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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