In our climate, anything approaching to heavy pruning is regarded as an abomination, and the general opinion is now in favour of shortening back long drooping primaries, removing cross shoots and wood that is not likely to bear anything more, and thinning out overgrowths of new wood.  The most luxuriantly wooded part of the plantation should be pruned first, and the sticky coffee last, because, in the first place, it is important to stop the growth of superfluous wood as soon as possible, and in the second case, time will be given to the sticky coffee to throw out new shoots, so that the pruner can see exactly where to apply the knife, which is often a matter of difficulty, if he is dealing with trees quite exhausted from bearing a heavy crop, or from the land being insufficiently manured.  It is very important to pare closely off the spikes left after cutting off a secondary branch, so that the bark may heal over the junction of the branch with the parent branch, as, if this is not done, the free circulation of the sap is checked.  It runs up the branches, and, of course, cannot readily get on when it meets with a spike of wood sticking out of the branch.  This spike or stump may be green or half or quite dead, but whatever state it is in the free circulation of the sap will be checked, and the quantity of sap in circulation for the benefit of the main branch will be lessened.

The time for pruning trees is obviously of great importance.  Our present practice is to prune as soon after the crop as possible, and no doubt this follows the rule as regards all fruit tree culture, which is, that the trees, from the time of blossoming till up to the picking of the crop, should not be interfered with.  But pruning at that time causes the tree to throw out much young wood which in the beginning of the monsoon is in an immature state, and, as Mr. Ward has pointed out (vide p. 389), this succulent foliage is a good breeding ground for leaf disease.  Mr. Brooke Mockett, too (vide p. 401), has pointed out that leaf disease is worst in the case of trees which have been heavily pruned, and obviously because the heavier the pruning the greater the supply of succulent foliage.  Such succulent foliage, too, is liable to be rotted away in the drenching rains of the south-west monsoon.  So that, taking all the points into consideration, it is obvious that pruning should be so managed as to increase mature foliage, and, as much as possible, limit the amount of succulent foliage, at the beginning of the monsoon.  How this object is to be attained it is difficult to see, but we can certainly do something towards attaining it by very light pruning; and I would suggest here that planters should make experiments both in pruning and manuring, with the view of growing the young wood earlier in the season.  And I would suggest that planters might set aside say an acre, and leave the trees untouched at the usual pruning season, and confine their pruning