NURSERIES.
Since the introduction of the Coorg plant, it has been customary for
Mysore planters to send annually to Coorg for seed, and they have always
endeavoured to obtain it from the best coffee grown on the best land, and,
as the results from this practice have been very satisfactory, it may seem
that no better course could be suggested. But till all courses are tried
it is certainly open to doubt whether this is the best, and I am now
experimenting with seeds produced not from the richest, but from the
poorest and most exposed portion of a Coorg estate (but of course neither
so poor nor exposed as to be incapable of producing strong, healthy trees
and sound seed), and I think it probable that seed from such trees will
produce hardier plants than can be produced from seed gathered in rich and
sheltered situations. As regards the climate from which the seed should be
produced, one well-known planter, Mr. Edwin Hunt, writing in the "Madras
Mail," Feb. 27th, 1891, says that he attaches the greatest importance to
change of seed irrespective of the poorness or richness of the soil on
which it has been raised, and thinks change of climate does as much as
change of soil, and has for some years found it advantageous to procure
seed from the wettest climate for the driest climate, and _vice versa_. I
have had no experience on this point as regards coffee, but it may be
interesting and useful from a shade-planting point of view, to note here
that I have found that seeds of the jack tree from the dry plains of the
interior produce plants which grow much more rapidly in the wet coffee
districts than plants do which have been raised from local seed, and this
naturally raises a question, I am now experimenting on, i.e., as to
whether we should not procure coffee-seed from trees grown in the dry
plains of the interior where the rainfall is less than half of that of our
driest coffee districts. I may here note that coffee can be grown in
low-lying sheltered land as far east as Bangalore if the coffee is
irrigated. I was shown in 1891 coffee that looked well, and had borne
well, in Mr. Meenakshia's gardens, some miles from Bangalore. One hundred
and seventy trees planted 6 x 6 ft. in 1885 gave an appreciable crop in
1889, and in 1890 3 cwt. of clean coffee, or at the rate of upwards of a
ton an acre. When I saw the trees in July, 1891, they were looking well,
and had a fair crop on them. There was no shade except a bushy tree here
and there. The proprietor, encouraged by his success, had been extending
his cultivation. In the same garden I also saw cardamom plants about seven
feet high and in blossom; these had been planted eighteen months
previously. There were also some vines, grown from plants imported from
Caubul, which produced large fine white grapes.
It is of course very important to select a good site for the nursery, and
a ready command of water is essential, as it is both costly and
unsatisfactory to carry to the beds even a short distance, and the aspect
should, if possible, be northerly, as in that case very little shading is
required if the ground is on a slope, as, if a line of trees is left at
the head of the slope, a large amount of lateral shade will be thrown on
to the beds. Next to a northern an eastern aspect, if the land is
low-lying, with a hill or sloping land rising rather abruptly behind it,
is by no means a bad situation, as the sun will be entirely off the land
early in the afternoon. Should the planter unfortunately have to fall
back on a southern aspect, this may be aided by leaving forest trees
rather thickly on the western side of the nurseries so as to shield it
from the afternoon sun, or a line of casuarinas may be planted on the
west, and also on the southern side, so as to cast lateral shade on the
nursery. A western aspect is to be deprecated, in consequence of the
scorching heat of the afternoon sun.
There is a common idea, which I myself once shared, that it is always best
to have your nursery on new land, but this is really not at all necessary
if you renew your land by carting on to it top soil from the jungle, or
even a mixture of any fresh soil that has not been trampled upon, and
which has been mixed with cattle manure and some bone-meal. I consider it
most important to retain the same site for the nursery, because, by
growing casuarinas to cast lateral shade on it, you can ultimately
dispense with shading the nursery, as these trees run up quickly, and
attain a great height. The light, too, comes readily through them, so that
their lateral shade is most desirable, and lateral shade, it must be
remembered, allows the plants to benefit by the dew fall. I may add that
the height to which the trees grow enables the planter to grow them at
such a distance from the beds as to be practically unable to reach them
with their roots.
