Aprh. 1, 1886.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



677 



plenty in the (lictricts, but that in accessible localities 

 is rapidly bv-comiug exhausted, and roads or tram- 

 ways must in Cdurse of time be constructed to tap 

 the supply in the more remote forests which cannot 

 be reacliud by watercaniage. AVhatever the bungalows 

 may have beiii in the past, most planters are now 

 fairly well housed, although, in first opening a garden, 

 temporary places of residence, known as hanhoi', arc 

 generally run up, as when the ground is covered 

 with heavy forest, it is well nigh impossible to select 

 a suitable site for the permanent factory, and he 

 who essays the opeumg of a plantation must he 

 content to rough it until the surrounding jungle has 

 been eufficieutly cleared to enable him to look about 

 him. Swamps in the immediate vicinity, unless such 

 can be at once let out for rice cultivatiorl, are a prolific 

 source of sickness among the coolies, and should this 

 amount to any considerable percentage, it leads to 

 the intervention of the Inspecter of Labourers, who 

 has power to release one's coolies from their agree- 

 ments, and declare the factory closed ; the meaning 

 of which is, that the planter is not allowed to bind 

 anyone down, and must depend for labour upon those 

 willing to run all rii-ks incidental to residing in an 

 unhealthy locality. It will be seen, therefore, how- 

 important an item is the pitching upon as salubrious 

 a site as possible. Many planters conduct all busi- 

 ness transactions in the bungalow — a practice that 

 entirely destroys all privacy, as everyone who has 

 anything to say considers he has a right to come 

 prowling about the house at all times and seasons. 

 In well-ordered establishments, however, the ofiice is 

 kept oistiuct from the dwelling-house, the advantages 

 of which the intending planter will not fail to 

 appreciate, especially if he is a married man. 



In optiiing a new plantation, the chief consideration 

 is first to get housed, and then to clear a site for 

 your nurseries, for, though some sow the seed at the 

 stakes, -1 ft. by 4 ft. ap.art, the practice is seldom 

 attended with success. Seed reaches the planter in 

 these days of steam coranuinication so early, that it 

 nettls hard, untiring energy to get the nurseries ready 

 for its reception on arrival, and, as the new coiner 

 has to depend on local labour for all preliminary 

 operations, it is seldom that he can begin sowing 

 until January, while the *eed reaches early in Dcceml cr ; 

 and, as if kept in the boxes or bags for any length 

 of time, it rapidly deteriorates, it is usual to spr' ad 

 it out on the ground covered with just sufiicient earth 

 to preserve vitality, and at the same time to check 

 premature germination. It is next to impossible to 

 obtain labour in the month of December from the 

 villages, as every one is engaged in the rice ha'-ve-st, 

 for which they receive no pay, but are remunerated 

 by Dm: bun<lle in every seven or ten. according to 

 to tbe strength of the crop, and all other avocations 

 are thrown aside until the harvest is in. "When labour 

 becomes available, about the first week in January, 

 no time is lost in getting the seetl into nurseries, 

 and the wider it is so sov.n the belter. If the land 

 to be herealter planted is billj-, it has to be terraced 

 anil staked off, the plants being transplanted as soon 

 ns they have matured wood, and if a good stretch 

 of dry weather intervenes between the early March 

 rains and the setting in of the regular monsoon, 

 about the middle of Jime, should labour be plentiful, 

 good progress can be made. Transplanting can, of 

 course, be continued throughout the rains, but it is 

 by no means so batisfactory as planting in dry weather ; 

 the wet washes the soil from the roots, and the 

 plant, being in full vitality, receives a check that it 

 takes weeks to recover from. If the land is flat, 

 and liable to submergence, the whole of the r.iiny 

 season has to bo devoted to perfecting the drainage 

 and hoeing out all lootfl; then, as soon as the rains 

 are over and the plant at rest, trausplanting can go 

 on fron; November to May, though the sooner it is 

 completed tbe better. Putting out plants that have 

 been one yi ar in the nurseries has many advantag' s 

 that more than counterbalance the increased cost of 

 labour : you have a plant to deal with possossing a 

 good H'Out stem, capable of resistmg the attacks of 

 that abominably destructive insect, the paddle cricket, 

 whose raTR;;eB among nnroatured plants, when once 



placed out in the open, are something incredible. 

