SHADE.
I now turn to the greatest of all the points connected with coffee--the
question of shade. And I call it the greatest point, because if good shade
of the best kind is grown it is absolutely impossible to destroy a
plantation in Mysore, even with the worst conceivable management or
neglect, and I say this after ample experience, as had it not been for the
abundant and excellent shade on a badly-managed property of my own it
would have been permanently ruined. But with plenty of good kinds of shade
trees on the land you might even close the plantation gates, and abandon
the land, and, as long as cattle were kept out, return ten years
afterwards, saw down the coffee, grow suckers from the stumps, plant up
the land with young plants where vacancies had occurred, and in four or
five years the plantation would be as good as ever, and the land even
better, for it would not have been exhausted by crop, and the fallen
leaves from the shade trees would have enriched the soil. And if the old
trees were not in a condition, from old age, to grow suckers that would
develop into good trees, the whole land could be advantageously replanted.
But, as the reader will remember, I have said that the trees must be the
best kinds of shade trees, a subject that requires great study and
observation to master. Before beginning, however, it may be well to point
out those general principles which govern the whole subject, and which at
once show us the best kinds of trees to select, and what is nearly of as
great importance, how to manage them after they have been selected or
planted, and I would lay particular stress on the latter point, which has,
I may observe, been largely if not entirely misunderstood, simply because
the great governing principle has been neglected.
The governing principle, then, as regards shade for coffee is, that you
should have on the land the smallest number of boles, because the more you
multiply boles the more ground you waste; and the greater the number of
large trees there are, the greater, of course, will be the number of large
roots in the land, and the greater demand will there be on the resources
of the soil; the greater, too, will be the waste of manure put down by the
planter for the benefit of his coffee; and last, but by no means least,
the smaller will be the amount of leaf deposit. I have seen much shade so
managed as to give the greatest amount of boles with the smallest amount,
and spread of branches, whereas the object of the planter ought to be to
furnish the smallest number of boles with the greatest proportionate
amount and spread of branches and foliage. And this unfortunate error, the
evil of which will become more and more apparent as time advances, would
never have been committed, had the primary principle I have pointed out
been grasped at the outset.
Let us then keep firmly in mind that, (1) we require trees that will, from
their wide-spreading branches, enable us to do with the smallest number
possible on the land, and that (2) if we trim up the lower branches of
these trees when the trees are young because we do not like to see them
too closely over the coffee, we shall entirely defeat the main object we
have in view, because we shall certainly produce a tall tree with a small
head, and consequently small spread of branches; and the clear
apprehension of the principle first named guides us at once to the
selection of the right kind of trees, and their proper treatment. I will
now proceed to state the names of the trees that are, in my experience,
the most desirable, and, secondly, those which are good for coffee, but
which for various reasons are undesirable. After much and close study of
this important subject, and a very long experience, I have come to the
conclusion that the only trees which are at once easily propagated; free
from the risks of attacks from cattle owing to their being grown from long
cuttings; little liable to attacks from parasites, and which afford a
proper degree of shade, and also admit the largest relative supply of
light; which afford a large supply of leaf deposit; and which lastly, but
by no means leastly, have very wide spreading branches, are only five in
number. I give first the Kanarese and then the botanical name of each.
There are, then, Cub Busree (_Ficus tuberculata_), the Gonee (_Ficus
Mysorensis_), the Kurry Busree (_Ficus infectoria_), Eelee Busree (a
variety of the last named), and Mitlee.[52]
There are two kinds, Heb Mitlee, and Harl Mitlee--the second is a bad
tree. The mitlee grows one fourth quicker than cub busree, and a recent
close attention to this tree shows me that it is a much more desirable
tree than either others or myself once supposed, for not only is it a
quicker grower than the remainder of the most desirable kinds but its
foliage lets in much light. It is, therefore, a most desirable tree for
northern aspects.
