78 THE FOREST LANDS OF FINLAND. 



much attention to the subject ; and after consultation 

 with revenue officers, coffee-planters, &c., I annex the 

 opinions of Mr T. L. Blane, Collector of Canara ; Mr G. S. 

 Forbes, Sub-Collector of Canara ; Mr Thomas Cannan, 

 coffee-planter ; and Mr T. Beaumont, of Beypur, which 

 serve to illustrate the general views of the collectors of 

 revenue, coffee-planters, and the energetic agent of the 

 Beypur Iron Works. 



' It is not possible, nor is it desirable, to suppress the 

 Koomaree cultivation altogether, as the growth of the 

 various millets is necessary to the aliment of certain 

 classes of people; but I think it most important that 

 it should be greatly limited, as suggested by Mr Blane, 

 and not permitted on the banks of navigable rivers or the 

 sea-shore, close to trunk roads, or in any locality where 

 superior timber exists. The revenue arising from one 

 rupee per acre is trivial compared with the value of the 

 wood lost to the State, and it is well known that in the 

 much frequented valleys of the Ghats much Koomaree 

 takes place without the knowledge of the revenue officers, 

 European or native. 



' In every case I think an application for a specified 

 amount of Koomaree land should be made; and where 

 Koomaree takes place without sanction, the cultivator 

 should be severely fined. In this way the destruction 

 of virgin forests has been brought under, both in the 

 Mysore and in the Mahratta country. I do not here 

 allude to the private lands of Mahratta, with which I 

 have nothing to do.' 



The statements of Mr Blane and Mr Forbes have been 

 given. The following is the opinion of Mr Thomas Cannan, 

 coffee-planter, which is cited : 



' With regard to Koomaree cultivation, the Government, 

 in my opinion, is the greater loser, there being very seldom 

 more than one crop of ragi taken from one patch, which, 

 if cultivated with coffee, would have yielded something 

 every year for half a century, in the way of rent or tax. 



