The practice of giving money advances to labourers to be gradually worked off by them, and to contractors who undertake to supply labourers, has been productive of great loss and annoyance to employers, a great temptation to natives to commit fraud, and a source of constant worry to the officers of the Government. The Government sought by Act XIII. of 1859 to check these evils, not by preventive, but purely by punitive legislation. Since then there has been a constant demand by employers of labour for more punitive legislation in the shape of amendments to the Act of 1859, and from recent assurances made by the Viceroy when he visited Mysore in 1892, it seems probable that something further will be done on the same lines. And something may of course be done to insure that the defaulter shall be severely dealt with—when he is caught. When he is caught. Yes, therein lies the whole difficulty, one which seems to have been as completely ignored by the Government as it has been by the planters in the legislation adopted with a view to check the evils connected with advances. In order to prove the necessity for further legislation an old planter once printed an account of a case which he took up against a defaulting coolie. His description of the hunt, and the wiles of the defaulting labourer in moving from one part of the country to another, was positively amusing, and showed conclusively that it did not pay to attempt to catch a defaulting labourer. What, then, can be the use of an Act which after all only punishes the coolie when he is caught, if the trouble and expense involved in catching him be so great, as to make the game not worth the candle? Is it not evident that the only thing which can help the planter is legislation which will make it very difficult for the labourer to obtain money from one employer and then run away and take an advance from another, and which will make it a comparatively easy matter to trace a defaulter? Now, after conferring with experienced planters and some leading native officials, I came to the conclusion that a system of registration could alone mitigate the serious evils of the advance system, and in conjunction with them I drew up a draft of a proposed Act which I laid on the table for the consideration of the Mysore Government when I attended the Representative Assembly in 1891, and I may mention that the draft in question has been printed in the Government Report of the Proceedings. It would be tedious to give an account of the provisions in the Bill, and it is sufficient to say that its two chief features were the registration of advances and the limitation of their amount. The registration was to be effected by its being made compulsory that when an advance was given three tickets on a Government form should be issued, one of which was to be held by the employer, the second by the labourer, and the third by the registrar of the talook. On each ticket was to be entered the name and address of the advancee, and the sum advanced, and as this was paid off the amounts so discharged were to be entered by the employer on the ticket retained by the labourer. When the whole amount was repaid, the ticket retained by the employer was to be handed to the registrar, who was then to erase the name of the labourer from the register of coolies under advances, and before any advance was handed to the labourer the registry was of course to be effected. The amount of advance was to be limited to ten rupees, and this was to be worked off in five months unless in the case of sickness. The object of limiting advances is as much in the interest of the labourer as of the employer, as it has been found that native employers of labour often give large advances to labourers and charge heavy interest on them when the coolie does not come to work, and thus so effectually get him into debt that he is reduced to the position of a slave. This system of registration would no doubt be troublesome, but it is the only way of checking the present evil system of giving advances which, now that labour is so well paid, is not really necessary, and that it is not so is evidenced by the fact that the large bodies of labourers employed in the gold mines receive no advances whatever. I may here mention that a private system of registration with reference to labour contractors has been started by the firm of Messrs. Matheson and Co., in connection with their extensive estates in Coorg, and that it has been found most useful. The system I have proposed would be valuable to the contractors, who themselves are often swindled by labourers to whom they have advanced money.

I now turn to the subject of extradition, the law relating to which has much aggravated the evils connected with giving advances to labourers. The want of legislation on this subject has been brought to the notice of the Viceroy, and it is to be hoped that there may soon be complete reciprocity between native States and the British Government as regards warrants. At present a defaulter flying from Mysore to British territory can only be arrested by calling in the interposition of the Resident, a process so cumbrous that it is practically true, as alleged in the petition of the planters of Southern India, that "Planters or contractors residing in Mysore cannot obtain warrants against defaulters in British territory, though planters in British territory can obtain warrants against defaulters in Mysore." This is a grievance which requires redress, not only for the sake of the planters, but also of all other employers of labourers, or those who may have made contracts of any kind.

Cattle trespass, I may mention, is not here alluded to because, though it was at one time a great grievance, a Cattle Trespass Amendment Act received the assent of His Highness the Maharajah in December, 1892. By this, where it is proved to the satisfaction of Government that in any given local area cattle are habitually allowed to trespass on land and damage crops, the fines will be doubled, and the owner of the land has besides the right to bring an action for compensation for any damage done to his land or crops.

Having alluded to our grievances, I now pass on to consider lastly what may be called our wants as regards wild birds' protection, game preservation, and a Government agricultural chemist.

A Wild Birds' Protection Act exists in British India, but as its provisions have not as yet been extended to our province, I would suggest that Mysore, in consequence of its numerous plantations where coffee and other plants and trees are liable to be attacked by insects, probably requires such an Act even more than any other part of India, and I may at the same time take the opportunity of suggesting that all the native States should be communicated with so that an Act for the Protection of Wild Birds may be provided for every part of India. It would be superfluous to adduce here the numerous and evident advantages that would arise from the protection of wild birds, as their value is now so universally recognized, and I therefore pass on to offer a few brief remarks on game preservation, or, to speak more exactly, of the preservation of those wild birds and harmless animals which are useful as food.

The neglect of game preservation in India has not only been a cause of great loss to the country owing to the reckless waste of the sources of valuable supplies of food, but has severely injured the farmers in jungly tracts in a way that seems hitherto to have escaped notice. I allude to the fact that, in consequence of the wanton destruction of game in the western forests, tigers are compelled to inflict much greater losses on the herds of the natives. This is a fact to which I can personally testify, and which has since the middle of 1892 become steadily more apparent; for, when game was more plentiful in the forests along the crests, and at the foot of the Ghauts, the tigers lived largely upon game and rarely attacked cattle; indeed, so much was this the case that, about thirty years ago, a native who had the most outlying farm on the crests of the Ghauts told me that though tigers were constantly about they had never attacked his cattle. And as I was at the time living near his house, and clearing land for planting, and never got a shot at a tiger when residing there, I am sure that his statement was correct. But since that time English guns have become common, and the destruction of game of all kinds and of any age has gone on apace, and the result is that the tigers, which used to confine themselves mainly to preying on wild animals in the forests, have been forced to fall upon the village cattle, and I have never known tigers to be more destructive than they are now. On a single day this year no less than seven cattle were killed by tigers at one village, and an old planter of more than thirty years' standing, a near neighbour of mine, alluding to the subject in a recent letter, said, "Yes, there have been more tigers about this year than I have ever known." But it is not only on account of the supply of food from game, and for the sake of the cattle of the natives that a Game Preservation Act is urgently required, it is also urgently needed in order to check the abominable cruelties committed by the native hunters. Writing to me with reference to this subject, Colonel J. P. Grant, the head of the Survey and Settlement Service, observes as follows:

"Gunning and especially netting, in the most reckless and improvident manner, are on the increase. Antelope are fast disappearing, and in the jungle tracts night shooting is clearing out spotted deer especially. As for cruelty nothing can exceed the indifference of net-workers to any pain they may cause their captures. Snipe are caught and their legs and wings broken, and in this condition they are kept alive and carried to market. The wounding, necessarily reckless during night shooting, is horribly cruel. Pea fowl, jungle fowl, or anything fairly big, have their eyes sewn up. I have often seen this. In the case of hares the tying is very cruel, the thong cutting down to the bone; and the same is the case with any deer they may catch alive."

The rapid destruction of game of all kinds has been as melancholy as it has been remarkable, and I confess I never could have believed how complete, especially as regards small game, the deadly work has been had I not had occasion in recent years to drive, by easy stages, and early in the morning, along the whole of the western frontier of Mysore, and also much of the adjacent district of Coorg. In the old days, when riding, we always went at a walk and took our guns with us for shots at pea fowl, jungle fowl, pigeons, and other small game. But now you can neither see nor hear anything to shoot. And yet one of the favourite accusations of the Indian Congress against the Indian Government is that in consequence of the Arms Act the natives are unable to obtain guns and ammunition in order to defend themselves and their crops from the attacks of wild animals, though the scarcity of large game, and, in many cases, its absolute extinction, is notorious to sportsmen all over India. But the Mysore Government, I am happy to say, has at last directed its attention to the subject, and I have every reason to believe that a Game Act will soon be introduced in Mysore.

