All About Coffee by William H. Ukers (interesting novels in english TXT) 📖
- Author: William H. Ukers
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Carvalho says that the coffee plant needs sun, but that a few hours daily exposure is sufficient. Hilly ground has the advantage of offering the choice of a suitable exposure, as the sun shines on it for only a part of the day. Whether it is the early morning or the afternoon sun that enables the plant to attain its optimum conditions is a question of locality.
Cross Section of Mountain Slope in Yemen, Arabia, Showing Coffee Terraces
These miniature plantations are found chiefly along the caravan route between Hodeida and Sanaa
Clearing Virgin Forest for a Coffee Estate in Mexico Clearing Virgin Forest for a Coffee Estate in Mexico
Coffee Nursery Under a Bamboo Roof in Colombia Coffee Nursery Under a Bamboo Roof in Colombia
THE FIRST STEPS IN COFFEE GROWING
In Mexico, Romero tells us, the highlands of Soconusco have the advantage that the sun does not shine on the trees during the whole of the day. On the higher slopes of the Cordilleras—from 2,500 feet above sea-level—clouds prevail during the summer season, when the sun is hottest, and are frequently present in the other seasons, after ten o'clock in the morning. These keep the trees from being exposed to the heat of the sun during the whole of the day. Perhaps to this circumstance is due the superior excellence of certain coffees grown in Mexico, Colombia, and Sumatra at an altitude of 3,000 feet to 4,000 feet above sea-level.
Richard Spruce, the botanist, in his notes on South America, as quoted by Alfred Russel Wallace,[315] refers to "a zone of the equatorial Andes ranging between 4,000 and 6,000 feet altitude, where the best flavored coffee is grown."
Propagation. Coffee trees are grown most generally from seeds selected from trees of known productivity and longevity; although in some parts of the world propagation is done from shoots or cuttings. The seed method is most general, however, the seeds being either propagated in nursery beds, or planted at once in the spot where the mature tree is to stand. In the latter case—called planting at stake—four or five seeds are planted, much as corn is sown; and after germination, all but the strongest plant are removed.
Where the nursery method is followed, the choicest land of the plantation is chosen for its site; and the seeds are planted in forcing beds, sometimes called cold-frames. When the plants are to be transplanted direct to the plantation, the seeds are generally sown six inches apart and in rows separated by the same distance, and are covered with only a slight sprinkling of earth. When the plants are to be transferred from the first bed to another, and then to the plantation, the seeds are sown more thickly; and the plants are "pricked" out as needed, and set out in another forcing bed.
During the six to seven weeks required for the coffee seed to germinate, the soil must be kept moist and shaded and thoroughly weeded. If the trees are to be grown without shade, the young plants are gradually exposed to the sun, to harden them, before they begin their existence in the plantation proper.
Drying Grounds and Factory in the Preanger Regency Drying Grounds and Factory in the Preanger Regency
Native Transport, Field to Factory, at Dramaga, Near Buitenzorg Native Transport, Field to Factory, at Dramaga, Near Buitenzorg
COFFEE SCENES IN JAVA, NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES
Considerable experimental work has been done in renewing trees by grafting, notably in Java; but practically all commercial planters follow the seed method.
Preparing the Plantation. Before transplanting time has come, the plantation itself has been made ready to receive the young plants. Coffee plantations are generally laid out on heavily wooded and sloping lands, most often in forests on mountainsides and plateaus, where there is an abundance of water, of which large quantities are used in cultivating the trees and in preparing the coffee beans for market. The soil most suitable is friable, sandy, or even gravelly, with an abundance of rocks to keep the soil comparatively cool and well drained, as well as to supply a source of food by action of the weather. The ideal soil is one that contains a large proportion of potassium and phosphoric acid; and for that reason, the general practise is to burn off the foliage and trees covering the land and to use the ashes as fertilizer.
In preparing the soil for the new plantation under the intensive cultivation method, the surface of the land is lightly plowed, and then followed up with thorough cultivation. When transplanting time comes, which is when the plant is about a year old, and stands from twelve to eighteen inches high with its first pairs of primary branches, the plants are set out in shallow holes at regular intervals of from eight to twelve, or even fourteen, feet apart. This gives room for the root system to develop, provides space for sunlight to reach each tree, and makes for convenience in cultivating and harvesting. Liberica and robusta type trees require more room than arabica. When set twelve feet apart, which is the general practise, with the same distance maintained between rows, there are approximately four hundred and fifty trees to the acre. In the triangle, or hexagon, system the trees are planted in the form of an equilateral triangle, each tree being the same distance (usually eight or nine feet) from its six nearest neighbors. This system permits of 600 to 800 trees per acre.