As regards the best time for putting down the seed, opinions and practice
have varied considerably, but it is now generally admitted that seed put
down at Christmas, which will give plants with ten leaves on them in June
(the planting season) are the most suitable for new clearings. Seed put
down in September or October will give fine sturdy plants with one or two
pairs of branches, and these are considered to be the most suitable for
vacancies in old land. In order to do full justice to the last-named
plants, they should, three months before planting out, be transplanted
into small circular baskets, about the size of a small flower pot, and
with wide spaces between the wickerwork. These baskets should be filled
with a mixture of dried cattle dung and good soil; they should then be
placed on the surface of the bed and touching each other, and, when the
plants are put out, they should be put down with the basket, which will
then be quite filled with a mass of fibrous roots all ready to extend
themselves into the surrounding land. When this course is pursued the
plant receives no check, and its rapid growth is insured. If this method
is not adopted in the case of replanting old land, or filling up vacancies
amongst old coffee, many plants are sure to perish, and the survivors will
make but poor progress. But in the case of virgin soil this course, though
obviously a safe one, and freeing the planters from all anxiety as to a
failure in the rains, may be dispensed with. Where baskets are expensive,
or difficult to procure, pieces of worn out gunny bags answer the purpose
fairly well, and I have seen them used on the Nilgiri hills.
The pits for vacancy plants should be dug shortly after the monsoon, and
filled in soon after being dug, when the soil is quite dry, with a mixture
of jungle top soil, bone-meal, and ordinary soil, or old, well dried
cattle manure mixed with some fine bone-meal and ordinary soil. I have
never used the nitrate of potash for manuring vacancy plants, but it has
been used in Coorg with good effect, as may be readily understood by
anyone who has had any experience of that valuable manure.
In conclusion, I may say that if the planter is not prepared to take all
the steps necessary to insure the growth of vacancy plants in old land, he
had far better not put down any at all, as he will find it to be a mere
waste of money and labour, which is often more precious than money.
As regards the important point of topping, there are considerable
differences of opinion. I am in favour of short topping, because the
coffee thus more quickly and completely covers the ground, and the trees
are more easily pruned and handled, and some planters top at from three to
three and a half feet. Others again prefer four feet, and some four feet
and a half, while I know of a planter who prefers a greater height, and
cuts off the lower branches of his trees so as to turn them into an
umbrella shape. The last practice I thought a very strange one once, but
taking rot and leaf disease into consideration, I am by no means sure
that, for our shade coffee, it is not the best, and at any rate feel quite
sure that, as the lower branches in the case of highly topped trees soon
become poor and thin, the practice of high topping, and removing some of
the lower branches, is one to be decidedly recommended, and I am now
adopting it on my estate. For, in the case of our shade plantation, if the
coffee is short and thickly planted, so as to closely cover the ground,
there is necessarily a great want of ventilation, and, when this is the
case, rot must, from the great dampness of the ground, have a tendency to
increase in the monsoon, while from there being no room for the passage of
air underneath the trees, the spores of the leaf disease will be preserved
from being dried up and killed during the season of strong and parching
winds. But quite independently of these reasons, it seems to me that the
souring of the land owing to excessive saturation would be much lessened
were there free ventilation under the coffee trees. And, taking all these
points into consideration, I am now letting up all my short topped trees,
which is easily done by letting a sucker grow from the head of the tree,
and topping it when it reaches the required height. In places which are
exposed, or fairly exposed, to wind, short topping would not be attended
with such disadvantages, as in the case of the land in more sheltered
situations, but for all sheltered situations it certainly seems to me
that, with reference to the limitation of rot, leaf disease and the
souring of the land, the trees should be topped at not less than four feet
and a half.
