rying on of a
coffee plantation will be taken up in their proper order and described
in as plain language as possible, and as briefly as is consistent with a
clear explanation of the subject.

The very first thing the planter should do after obtaining possession of
his land is to plant a nursery, so that he may have, as soon as
possible, an abundant supply of strong healthy plants. Many planters
have planted their fields with wild stumps, these are young coffee
plants that are found under wild growths of coffee trees. The young
trees are cut off about six inches above the ground, they are then taken
up and the lateral roots trimmed close to the tap root. The thready end
of the tap root is cut off and the stump is ready to plant. In some
cases the young plants are taken up, from under the wild trees, and
planted just as they are. This method can be dismissed at once as the
worst possible method of planting the coffee tree. The very best plants
are strong healthy nursery plants, that is, plants that have been grown
from the best seed in a properly prepared nursery. The next best plants
to use are nursery stumps. These are nursery trees that have grown too
large to safely transplant. By cutting them down and trimming the roots
they can be safely transplanted to the field, where they will grow into
good healthy trees. Stumps soon after planting send up several shoots,
these, with the exception of the strongest one, are taken off. This
latter shoot is to grow and make the coffee trees.

MAKING THE NURSERY.

The size of the nursery will depend on how large the plantation is to
be. For a 75-acre plantation, one acre of ground will more than supply
all the plants required. It is always desirable to have a greater number
of plants than is needed to just plant the acreage the plantation is to
be, for after the fields are planted some of the plants may get injured
from dry weather and require replacing with plants from the nursery. Any
surplus left, after the trees in the fields are well established, can be
sold to some later planter, who will find it to his advantage to
purchase good nursery plants for his first planting and thereby save one
year of time. It is advisable for all planters to buy plants for their
first planting, but for the second year's planting they should have a
nursery of their own from which they can select the strongest and most
forward plants.

The land for the nursery should be selected as close as po