The last want I have to allude to is that of a Government agricultural chemist, who should be empowered at a rate of fees, fixed by the State, to analyze soils and manures for private individuals, and to consult with planters and others as to the requirements of their soils and the best way of supplying them with manure. Such an officer would be very useful in searching for coprolites and new manurial resources. My life-long experience in agriculture on a large scale both in Scotland and Mysore has shown me more and more the great value of an agricultural chemist for discovering new manurial resources, and perhaps more especially economizing those that already exist; and the great want of such an officer was brought to the notice of Government by me when I was a member of the Representative Assembly in 1891.

I may conclude this chapter by alluding to a discovery, or rather, I should say, a probable discovery, of the greatest importance, of a new hybrid coffee plant—a cross between the Liberian and the coffea Arabica. This has occurred on the property of a friend of mine, but, at his request, I do not publish his name, as he would be inundated with applications for seed. This magnificent hybrid, of which there are only two trees in existence as yet, has enormous bearing powers, and leaves which are apparently absolutely impervious to leaf disease, for I could not discover a trace of it though the hybrid is standing next to a coffee plant which is covered with it. It is of course uncertain as yet whether the new plant can be established as a distinct variety, nor do we know anything of the flavour of the coffee, as the quantity produced is yet so small that berries are reserved exclusively for seed; but should it be possible to establish the new variety (and I know of no reason why it should not be established), quite a new departure will take place in coffee production in India, and the value of coffee land will be enormous, as, from calculations made, the hybrid can produce at the rate of eight or nine tons an acre, while as many hundredweights an acre would be considered an unusually heavy crop in Mysore.

FOOTNOTES:

[51] "Hayes' Mysore and Coorg Directory," Bangalore. This valuable compilation, which contains no less than 573 pages, gives a most complete account of almost everything relating to Mysore and Coorg.



CHAPTER XI.

SHADE.

I now turn to the greatest of all the points connected with coffee—the question of shade. And I call it the greatest point, because if good shade of the best kind is grown it is absolutely impossible to destroy a plantation in Mysore, even with the worst conceivable management or neglect, and I say this after ample experience, as had it not been for the abundant and excellent shade on a badly-managed property of my own it would have been permanently ruined. But with plenty of good kinds of shade trees on the land you might even close the plantation gates, and abandon the land, and, as long as cattle were kept out, return ten years afterwards, saw down the coffee, grow suckers from the stumps, plant up the land with young plants where vacancies had occurred, and in four or five years the plantation would be as good as ever, and the land even better, for it would not have been exhausted by crop, and the fallen leaves from the shade trees would have enriched the soil. And if the old trees were not in a condition, from old age, to grow suckers that would develop into good trees, the whole land could be advantageously replanted. But, as the reader will remember, I have said that the trees must be the best kinds of shade trees, a subject that requires great study and observation to master. Before beginning, however, it may be well to point out those general principles which govern the whole subject, and which at once show us the best kinds of trees to select, and what is nearly of as great importance, how to manage them after they have been selected or planted, and I would lay particular stress on the latter point, which has, I may observe, been largely if not entirely misunderstood, simply because the great governing principle has been neglected.

The governing principle, then, as regards shade for coffee is, that you should have on the land the smallest number of boles, because the more you multiply boles the more ground you waste; and the greater the number of large trees there are, the greater, of course, will be the number of large roots in the land, and the greater demand will there be on the resources of the soil; the greater, too, will be the waste of manure put down by the planter for the benefit of his coffee; and last, but by no means least, the smaller will be the amount of leaf deposit. I have seen much shade so managed as to give the greatest amount of boles with the smallest amount, and spread of branches, whereas the object of the planter ought to be to furnish the smallest number of boles with the greatest proportionate amount and spread of branches and foliage. And this unfortunate error, the evil of which will become more and more apparent as time advances, would never have been committed, had the primary principle I have pointed out been grasped at the outset.

Let us then keep firmly in mind that, (1) we require trees that will, from their wide-spreading branches, enable us to do with the smallest number possible on the land, and that (2) if we trim up the lower branches of these trees when the trees are young because we do not like to see them too closely over the coffee, we shall entirely defeat the main object we have in view, because we shall certainly produce a tall tree with a small head, and consequently small spread of branches; and the clear apprehension of the principle first named guides us at once to the selection of the right kind of trees, and their proper treatment. I will now proceed to state the names of the trees that are, in my experience, the most desirable, and, secondly, those which are good for coffee, but which for various reasons are undesirable. After much and close study of this important subject, and a very long experience, I have come to the conclusion that the only trees which are at once easily propagated; free from the risks of attacks from cattle owing to their being grown from long cuttings; little liable to attacks from parasites, and which afford a proper degree of shade, and also admit the largest relative supply of light; which afford a large supply of leaf deposit; and which lastly, but by no means leastly, have very wide spreading branches, are only five in number. I give first the Kanarese and then the botanical name of each. There are, then, Cub Busree (Ficus tuberculata), the Gonee (Ficus Mysorensis), the Kurry Busree (Ficus infectoria), Eelee Busree (a variety of the last named), and Mitlee.[52]

There are two kinds, Heb Mitlee, and Harl Mitlee—the second is a bad tree. The mitlee grows one fourth quicker than cub busree, and a recent close attention to this tree shows me that it is a much more desirable tree than either others or myself once supposed, for not only is it a quicker grower than the remainder of the most desirable kinds but its foliage lets in much light. It is, therefore, a most desirable tree for northern aspects.

I next turn to a class of trees which are undoubtedly good for coffee, but which, for various reasons to be hereafter given, are less desirable than the five trees first given. The first of these less desirable trees is the Jack—Halsen-Mara (Artocarpus integrifolia), which was once a favourite tree, and there can be no doubt that coffee thrives well under it, but it is not a wide-spreading tree, the shade is too dense for every aspect, it is a slow grower, and it must be raised from young plants, which are very liable to be attacked by stray cattle. Then when old, and sometimes of medium age, it is very liable to be attacked by parasites; and it produces annually a heavy[53] crop of fruit which costs money and trouble to remove when immature, and which, if left to ripen, exhausts the soil. It is, too, liable to suffer much from wind, and, in situations which are at all windy, is not much to be relied on, as, when under the influence of wind, the foliage becomes poor and scanty, and the tree sometimes dies altogether. A study of the foliage will show, that in one important particular, the five first-named trees are superior to jack, for their leaves are attached to the twigs by long stalks, and much light is thus admitted through the spaces between the stalks, while the leaves of the jack are not only more numerous but are attached by short stalks, and the foliage thus throws a very dark shade. Then jack, as it is an evergreen, always affords a thick shade quite continuously, while the five first-named trees not only cast a chequered shade, but, at certain periods of the year, shed every leaf, leaving the tree quite bare for some time, which is an advantage to the coffee. And besides, I have some reason to suppose that the dense shade of the jack encourages rot (a disease remarked upon further on), as one of my managers reports that he has observed it under jack while it was not apparent on the coffee under other kinds of shade trees. But on hot westerly and southerly slopes, and especially where the soil is a bad retainer of moisture, and where the gradient is rather steep, jack may be used with advantage, as in such situations the heat is great and the light strong. I am therefore taking steps to remove jack by degrees from all but southerly and westerly exposures. I may add here that I have found that plants grown from seed procured from the dry plains of the interior of Mysore, grow more than twice as fast as plants raised from local seed. In concluding my remarks on jack, I would particularly advise planters to remove the jack fruit when immature, and put it into the manure heap, or bury it, as, if left on the ground, it attracts cattle and village pigs into the plantation. The fruit is large and full of a great number of seeds which must be an exhaustive crop on the land. On the Nilgiri hills I am told by the planters that there is a ready sale for jack fruit, but this is not the case in coffee districts generally.

