May 2, 1887.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



75^ 



(1.) What part of India is best adapted for the 

 purpose? as you must in all cases have abundant labour, 

 cheap land, and above all, suitable climate. 



(2.) What is the best system? cottage cultivation 

 or large rearing establishments under European super- 

 vision, similar to what is now being tried in the 

 Eastern Diln. 



(3.) Will the climate and soil that suit one species 

 of worm suit another ? For instance, will the damp 

 climate of Bengal agree with the Italian or Chinese 

 worm? 



(4.j What is the best kind and what is the best 

 system of planting mulberry? In the Dim the trees 

 are planted about fourteen feet apart, and the inter- 

 mediate space is filled with plants, which are plucked 

 and then removed when the standard trees are grown. 



These and many other questions, time, experience, 

 and careful observation can alone solve. — Indian Notes 

 and Queries 



♦ 



COFFEE: ASSESSMENT OF COORG LANDS- 



On the 26th ultimo, the Honorary Secretary, Coorg 

 Planters' Association, wrote to the Secretary of the Chief 

 Commissioner of Coorg, Bangalore, on behalf of the 

 Association, to acknowledge the receipt of the minute 

 (vide Madras Mail of April 26) dated 18th PTarch, 

 by the officiating Chief Comissioner, on its memorial 

 praying for a reduction of Assessment on all coffee lands 

 in Ooorg. He said: — "As this minute has been pub- 

 lished ia extenso in the Madras Mail, we feel called 

 upon, to reply to an official document so misleading in 

 its statements and inaccurate in its data, as we trust 

 that, although the Government may not see their way 

 to relieving us of a portion of our present assessment, 

 still we shall be able to point out to them that our 

 claims to the same rest upon a far better foundation 

 than the Acting Chief Commissioner would infer. 

 The minute points out the many mistakes that have 

 been made by planters in the selection of land — • 

 capital borrowed at too high an interest, planting with- 

 out shade, want of manure, &c, — but it forgets 

 to add that coffee planting in Coorg was entirely a 

 new industry 25 years ago, and we were only follow- 

 ing in the footsteps of the planters of other districts, 

 not knowing what systems were best adapted to the 

 different parts of the country, and having all our ex- 

 perience to gain, which we have certainly done at last 

 after many years, but with heavy loss to the majority 

 of the pioneers of coffee in Coorg. It makes but 

 small account of our losses from leaf disease, borer, 

 or drought, and other climatic causes, without which 

 we should have no reason to complain, and coffee would 

 not only be a thriving industry in Coorg, but we should 

 now be a prosperous body of men receiving a fair re- 

 turn for our capital and labor, which is very far from 

 being the case at present. The reduction in the assess- 

 ment may seem too small to have any perceptible 

 influence on the future of coffee, hut it would have 

 enabled the planter to devote the money thus saved 

 to the purchase of manure, and the improvement 

 year by year of portions of his lands already much 

 impoverished for the want of it. We grant that 

 concessions have been made in individual cases, but 

 too late in the majority of .instances to have any effect, 

 and thousands of acres have been abandoned, and 

 thrown back on the land of Government from which 

 they now derive no benefit, and it is to prevent in 

 some measure this further throwing up of lands, and 

 consequent loss to Government, that we proposed a 

 reduction of the present assessment to an amount 

 which the land would be better able to bear. Little 

 new land has been taken up in Coorg during the last 

 five years, but on the contrary, many applications have 

 been allowed to lapse, there being no capital in the 

 country to open up fresh land, and hardly a single 

 estate has changed hands e.fcept to go into that of 

 the Agents, who have been compelled to take them 

 over much against their will, and would gladly part 

 with them at a heavy sacrifice if purchasers could 

 only be found. 



