3 2 Cojjjee Planting. 



fixed by the Government for forest-land is ;i per 

 acre, but so great has been the competition among 

 buyers of late years, that really suitable and desir- 

 able forest cannot now be secured at anything like 

 this price. Up to 1865 land had begun to change 

 hands freely at prices as high as 8 per acre ; 

 while, since then, owing to the high prices ruling 

 for coffee in the European markets of late years, 

 even this sum has frequently been largely exceeded, 

 in some cases from ^"15 to >2$ per acre having 

 been paid, prices which cannot but be looked upon 

 as highly speculative. The purchaser becomes a 

 freehold proprietor, the land being subject to no 

 taxes or restrictions of any kind. 



These Government rules will thus be seen to be 

 fair and liberal in a country where, in pursuance of 

 an enlightened and energetic policy, as displayed 

 in the construction of railways, roads, and bridges, 

 and in careful protective legislation, much has been 

 done to add to and render permanent the value of 

 the land thus disposed of. 



In Southern India, at least in some parts of it, 

 the state of the case is somewhat different. In the 

 Wynaad, for example, which is to a large extent 

 but badly provided with roads available for wheeled 

 traffic, its rivers in many cases unspanned as yet 

 by bridges, and sometimes even without ferries (so 

 that a few days' rain not unfrequently suffices to 