The trees should not be topped until after the blossom comes out, as the
result of topping at an earlier period would be to cause the trees to
throw out a heavy crop on the primary branches, and more suckers, and so
cause more trouble and expense in handling. It should be remembered, too,
that in the case of all young plants if, before the first blossom, you cut
the top, you check the growth of the roots. When topping, remove one of
the topmost pair of branches as, if both are left, a split in the top of
the stem is liable to occur. Should waiting until after the bursting of
the blossom cause the tree to grow so high as to be affected by wind, the
top may be pinched off by hand, and the tree afterwards topped at the
proper height. This is often necessary in the case of shaded coffee, which
is, of course, liable to be drawn up.
I have said that the evil of topping before blossom is, that a heavy crop
is thereby thrown out on the primary branches, and I know of nothing more
injurious to the young tree, or more certain to throw it out of shape, as
the branch shrinks, and the tendency then is for the strongest secondary
branch to take the lead. A judicious and full-pursed planter, it is true,
would either remove the whole of the maiden crop, or at least from the
three upper pairs of primaries, but the crop of the fourth year is apt to
find a young planter with empty pockets, and he may not be able to afford
the sacrifice; but he should in any case remove the immature berries, or
blossom buds, from the greenwood of the primary branches, and if he
refrains from topping before blossom, his trees may stand their maiden
crop fairly well. But if the maiden crop threatens to be a heavy one it
should certainly be lessened, as the following year there would be little
crop, and much growth of superfluous wood, and an over heavy crop the
succeeding year, and so on continuously. The trees would thus be thrown
into the habit of giving heavy alternate crops, which is most injurious to
the plant which, like all other fruit-yielding plants, should be worked so
as to give even, moderate crops every year. But is it not evident that a
heavy crop followed by a small crop and much superfluous growth must be
extremely bad? for the trees thus produce an over heavy crop of berries
one year, and an exhaustive crop of shoots and suckers during the next,
and thus call for an extra expenditure of labour.
It is very important, by what is called handling, to keep the tree clear
of shoots within six inches of the stem, and to remove all cross shoots
and suckers and thin out superfluous wood as soon as possible. For we must
constantly keep in mind that a given weight of leaves is as exhaustive to
the tree as a given weight of berries. Prompt handling, and the removal of
suckers, is also very necessary for the free ventilation of the tree, and
especially during the monsoon months. I would call particular attention to
the bearing that judicious and timely handling has on rot and leaf
disease, as these are both much encouraged if the tree, at the beginning
of the monsoon, has much immature foliage. We should handle them (and
prune too, as is subsequently pointed out) so as to meet the monsoon as
much as possible with well ripened leaves, and this can obviously be best
done by preserving all the September and October shoots we can, and
removing all the February shoots that the tree can spare. In connection
with this subject, I would strongly advise planters to study Mr. Marshall
Ward's third Report on leaf disease in Ceylon, to which I have elsewhere
referred, and would particularly call attention to what he urges as to the
advisability of giving every leaf that is to be preserved as long a life
as possible, in order that it may feed the tree for the greatest possible
length of time.
In our climate, anything approaching to heavy pruning is regarded as an
abomination, and the general opinion is now in favour of shortening back
long drooping primaries, removing cross shoots and wood that is not likely
to bear anything more, and thinning out overgrowths of new wood. The most
luxuriantly wooded part of the plantation should be pruned first, and the
sticky coffee last, because, in the first place, it is important to stop
the growth of superfluous wood as soon as possible, and in the second
case, time will be given to the sticky coffee to throw out new shoots, so
that the pruner can see exactly where to apply the knife, which is often a
matter of difficulty, if he is dealing with trees quite exhausted from
bearing a heavy crop, or from the land being insufficiently manured. It is
very important to pare closely off the spikes left after cutting off a
secondary branch, so that the bark may heal over the junction of the
branch with the parent branch, as, if this is not done, the free
circulation of the sap is checked. It runs up the branches, and, of
course, cannot readily get on when it meets with a spike of wood sticking
out of the branch. This spike or stump may be green or half or quite dead,
but whatever state it is in the free circulation of the sap will be
checked, and the quantity of sap in circulation for the benefit of the
main branch will be lessened.