"The statistics given in this minute of the average 

 amount of production and cost of cultivation are , 



most misleading and inaccurate. So far from the 

 average yield per acre being 5 cwt., it is not one and 

 a half, talking it all over, as is shewn from the offi- 

 cial figures given, which are 37,544: acres as under 

 cultivation by Europeans in 1884-85. and which yielded 

 2,006 tons, or an average of 1 l-12th cwt. per acre, 

 so that it took '18 acres to produce a ton. Again the 

 average nett amount per ton for coffee in Loudon for 

 the past four j'ears has been nearer £50 than £60 ; 

 but to take the figures given by the Acting Chief 

 Commissioner, Ave have at the latter price £36 per ton , 

 or at present rate of exchange K520 for cost of 

 cultivation, which for 18 acres to the ton is R29 

 per acre, whereas the lowest sum on which coffee cau 

 be cultivated at a profit is from R60 to R120 per 

 acre, and the better the cultivation the larger the crops, 

 and consequently improved chance of obtaining a profit. 

 The margin therefore left of 25 her cent, out of the 

 London receipts as shewn in this minute, for interest 

 on purchase money of the estate, and capital borrowed 

 for carrying on the cultivation, as well as to provide 

 a profit to the proprietor, has all vanished, and there 

 is nothing left but a heavy deficit. A more accurate 

 statement would, however, be an average on the bet- 

 ter class of estates only, over a series of years of 4 cwt 

 per acre at £55 nett per ton, which at present rate 

 of exchange would give R140 per acre for cultiva- 

 tion, manure, cost of carriage to the coast, and curing, 

 and when this is all deducted it will be found there 

 is very little left for interest on capital and profit to 

 the proprietor. If the crop should, however, fall below 

 this average, which is too often the case, there re- 

 mains nothing but heavy deficit, as the estate must 

 be cultivated, whatever the crop may be, or allowed 

 to go to ruin. AVe must decline to touch upon the 

 point of the expensive mode of living referred to in 

 the minute, but it would appear to be a most uncalled 

 for reflection upon a large body of gentlemen, who 

 have barely enough to support themselves as such, and 

 whose incomes have been reduced year by year as the 

 prices of coffee have fallen in value. The Acting Chief 

 Commissioner assured us that, although Government 

 were unable to reduce our present laud taxes, still it 

 would be their duty to see that the wants of the 

 planters were attended to, more particulary as regards 

 our communications, which he allowed were in a very 

 unsatisfactory state. We maintain that this by no 

 means sufficiently states th? case, but that they are 

 in a far worse condition now than they were fifteen 

 years ago, and that, with the exception of the bridge 

 over the Cauvery at Siddapur, which unites North 

 and South Coorg, and its connecting line, little or 

 nothing has been done to open up the country. The 

 road through North Coorg, a most important feeder, 

 although commenced in 1862, is still unmetalled and 

 unbridged, and the causeway quite unfit for wheeled 

 traffic. We respectfully trust, therefore, that some- 

 thing will really be done to improve the state of the 

 communications in Coorg, which are year by year be- 

 coming worse instead of better under the present 

 regime. — Madras Mail. 



♦ 



INSECT POWDEE.* 



The Dalmatian insect powder. Chrysanthemum 

 cinerarisefolium, B. et H., known also by its Dalmatian 

 name buliack, has been cultivated for several years 

 past on a large scale in certain portions of California, 

 the cultivators being Dalmatians who have settled there. 



The best soil for this plant is loam, with a large 

 proportion of san<l. This kind of soil is particularly 

 suitable for sowing, but it should be well mixeil with 

 old dung. The seed itself is mixed with sand and 

 distributed over the soil as uniformly as possible, after 

 which the soil is raked to the depth of about half an 

 inch, and then gently pressed by passing a roller 

 over it. Until the plants spring up, the beds must 

 be irrigated every evening, unless it rains. But great 



* Abstract of a chapter on the subject in Die Tro- 

 pi.-iche Agrikultur. Von Heinrieh Semler, in Han 

 Francisco. Svo. 1SS6, vol. i., p. 207. Reprinted in the 

 Journal of the Pliannacev.tical, Society from the American 

 Driujcjist, January. 