I next turn to a class of trees which are undoubtedly good for coffee, but
which, for various reasons to be hereafter given, are less desirable than
the five trees first given. The first of these less desirable trees is
the Jack--Halsen-Mara (_Artocarpus integrifolia_), which was once a
favourite tree, and there can be no doubt that coffee thrives well under
it, but it is not a wide-spreading tree, the shade is too dense for every
aspect, it is a slow grower, and it must be raised from young plants,
which are very liable to be attacked by stray cattle. Then when old, and
sometimes of medium age, it is very liable to be attacked by parasites;
and it produces annually a heavy[53] crop of fruit which costs money and
trouble to remove when immature, and which, if left to ripen, exhausts the
soil. It is, too, liable to suffer much from wind, and, in situations
which are at all windy, is not much to be relied on, as, when under the
influence of wind, the foliage becomes poor and scanty, and the tree
sometimes dies altogether. A study of the foliage will show, that in one
important particular, the five first-named trees are superior to jack, for
their leaves are attached to the twigs by long stalks, and much light is
thus admitted through the spaces between the stalks, while the leaves of
the jack are not only more numerous but are attached by short stalks, and
the foliage thus throws a very dark shade. Then jack, as it is an
evergreen, always affords a thick shade quite continuously, while the five
first-named trees not only cast a chequered shade, but, at certain periods
of the year, shed every leaf, leaving the tree quite bare for some time,
which is an advantage to the coffee. And besides, I have some reason to
suppose that the dense shade of the jack encourages rot (a disease
remarked upon further on), as one of my managers reports that he has
observed it under jack while it was not apparent on the coffee under other
kinds of shade trees. But on hot westerly and southerly slopes, and
especially where the soil is a bad retainer of moisture, and where the
gradient is rather steep, jack may be used with advantage, as in such
situations the heat is great and the light strong. I am therefore taking
steps to remove jack by degrees from all but southerly and westerly
exposures. I may add here that I have found that plants grown from seed
procured from the dry plains of the interior of Mysore, grow more than
twice as fast as plants raised from local seed. In concluding my remarks
on jack, I would particularly advise planters to remove the jack fruit
when immature, and put it into the manure heap, or bury it, as, if left on
the ground, it attracts cattle and village pigs into the plantation. The
fruit is large and full of a great number of seeds which must be an
exhaustive crop on the land. On the Nilgiri hills I am told by the
planters that there is a ready sale for jack fruit, but this is not the
case in coffee districts generally.
The Attí (_Ficus glomerata_) was with me once a favourite tree, and is
generally considered to be a good one, as it affords a cool and desirable
shade. As a young tree it is admirable, but as it ages the foliage becomes
poor and scanty, and the tree has a tendency to run too much to thick
bole, and thick branches, which are poorly supplied with smaller branches
and foliage. When about thirty years old, I have generally found this tree
to be a poor shader, but it can be much improved by severe pruning, or
rather lopping. When thinning out shade on this estate about twenty years
ago, a twelve year old tree had every branch removed preparatory to
cutting down, but by some accident the tree was left standing, and the
stumps of the branches threw out fresh shoots, and the tree is now
flourishing, and has a comparatively wide spread of branches and fair
amount of foliage. It is evident, then, that pruning heavily will cause
the tree to throw out new and vigorous shoots, but as this is a
troublesome and expensive work, and as attí is certainly liable to the
defect above alluded to, and is, besides, not a wide-spreading tree, it is
evidently not so desirable as any of the first five I have named. Attí can
be grown from cuttings, but these must not be large ones, i.e., they
should be thinner than those commonly used when planting cuttings of the
various fig trees recommended at the beginning of the section on shade.
The Noga (so called from its being much used to make bullock yokes from)
or Nogurigay (_Cedrela Microcarpa_) is a favourite tree to plant for
shade, as it is a quick grower, and cattle do not eat it, and it has been
extensively planted in Mysore and Coorg. The shade is fairly good, but the
tree is not a wide spreader. Then it has one very great objection owing to
its being so peculiarly liable, when about thirty years old, to be
severely attacked, and often killed, by parasites, and as it is so liable
to be attacked, and therefore supplies a large quantity of parasite seed,
the tree is the means of spreading these parasites to other shade trees. I
have found that if you even remove every branch that is attacked, and
quite below each parasite, the parasite will spring out again, and even
more vigorously than before. In short, I found it impossible to contend
with the parasites, and am ordering the removal of all Nogurigays from my
plantations. I may add here that when jack is lopped in order to remove
parasites, they do not spring out again in the same way. My head duffadar
informs me that the reason why Nogurigays are so liable to parasites is on
account of the rough, deeply-fissured bark, which retains the parasite
seeds dropped by birds, whereas smooth-barked trees, like the first five
named, of course do not retain them, and hence you rarely see parasites on
smooth-barked trees. Another objection to this tree is that, from its
shedding its leaves in the monsoon, and not growing them again till we are
liable to have hot bursts of sun, you may have a thoroughly saturated soil
exposed to a hot sun, which of course has the effect of rapidly hardening
the soil. A neighbouring planter tells me that he finds the Noga tree
liable to attacks from parasites at even ten years old, and that he
therefore regards the tree as a temporary shade, i.e., as a shade to be
removed after other more desirable trees are ready to take their place.
Since writing this chapter I have again paid particular attention to this
tree, and have been struck with the fact that, for some unknown reason,
some trees of this variety seem to be much more liable to attacks of
parasites than others, while some escape altogether. But it is quite clear
to me that, generally speaking, this tree is not to be relied on, and I
have, therefore, no hesitation in advising planters who have relied on it
as a permanent shade to at once put down trees of the desirable kind first
given with the view of gradually removing the Nogurigays.
Mullee Geruguttee. A very thick, tall tree with large buttresses. Coffee
thrives well under this tree, but it is not a wide spreader, and, when
old, the foliage becomes poor. It is evident that a tree of great
thickness which is not a wide spreader, takes up an immense deal of room
in proportion to the shade that it yields, and this tree is therefore not
so desirable as any of the first five species I have given as being the
most desirable trees.
