2 PART 11. 
THE CHAIRMAN (Mr. Holm) thought that in each area several 
varieties of trees must be tested before any conclusions could be 
arrived at; and that having regard to varying conditions and behaviour 
of different trees it took a considerable time to acquire reliable 
information. 
' Mr. SIMPSON said that in Uganda their experience in coffee 
cultivation had not been a very happy one. The coffee was first 
planted at about 4,000 ft. elevation and treated on the single stem 
system. Under those conditions it became worn out early. At the 
higher altitudes the multiple stem system was being followed and was 
proving most advantageous. Tt gave a more even yield and required 
less pruning than the single stem system. = He was sure that the 
Conference was greatly indebted to Mr. Trench for his paper and his 
slides illustrating coffee culture. 
COFFEE ROBUSTA AND ITS DEVELOPMENT IN UGANDA. 
Mr. MAITLAND read the following paper (referred to in the 
Agenda as T.C.(C)Ag.5):— 
Robusta Coffee has now become a crop of considerable economic 
mmportance and what I have to say regarding it and its development 
in Uganda will I hope be of interest. 
When we come to consider, during the course of my paper, the 
comparative exports of coffee we shall see that the exports of Arabica 
Coffee from Uganda have never been very great and have been 
stationary if not actually decreasing during recent years. That fact 
has, T refer more particularly to the Department of Agriculture, caused 
us to turn our attention to the hardier and more’ resistent types of 
coffee and especially of robusta. 
I have drawn up my paper, for convenience, under several 
headings as follows : — 
Historical, i.e., the history of Robusta Coffee and its rapid 
rise to economic importance. 
Comparative exports of Robusta Coffee and illustrating 
particularly the rapid rise of robusta in Java. 
Present market prospects. 
Robusta Coffee as a particularly suitable crop for Uganda. 
Treatment of the tree under cultivation. | 
Robusta Coffee development work of the Department of 
Agriculture. 
I. Historical. One of the earliest if not the earliest reference to 
Robusta Coffee is that found in Speke’s Diary of the discovery of the 
source of the Nile written as far back as 1863. He states that on 
approaching Masaka he was met by the Pokino and other natives who 
brought with them presents among other things quantities of Coffee 
and adds that this grows on large trees like clusters of Holly berries. 
There is no doubt of course that this coffee to which Speke refers is 
the Robusta Coffee of native gardens so familiar to us in Uganda and 
which has been grown by the natives of Uganda from a very remote 
period. It was not however referred to in that record of Speke as 
Robusta Coffee but merely as Coffee. It is a pity that the species 
was not described then by some botanical authority. It was not until 
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