The Hawaiian Islands: Their Resources, Agricultural, Commercial and FinancialHawaii. Department of Foreign Affairs
History
The Hawaiian Islands: Their Resources, Agricultural, Commercial and Financial
Hawaii. Department of Foreign Affairs
Hawaii; Hawaii -- Economic conditions
During the third year, the trees will require topping. As to the height
at which a coffee tree should be topped, there is a great diversity of
opinion. Some planters advocate topping as low as four and a half feet,
others at six or seven feet; as a matter of fact the coffee tree will
bear fruit if topped as low as one and one half feet or if not topped at
all. The only valid reason for topping as low as four and a half feet is
for the convenience of picking the crop. Five and a half or six feet is
a good height to top a coffee tree on the rich lands of the Hawaiian
Islands. In fact the planters should not be guided by the number of
feet, but by the number of primaries he desires the tree to carry.
Eighteen to twenty pairs are a reasonable number for a coffee tree to
carry in this country, and it will be found that by not counting those
primaries that grow on the stem within fifteen inches from the ground,
eighteen or twenty pairs of primaries will come on the stem within six
feet from the ground. Before topping the tree, it should be allowed to
grow somewhat higher that it is intended to top, so that the wood may be
hardened and not decay as it sometimes does if topped when the wood is
too young. Topping is performed by cutting off the top of the tree at a
point an inch above a pair of primaries. Both primaries should also be
cut off an inch from the stem. This will leave the top in the form of a
cross; a knot will form at this point from which the tree will
constantly send up shoots striving to make a new top. These should be
torn off every time the tree is handled.
We have now arrived at the time when the tree is bearing the first or
maiden crop. Through careful handling the tree has been divested of all
superfluous shoots, branches, etc., and the crop is maturing on the
primaries. If the trees are situated on good rich soil, and the trees
are well grown, there should be at least thirteen pairs of primaries
bearing crop. At an average of fifty berries to each primary there will
be a yield of over one and a quarter pounds of clean coffee to the tree.
This yield for the first crop has been much exceeded in this country,
but it can only be assured by careful cultivation and handling as
described in this paper.
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