Howligay (_Acrocarpus Flaxinifolia_). This tree has been largely planted
in Mysore for shade, but no one speaks well of it now. We have some on my
estate upwards of thirty years old, and the foliage is poor and scanty.
The trees, too, shoot up to a great height, and spread but little. By
topping at a certain height, this defect may be remedied to some extent,
but in order to get an efficient shade from this tree you would require to
plant it thickly, and would thus have a large proportion of stems and
roots in the land. This tree, though not injurious to coffee, is certainly
very undesirable as compared with the first-named kinds I have given.
Some years ago two of these trees died on my property, and all the coffee
died around them.
Hessan (_Artocarpus Hirsuta_). Though said to be injurious in poor and
shallow soil, coffee thrives under it in good land, but it has a tendency
everywhere to run to stem, and therefore affords poor shade. An occasional
tree branches out, and affords fair, and in some cases, even good shade,
but, as a rule, this is not a desirable tree. It spreads little and thus
gives but a poor return for the space taken up by its stem and roots.
Nairul (_Eugenia Jambolana_). This is a good shade tree. Coffee thrives
well under it, and wherever it exists, or may have sprung up accidentally
in the plantation, it should be preserved, but it is not, I consider, a
desirable tree to plant, as it is a slow grower and not a wide spreader.
Wartee. This is a tree we have always preserved, but it is a slow growing
tree, not at all a wide spreader, and the leaf deposit from it is not of a
valuable quality, and it is, therefore, not a desirable tree to plant.
Gwoddan (_Dolichos fabaeformis_). Coffee thrives well under this tree, but
it has a great profusion of very hard fruits or seeds about the size of a
small plum, and these, when falling from a high tree, injure the coffee
berries, as may be readily supposed; the tree, too, is not a wide
spreader. It is, therefore, not a desirable tree to plant.
I may mention here that I have recently obtained a supply of seed of
_Albizzia Moluccana_, which is the tree most approved of for shading
coffee in the Island of Java, and I am informed by the superintendent of
the Agri-Horticultural Society's Gardens, Madras (from whom I obtained the
seed), that one of their correspondents who tried it some years ago
reports that, "It grows rapidly, and is of great utility in putting a
field of coffee under a light shade such as coffee likes," and that, "in
four years the _Albizzia Moluccana_, planted thirty feet apart, will cover
the coffee trees." The leaves close during the night, thus giving the
coffee plants the benefit of the moonlight and dew more freely. Each ounce
of the seed contains roughly 1,200 seeds, which, with ordinary care,
should give 1,000 plants, and which, when planted out thirty feet apart,
should shade twenty acres.
I now proceed to consider the methods that are adopted for planting under
shade in Mysore. The first is to clear down and burn the entire forest,
and then plant shade trees along with the coffee. The second is to clear
and burn the underwood, and a certain portion of the forest trees, leaving
the remainder for shade, and the third is (a system which I have myself
adopted in the case of land lying in ravines) to clear off and burn the
entire underwood and trees of the lower part of the ravines, leaving the
upper portions of them, and the remainder of the land to be cleared and
planted, under the original forest trees, as in the second method
mentioned.
There can be no doubt that the first-named method is the easiest. I am
aware that it has been adopted by some very experienced planters, and it
has been partially adopted by myself in the case of all my land in the
lower part of ravines. I am well able to judge of the advantages and
disadvantages of both systems, as I have them under observation and
treatment side by side. On the whole, I think there can be no doubt that
the balance of advantage lies much in favour of land that has not had the
forest cleared wholly and burnt off. It is true that by a wholesale
clearance you at once kill the vast mass of live forest tree roots in the
land, but, on the other hand, you at the same time destroy a store of
slowly-decaying vegetable matter, which is of vast importance, not only in
feeding the coffee, but in maintaining the physical condition of the soil,
and so making it more, easily, and therefore cheaply, workable, and a
better agent for preserving the health of the tree. And as a proof of the
actual loss incurred, I may observe that Colonel C. I. Taylor, in his book
on "The Borer in Coorg, Munzerabad and Nuggar," mentions that an iron peg
driven into the ground so that not a part of it protruded, was found,
after the cleared jungle had been burned, to be no less than six inches
out of the ground. There seems to be a general opinion too that land that
has not been burnt will last far longer, and one experienced planter, Mr.
Brooke Mockett, attributes the circumstances of all the most ancient
estates in Mysore being still in existence to the fact that the land has
never been burnt. Mr. Mockett also informs me that in good land, where
there has been no burn, he has never had Borer severely, though for a time
there was no shade over it, as he cleared down ultimately all the old
forest trees that had been left for shade, and planted fresh shade. I may
mention, too, that I was lately shown an estate in Coorg which had been
partially cleared down and burnt off, and partly planted under the shade
of the old forest trees. In the latter case the plants had never suffered
from Borer or leaf disease and were always healthy, while the coffee in
the former case had suffered from both, and there was certainly a most
marked difference perceptible in favour of the coffee planted in the
unburnt land.