The Atti (Ficus glomerata) was with me once a favourite tree, and is generally considered to be a good one, as it affords a cool and desirable shade. As a young tree it is admirable, but as it ages the foliage becomes poor and scanty, and the tree has a tendency to run too much to thick bole, and thick branches, which are poorly supplied with smaller branches and foliage. When about thirty years old, I have generally found this tree to be a poor shader, but it can be much improved by severe pruning, or rather lopping. When thinning out shade on this estate about twenty years ago, a twelve year old tree had every branch removed preparatory to cutting down, but by some accident the tree was left standing, and the stumps of the branches threw out fresh shoots, and the tree is now flourishing, and has a comparatively wide spread of branches and fair amount of foliage. It is evident, then, that pruning heavily will cause the tree to throw out new and vigorous shoots, but as this is a troublesome and expensive work, and as atti is certainly liable to the defect above alluded to, and is, besides, not a wide-spreading tree, it is evidently not so desirable as any of the first five I have named. Atti can be grown from cuttings, but these must not be large ones, i.e., they should be thinner than those commonly used when planting cuttings of the various fig trees recommended at the beginning of the section on shade.

The Noga (so called from its being much used to make bullock yokes from) or Nogurigay (Cedrela Microcarpa) is a favourite tree to plant for shade, as it is a quick grower, and cattle do not eat it, and it has been extensively planted in Mysore and Coorg. The shade is fairly good, but the tree is not a wide spreader. Then it has one very great objection owing to its being so peculiarly liable, when about thirty years old, to be severely attacked, and often killed, by parasites, and as it is so liable to be attacked, and therefore supplies a large quantity of parasite seed, the tree is the means of spreading these parasites to other shade trees. I have found that if you even remove every branch that is attacked, and quite below each parasite, the parasite will spring out again, and even more vigorously than before. In short, I found it impossible to contend with the parasites, and am ordering the removal of all Nogurigays from my plantations. I may add here that when jack is lopped in order to remove parasites, they do not spring out again in the same way. My head duffadar informs me that the reason why Nogurigays are so liable to parasites is on account of the rough, deeply-fissured bark, which retains the parasite seeds dropped by birds, whereas smooth-barked trees, like the first five named, of course do not retain them, and hence you rarely see parasites on smooth-barked trees. Another objection to this tree is that, from its shedding its leaves in the monsoon, and not growing them again till we are liable to have hot bursts of sun, you may have a thoroughly saturated soil exposed to a hot sun, which of course has the effect of rapidly hardening the soil. A neighbouring planter tells me that he finds the Noga tree liable to attacks from parasites at even ten years old, and that he therefore regards the tree as a temporary shade, i.e., as a shade to be removed after other more desirable trees are ready to take their place.

Since writing this chapter I have again paid particular attention to this tree, and have been struck with the fact that, for some unknown reason, some trees of this variety seem to be much more liable to attacks of parasites than others, while some escape altogether. But it is quite clear to me that, generally speaking, this tree is not to be relied on, and I have, therefore, no hesitation in advising planters who have relied on it as a permanent shade to at once put down trees of the desirable kind first given with the view of gradually removing the Nogurigays.

Mullee Geruguttee. A very thick, tall tree with large buttresses. Coffee thrives well under this tree, but it is not a wide spreader, and, when old, the foliage becomes poor. It is evident that a tree of great thickness which is not a wide spreader, takes up an immense deal of room in proportion to the shade that it yields, and this tree is therefore not so desirable as any of the first five species I have given as being the most desirable trees.

Howligay (Acrocarpus Flaxinifolia). This tree has been largely planted in Mysore for shade, but no one speaks well of it now. We have some on my estate upwards of thirty years old, and the foliage is poor and scanty. The trees, too, shoot up to a great height, and spread but little. By topping at a certain height, this defect may be remedied to some extent, but in order to get an efficient shade from this tree you would require to plant it thickly, and would thus have a large proportion of stems and roots in the land. This tree, though not injurious to coffee, is certainly very undesirable as compared with the first-named kinds I have given. Some years ago two of these trees died on my property, and all the coffee died around them.

Hessan (Artocarpus Hirsuta). Though said to be injurious in poor and shallow soil, coffee thrives under it in good land, but it has a tendency everywhere to run to stem, and therefore affords poor shade. An occasional tree branches out, and affords fair, and in some cases, even good shade, but, as a rule, this is not a desirable tree. It spreads little and thus gives but a poor return for the space taken up by its stem and roots.

Nairul (Eugenia Jambolana). This is a good shade tree. Coffee thrives well under it, and wherever it exists, or may have sprung up accidentally in the plantation, it should be preserved, but it is not, I consider, a desirable tree to plant, as it is a slow grower and not a wide spreader.

Wartee. This is a tree we have always preserved, but it is a slow growing tree, not at all a wide spreader, and the leaf deposit from it is not of a valuable quality, and it is, therefore, not a desirable tree to plant.

Gwoddan (Dolichos fabaeformis). Coffee thrives well under this tree, but it has a great profusion of very hard fruits or seeds about the size of a small plum, and these, when falling from a high tree, injure the coffee berries, as may be readily supposed; the tree, too, is not a wide spreader. It is, therefore, not a desirable tree to plant.

I may mention here that I have recently obtained a supply of seed of Albizzia Moluccana, which is the tree most approved of for shading coffee in the Island of Java, and I am informed by the superintendent of the Agri-Horticultural Society's Gardens, Madras (from whom I obtained the seed), that one of their correspondents who tried it some years ago reports that, "It grows rapidly, and is of great utility in putting a field of coffee under a light shade such as coffee likes," and that, "in four years the Albizzia Moluccana, planted thirty feet apart, will cover the coffee trees." The leaves close during the night, thus giving the coffee plants the benefit of the moonlight and dew more freely. Each ounce of the seed contains roughly 1,200 seeds, which, with ordinary care, should give 1,000 plants, and which, when planted out thirty feet apart, should shade twenty acres.

I now proceed to consider the methods that are adopted for planting under shade in Mysore. The first is to clear down and burn the entire forest, and then plant shade trees along with the coffee. The second is to clear and burn the underwood, and a certain portion of the forest trees, leaving the remainder for shade, and the third is (a system which I have myself adopted in the case of land lying in ravines) to clear off and burn the entire underwood and trees of the lower part of the ravines, leaving the upper portions of them, and the remainder of the land to be cleared and planted, under the original forest trees, as in the second method mentioned.

There can be no doubt that the first-named method is the easiest. I am aware that it has been adopted by some very experienced planters, and it has been partially adopted by myself in the case of all my land in the lower part of ravines. I am well able to judge of the advantages and disadvantages of both systems, as I have them under observation and treatment side by side. On the whole, I think there can be no doubt that the balance of advantage lies much in favour of land that has not had the forest cleared wholly and burnt off. It is true that by a wholesale clearance you at once kill the vast mass of live forest tree roots in the land, but, on the other hand, you at the same time destroy a store of slowly-decaying vegetable matter, which is of vast importance, not only in feeding the coffee, but in maintaining the physical condition of the soil, and so making it more, easily, and therefore cheaply, workable, and a better agent for preserving the health of the tree. And as a proof of the actual loss incurred, I may observe that Colonel C. I. Taylor, in his book on "The Borer in Coorg, Munzerabad and Nuggar," mentions that an iron peg driven into the ground so that not a part of it protruded, was found, after the cleared jungle had been burned, to be no less than six inches out of the ground. There seems to be a general opinion too that land that has not been burnt will last far longer, and one experienced planter, Mr. Brooke Mockett, attributes the circumstances of all the most ancient estates in Mysore being still in existence to the fact that the land has never been burnt. Mr. Mockett also informs me that in good land, where there has been no burn, he has never had Borer severely, though for a time there was no shade over it, as he cleared down ultimately all the old forest trees that had been left for shade, and planted fresh shade. I may mention, too, that I was lately shown an estate in Coorg which had been partially cleared down and burnt off, and partly planted under the shade of the old forest trees. In the latter case the plants had never suffered from Borer or leaf disease and were always healthy, while the coffee in the former case had suffered from both, and there was certainly a most marked difference perceptible in favour of the coffee planted in the unburnt land.

There is also a great difference in my own property in favour of the coffee planted under the original forest shade as compared with the coffee on the land that was cleared down and burnt off, notwithstanding that in the latter case the most approved kinds of shade trees were afterwards planted, and that the land is now admirably shaded. It is highly important to notice these facts, both as a guide to those who have land to open, and also as regards the value of any property that may be for sale, for, after what I have mentioned, it is clear that a property planted under original forest shade, where the land has not been burnt off (for it is quite possible gradually to remove all the old forest trees and replace them with newly planted shade), must be much more valuable than one where the entire forest has been cleared down and burnt off. I now proceed to remark (1) on the course that should be pursued in the case of clearing down and burning the whole jungle and planting fresh shade, and (2) when planting under the original shade.