 These insects work at uisht, and hundreds of plants 

 disappear, cut short off above th'* matured wood. 

 The creatures do not appear to eat the plant, but no 

 doubt do derive some nourishment from it; or they 

 would not destroy it. No precautions can guard 

 against them, and the only method of keeping them 

 under is to dig them out and destroy them ; they 

 are particularly active during the first four moiithn 

 of the year, just when the young plants need much 

 protection, and seem quite unaffected by floods or 

 the fierce heat the ground is subjected to during the 

 firing of the felled jungle. Fortunately, Kukis, Meekics, 

 Khassias, and Dhangers, are partial to them roa.sted, 

 and they have many enemies, such as snakes, owls, 

 frogs, and, lastly, the badger; but by June they 

 begin to hybernate, and if the soil is moderately fertile, 

 and labour sufiBoiently plentiful to keep the ground 

 free from weed, the plant by ths end of the rains 

 in October is sufficieutly robust, and will have attained 

 a height to render the operations of the cricket 

 abortive. But, to insure successful planting, constant 

 attention and unremitting supervision are necessary ; 

 all plants 'injured in the process of cultivation, or 

 any of sickly appearance or undesirable variety (for 

 we have not quite got riJ of the pure Ohiua seed), 

 must be replaced as quickly as possible, to provide 

 for which contingency, a reserve nm'sery should always 

 be kept. Among imported coolies upon a newly-opened 

 place there is usually a considerable amount of low 

 fever, which, however, yields rapidly to mild doses of 

 sulphate of quinine — personal experience compels me 

 to assert that the cheap substitute, retailed by the 

 Government, for the sulph.4te is of but little account. 

 Though it is usual to entertain the services of a 

 resident native doctor, it is always as well to employ, 

 as a periodical visitor, the European medical man of 

 the circle, as coolies are rather givpn to shirking and 

 shamming if b'ft entirely in the hands of one of their 

 own cpuntrymen, at least of that class the planter 

 can .afford to retain ; and I must not be understood 

 to imply that the properly qualified native practitioner 

 is one whit behind his European cmifiire, either in 

 niedical knowledge or becoming a party to what is 

 known as " shamming Abraham." 



On a plantation that has reached the hearing stage, 

 the man.ager has little leisure from the middle of 

 March, about which time manufacture u.')Ually com- 

 mences, tmtil the last chest is picked in November. 

 Tbe yield of leaf gradually increases fiom March, 

 reaching its maximum atout the first week in Sepeiuber, 

 though III) hard and fast rule can be laid down. 

 Constant wet and .ab.sence of sun, with floods from 

 the water of the cool hill streams in August, imy 

 chill the soil and retard the flushes, but heavy rain 

 at night and a blazing sun during the day constitute a 

 successful season, whatever the per.sonal discomfort 

 of living for three and a half months in a perpetual 

 vapour bath may be. Each day's make, whon silted 

 out into the various denominations, has to be tested 

 and compared with the corresponding sample of the 

 same date of the previous season, and hurried visits 

 to the neighbouiing gardens during the rains are in 

 these days chiefly undertaken for comparisons of 

 culture and intiTcbango of ideas connected thf-rewilli. 

 In fact, all through the manufacturing season the 

 talk savours mo.st decidedly of shop, and, though a 

 casual visitor may be pnrhaps somewhat wearied by 

 the theme, it has resulted in the pouring into the 

 United Kingdom of the basis of a capital beverage, 

 if inio could but got tin: raw material pure in the 

 first instance, and, secondly, induce those who profess 

 to know how to brew the concoction to do so in a 

 proner manner; but I fear that, except on the plant- 

 ations, a few private houses and half a dozen oflices 

 wi'.hin the shadow of the London Monument, a good 

 cup of tea, properly made, is unattainable. It will 

 be .seen from the foregoing romniks th'it the planter's 

 time, whether working on his (jwn account or as a 

 paid servant, is fully occupi^'d; but, though success 

 depends, as in all businesses, upon constant application, 

 he need not be tied down day by day and every day. 

 Two friends v/orking a garden together can manage 

 to look well after the property and yet obtain a 