There is also a great difference in my own property in favour of the
coffee planted under the original forest shade as compared with the coffee
on the land that was cleared down and burnt off, notwithstanding that in
the latter case the most approved kinds of shade trees were afterwards
planted, and that the land is now admirably shaded. It is highly important
to notice these facts, both as a guide to those who have land to open, and
also as regards the value of any property that may be for sale, for, after
what I have mentioned, it is clear that a property planted under original
forest shade, where the land has not been burnt off (for it is quite
possible gradually to remove all the old forest trees and replace them
with newly planted shade), must be much more valuable than one where the
entire forest has been cleared down and burnt off. I now proceed to remark
(1) on the course that should be pursued in the case of clearing down and
burning the whole jungle and planting fresh shade, and (2) when planting
under the original shade.
After the land is ready for planting the coffee, and as early as possible
in the monsoon, the young shade trees should be planted in lines or
avenues running from east to west, and the trees should be planted so
close that they may in five or six years touch each other, and thus form
what looks like a series of hedges in parallel lines. The object of this
formation is that as the declination of the sun is southerly during our
non-cloudy or clear sky season, a close shadow may be cast from the south
to the north, so that the spaces between the lines may have a lateral
shade cast on them. When the trees begin to crowd each other every other
one should of course be taken, out, and this may be repeated a second time
if necessary. But, besides the southerly, we have also to consider the hot
westerly sun, which will strike down the avenues from, say, between two
and four in the afternoon. This it is important to block out with
occasional trees planted in the avenue, but it is only, of course, where
the land is exposed to the afternoon sun that the avenues should be
blocked with occasional trees. After fully considering the subject, I find
it impossible to say even approximately at what distance the lines of
trees should be planted, on account of the great variety in the gradients,
and the planter must here use his own judgment; and I can only say
generally that the lines of trees require to be much nearer each other on
a southerly than on a northerly aspect; nearly as close on a westerly
aspect as on a southerly; and on an easterly aspect, at a closer distance
than on a northerly one. Some guide toward the nearness of these lines
will afterwards be found in the remarks on the quantity of shade required
for the various aspects.
After having planted the young shade trees, then, there comes the question
of providing shade for them, for without it their growth will be very
slow, and the planter would have to wait a great many years before
obtaining such an amount of shade as would have an effect in lowering the
temperature of the plantation. He requires then some quick-growing tree as
a nurse for the good caste shade trees, and the only tree I know of that
is suitable for this purpose is the quick-growing charcoal tree (_Sponia
Wightii_)--Kanarese, _gorkul mara_--which springs up with the first rain
after the forest has been cleared and burnt. Planters, I am aware, have,
generally speaking, a great objection to this tree, and it is considered
by Mr. Graham Anderson (_vide_ his book previously quoted) as being
"generally regarded as prejudicial and useless." This conclusion has
probably arisen from the fact that it is certainly a bad thing to have a
rapid grower, and therefore a greedy feeder on the land, and hence it has
been found that the charcoal tree is bad when young. But when it has
attained its full height, which in ordinary circumstances is about thirty
feet (I have one specimen on my property about sixty feet high, the only
one of such a size I ever saw), coffee thrives well under it. This I found
to be the case on plantations on the slopes of the Nilgiri hills, where a
very experienced planter told me that the tree was bad when young for
coffee, but not so when old; and I there saw coffee thriving well under
the shade of old charcoal trees. On my oldest plantation we only preserved
one of the species (all the others having been cut down, as their good
offices as nurses to better trees were no longer required), and the coffee
always throve under it remarkably well. Where, too, the shade has
subsequently become deficient we always plant charcoal as a nurse for the
more desirable trees, and have never observed that it is injurious to
coffee. On the whole, after a very long experience and observation of this
tree, I have no hesitation in recommending it as a nurse to be thinly
distributed amongst the newly-planted shade trees. It is, I may observe,
too, a tree with very light branches, which, of course, can easily be
removed without injury to the coffee, and its branches should be thinned
away when they crowd the young shade trees, and when these have been
sufficiently drawn up and expanded the charcoal tree should be entirely
removed.
