNNflNNN	CD  CO  CQ
		Value.	£  343,083  483,350  444,666  534,446  455,232  669,803  697,046  749,308  943,416  1,033,917  1,098,625  1,265,832  1,304,968  1,287,426  1,752,823  1,551,085  1,928,499	16,543,525
		Quantity.  i	fe *^^^^00^0^00 ^©rHOD 00 CO 00 r-H^ CM^ r-s O of t> iff oT C»f CD~ iff of ^j? CD* of of CD of ^HHDlOOOrlNCDQOOOOONHiNH cqoqi—ioqoqcococococo^-^^^fCDiDt>	6,563,920
	Year end. Oct. 10.		0)OH(NCO^L^CDi>QOC50HN«H<W  TpxDlDiDiDtOiDiQiDiDkDCDCDCDCDCDCD  OOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOQOQOQO  HHHHHHiHrlHrHHiHp^HHrHH	Total for \ 1" Years. /