After the land is ready for planting the coffee, and as early as possible in the monsoon, the young shade trees should be planted in lines or avenues running from east to west, and the trees should be planted so close that they may in five or six years touch each other, and thus form what looks like a series of hedges in parallel lines. The object of this formation is that as the declination of the sun is southerly during our non-cloudy or clear sky season, a close shadow may be cast from the south to the north, so that the spaces between the lines may have a lateral shade cast on them. When the trees begin to crowd each other every other one should of course be taken, out, and this may be repeated a second time if necessary. But, besides the southerly, we have also to consider the hot westerly sun, which will strike down the avenues from, say, between two and four in the afternoon. This it is important to block out with occasional trees planted in the avenue, but it is only, of course, where the land is exposed to the afternoon sun that the avenues should be blocked with occasional trees. After fully considering the subject, I find it impossible to say even approximately at what distance the lines of trees should be planted, on account of the great variety in the gradients, and the planter must here use his own judgment; and I can only say generally that the lines of trees require to be much nearer each other on a southerly than on a northerly aspect; nearly as close on a westerly aspect as on a southerly; and on an easterly aspect, at a closer distance than on a northerly one. Some guide toward the nearness of these lines will afterwards be found in the remarks on the quantity of shade required for the various aspects.

After having planted the young shade trees, then, there comes the question of providing shade for them, for without it their growth will be very slow, and the planter would have to wait a great many years before obtaining such an amount of shade as would have an effect in lowering the temperature of the plantation. He requires then some quick-growing tree as a nurse for the good caste shade trees, and the only tree I know of that is suitable for this purpose is the quick-growing charcoal tree (Sponia Wightii)—Kanarese, gorkul mara—which springs up with the first rain after the forest has been cleared and burnt. Planters, I am aware, have, generally speaking, a great objection to this tree, and it is considered by Mr. Graham Anderson (vide his book previously quoted) as being "generally regarded as prejudicial and useless." This conclusion has probably arisen from the fact that it is certainly a bad thing to have a rapid grower, and therefore a greedy feeder on the land, and hence it has been found that the charcoal tree is bad when young. But when it has attained its full height, which in ordinary circumstances is about thirty feet (I have one specimen on my property about sixty feet high, the only one of such a size I ever saw), coffee thrives well under it. This I found to be the case on plantations on the slopes of the Nilgiri hills, where a very experienced planter told me that the tree was bad when young for coffee, but not so when old; and I there saw coffee thriving well under the shade of old charcoal trees. On my oldest plantation we only preserved one of the species (all the others having been cut down, as their good offices as nurses to better trees were no longer required), and the coffee always throve under it remarkably well. Where, too, the shade has subsequently become deficient we always plant charcoal as a nurse for the more desirable trees, and have never observed that it is injurious to coffee. On the whole, after a very long experience and observation of this tree, I have no hesitation in recommending it as a nurse to be thinly distributed amongst the newly-planted shade trees. It is, I may observe, too, a tree with very light branches, which, of course, can easily be removed without injury to the coffee, and its branches should be thinned away when they crowd the young shade trees, and when these have been sufficiently drawn up and expanded the charcoal tree should be entirely removed.

The subsequent treatment of the shade trees is of great importance. Their lower branches in the early years of their growth are commonly thin and weakly, and thus, of course, droop close over the coffee, and often touch it. Then the inexperienced shade tree grower begins to lop off the lower branches, with the result that he injures and bleeds the young tree, and deprives it of the nutriment it would otherwise derive from its full allowance of foliage. Some carry this trimming up to a very injurious extent, and the result is that they grow young trees with long stems and poor foliage, and a narrow spread of branches, and thus require many more trees in the land than they would if they exercised a little more patience at first. But if the tree is only left alone the evil of branches drooping downwards on to the coffee will soon disappear, as these branches will not only rise with the rising stem, but will thicken and grow upwards, instead of drooping as they did when young and weakly. And some planters, I observe, are by no means satisfied with lopping the lower boughs, but trim off branches fifteen feet from the ground. Under such a system the number of shade trees required is enormous, and the evils arising from the number of boles with their vast mass of large roots will only be the more severely apparent as time advances. By one shade planter in Coorg I have been told that coffee there has already been suffering much from the quantity of boles and tree roots in the land, in consequence of the trimming up system and the quantity of trees required in consequence. It should also be remembered that we require our shade not only to protect our coffee from the sun's rays, but to shield it from those parching winds which sweep across the arid plains of the interior of India, and to prevent the drying up of the land. And is it not perfectly obvious that if we trim up the trees so as to produce a long stem with a small crown, the parching winds will sweep unchecked over plants and soil? There is, however, the usual proverbial exception, and that is in the case of trees growing near the bottoms of ravines with steep sides to them, and where you often want a drawn up stem and crown to cast a shadow on to a hot western or southern bank, and in such cases, of course, trimming up is necessary. Having thus discussed the planting of coffee where the forest has been cut wholly down and burnt, we will now turn to planting under the shade of the original forest trees.

In opening, then, a plantation which is to be shaded by preserving a portion of the original forest trees, the first thing to be done is to clear a wide track through the underwood from one end of the block of forest to the other, and as many tracks at right angles to the line as may facilitate your getting about and thoroughly inspecting the land to be cleared. The next thing to be done is to cut a wide track round the entire portion to be cleared, leaving a belt of from fifteen to twenty yards as a margin between the land to be cleared and the grassland lying outside the forest. This marginal belt will often be found useful for shelter in many cases, and it must be borne in mind, too, that the margins of jungles are generally composed of land into which the forest has more recently extended itself, and are therefore poorer than the interior portion of the forest, and consequently less adapted to the growth of the coffee. Another advantage of this marginal belt is that it will prevent fires spreading from the grasslands, and that by planting thorny climbing plants on its outer edge a good fence may be formed. Another very great advantage I have found from such belts is that valuable top soil may be taken from them to manure the adjacent coffee, and especially to afford a supply of rich virgin soil when filling up vacancies in the old coffee. This last use of the marginal belt is particularly valuable, as it is both troublesome and expensive to lay down either cattle manure or top soil brought from a distance in those odd corners here and there in the plantations where vacancies are apt to occur.

After the above suggested preliminary tracks have been opened out, the whole underwood should be cleared and piled in heaps, and as far as possible, of course, from the trees which are most desirable for shade. Then the trees positively injurious to coffee should be cut down and their branches lopped and piled on the stumps of the objectionable trees, and after this a certain proportion of the less desirable kinds should be felled. All burning should be carried on in separate piles, as a running fire through the clearing would be fatal to the standing trees, and, when firing the piles they should be burnt off in detail at as great a distance from each other as possible, as the bark of many of the forest trees is easily injured by the heat arising from many blazing piles in their neighbourhood. The land having thus been thoroughly cleared, should be planted.

But by the process I have recommended much more shade will be left than will ultimately be required, and I have found that it is impossible to clear down at once all the trees you wish to get rid of, as, if you did, you would be sure to require such a number of piles as would, when they were burnt, be sure to injure the trees to be preserved. It is therefore necessary to complete the clearing during the season following. Such trees, then, as you may wish further to remove may be thrown down between the rows of coffee, and others which may be likely to do much damage, either to the coffee or to the shade trees to be preserved, may be lopped and barked, and they should be barked as high up as a man can reach, as we have found that trees barked close to the ground die slowly.

It sometimes, however, happens that the forest land is much cut up with narrow and deep ravines, and in that case the bottoms of such ravines should be cleared off entirely, and this can be done without injury to the standing trees above, as, when the wood in the bottom of the ravine is being burnt the flames will be too distant to inflict any injury to the trees left for shade higher up the slopes, but, as I have said, great care must be taken to prevent any running fire through the shaded land; and I can speak of the effect of such a fire from a melancholy experience. In the event of bottoms of ravines being thus cleared down, it may afterwards be found desirable to supply fresh shade on the southern and western slopes, and this can easily be done on the system recommended previously for lands which have been entirely cleared down.

