The question as to where shade is necessary is one of climate ; it is not universally beneficial. The advantagee to be derived from it, in very hot climates, are :—Dinainiiihed exhaustion, and consequently increased longevity of the plant ; reduced cost of cultivation ; a conservation of the nutritious propertiee of the soil, and an actual increase of them, as the cover given to the ground causes the surfEtce vegetable matter to decay more rapidly ; and, provided the tree be a sub-soil feeder, the shedding of its leaves will yield a poeitive gain of surface matter, which the roots of the coffee would otherwise never have reached. In addition to this, there is the direct value of the timber grown. The only drawback to shade would eeem to be a diminished yield of coffee ; hut thie is atoned for by the increased longevity of the 'plant. The most suitable trees for affording shade will be alluded to under the local headings.
Boads.—Efficient roads not only greatly facilitate the working of a plantation, but they should be so laid out ELS to serve the additional purpose of drainage. A cart road should pass through the eeutre of the estate, wherever it is possible to avoid a steeper gradient than 1 iD 15, emerging upon the main highway. From this, branch roads should be cut at right angles, with ELS easy gradients as possible, and not more than 100-150 ft. Etpart. These branch roads should cross the lay of the ground, so as to check, to the fullest extent, the effects of waste. A boundary path encircling the estate is useful for many reasons. The main central road should be set out before pitting and planting. Wire tramways commend themselves as eminently suited to minimize labour on coffee estates. An excess of road accommodation, as regards both the number and tbe width of the paths, is far preferable to insufficient reading, despite the extra first outlay. If the ground be rich, it may cost a good deal to keep the roads clean and free from weeds. This, however, may be greatly lessened by ploughing them up and planting them with an annual crop, until the land is exhausted ; not only will the roada be rounded by the ploughing, but weeda will not so readily grow.
Drains.—Nothing is more important than the thorough draining of a coffee eetate, in order to cerry away the excess of moieture during heavy rains, without allowing tlae surface soil to be washed away. Continuous open trenches are cut iu parallel linee across the face of the slope, and at 10-15 yards apart ; their gradient should never exe,eed 1 in 12, and 1 in 20, or even.30, will be
better ; their width may be 15-18 in. ; and their depth, not less than 1 ft. at the lower side. They need constant cleaning out and repair, especially after a heavy ahower. They must in all casee empty into a natural or artificial channel amply cEtpable of carrying off the water ; if furnished with breake to catch the suspended soil, so much the better, ELS the latter can then be collected and returned to the estate as EL dressing.
Catch-Crops.—Mueh has been said both for and' against the growing of other crops. among the coffee shrubs. In the West Indies, the culture of plantains, yams, cocoa, &c. was carried to such an extrenae that the coffee became, in fact, of secondary importance, or was even killed out. In Ceylon, too, eatch-crops were long in vogue ; but they seem now to have. gone out. of faehrn, as they exhausted the Boil, and produced too much ebade. There is nothing to object to in the simultaneous cultivation of several crops so long ELS each has due space, and sufficient manure, and the plants are not antagonistic to each other, as the failure of one crop may be compensated for by the success of another. Rice and tobacco have been found to yield good returns as catch-cropa but they possess a disadvantage in not affording any ehade to the young coffee plants. Cocoa, yams, and plantains are, perhaps, even less advisable ; and similar attempts with cotton have proved altogether failures. Maize, on the other hand, is highly epoken of by Stainbank, from experiences in Natal. It should be planted thinly in three rows, 18 in. apart, between the coffee rows, and two plants in the coffee rows between the coffee plants. The eeed should be sown immediately after the coffee is planted. It growe very quickly, and should early be thinned out to 18 ia. apart in the rows ; it will soon be high enough to completely shelter and partially shade the coffee, which will grow all the faster in consequence. The latter will also be benefited by the extra working of the ground. In the autumn, a dressing of manure is applied, and the ground is ploughed, or deeply hoed, preferably the former. The crop may be repeated in the followiog epring, reducing it, however, to two rows and one plant, and repeating the manuring and ploughing or hoeing ; this time the choice between plough and hoe will be governed by the size of the coffee shrubs ; the same manure will suit both coffee and maize.