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 possible to where the plantation is to be. It should be on a slight slope to insure drainage, and free from rocks and stones. The soil should be ploughed or dug over to the depth of one foot and made as fine as possible. Beds should be thrown up six inches high and three feet wide. The surface of the beds should be made quite smooth and level; the seeds should be planted six inches apart and three quarters of an inch deep. A good way to ensure even and regular planting is to make a frame three feet wide each way. Pegs, three quarters of an inch long and five eighths of an inch diameter, should be fastened
to one side of the frame, placing them exactly six inches apart. The frame, thus prepared, is placed, pegs down, on the bed. A slight pressure will sink the pegs into the soil. The frame is now lifted and you have the holes for the seeds all of one depth and equi-distant from each other. The seeds can now be dropped one in each hole. The seeds should be placed flat side down, and covered by brushing over the surface of the bed. If the weather is at all dry it is a good plan to mulch the surface of the bed with dry grass or fern leaves. The soil should be kept moist, and if there is not sufficient rain the beds must be watered. In six or seven weeks the seeds should sprout and show above ground. The mulching should now be moved from over the plants and arranged in the rows. It has been the practice of some planters to plant the seed much closer than six inches apart, but it will be found that plants at six inches apart can be more easily and safely transplanted than from close planted beds. It will be advisable in taking up plants from the beds, to take only every other one, this will give the remaining plants more room to develop and grow more stocky than would be the case if all the plants were taken up from each bed as they were required.
CLEARING THE LAND.
The next thing for the planter to do is to get his land cleared. This can be done more satisfactorily and cheaply by contract than can be done by days' work. Gangs of Chinese and Japanese undertake the clearing of land and will make a contract to clear the land as per specification. In the Olaa District land costs from $20 to $50 per acre to clear, according to the kind of clearing done. The land is forest land and some planters have the trees cut down and everything burned making the land quite clear, while others just have the vines and ferns cut and the trees felled, leaving everything on the land to rot.
This method while costing much less than burning up everything, makes it more expensive to lay out and plant the land. The planter must decide for himself which of the two methods he will pursue. However, it can be said in the case of those who only cut and fell, in a few years everything, trees, vines and ferns rot down and greatly increase the fertility of the soil. The next thing is to lay out the land for the digging of the holes where it is intended to set out the young trees. There is a wide diversity of opinion as to the proper distance apart to plant coffee trees. From 10x12 feet down to 5x6 and all intermediate distances are practiced. It is a significant fact that planters who formerly planted their trees at the wider distances are now setting out trees as close as 6x5. Trees planted 6x6 will probably yield better results per acre than trees planted at a wider or closer distance. Having fixed upon the distance apart the trees are to be planted, the planter proceeds to mark with pegs the places where he wants the holes dug. This is usually done with a line or rope that has pieces of red rag fastened in the strands, at the distance apart at which it is intended to dig the holes. The line is drawn tightly across one end of the clearing and a peg driven into the soil at every place that is marked on the line. The men, holding the two ends of the line, are each provided with a stick the exact length that the rows are to be apart. After one row is pegged, the line is advanced one length of the stick and the operation repeated until the whole clearing is pegged. After the first line is pegged a line should be laid at exactly right angles to the first line so that the rows will be straight both ways. The pegging being completed, the holes should be dug not less than 18 inches wide and 18 inches deep. The top soil should be carefully placed on one side of the hole and the subsoil on the other, the holes should remain open as long as possible and should only be filled in a week or so before planting the trees. The bottoms of the holes should be explored with a light crowbar
and, if any rocks or stones are found, they should be removed. In filling the holes the top soil (that has been placed on one side) should be placed in the bottom of the hole and other top soil should be taken from between the rows until the hole is full, the subsoil can now be disposed of by scattering it between the rows. The holes after filling should have the marking pegs replaced in the center of the filling, this will serve as a guide for planting the trees.