It is time now to turn our attention to the extremely complicated question of the quantity of shade required for the various aspects, gradients, and soils we have to deal with, and let us in the first place begin with some remarks on the effects of aspect as regards heat.

In considering, then, aspect as regards sun and heat, I may observe that it is impossible to exaggerate the importance of taking into account the immense variation in temperature on the different exposures. For the effect that the sun's rays have on certain aspects in heating the soil and drying up the plant, are such as would be extremely difficult to believe, had the facts not been verified by competent observers, and with the aid of the thermometer. And as regards northern and southern slopes in particular, we shall find that the difference between one exposure and the other is just what constitutes the difference between green and dried grass, and between leaves luxuriantly green and leaves dry and withered. And that the first is literally true may be seen by anyone in the months of January and February, for in these months you will see grass on northern aspects green, and, comparatively speaking, fresh, while, even in a valley sheltered from drying winds, the grass on the southern slopes is completely withered. And you will see an equally striking difference in the coffee plants—those on the northern slopes full of health and life, while those on the southern ones are yellow, dried up, and sickly. Even in parts of the district where coffee will not thrive without a considerable amount of shade, you will always find the plants thrive well (with little or even none) on a northern bank, and look much better than on a moderately shaded southern bank. Nor in the nursery is the effect of aspect at all less striking. A nursery on a northern slope will require far less water, and far less shade over the plants, than one with a southern exposure. But the late Mr. MacIvor, superintendent of the Government Cinchona plantations on the Nilgiri hills, has tested the value of northern and southern aspects in a way which accurately judges their respective values. He accordingly tells us that, "The reason why a northern exposure in these latitudes is beneficial is from the fact that it is much more moist during the dry season than a southern aspect, because the sun's declension is southerly during the dry and cloudless season of the year, and thus, on the northern slopes, the rays of the sun do not penetrate and parch the soil. A northern aspect has also the advantage of preserving a much more uniform temperature than a southern aspect, because the excessive radiation and evaporation in the southern slopes greatly reduces the temperature at night, while in the day they are heated to excess by the action of the sun's rays striking the surface nearly at right angles. The practical effects of aspect on the plants are so great that they cannot be overlooked with impunity, and, in order to impress this on the minds of all those who may have the selection of localities for cinchona cultivation, I may mention that the difference of temperature is almost incredible; for example, at this elevation (probably about 7,000 feet) a thermometer laid on the surface of the southern face of a hill exposed to the sun at 3 p.m., will frequently indicate from 130 deg. to 160 deg. Fahr.; the same thermometer, if left in its position, and examined at 6 a.m., will generally be observed to indicate from 30 deg. to 40 deg., while on a similar slope, if selected with a northern aspect, the thermometer, under the same circumstances, at 3 p.m., will generally indicate from 70 deg. to 80 deg., and at 6 a.m. from 40 deg. to 50 deg.."

There is, then, about twice as much heat upon a southern as on a northern aspect, and, of course, a corresponding difference as regards the effect of sun and drought on plant and soil, and it is therefore obvious that our shade policy should be governed accordingly.

As regards the comparative heat on western and eastern exposures, Mr. MacIvor does not seem to have made any experiments with the thermometer, but where the slope is at all sharp the rays of the fierce western sun beat strongly into the soil, while it is quite off an easterly slope, of similar gradient, for the whole of the afternoon, and there is an enormous difference perceptible in the temperature. The effect, however, is in some degree counterbalanced by the fact that the soil and the plants on the easterly slope are swept by the withering and desiccating winds which sweep over the arid plains of the interior.

We have seen, then, that the heat is very largely affected by the aspect, but the relative amount of heat and coolness is of course controlled, to a very considerable degree, by the gradient of the land, and just as steep northern slopes will be very cool, and steep eastern slopes moderately so, so will steep southerly and steep westerly gradients be extremely hot. The heat and coolness of the land, then, is constantly varying, not only with the aspect, but with the steepness of the gradients, and both of these points must be taken into consideration in regulating the quantity of shade required; and the reader will therefore see how impossible it is to give more than a general guide towards the quantity of shade required, and all I can undertake to say is that about twice as much shade is required on a southerly as on a northerly slope, that rather more shade is required on a westerly than on an eastern aspect, and that the last named requires less than a southerly aspect.

But this question is further complicated by the varying quality of the soil.

For our soils vary much in the same plantation, and require a greater or less degree of shade accordingly. The lighter and drier soils, of course, require not only more shade, but different kinds of trees, and in the case of such soils jack and cub busree should be freely used, and especially the former.

The quantity and quality of the shade required is also complicated by considerations as regards wind, and, where the soil is exposed to drying east winds, more shade should be put down than would otherwise be necessary, had we only to deal with the drying caused by the sun's heat. And in the case of such lands the shade should consist very largely of jack and other thick foliaged trees, and these should be topped in order to keep them short and bushy, and thus the more able to shield the land from the effects of desiccating winds.

And the whole subject is further complicated by questions of elevation and the varying quantity of rainfall, as the planter is nearer to, or farther from the Western Ghauts, and here I can only say generally, that the nearer you go to the Ghauts the less shade you will require, and the further to the east the more is necessary, but the planter must be guided here by local experience, as it is impossible to write precisely on the subject.

Before quitting this branch of my subject, it may be well to show in a single sentence the overwhelming importance of having well regulated shade of the best kinds. If, then, the shade is excessive, the coffee will not bear well, and if it is deficient or composed of a bad class of trees, the coffee will be certain to suffer from Borer and leaf disease.

From what I have said in the previous sentence it is evident that the regulation of the shade is of great importance. And, as the plantation ages, this thinning of the shade, lopping sometimes lower boughs, removing others, and cutting down occasional trees, requires constant attention. As a rule the whole shade should be carefully re-regulated at the end of every second year, or at the beginning of the third, when it will generally be found that, in consequence of the spread of the trees, there will be much thinning to be done. To cut down trees without injury to the coffee is, I need hardly say, a very nice operation, though it is one that the natives of the wooded countries, and especially the labourers from the foot of the Ghauts, are very expert at. It should never be attempted with coolies from the plains, who, of course, are unused to climbing trees, and have no experience of woodland work. The branches and tops of the trees to be felled are first removed, after a stout rope has been attached to a fork, above the point to be cut, and the end of the rope is then run round the butt of an adjacent tree, and held by a man. A huge bough is cut and falls with a threatening crash, but so well is the end of the rope judged that the ends of the twigs just touch the tops of the coffee trees. Then a coolie proceeds to lop off the smaller twigs and branches of the bough, and as he does so, it is gradually lowered till all are removed, and the bough, bereft of its clothing, is laid on the ground. Then comes the difficult task of felling the trees between the rows of coffee, a work of great nicety, which is partly effected by the final stroke of the axe, and partly by hauling a rope attached to the top of the tree. When a tree cannot be felled between the rows, it may often be felled so as to fall into the fork of an adjacent tree, and there it may be either left till it decays or let gently down to the ground, if the stem is a thin one. Bamboo ladders should be used to ascend the tree up to the first branch, as, though coolies can readily ascend without them, their bare legs are apt to suffer, and it is for this reason that coolies often try to shirk joining the shade party. The branches lopped off should be cut up into short lengths, and piled between the coffee trees. Such branches and twigs, as they decay, form good manure.

I have said that the proper regulation of shade is a work of great importance. It is also one of great difficulty, for the person who marks the shade trees to be removed must have a thorough knowledge of the kinds most worthy of preservation, and at the same time bear in mind the aspects, the gradients, the relation of the earth to the sun during the hottest months, and the declination of the sun; and, as the planter will be usually marking shade trees in the morning, he must keep constantly in view the points where the sun will strike in during the hot afternoon hours. Then as he looks at a shade tree that has shot up to a great height, he must consider whether its shade is thrown on the coffee it once shaded or on to the top of an adjacent shade tree, and, as regards such a tree, he will often find that he is keeping on his land a tree that is merely throwing a shade on to another shade tree. I was particularly struck with this lately when looking at some howligay trees that had shot up to a great height, and which I at once ordered to be removed, as I found that their shade was now simply thrown on to the surrounding shade trees. In short, the trees were now doing no good, and were therefore merely doing harm by occupying the land and robbing it of food. I have said that when marking shade the planters must bear in mind the relation of the earth to the sun during the hottest months, and this caution is very necessary, because if he should happen to be marking trees in January for removal after the crop season is over, and does not remember that the earth is daily shifting its position, he will find that he will have made many mistakes as to the trees which should be preserved, and that a tree that is very well placed for blocking out the hot afternoon sun in January, may be of very little use in March and April.