The subsequent treatment of the shade trees is of great importance. Their
lower branches in the early years of their growth are commonly thin and
weakly, and thus, of course, droop close over the coffee, and often touch
it. Then the inexperienced shade tree grower begins to lop off the lower
branches, with the result that he injures and bleeds the young tree, and
deprives it of the nutriment it would otherwise derive from its full
allowance of foliage. Some carry this trimming up to a very injurious
extent, and the result is that they grow young trees with long stems and
poor foliage, and a narrow spread of branches, and thus require many more
trees in the land than they would if they exercised a little more patience
at first. But if the tree is only left alone the evil of branches drooping
downwards on to the coffee will soon disappear, as these branches will not
only rise with the rising stem, but will thicken and grow upwards, instead
of drooping as they did when young and weakly. And some planters, I
observe, are by no means satisfied with lopping the lower boughs, but trim
off branches fifteen feet from the ground. Under such a system the number
of shade trees required is enormous, and the evils arising from the
number of boles with their vast mass of large roots will only be the more
severely apparent as time advances. By one shade planter in Coorg I have
been told that coffee there has already been suffering much from the
quantity of boles and tree roots in the land, in consequence of the
trimming up system and the quantity of trees required in consequence. It
should also be remembered that we require our shade not only to protect
our coffee from the sun's rays, but to shield it from those parching winds
which sweep across the arid plains of the interior of India, and to
prevent the drying up of the land. And is it not perfectly obvious that if
we trim up the trees so as to produce a long stem with a small crown, the
parching winds will sweep unchecked over plants and soil? There is,
however, the usual proverbial exception, and that is in the case of trees
growing near the bottoms of ravines with steep sides to them, and where
you often want a drawn up stem and crown to cast a shadow on to a hot
western or southern bank, and in such cases, of course, trimming up is
necessary. Having thus discussed the planting of coffee where the forest
has been cut wholly down and burnt, we will now turn to planting under the
shade of the original forest trees.
In opening, then, a plantation which is to be shaded by preserving a
portion of the original forest trees, the first thing to be done is to
clear a wide track through the underwood from one end of the block of
forest to the other, and as many tracks at right angles to the line as may
facilitate your getting about and thoroughly inspecting the land to be
cleared. The next thing to be done is to cut a wide track round the entire
portion to be cleared, leaving a belt of from fifteen to twenty yards as a
margin between the land to be cleared and the grassland lying outside the
forest. This marginal belt will often be found useful for shelter in many
cases, and it must be borne in mind, too, that the margins of jungles are
generally composed of land into which the forest has more recently
extended itself, and are therefore poorer than the interior portion of the
forest, and consequently less adapted to the growth of the coffee. Another
advantage of this marginal belt is that it will prevent fires spreading
from the grasslands, and that by planting thorny climbing plants on its
outer edge a good fence may be formed. Another very great advantage I have
found from such belts is that valuable top soil may be taken from them to
manure the adjacent coffee, and especially to afford a supply of rich
virgin soil when filling up vacancies in the old coffee. This last use of
the marginal belt is particularly valuable, as it is both troublesome and
expensive to lay down either cattle manure or top soil brought from a
distance in those odd corners here and there in the plantations where
vacancies are apt to occur.
After the above suggested preliminary tracks have been opened out, the
whole underwood should be cleared and piled in heaps, and as far as
possible, of course, from the trees which are most desirable for shade.
Then the trees positively injurious to coffee should be cut down and their
branches lopped and piled on the stumps of the objectionable trees, and
after this a certain proportion of the less desirable kinds should be
felled. All burning should be carried on in separate piles, as a running
fire through the clearing would be fatal to the standing trees, and, when
firing the piles they should be burnt off in detail at as great a distance
from each other as possible, as the bark of many of the forest trees is
easily injured by the heat arising from many blazing piles in their
neighbourhood. The land having thus been thoroughly cleared, should be
planted.
But by the process I have recommended much more shade will be left than
will ultimately be required, and I have found that it is impossible to
clear down at once all the trees you wish to get rid of, as, if you did,
you would be sure to require such a number of piles as would, when they
were burnt, be sure to injure the trees to be preserved. It is therefore
necessary to complete the clearing during the season following. Such
trees, then, as you may wish further to remove may be thrown down between
the rows of coffee, and others which may be likely to do much damage,
either to the coffee or to the shade trees to be preserved, may be lopped
and barked, and they should be barked as high up as a man can reach, as we
have found that trees barked close to the ground die slowly.
It sometimes, however, happens that the forest land is much cut up with
narrow and deep ravines, and in that case the bottoms of such ravines
should be cleared off entirely, and this can be done without injury to the
standing trees above, as, when the wood in the bottom of the ravine is
being burnt the flames will be too distant to inflict any injury to the
trees left for shade higher up the slopes, but, as I have said, great care
must be taken to prevent any running fire through the shaded land; and I
can speak of the effect of such a fire from a melancholy experience. In
the event of bottoms of ravines being thus cleared down, it may afterwards
be found desirable to supply fresh shade on the southern and western
slopes, and this can easily be done on the system recommended previously
for lands which have been entirely cleared down.
It is time now to turn our attention to the extremely complicated question
of the quantity of shade required for the various aspects, gradients, and
soils we have to deal with, and let us in the first place begin with some
remarks on the effects of aspect as regards heat.
