PART IL 
has reached a certain stage of dryness, that is, when it will break 
without bending between the teeth it is ready for hulling. Tt is then 
graded, hand-picked if necessary, and bagged. Each bag is branded 
with the estate mark, the weight is stencilled on each bag, and it is 
shipped to England, where it is sold by auction on the London market. 
I will now tackle some of the more important sections in that 
chain of manipulations already mentioned. 
Kenya, as a coffee growing country, is oné in which conditions 
vary almost every ten miles. The special value of rain to coffee is a 
point to be kept in mind in order that the value may be maintained or 
enhanced. 
Studies carried out for a number of years, and under varied 
conditions, have revealed possibilities that certain methods of training 
the coffee plant are more advantageous that the old-established 
method on the single stem system. 
In dealing with this subject, let it be understood, that the single 
stem tree will be referred to as the *“ Umbrella *’ system, and the 
Agobiada and Capping systems to establish multiple heads. will be 
referred to as the ‘“ Bush ”’ method. 
On individual estates in Kenya, where the acreage of coffee is 
about 100 acres, with a good labour force, and where the owner or 
manager has a good knowledge of the principles of pruning on the 
* Umbrella ’’ system, very excellent yields have been maintained. 
Some of these plantations, over a period of years, have yielded half a 
ton and more per acre of clean coffee. The average estates. however, 
have not achieved the same success. 
The ** Umbrella tree will produce heavily for a few years, but 
when the time arrives for careful and proper pruning, which is not 
generally carried out, the production is practically negligible. 
Speaking generally, apart from unfavourable weather conditions, the 
failure to achieve similar success is mainly due to labour shortage and 
inexperienced workers. 
In order to meet these deficiencies, an alteration in the method of 
treatment of the bushes is advocated. 
The ** Bush ** method was introduced by me as far back as 1916, 
but 1t was not seriously taken up until 1921. 
There are two methods of training the coffee plant to establish the 
** bush ’’ system: 
(1) To Agobiada, that is to bend and peg the plant at an angle 
of 70deg. to T5deg., and allow three to four vertical shoots to 
grow from the base. 
‘= To Cap the plant at about 12 to 16 inches from the ground 
level by cutting the internode adjoining matured wood, and 
the two primaries on opposite sides of the node are cut off to 
induce even growth of the pair of suckers, which are to form 
the future base of the tree. These shoots are capped about 
24 inches from the first cap, which will result in four 
vertical shoots. The operation must be carried out on 
matured wood. 
It has been observed that the Agobiada method can be adopted 
satisfactorily in nearly all the coffee districts in the Colony, but in 
humid areas, where growth is very rapid, the capping system would 
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