After a shade tree has been cut down it is necessary, in order to prevent the stump throwing up suckers, to remove the bark thoroughly from the stump, and also from any roots that project from the surface of the ground. If this is not done the stump and its roots will live on and take up manure intended for the coffee.

It is important to remember that, in many parts of an estate, as the shade trees become lofty the sun will come in, just as it would on a man's head if he carried his umbrella erect, and at the end of a long pole, and I have seen coffee trees so much exposed to the sun as to require fresh shade to be planted near them, not withstanding that some of the coffee trees in question were almost touching the stem of a very tall shade tree. When the planter observes that the sun is thus likely to come in from the shooting up of the shade trees, he should plant fresh shade. Nor need he be afraid of putting down too much, for it is easily removed if this is done when the trees are small, and then it must also be remembered that, as the plantation ages, both coffee and soil call for more shade, as the growing power of the land, and its ability to keep the trees fresh and green, naturally diminishes with the advance of time. Whenever, then, the appearance of the coffee shows that it is needed, fresh shade should be at once supplied, for every yellow leaved patch of coffee in a plantation is a breeding ground for the Borer insects, which will gradually spread into the adjacent coffee, where their presence will never be detected till hot, dry seasons occur, which they are sure to do sooner or later. When spreading from such yellow patches the Borer insect may not attack strong trees. On the contrary, it will generally attack those which are in a dried up condition either from weakness of constitution or because they are suffering from the effects of an over heavy crop, but in such trees it will surely obtain a footing, and so be ready to spread further when hot, dry seasons arrive. When, then, the appearance of the coffee shows that more shade is required, charcoal trees should be planted, and on the northern side of them cuttings of the good caste shade trees should be put down; and I particularly emphasize the side for the nurse because it is thus interposed between the sun and the permanent shade trees to be sheltered.

When the permanent shade trees have grown to the required size, the charcoal trees should be removed. It must be remembered that the permanent shade trees will grow very slowly unless sheltered by such nurses from the sun, and further, that the older the land the slower is the growth of all trees. It is most necessary, then, in all old land to dig holes at least four feet deep, and fill them with some good top soil from the forest, or with ordinary soil and cattle manure and bones. In order fully to protect the young shade trees from cattle and the sun, I now erect a square of fencing composed of palm tree slabs, and so high that cattle cannot reach over it, and, in the dry season, place some toddy tree branches across the square so as to shade the plants put down. In each square I plant a cub busree cutting, or one of the five kinds of trees recommended; sow several jack seeds, and a charcoal tree as nurse. In the case of the tree cutting failing to thrive, the planter will then always have a jack tree to fall back on. Should the cutting succeed the jack plant may be removed. I may here add that the parts requiring more shade are naturally more apparent in the hot season, and the planter should then put down a short pole with a flag at the end of it, whenever more shade is required. This will greatly facilitate the work of shade planting in the monsoon, as at that time the places where more shade is required are not very readily apparent, as all the coffee then becomes more or less green.

I have alluded to the fact that parasites (Kanarese—Bundlikay) attack the shade trees, and especially the nogurigay and jack trees. They should, of course, be cut off along with the bough on which they may happen to be growing; and it is important to remember that this should be done before the seed ripens, which is usually at the beginning of the monsoon. The latter end of April is the best time to carry out this work, as, if deferred till rain begins, the trees become slippery, and so dangerous for the climbers.

I have pointed out that the five trees I have recommended as being the best for shade can all be grown from cuttings, and it is important to point out that these should be taken from young and vigorous trees, and not, as is often done, from trees which are declining from age. There are some useful remarks at pages 88 and 89 of Mr. Graham Anderson's "Jottings on Coffee," on the preparation and planting of cuttings. The holes should be two feet deep, and filled up to three-quarters of the depth with soil. The cuttings should be six feet long with a fork at the top. They should be made at the beginning of the monsoon, and left in a cool and shady place in order to thicken the sap, the lower extremity of the cutting should be cut off with a curved slope, like the mouth-piece of a flageolet. Put the cutting gently into the hole, so as not to fray the bark, and tread down firmly. Wounds should be smeared with a mixture of cowdung and mud. The atti (Ficus glomerata) may also be grown from cuttings, but these should be rather thinner than those taken from the five trees first mentioned as being the best to plant for shade.

It has been previously pointed out that charcoal trees are valuable as nurses. They may be raised by clearing and burning a small piece of jungle, or by putting some virgin jungle soil in a bed and watering it, when charcoal plants will spring up. When a few inches high, take the plants up carefully with a ball of earth and transplant into baskets filled with jungle top soil. Put out the plants with their baskets in holes about the size of those usually made for coffee plants, and early in the monsoon, and see that they are well protected from cattle.

In conclusion, I think it well to mention that we have on my property, so far as I am aware, by far the oldest artificial shading of coffee in India. For many years all the estates in Mysore relied on the original forest shade, but mine was partly destroyed by a running fire when the clearings were first made, and some of the land was cleared wholly down, burned off, and planted with the most desirable kinds of shade trees. Our experience on this property dates back to the year 1857, and is therefore particularly valuable, for the defects connected with some trees were not apparent for as much, in one important case, as thirty years.

FOOTNOTES:

[52] I regret that I am unable to give the botanical name of this tree, and of some others subsequently mentioned. I have drawn up a list of trees, some of which may be retained till better trees can be grown to supply their places, and also of other trees which are positively injurious to coffee, but do not publish them, partly in order to save space, and partly because I have not been able to ascertain the botanical names of all the trees in question.

[53] My manager last year weighed and counted the Jack fruits from a single tree. There were forty fruits which weighed 572 lbs. The largest fruit weighed 30 lbs.



CHAPTER XII.

MANURE.

The question of shade is, as we have seen, a highly complicated one, and is also, as we shall see, a cause of complication in the subject we are now about to consider; for, were no shade required, the subject of manuring the land for coffee would, comparatively speaking, be a simple one. And it is very important to call attention to this point, because hitherto planters have not in any way allowed shade to disturb their manurial practices, but have applied their manures equally to land under the direct shade of the trees, and to the open spaces between them, which are only under the influence of lateral shade, or, in other words, have manured their land as if there were no shade trees on it whatever. A little consideration, however, will show that the kinds and qualities of the manures applied should be quite different under the shade of trees, from what they ought to be in the open spaces between them. For, close around the stems of the shade trees we have a large leaf deposit, which manures the soil and maintains its physical condition, and, at the same time, comparatively speaking, small crops of coffee, while in the open spaces between the shade trees we have a small amount of leaf deposit, and much heavier crops of coffee. If, then, we further take into consideration the fact that the soil between the shade trees is liable to be deteriorated by a greater exposure to wash and to baking from the sun after the soil has been thoroughly soaked, it is evident that manuring should be largely varied both in quality and quantity, if we are at once to manure efficiently and economically. And I desire the more particularly to call attention to this matter, because no planter, as far as I am aware, has at all studied the subject. And it is principally of very great importance because what we call bulk manures, i.e., farmyard manures, pulp, composts, and top soil, are difficult to procure in large quantities, and cost much to apply, as they have to be carried on coolies' heads, and often for considerable distances, down the rows of coffee trees. The more, then, we can limit our applications of bulk manure to such lands as urgently require them, the better shall we be able to devote a full supply to the soil which most requires such manures. Now if we apply our bulk manures to the land directly under the shade trees, we shall certainly be injudiciously using our mammal resources, because the leaf deposit under the shade trees supplies exactly that kind of padding which gives its chief value to bulk manures, and, if these opinions are sound, it therefore follows that we should, as a rule, apply all our bulk manures to the spaces between the shade trees, and only apply them to the land under the shade trees, when, from the soil being of a clayey character, an occasional application of bulk manure may be required to improve the texture of the soil, or, in other words, make it more easily workable. And it also follows that we should only apply bones, lime, and ashes, fish and oil-cake to the coffee under the direct influence of the shade trees.

