Having selected a proper spot for the garden, the first operation is to clear the ground of trees, shrubs, and the rank grass or reeds, the latter of which, termed _galúga_, are often found in these situations, and generally indicate a rich soil. In clearing the ground, it is the practise to collect together into heaps, and burn the trees, roots, and other rubbish found on it, the ashes of which serve to enrich the soil: when the trees are very large, the heavy labour of rooting them up is avoided, and the trunks being cut about five feet from the ground, are left in that state to rot, and in their gradual decay still further to enrich the land. As soon as the ground is thus cleared, it is levelled by three or four ploughings at short intervals, and laid out to receive the plants. A fence is planted round them, about twelve feet from their outer row, generally of the _júrak_, or palma christi, intermixed with either the _dádap_, or the silk cotton tree; and, in low situations, outside of this a ditch is dug to carry off the water. These operations commence in August or September, and by the time the ground is in perfect readiness for planting, the heavy rains are nearly over. It then only remains to select the young plants, and prepare the _dádap_ which is intended to shade them.
Of the _dádap_ tree there are three kinds; the _seráp_, _dóri_, and _wáru_: but the first is preferred on account of the greater shade it affords. It is propagated by cuttings, and in selecting them for the coffee plantations, care is had that they are taken from trees at least two or three years old, and that they be three or four feet long, of which one foot at least must be buried in the ground. After the _dádaps_ are planted, holes are dug, from a foot and a half to two feet deep, for the reception of the coffee plant, which is then removed from the seed place or nursery, and transplanted into the gardens.
In coffee gardens of four or five years old, are found quantities of young plants, that have sprung up spontaneously from the ripe berries dropping off the trees, and when these can be obtained about fourteen inches long, of a strong healthy stem, large leaves, and without branches, they are preferred to others: but as the plants thus procured are seldom found in sufficient quantities, nurseries for rearing them are formed as follows: When the berries are allowed to remain on the shrub after maturity, they become black and dry: in this state they are plucked, and sown in seed beds lightly covered with earth: as soon as two small leaves appear, the plants are taken from the bed, and transplanted, about a foot asunder, under the cover of sheds prepared for that purpose; in about eighteen months, these plants are fit for removing into the garden or plantation where they are destined to yield their fruit. In taking the young plant up, the greatest care is necessary not to injure the roots, especially the tap root, and with this view it is generally removed with as much earth attached to it as possible. This precaution has the additional advantage of not too suddenly bringing the plant in contact with a new soil.