Staking.—When the plants are exposed to wind, they should be provided with supports as soon as they are 10-12 in. high, and present a resisting surface. For first season's plants, lining pegs may be used ; but larger plants will need strong, inflexible stakes, 3-3i ft. long, entering the ground on the windward side, at about 6 in. distant, and at such an angle as to meet the stem at about its middle. The plant is attached to the slake by a broad loop of some vegetable fibre, firmly tied to the stake, but loose around the stem. If the plants have already been worked by the wind, they will need earthing up 5-6 in. as well. The ties may be brushed with coal-tar, as a protection against theft, insects, and decay.
Supplying Vaxancies.—Every precaution should be taken to guard agaiust failures, as "supplies," as they are called, will seldom if ever do as well as young plants put into virgin soil. In new la.nd, failures can be almost entirely guarded against by care. Their number may subsequently be limited by keeping the ground free from weeds, and by good draining, manuring, and pruning. A certain number of vacancies, however, will occur from time to time, and they must be filled up in the followiug manner :—The original pit, having been re-emptied, should be enlarged an inch or two all round, and especially in depth. This should be done in the dry weather, the pit being left open for some time, and only filled in when the time for planting has arrived. In most eases, it will be desirable to refill the pit with the soil which has been taken out of it. Where the vacancy is in the midst of old trees, a large pit is necessary, to protect the new plant from being interfered with by their roots, and it is well to isolate the young plant by surrounding it with a ring trench, 6-8 in. wide, and I ft. deep. It is also desirable to put a basketful or so of new soil from the forest into the pit, near the top ; whrre this cannot be managed, a few handfuls of manure should be mixed with the surface mould. Only strong, healthy plants may be used for this purpose. Stumps are often considered more suitable than nursery plants, as being hardier ; they throw out three or four " suckers," the best of which is selected when they have attained a height of 6-9 in., the others being carefully pulled off. Well-fornied nursery plants, with three or four pairs of primaries, and about 12-15 in. high, put iu just as they come from the beds, with a good ball round the roots, are to be preferred when steady wet weather can be calculated on for some time. In any case, supplies ought to be put in early in the wet season, so as to give them every advantage.
They should always be marked by a tall stake; and should be allowed to bear a maiden crop before being topped.
Shelter.—The worst enemy of the coffee shrub is wind. Its effects become apparent in pinched and stunted growth, or in lack of foliage. In situations where the soil is soft and yielding, it does equal mischief by working the stems in the ground, so that in a short time a funnel is formed round the neck of the plant, and this being continually chafed, the bark is worn off, the roots are loosened, and the plant diee " wind-wrung." Should it be rescued before the bark is entirely worn off, the plant may live ; but it will be extremely liable to attacks from " bug," " worm," or any other blight prevalent in the locality. Belts of jungle are eometirnes left etanding, as a protection ; but opinions differ as to the advantage of this plan, some planters holding that more harm ia likely to result from the wind being concentrated into eddies, instead of taking ita natural and more equable course. This question can only be decided by the local circumstances of each case. Such belts, being sure to form nurseries for weeds and vermin, are not intended to be permanent, and should gradually give way to fruit or other ueeful trees. Sometimes artificial shelter is erected, but it is too costly to flnd general favour. Indeed, in moderately sheltered situations, staking, combiucd with low topping, ought to be sufficient to secure the stability of the plant ; where they are not, the eituation has little to recommend it for coffee culture.
Shade.—Thie ie coneideration of great importance, and tbe opinion now generally adopted ie, that the wholesale felling of the forest in some places has beeu altogether a mistake, and that plantations which are now extinct might still be flourishing, had the foreet ahade been at least partially retained. The history of coffee cultivation in the East proves that, in hot climates, and where prolonged seasons of drought may recur, coffee will not flourish permanently, except under shade. In a state of nature, the plant almost universally affects shade ; this is the more remarkable, that the seeds are deposited by wild animals and birds as freely on open grass lands as in forests. A euepicion that the borer, lettf-disease, and other immediate causes of decay, aro only induced by the weakened state of the shrube, consequent upon their exposure to lengthened periods of drought, is eupported by the fact that where shade trees are found standing upon an abandoned estate, they are surrounded by EL surviving remnant of coffee bushes.