The time for pruning trees is obviously of great importance. Our present
practice is to prune as soon after the crop as possible, and no doubt this
follows the rule as regards all fruit tree culture, which is, that the
trees, from the time of blossoming till up to the picking of the crop,
should not be interfered with. But pruning at that time causes the tree to
throw out much young wood which in the beginning of the monsoon is in an
immature state, and, as Mr. Ward has pointed out (_vide_ p. 389), this
succulent foliage is a good breeding ground for leaf disease. Mr. Brooke
Mockett, too (_vide_ p. 401), has pointed out that leaf disease is worst
in the case of trees which have been heavily pruned, and obviously because
the heavier the pruning the greater the supply of succulent foliage. Such
succulent foliage, too, is liable to be rotted away in the drenching rains
of the south-west monsoon. So that, taking all the points into
consideration, it is obvious that pruning should be so managed as to
increase mature foliage, and, as much as possible, limit the amount of
succulent foliage, at the beginning of the monsoon. How this object is to
be attained it is difficult to see, but we can certainly do something
towards attaining it by very light pruning; and I would suggest here that
planters should make experiments both in pruning and manuring, with the
view of growing the young wood earlier in the season. And I would suggest
that planters might set aside say an acre, and leave the trees untouched
at the usual pruning season, and confine their pruning to removing useless
wood at the end of the monsoon. This, I surmise, would have the effect of
throwing out new wood then, which would be mature at the beginning of the
monsoon. Such experimental plots should not be manured after crop, but
should be manured immediately after the monsoon. It certainly seems to me
that, if we could both manure and prune at the end of the monsoon, we
should attain, as far as it can be attained, the production of mature wood
and leaves at the beginning of the monsoon.
Some planters, when pruning, remove moss and rub down the trees at the
same time, but this, I am sure, can be done more cheaply and effectually
as a separate work.
The removal of moss and rough bark, and generally cleaning and rubbing
down the trees is a work of very great importance, and should be carried
out once every two or three years. The injury arising from moss is too
well known to call for any remark, but the reason why the removal of rough
bark, and especially rough bark at the head of the tree, and at the
junction of the topmost branches with the stem is of such importance is,
that it is in the crevices of the rough bark that the Borer fly lays its
eggs. When thus removing the moss and rough bark, the eggs may often be
destroyed, and in the absence of rough bark to shelter them, it is
probable that the insect would probably not lay the eggs at all, or that,
if it did, they would either become addled, or fall to the ground. I may
add here that we have found a piece of square tin the best thing for
scraping down the trees, and that the hair-like fibre of the sago palm is
an excellent thing for rubbing down the stems.
Though moss thrives best in damp situations, and on northern aspects, it
sometimes exists on open and eastern aspects, and, when the latter is the
case, the moss is certainly due to poverty of soil, and in such cases, in
addition to scraping the trees thoroughly, an application of top soil
mixed with lime, or bonedust, should be applied to the land. I may add
that I have seen trees on a dry knoll, and with no shade over head,
covered with moss, and this was no doubt owing to poverty of soil, which
caused the bark to be in an unhealthy condition, and therefore a suitable
home for the growth and spread of moss.