In considering, then, aspect as regards sun and heat, I may observe that
it is impossible to exaggerate the importance of taking into account the
immense variation in temperature on the different exposures. For the
effect that the sun's rays have on certain aspects in heating the soil and
drying up the plant, are such as would be extremely difficult to believe,
had the facts not been verified by competent observers, and with the aid
of the thermometer. And as regards northern and southern slopes in
particular, we shall find that the difference between one exposure and the
other is just what constitutes the difference between green and dried
grass, and between leaves luxuriantly green and leaves dry and withered.
And that the first is literally true may be seen by anyone in the months
of January and February, for in these months you will see grass on
northern aspects green, and, comparatively speaking, fresh, while, even in
a valley sheltered from drying winds, the grass on the southern slopes is
completely withered. And you will see an equally striking difference in
the coffee plants--those on the northern slopes full of health and life,
while those on the southern ones are yellow, dried up, and sickly. Even in
parts of the district where coffee will not thrive without a considerable
amount of shade, you will always find the plants thrive well (with little
or even none) on a northern bank, and look much better than on a
moderately shaded southern bank. Nor in the nursery is the effect of
aspect at all less striking. A nursery on a northern slope will require
far less water, and far less shade over the plants, than one with a
southern exposure. But the late Mr. MacIvor, superintendent of the
Government Cinchona plantations on the Nilgiri hills, has tested the value
of northern and southern aspects in a way which accurately judges their
respective values. He accordingly tells us that, "The reason why a
northern exposure in these latitudes is beneficial is from the fact that
it is much more moist during the dry season than a southern aspect,
because the sun's declension is southerly during the dry and cloudless
season of the year, and thus, on the northern slopes, the rays of the sun
do not penetrate and parch the soil. A northern aspect has also the
advantage of preserving a much more uniform temperature than a southern
aspect, because the excessive radiation and evaporation in the southern
slopes greatly reduces the temperature at night, while in the day they are
heated to excess by the action of the sun's rays striking the surface
nearly at right angles. The practical effects of aspect on the plants are
so great that they cannot be overlooked with impunity, and, in order to
impress this on the minds of all those who may have the selection of
localities for cinchona cultivation, I may mention that the difference of
temperature is almost incredible; for example, at this elevation (probably
about 7,000 feet) a thermometer laid on the surface of the southern face
of a hill exposed to the sun at 3 p.m., will frequently indicate from 130°
to 160° Fahr.; the same thermometer, if left in its position, and examined
at 6 a.m., will generally be observed to indicate from 30° to 40°, while
on a similar slope, if selected with a northern aspect, the thermometer,
under the same circumstances, at 3 p.m., will generally indicate from 70°
to 80°, and at 6 a.m. from 40° to 50°."
There is, then, about twice as much heat upon a southern as on a northern
aspect, and, of course, a corresponding difference as regards the effect
of sun and drought on plant and soil, and it is therefore obvious that our
shade policy should be governed accordingly.
As regards the comparative heat on western and eastern exposures, Mr.
MacIvor does not seem to have made any experiments with the thermometer,
but where the slope is at all sharp the rays of the fierce western sun
beat strongly into the soil, while it is quite off an easterly slope, of
similar gradient, for the whole of the afternoon, and there is an enormous
difference perceptible in the temperature. The effect, however, is in some
degree counterbalanced by the fact that the soil and the plants on the
easterly slope are swept by the withering and desiccating winds which
sweep over the arid plains of the interior.
We have seen, then, that the heat is very largely affected by the aspect,
but the relative amount of heat and coolness is of course controlled, to a
very considerable degree, by the gradient of the land, and just as steep
northern slopes will be very cool, and steep eastern slopes moderately so,
so will steep southerly and steep westerly gradients be extremely hot. The
heat and coolness of the land, then, is constantly varying, not only with
the aspect, but with the steepness of the gradients, and both of these
points must be taken into consideration in regulating the quantity of
shade required; and the reader will therefore see how impossible it is to
give more than a general guide towards the quantity of shade required, and
all I can undertake to say is that about twice as much shade is required
on a southerly as on a northerly slope, that rather more shade is required
on a westerly than on an eastern aspect, and that the last named requires
less than a southerly aspect.
But this question is further complicated by the varying quality of the
soil.
For our soils vary much in the same plantation, and require a greater or
less degree of shade accordingly. The lighter and drier soils, of course,
require not only more shade, but different kinds of trees, and in the case
of such soils jack and cub busree should be freely used, and especially
the former.
The quantity and quality of the shade required is also complicated by
considerations as regards wind, and, where the soil is exposed to drying
east winds, more shade should be put down than would otherwise be
necessary, had we only to deal with the drying caused by the sun's heat.
And in the case of such lands the shade should consist very largely of
jack and other thick foliaged trees, and these should be topped in order
to keep them short and bushy, and thus the more able to shield the land
from the effects of desiccating winds.