Shade and Wind Breaks. Strong, chilly winds and intensely hot sunlight are foes of coffee trees, especially of the arabica variety. Accordingly, in most countries it is customary to protect the plantation with wind-breaks consisting of rugged trees, and to shade the coffee by growing trees of other kinds between the rows. The shade trees serve also to check soil erosion; and in the case of the leguminous kinds, to furnish nutriment to the soil. Coffee does best in shade such as is afforded by the silk oak (Grevillea robusta). In Shade in Coffee Culture (Bulletin 25, 1901, division of botany, United States Department of Agriculture), O.F. Cook goes extensively into this subject.
The methods employed in the care of a coffee plantation do not differ materially from those followed by advanced orchardists in the colder fruit-belts of the world. After the young plants have gained their start, they are cultivated frequently, principally to keep out the weeds, to destroy pests, and to aerate the earth. The implements used range from crude hand-plows to horse-drawn cultivators.
Fertilizing. Comparatively little fertilizing is done on plantations established on virgin soil until the trees begin to bear, which occurs when they are about three years of age. Because the coffee tree takes potash, nitrogen, and phosphoric acid from the soil, the scheme of fertilizing is to restore these elements. The materials used to replace the soil-constituents consist of stable manure, leguminous plants, coffee-tree prunings, leaves, certain weeds, oil cake, bone and fish meal, guano, wood ashes, coffee pulp and parchment, and such chemical fertilizers as superphosphate of lime, basic slag, sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of lime, sulphate of potash, nitrate of potash, and similar materials.
The relative values of these fertilizers depend largely upon local climate and soil conditions, the supply, the cost, and other like factors. The chemical fertilizers are coming into increasing use in the larger and more economically advanced producing countries. Brazil, particularly, is showing in late years a tendency toward their adoption to make up for the dwindling supply of the so-called natural manures. As the coffee tree grows older, it requires a larger supply of fertilizer.
The Famous Boekit Gompong Estate, Near Padang, on Sumatra's West Coast
Showing the healthy, regular appearance of well-cultivated coffee bushes, twenty-six years old. Also note the line of feathery bamboo wind-breaks
Pruning. On the larger plantations, pruning is an important part of the cultivation processes. If left to their own devices, coffee trees sometimes grow as high as forty feet, the strength being absorbed by the wood, with a consequent scanty production of fruit. To prevent this undesirable result, and to facilitate picking, the trees on the more modern plantations are pruned down to heights ranging from six to twelve feet. Except for pruning the roots when transplanting, the tree is permitted to grow until after producing its first full crop before any cutting takes place. Then, the branches are severely cut back; and thereafter, pruning is carried on annually. Topping and pruning begin between the first and the second years.
Coffee trees as a rule produce full crops from the sixth to the fifteenth year, although some trees have given a paying crop until twenty or thirty years old. Ordinarily the trees bear from one-half pound to eight pounds of coffee annually, although there are accounts of twelve pounds being obtained per tree. Production is mostly governed by the cultivation given the tree, and by climate, soil, and location. When too old to bear profitable yields, the trees on commercial plantations are cut down to the level of the ground; and are renewed by permitting only the strongest sprout springing out of the stump to mature.
Catch Crops. On some plantations it has become the practise to grow catch crops between the rows of coffee trees, both as a means of obtaining additional revenue and to shade the young coffee plants. Corn, beans, cotton, peanuts, and similar plants are most generally used.
Pests and Diseases. The coffee tree, its wood, foliage, and fruit, have their enemies, chief among which are insects, fungi, rodents (the "coffee rat"), birds, squirrels, and—according to Rossignon—elephants, buffalo, and native cattle, which have a special liking for the tender leaves of the coffee plant. Insects and fungi are the most bothersome pests on most plantations. Among the insects, the several varieties of borers are the principal foes, boring into the wood of the trunk and branches to lay larvae which sap the life from the tree. There are scale insects whose excretion forms a black mold on the leaves and affects the nutrition by cutting off the sunlight. Numerous kinds of beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and crickets attack the coffee-tree leaves, the so-called "leaf-miner" being especially troublesome. The Mediterranean fruit fly deposits larvae which destroy or lessen the worth of the coffee berry by tunneling within and eating the contents of the parchment. The coffee-berry beetle and its grub also live within the coffee berry.
Among the most destructive fungoid diseases is the so-called Ceylon leaf disease, which is caused by the Hemileia vastatrix, a fungus related to the wheat rust. It was this disease which ruined the coffee industry in Ceylon, where it first appeared in 1869, and since has been found in other coffee-producing regions of Asia and Africa. America has a similar disease, caused by the Sphaerostilbe flavida, that is equally destructive if not vigilantly guarded against. (See chapters XV and XVI.)
The coffee-tree roots also are subject to attack. There is the root disease, prevalent in all countries, and for which no cause has yet been definitely assigned, although it has been determined that it is of a fungoid nature. Brazil,
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