PART 11. 
appear to be more satisfactory, as the growth of the plant is 
temporarily checked at each stage of capping, thus enabling the plant 
to develop strength, and to produce a certain amount of secondary 
growth. 
The advantages to be derived in adopting the Bush '* method 
are : — 
(1) Tt requires considerably less labour in pruning, thereby 
reducing the cost of pruning to a minimum. 
. Tt does not require skilled labour to do the pruning. 
All formation of old wood is avoided. 
"The crop which is produced on new wood is of better quality 
than that which is produced on old and whippy wood. 
Natives prefer to harvest the crop off trees grown on this 
system, as the trees are more open, thus giving an easier 
access to pick the berries. Speaking generally, the prevailing 
method of pruning coffee in Kenya is conducive to neither 
large production nor labour saving. Although in particular 
cases this may not apply, yet on the whole the position is as 
stated. 
The conversion of single stem coffee trees is now being carried 
cat very extensively in the Colony. The most satisfactory results 
obtained from all the experiments undertaken in this connection is by 
stumping the coffee trees about a month before the rains and allowing 
three or four vertical shoots to grow. Usually the first crop is borne 
18 months after stumping. The big six in coffee production are: 
Air, light, sun, rain, soil and climate; the trees must therefore be 
trained and pruned to enable them to benefit from the first three 
mentioned. 
Suape: The next topic I will touch upon is shade. This has been 
a much discussed subject in the Colony and still remains one of our 
problems which has not yet been settled. 
At the present time a number of coffee planters are considering 
that they would rather do without shade; in such cases this is due to 
their coffee being overshaded. 
Shade needs careful regulation from time to time to prevent it 
getting too dense. If it becomes too heavy, the coffee crops are 
materially reduced. If too thin, not sufficient protection is given the 
coffee trees. 
Speaking generally, apart from the trouble in finding suitable 
shade trees for various districts, insufficient attention to shade pruning 
and regulation, ete., and in very many cases, adopting a policy of 
““ letting the shade rip *’ has done considerable harm in prejudicing 
planters against the use of shade. 
For permanent shadé Grevillea robusta has been most commonly 
used. In many cases, it has been planted too thickly and not thinned 
out from time to time, with the result that after a few years, the 
shade has become too dense. Further, during long spells of dry 
weather, the coffee bushes have suffered from lack of moisture, due 
to the Grevillea robusta taking more than its share. In certain 
districts, however, where the rainfall is high and the growth of coffee 
affected by cold, Grevillea robusta, spaced 36ins. x 36ins., has given 
satisfactory results, and is still being used. 
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