And the whole subject is further complicated by questions of elevation and
the varying quantity of rainfall, as the planter is nearer to, or farther
from the Western Ghauts, and here I can only say generally, that the
nearer you go to the Ghauts the less shade you will require, and the
further to the east the more is necessary, but the planter must be guided
here by local experience, as it is impossible to write precisely on the
subject.
Before quitting this branch of my subject, it may be well to show in a
single sentence the overwhelming importance of having well regulated shade
of the best kinds. If, then, the shade is excessive, the coffee will not
bear well, and if it is deficient or composed of a bad class of trees, the
coffee will be certain to suffer from Borer and leaf disease.
From what I have said in the previous sentence it is evident that the
regulation of the shade is of great importance. And, as the plantation
ages, this thinning of the shade, lopping sometimes lower boughs, removing
others, and cutting down occasional trees, requires constant attention. As
a rule the whole shade should be carefully re-regulated at the end of
every second year, or at the beginning of the third, when it will
generally be found that, in consequence of the spread of the trees, there
will be much thinning to be done. To cut down trees without injury to the
coffee is, I need hardly say, a very nice operation, though it is one that
the natives of the wooded countries, and especially the labourers from the
foot of the Ghauts, are very expert at. It should never be attempted with
coolies from the plains, who, of course, are unused to climbing trees, and
have no experience of woodland work. The branches and tops of the trees to
be felled are first removed, after a stout rope has been attached to a
fork, above the point to be cut, and the end of the rope is then run round
the butt of an adjacent tree, and held by a man. A huge bough is cut and
falls with a threatening crash, but so well is the end of the rope judged
that the ends of the twigs just touch the tops of the coffee trees. Then a
coolie proceeds to lop off the smaller twigs and branches of the bough,
and as he does so, it is gradually lowered till all are removed, and the
bough, bereft of its clothing, is laid on the ground. Then comes the
difficult task of felling the trees between the rows of coffee, a work of
great nicety, which is partly effected by the final stroke of the axe, and
partly by hauling a rope attached to the top of the tree. When a tree
cannot be felled between the rows, it may often be felled so as to fall
into the fork of an adjacent tree, and there it may be either left till it
decays or let gently down to the ground, if the stem is a thin one. Bamboo
ladders should be used to ascend the tree up to the first branch, as,
though coolies can readily ascend without them, their bare legs are apt to
suffer, and it is for this reason that coolies often try to shirk joining
the shade party. The branches lopped off should be cut up into short
lengths, and piled between the coffee trees. Such branches and twigs, as
they decay, form good manure.
I have said that the proper regulation of shade is a work of great
importance. It is also one of great difficulty, for the person who marks
the shade trees to be removed must have a thorough knowledge of the kinds
most worthy of preservation, and at the same time bear in mind the
aspects, the gradients, the relation of the earth to the sun during the
hottest months, and the declination of the sun; and, as the planter will
be usually marking shade trees in the morning, he must keep constantly in
view the points where the sun will strike in during the hot afternoon
hours. Then as he looks at a shade tree that has shot up to a great
height, he must consider whether its shade is thrown on the coffee it once
shaded or on to the top of an adjacent shade tree, and, as regards such a
tree, he will often find that he is keeping on his land a tree that is
merely throwing a shade on to another shade tree. I was particularly
struck with this lately when looking at some howligay trees that had shot
up to a great height, and which I at once ordered to be removed, as I
found that their shade was now simply thrown on to the surrounding shade
trees. In short, the trees were now doing no good, and were therefore
merely doing harm by occupying the land and robbing it of food. I have
said that when marking shade the planters must bear in mind the relation
of the earth to the sun during the hottest months, and this caution is
very necessary, because if he should happen to be marking trees in January
for removal after the crop season is over, and does not remember that the
earth is daily shifting its position, he will find that he will have made
many mistakes as to the trees which should be preserved, and that a tree
that is very well placed for blocking out the hot afternoon sun in
January, may be of very little use in March and April.
After a shade tree has been cut down it is necessary, in order to prevent
the stump throwing up suckers, to remove the bark thoroughly from the
stump, and also from any roots that project from the surface of the
ground. If this is not done the stump and its roots will live on and take
up manure intended for the coffee.
It is important to remember that, in many parts of an estate, as the shade
trees become lofty the sun will come in, just as it would on a man's head
if he carried his umbrella erect, and at the end of a long pole, and I
have seen coffee trees so much exposed to the sun as to require fresh
shade to be planted near them, not withstanding that some of the coffee
trees in question were almost touching the stem of a very tall shade tree.