But there is another question as regards manuring under the shade trees that requires careful consideration, and that is, whether we can, by heavy manuring, produce in such situations a larger crop than we could by a small application of manure, and from an experiment made by the late Mr. Pringle, formerly chemist on Messrs. Matheson and Co.'s estates in Coorg, it would seem to be a waste of money to supply more than a very moderate amount to the coffee directly under the shade trees, for he found that a considerable increase in the quantity of manure gave no increase in the crop. But I do not, of course, accept this experiment as conclusive, as it was made with bones alone, and it is possible that a more favourable result might have been obtained had an application of foliage stimulating manure been used as well, for the growth of new wood under shade is extremely slow, and it is probable that this slow growth, by giving an insufficient supply of young wood, is really the main cause of the yield under the shade trees being so much less than that from the coffee in the spaces between them. But the whole of this branch of my subject requires further careful experiment and observation before we can arrive at any definite conclusion. In the meanwhile, and till it can be shown that, with the aid of foliage stimulating manures, we can increase the yield under the direct shade of the trees, it is evident that as coffee under direct shade produces less than coffee in the spaces between the shade trees, the coffee that produces more should have a larger supply of manure.

It is hardly necessary to add here that, in order to prevent confusion, the whole field of coffee to be operated on should first of all be manured evenly all over with the quantity and quality of manure which it is advisable to use under the shade trees. After that, additional manure should be applied to the spaces between the shade trees. It is quite clear to me that a great economy of manure would be effected by this practice, and that from not applying bulk manures to the coffee under the shade trees, the physical condition of the land in the spaces between them could be maintained in a much more satisfactory degree than it is at present.

Then there is another question which, I believe, has hitherto escaped notice, and that is, as to whether we should not make some alteration in the kinds of manure so as to suit them better to the various aspects we have to deal with, for even in land of the same quality, and treated in precisely the same way, there is a considerable difference in the appearance of the coffee when we pass from an eastern or southern aspect to a western one, and a very great and marked difference is at once perceptible when you enter the coffee on a northern aspect. In the last-named case the coffee is nearly always green, and steadily but slowly growing, while on the southern and eastern aspects the coffee in the hot weather is apt to present a dried-up and sickly appearance. Then on these two last-named aspects there is commonly an over supply of suddenly grown wood. We should therefore, I think, increase foliage-stimulating manures on northern aspects, and diminish them on the southern and eastern, while we should have a medium degree of such manure in the case of western aspects. It seems to me that the reasoning in favour of foliage-stimulating manures on northern aspects is the same as in the case of coffee trees under direct tree shade, which always prevents the rapid growth of new wood. But on this point, as well as on that in the previous section, experiments must be made before any definite conclusion can be arrived at.

The quantity of manure that should be annually supplied is evidently a matter of the greatest importance, and here the first thing to be borne in mind is that of the four manures we require, namely, lime, nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, the first two are somewhat easily removed from the soil, while the last two are firmly retained by it. It is evident, then, that lime and nitrogen should be applied little and often, while phosphoric acid and potash may be applied either little and often, or in large quantities at longer intervals, whichever may be found most convenient. But in the opinion of an eminent agricultural chemist whom I have specially consulted on the subject, nitrogen, if applied in slowly decomposing form, as for instance, in the shape of oil-cake, would only be lost in an infinitesimal degree, but still he admits that there would be a loss, and as we cannot tell what that loss may amount to under the influence of our tropical climate and deluges of rain, it would be safe to assume that nitrogen, as well as lime, should be put down at short intervals and, in order to make up for the escape of these manures from the soil, in larger proportions than either phosphoric acid or potash.

I have pointed out that phosphoric acid is retained by the soil, and it is important to remember that it is only removed by the crops of coffee to the extent of from one-and-a-half to two pounds per acre per annum, and these are two facts that every planter should bear in mind when he contemplates following the common custom of manuring with bones. For if he remembers that about one-half of the bones consists of phosphate of lime, and that about one-half of the latter consists of phosphoric acid, he will at a glance see, when he estimates the amount of phosphoric acid removed by the crops, that if he puts down even 100 lbs. of bones per acre he will have put down enough phosphoric acid for about twelve crops of coffee. And yet for a planter to put down 3 cwt. of bones per annum regularly is quite a common thing, and a friend of mine, after having manured his land one year with bones to a moderate amount, put down each year, for the two following years, no less than three-quarters of a ton of bone-meal per acre. So that, making a large allowance for the phosphoric acid taken up by the shade trees, he had put down, in these last two years, enough phosphoric acid to last for the crops of 300 years. From the application of bones he had undoubtedly obtained a great benefit, but I feel sure that it was from the lime and the nitrogen of the bones, for the application of bones that preceded the two applications of three-quarters of a ton per annum must have left the soil amply supplied with phosphoric acid. Now assuming that the soil required lime, and a moderate degree of nitrogen, these could have been supplied far more cheaply, and just as efficiently had my friend applied a small dressing of ordinary lime, and some oil-cake, and I am the more convinced of the accuracy of this view after visiting Mr. Reilly's Hillgrove estate near Coonoor on the slopes of the Nilgiri hills, and hearing the result of his very long experience. Bones he had never used but once, and that on a small portion of the estate, but he had always applied lime once every three years at the rate of about 4 or 5 cwt. per acre; the other manures he had used were cattle manure, and town manure from Coonoor, and these added to the small quantity originally in the soil, had supplied his coffee amply with the 2 lbs. of phosphoric acid annually removed by the crops. After much consideration, and hearing Mr. Reilly's views, it seems quite clear to me that as but a small quantity of phosphoric acid is removed by the crops, and as that manure is firmly retained by the soil, bones need only be used at long intervals provided lime is regularly applied in small quantities.

And next, before we can approach, or attempt to determine, the quantity of manure required, we have to take into account the loss by wash, either from the surface or by downward percolation, and the absorption of manure by the roots of the shade trees. We have also to take into consideration the manure returned by the shade trees in the shape of fallen leaves, and the ammonia derived from the rainfall, so that it is impossible to state with any approach to accuracy the amount of manure that should be applied. We can only say then that, whatever the required amount may be it must be very considerable, for in addition to the above-mentioned losses of manure, we require a considerable amount for the demands of the coffee trees, and that, further, it must vary with the amount of the rainfall, and the retentive or non-retentive character of the soil. The crop, it is true, takes comparatively little from the soil, and Mr. John Hughes, Agricultural Chemist, 79, Mark Lane,—points out in his "Reports on Ceylon Soils and Coffee Manures," that 5 cwt. of parchment coffee an acre, which is an average crop over a long series of years, only removes from the soil—

lbs. Nitrogen 8-1/4 Potash 7-1/2 Phosphoric acid 1-1/2 Lime 1 ——— Total 18-1/4

Assuming then, he tells us, that the small quantity of potash required could be supplied by the soil, and that the pulp is returned to it, the loss by the crops could be fully supplied by 100 lbs. of castor cake and 10 lbs. of bones per acre. Then if we require much more from the plant than the production of crop (for we expect it, in addition, to grow wood for the succeeding crop, and during this process the plant grows much superfluous wood, besides suckers, which have to be removed), it must be remembered that all primings and superfluous wood are left on the land. What there is actually carried off it is really very small in quantity. Why, then, it will naturally be asked, is it necessary that so much manure should be present in the soil if we wish to grow good coffee and have continuously good crops, and why is it that if manuring is neglected you will soon find that it is only the rich hollows that are able to maintain the coffee in good condition and produce good crops continuously? To such questions no distinct answer can be given, and we can only conjecture that coffee, when it wants its food, must, for some unknown reason, have a considerable supply at hand. There is, however, one test which, I think, always shows conclusively whether this food is present in the quantity required to supply the needs of the plant. Just before the hot weather the coffee trees throw out a small flush of young wood. Now if the trees have given a fair average crop, and at the same time have a good show of bearing wood for the next season's crop, and are also throwing out a good supply of vigorous young shoots, then you may be sure that your land is well fed. But if the trees throw out no young shoots at that time, or very few, then you will know that your land is not as well fed as it ought to be.