Digging and working the soil in order to keep it in an open condition is
of great importance, because, to use for the second or third time the
words of Sir John Lawes, "it is the physical condition of the soil, its
permeability to roots, its capacity for absorbing and radiating heat, and
for absorbing and retaining water, that is more important than its
strictly speaking chemical condition." In other words, a moderately
fertile soil, if maintained in fine physical condition, will give better
results than a rich one which is in a hardened state. But to keep the
soil in good condition, and yet comply with the fruit cultivators' chief
axiom that, "from the time of blossom till the crop is ripe the roots
should not be disturbed," is a matter of great difficulty--I might almost
indeed say an impossibility. For, from the trampling of the people in
their passage up and down the lines, and the dash of the rain, the soil
becomes exceedingly hard immediately after, or at least very shortly after
the rain. Here, then, the planter finds himself between the devil and the
deep sea. Is he to leave his soil in a hardened state from the beginning
of November to the end of January, or perhaps the middle of February, or
is he to violate the axiom which tells him not to disturb the roots till
after the crop is ripened? And here I think the condition of things is
such that he should come to a compromise, and dig up at the end of the
monsoon a space of about 2 to 2-1/2 feet up the centre of the lines, which,
being the part always walked upon, is necessarily liable to be puddled and
hardened, and then, after crop-picking is finished, lightly dig, or pick
over and stir, the remainder of the soil, breaking, of course, all clods
at the same time. By such a process we should prevent the central portion
drying up and cracking, and aerate laterally the rest of the soil, and at
the same time do as little damage as possible to the roots. I need hardly
say that it is of great importance to begin with all those places where
the soil is most hardened, as, should the planter not be able, from
shortness of labour, to complete his digging before crop, he will at least
have dug those places most urgently in need of cultivation. If the soil of
the estate is pretty even in character, the hottest aspects will of course
harden soonest, and should be dug first, but it may so happen that a hot
aspect may have a soil of a loose and open character, while a north aspect
might have a soil of stiff character, and here the planter must alter the
rule so as to suit his particular case.
For digging, or rather loosening the soil at the end of the monsoon, my
experience is that the four-pronged Assam fork is the best tool, and that
for the light picking over of the whole of the soil after crop a light
two-pronged digger is best. This last tool is shaped like a mamoty, but
with two prongs rather widely set apart instead of the broad blade of the
mamoty. It being very light, it can easily be turned in the hand, so that
clods may be broken with the back of the tool, and it can be used by
women, which of course is of great advantage for pushing forward the work.
Renovation pits, as they are called, were once regarded as an excellent
means of deeply stirring the soil, but, of recent years, have fallen out
of favour with many planters, and I think justly so. These pits, or rather
trenches, are dug in the spaces between four trees, and are generally
about fifteen inches in depth, as many in width, and about ten feet long.
Weeds and rubbish were thrown into them, and when they were filled with
these, and soil washed into them, the pits were abandoned and another set
opened. I am now satisfied that these pits did much damage by the
sub-soil--which is often of an undesirable quality, and always, of course,
more liable to run together and harden than the original top soil--being
thrown on to the surface of the land. In fact, they did the same damage
that the steam plough has often done at home in unskilful hands, i.e.,
turned a fine loose surface soil into one of an inferior character. Then
the sides and edges of the pits harden and crack, and this of course adds
to the heat of the plantation. But renovation pits may be put to an
excellent use if employed in their character of water-holes, as they are
called by the natives, and whenever land is liable to wash, they are of
great service, and, though but small portions of our shaded plantations
are ever liable to wash, a line of renovation pits should always be put on
the lower sides of roads to catch the water that runs off them, and thus
cause it to soak gradually into the soil. When renovation pits are used as
water-holes no new ones should be opened, but the old pit should be
cleaned out and its contents scattered on the surface of the land, not
between the rows of coffee, as the soil would at once run into the
renovation pits below, but around the stems of the coffee trees and in the
lines. I have found that renovation pits, or water-holes, are of great
value as water conservators, and wherever it is necessary to increase the
supply of water for a tank, deep water-holes--say from 3 to 4 feet in
depth and width--should be dug around the upper sides of the tank, and the
rain water conducted into them by small channels. We have found, on my
property, such an appreciable effect from even a moderate amount of such
holes, that I am now largely increasing their number. A friend of mine has
also found a similar effect in connection with his tank, though, I may
mention, he had made the pits in connection with his coffee, and not with
the view of increasing the water supply in his tank. I believe that this
method of increasing the water supply would be well worth the attention of
Government in connection with its numerous tanks.
The reader will remember that I have recommended applications of jungle
top soil and other soil, and it should be remembered that such
applications will, by rendering the soil more open, much lighten the work
of digging, and this is a point that should be carefully estimated when
calculating the expense of dressing the land with fresh soil.