When the planter observes that the sun is thus likely to come in from the
shooting up of the shade trees, he should plant fresh shade. Nor need he
be afraid of putting down too much, for it is easily removed if this is
done when the trees are small, and then it must also be remembered that,
as the plantation ages, both coffee and soil call for more shade, as the
growing power of the land, and its ability to keep the trees fresh and
green, naturally diminishes with the advance of time. Whenever, then, the
appearance of the coffee shows that it is needed, fresh shade should be at
once supplied, for every yellow leaved patch of coffee in a plantation is
a breeding ground for the Borer insects, which will gradually spread into
the adjacent coffee, where their presence will never be detected till hot,
dry seasons occur, which they are sure to do sooner or later. When
spreading from such yellow patches the Borer insect may not attack strong
trees. On the contrary, it will generally attack those which are in a
dried up condition either from weakness of constitution or because they
are suffering from the effects of an over heavy crop, but in such trees it
will surely obtain a footing, and so be ready to spread further when hot,
dry seasons arrive. When, then, the appearance of the coffee shows that
more shade is required, charcoal trees should be planted, and on the
northern side of them cuttings of the good caste shade trees should be put
down; and I particularly emphasize the side for the nurse because it is
thus interposed between the sun and the permanent shade trees to be
sheltered.
When the permanent shade trees have grown to the required size, the
charcoal trees should be removed. It must be remembered that the permanent
shade trees will grow very slowly unless sheltered by such nurses from the
sun, and further, that the older the land the slower is the growth of all
trees. It is most necessary, then, in all old land to dig holes at least
four feet deep, and fill them with some good top soil from the forest, or
with ordinary soil and cattle manure and bones. In order fully to protect
the young shade trees from cattle and the sun, I now erect a square of
fencing composed of palm tree slabs, and so high that cattle cannot reach
over it, and, in the dry season, place some toddy tree branches across the
square so as to shade the plants put down. In each square I plant a cub
busree cutting, or one of the five kinds of trees recommended; sow several
jack seeds, and a charcoal tree as nurse. In the case of the tree cutting
failing to thrive, the planter will then always have a jack tree to fall
back on. Should the cutting succeed the jack plant may be removed. I may
here add that the parts requiring more shade are naturally more apparent
in the hot season, and the planter should then put down a short pole with
a flag at the end of it, whenever more shade is required. This will
greatly facilitate the work of shade planting in the monsoon, as at that
time the places where more shade is required are not very readily
apparent, as all the coffee then becomes more or less green.
I have alluded to the fact that parasites (Kanarese--_Bundlikay_) attack
the shade trees, and especially the nogurigay and jack trees. They should,
of course, be cut off along with the bough on which they may happen to be
growing; and it is important to remember that this should be done before
the seed ripens, which is usually at the beginning of the monsoon. The
latter end of April is the best time to carry out this work, as, if
deferred till rain begins, the trees become slippery, and so dangerous for
the climbers.
I have pointed out that the five trees I have recommended as being the
best for shade can all be grown from cuttings, and it is important to
point out that these should be taken from young and vigorous trees, and
not, as is often done, from trees which are declining from age. There are
some useful remarks at pages 88 and 89 of Mr. Graham Anderson's "Jottings
on Coffee," on the preparation and planting of cuttings. The holes should
be two feet deep, and filled up to three-quarters of the depth with soil.
The cuttings should be six feet long with a fork at the top. They should
be made at the beginning of the monsoon, and left in a cool and shady
place in order to thicken the sap, the lower extremity of the cutting
should be cut off with a curved slope, like the mouth-piece of a
flageolet. Put the cutting gently into the hole, so as not to fray the
bark, and tread down firmly. Wounds should be smeared with a mixture of
cowdung and mud. The attí (_Ficus glomerata_) may also be grown from
cuttings, but these should be rather thinner than those taken from the
five trees first mentioned as being the best to plant for shade.
It has been previously pointed out that charcoal trees are valuable as
nurses. They may be raised by clearing and burning a small piece of
jungle, or by putting some virgin jungle soil in a bed and watering it,
when charcoal plants will spring up. When a few inches high, take the
plants up carefully with a ball of earth and transplant into baskets
filled with jungle top soil. Put out the plants with their baskets in
holes about the size of those usually made for coffee plants, and early in
the monsoon, and see that they are well protected from cattle.
In conclusion, I think it well to mention that we have on my property, so
far as I am aware, by far the oldest artificial shading of coffee in
India. For many years all the estates in Mysore relied on the original
forest shade, but mine was partly destroyed by a running fire when the
clearings were first made, and some of the land was cleared wholly down,
burned off, and planted with the most desirable kinds of shade trees. Our
experience on this property dates back to the year 1857, and is therefore
particularly valuable, for the defects connected with some trees were not
apparent for as much, in one important case, as thirty years.
FOOTNOTES:
[52] I regret that I am unable to give the botanical name of this tree,
and of some others subsequently mentioned. I have drawn up a list of
trees, some of which may be retained till better trees can be grown to
supply their places, and also of other trees which are positively
injurious to coffee, but do not publish them, partly in order to save
space, and partly because I have not been able to ascertain the botanical
names of all the trees in question.
[53] My manager last year weighed and counted the Jack fruits from a
single tree. There were forty fruits which weighed 572 lbs. The largest
fruit weighed 30 lbs.