The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom: Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)
Science
The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom: Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c.
Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)
Botany, Economic
All manure, whether fluid or solid, in warm climates should be applied
in wet seasons, where it is not practicable to dig or turn it in to
prevent the escape of its volatile and nutritive principles.
As respects situation, coffee thrives best on elevated situations,
where the morning sun has most influence; and on lower mountains,
where the temperature is higher, in situations facing the south-east,
or where the sun does not act with such intensity. Low mountains, in
which the thermometer ranges from 75 to 90 degrees Fahr., as well as
those exposed to sea breezes, are less suitable for the cultivation of
coffee than those districts where the temperature averages 65 to 80
degrees Fahr., and situated at higher elevations in the interior.
As a general rule, it may be asserted that the elevation best adapted
for coffee is at an altitude ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 feet, at a
temperature from 70 to 75 degrees Fahr. A west or south-west aspect is
the best, and the field should be well sheltered from the north
breezes. As a general rule in planting in light soils and high
temperatures, trees may be placed at the distance of four or five
feet, while in stronger soils and lower temperatures the average
distance would be from five to seven feet.
_Topping_.--The young tree shoots out its lateral branches at each
joint, which follow in regular succession, till the tree attains the
height of about four feet six inches, when it is usual to top it down
to four feet. But care should be taken that the wood has ripened,
which is known by its assuming a brown and hard appearance, This
strengthens the vegetation of the branches, which begin to throw out
buds, and these shortly form collateral branches; in the course of
eighteen months after the tree will have arrived at its bearing point.
Trees, after being topped, throw off suckers, which are called
gormandizers, from each joint, but more especially at the head. They
should be plucked off with care, but not cut, as the sap would flow
more readily if cut.
In pruning, one of the main objects is the admission of a free
circulation of air and light through the branches to the root of the
tree. No general rules can be laid down for pruning; much must depend
on judgment, experience, and a nice eye to appearance and preservation
of primary branches for bearing and ripening wood for the ensuing
year, as well as to regulate and proportion the size of the tree to
the functions of the roots in supplying sustenance, and the
convenience of picking the berries when ripe. Every old bough which
has seen its day, every wilful shoot growing in a wrong direction,
every fork, every cross branch or dead limb, must be cut away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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