It might naturally be supposed that I could furnish some guide to the planter, from our experience in Mysore, as to the quantity of manure that should be put down, but I regret to say that I am unable to do so, as I know of no estate where a regular and continuous system of manuring has been carried out. But in North Coorg, and very close to the Mysore Border, the continuous practice on Mr. Mangles's Coovercolley Estate of 500 acres gives a fairly approximate idea of what can keep an estate in a well-fed condition. There the practice has been to put down every third year from 7 to 10 cwt. of bone-meal an acre, and one-third of a bushel of cattle manure, and, besides this, composts of pulp, mixed with top soil and lime. Now this is the finest estate I ever saw. The coffee was even and of a beautiful colour, and when I saw it towards the end of 1891 there was a fair crop of coffee on the trees, and an ample supply of young wood for the following crop, and the land was so well fed with nitrogen that an experimental application of nitrate of soda to a part of the land had produced no perceptible effect on the trees. From what I have previously said as to the application of bone-meal being overdone, I think it probable that the estate would have presented as good an appearance had the land, after once being well stored with phosphoric acid, been treated with small applications of lime instead of bones. Then another estate I saw in 1891 in Coorg, in the Bamboo district, furnished some guide as to the amount of manure required where cattle manure was not available, and on the estate in question, which had both a good crop on the trees and ample wood for the future, I was informed that, in the year previous, 6 cwt. of castor cake and 3 cwt. of bones had been applied per acre, and that for the four preceding years 4-1/3 cwt. of manure, containing 2 parts of castor to I of bones, had been applied, but that the last-named amount had been found to be too small. The reader will find in the chapter on Coorg some further information, which has since been supplied to me by Mr. Meynell, on this point.

The quantity of manure that should be put down at a time is evidently a matter of great importance, as if you begin by putting down a large application you are certain to have an over-heavy crop, followed by exhaustion, and a very poor crop the following year, while the object of all intelligent fruit cultivators is to work for moderate even crops. It seems quite clear, then, that we should manure little and often, as you thereby not only avoid the risk of over-heavy crops, but economize your manure. For is it not obvious that if you put down at once a supply of nitrogen and lime to last for three years, you increase the risk of loss from wash and downward percolation? And it must also be considered that an over-heavy crop leaves the trees in an exhausted and dried-up state to go through the hot weather, when they will be liable to be attacked by the Borer insect, which, as we shall afterwards more particularly see, delights in dry wood. So that when we further take into consideration the injury to the constitution of the trees which is caused by over-heavy crops, we need have no doubt that there is much reason to dread them. I would therefore strongly deprecate, for the preceding reasons, heavy manuring (even the mind may be over-manured in the eager desire to arrive at a cultured intellect), and would advise that a beginning be made with a moderate application, and, if this is found to be insufficient, that the amount be gradually increased till the trees show that they can with case give regular average crops. If cattle manure or jungle top soil is available, a quarter of a bushel a tree may be annually applied of either, accompanied by 3 cwt. of bone-meal. And, if neither of the two former sources are available, then 3 cwt. of bone-meal and 2 cwt. of white castor cakes would be a reasonable application. After applying 3 cwt. of bone-meal per acre for three consecutive years the land ought to be amply stocked with phosphoric acid, and the bone-meal should be discontinued, and its place supplied with small applications of lime, either annually or at intervals of two or three years, should the latter course be more convenient. And subsequently, when there is reason to suppose that the land requires a fresh supply of phosphoric acid, an application of bone-meal may again be used. I would particularly warn the planter against over-manuring light dry soil, or south and south-western aspects, or the upper and drier portions of eastern aspects, as an over-heavy crop on these aspects is very perilous even with good shade, for we may not have a drop of rain from November till April, and should such a drought occur, and be preceded by a dry season (and such seasons occurred in 1865 and 1866, and caused the great attack of the Borer insect, which was so fatal to all insufficiently-shaded coffee, and from which even well-shaded coffee suffered to some extent), or should even a single dry, hot season follow immediately after the crop is picked, there would be sure to be a serious drying up of the plant, with but small chance of its bearing anything worth having the season following, and very great risk of a severe attack of Borer. But on northern and north-western aspects the land is not exposed to parching east winds, and, as we have seen, has a temperature about one-half cooler than that on a southern aspect, and the planter may therefore on such aspects manure with greater freedom. But even in these aspects I am sure that over-heavy manuring will lead ultimately to injury to the trees, and, in a series of years, to the production of a smaller amount of coffee.

I have indicated the amount of manure which in my opinion ought to be put down when manure is applied for the first time on a plantation, and if the plantation is of a flat character, or only on very moderate slopes, the manure should be evenly applied all over it. But if, as often happens, there are hollows and ridges on the land, then the ridges should be, as a rule, much more heavily manured than the hollows, for which a very little manure will suffice, as so much is washed into them, and they are, besides, much richer to start with. It is very important to note at the outset all those spots which, in the original forest, are very rich, so that the manure may be applied accordingly, and though, as I have said, the ridges as a rule are poor, there are many instances where the top of a ridge, from being pretty wide, is rich, though the sides of it for a little way down are nearly always poor. I have lately been minutely examining old forest land, with the view of removing top soil from it, and have been much struck with the variation in the depth of the rich surface soil.

We have next to consider the time of year at which manure should be applied to the land, and here we shall find that the planter, like the farmer, often has to do things when he can, and not when he should, and though, from the risk of loss by wash alone, there can be no doubt that all manures should be put down after the heavy rains of the monsoon are over, it is difficult to see how this can be carried out in the case of bulk manures, on account of the difficulty of getting enough labour to at once cope with the ordinary estate work, and apply a class of manure which absorbs so much hand labour. Then there is the difficulty of carting manure at that season when the roads, which are not macadamized, would be cut to pieces. But this difficulty could be overcome were a sufficient number of storage sheds provided to which the manure might be carted during the dry season. But the sheds would cost a good deal of money, and the cost of the manure would be increased by the cost of extra handling, or in other words putting the manure in the sheds and taking it out again. So that I am inclined to think that it would be better to apply, by direct cartage from the cattle sheds, as much bulk manure as can be applied in the month of September, and the remainder at any convenient time after crop. Another great objection to applying manure after crop, and before the monsoon, is, that you stimulate the growth of the weeds which spring up with the early rains, and also much growth of suckers, and superfluous wood in the coffee, all of which have to be handled off at considerable expense, whereas, it is hardly necessary to say, that the weed growth is smaller at the end of the monsoon, and the force of the plant directed rather to the maturing of the berry than the growth of surplus wood. But in the case of light manures such as bones and castor cake, there is no difficulty in applying them in September, and an effort should certainly be made to put them down then. Another advantage of manuring at the end of the monsoon would be that the planter could then clearly perceive what trees would be certain to give a good crop, and give them an extra quantity of manure, and also diminish his application of manure in the case of such parts of the plantation as might be yielding a small crop. I may here mention that, from reliable information received from Coorg, results there have shown that it is best to apply a portion of the manure after crop to strengthen the blossom, and a portion after the heavy monsoon rains are over to strengthen the trees and assist in maturing the crop.

But the most important point, perhaps, as regards the best time for manuring is the bearing that the time of manurial application has on leaf disease, and Mr. Marshall Ward in his third report on leaf disease (p. 15) has some most valuable remarks on this question. "The object of the planter should be," he says "to produce mature leaves as soon as possible and keep them on the branches as long as possible." Now if leaves are produced in April and May they become attacked by the fungus while still young, and in August and September the ripening crop is left bare on the branches. But the leaves which were in bud in December are matured and well hardened, and have already, by living longer, done much service to the tree. He then points out that when certain districts in Ceylon suffered from a bad attack of leaf disease in July, "a large surface of young and succulent leaves were ready to receive the spores of the Hemeleia." The germination of the spores was rapid, and the young leaves were soon destroyed. The planter then, he says, should manure and prune so as to grow matured leaves during those months when the least damp and wind may be expected. And the same remarks are evidently equally valuable as regards rot, and show us the necessity of modifying our manurial and pruning practices so as to enable the tree the better to contend against it as well as leaf disease. All manuring, then, which leads to the production of young succulent foliage just at the beginning of the rains should be avoided, and the same remark applies equally to pruning. But I shall again return to the subject when writing on pruning.