PINEAPPLE PLANTATION.
WEEDING.
The old adage, "a stitch in time saves nine," will bear its fullest application in the care and weeding of a coffee estate. From the time the land is first cleared, weeding should commence, and it is astonishing how little it will cost if care is taken that no weed be allowed to run to seed. The bulk of Hawaiian coffee lands is situated in the forests where the land is covered with a dense undergrowth of ferns and vines and there are no pernicious weeds to bother. But soon after clearing, the seeds of weeds are dropped by the birds and are carried in on the feet and clothing of the laborers and visitors. We have no weeds that run to seed in less than thirty days, and if the fields are gone over, once a month, and any weed that can be found pulled up and buried, the work of weeding will be reduced to a minimum. But if the weeds, that are bound to spring up, are allowed to run to seed, the work of weeding will be greatly increased and will require the labor of a large gang to keep the fields in order. If taken in time, the labor of one man will keep from 15 to 25 acres quite clean. During the first year after setting out the fields, all that is required is to keep the fields clear of weeds and the replacing, with a healthy tree from the nursery, any tree that from any cause looks sickly and does not come along well.
It will be found that in parts of the field some trees, while looking healthy, do not grow as fast as the average of the trees, this is often due to the soil not being of as good a quality. Knolls and side hills are not generally so rich as the hollows and valleys, and the coffee trees, planted in the poorest parts of the field, should be fertilized until they are as vigorous as the trees in the best parts.
HANDLING.
During the second year the young trees will have begun to make a good growth and will require handling. In order to make clear the description of the operations of handling and pruning, it may be well to describe here the component parts of the coffee tree.
The underground portion consists of a tap root and numerous lateral or side roots. The parts above ground consist of:
1st. The stem or trunk.
2d. The primaries or first branches; these grow from the trunk in pairs at intervals of from two to four inches, the two primaries, making a pair, grow one opposite to the other, the pair above radiating out at a different angle and so on to the top of the tree.