40 



the vast amount of experience that is available in every 

 planting district, and the number of able men who are 

 better fitted for the task, but I venture to think that there 

 are many who will agree with me in saying that where 

 difficulties have actually arisen through misadventure or 

 other circumstances, there is no harm in endeavouring to 

 make a few practical suggestions towards assisting in mak- 

 ing the best of a bad job. I shall therefore confine my 

 remarks to the management of old estates such as are gene- 

 rally to be met with in Mysore, where owing to a dry 

 climate, low altitude and variable rainfall, cultivation is 

 carried on under shade, where many mistakes have been 

 made and subsequently rectified and where a planter's ex- 

 perience is not only dearly bought but is also of a varied 

 and composite nature, and where it has been the business of 

 Managers and Proprietors for the last ten years to undo or 

 at least counteract the mistakes and misconceptions of 

 former days and endeavour to make the best of estates 

 which were opened in ignorance, worked with progressive 

 experience, and now in their maturity give their owners lots 

 to do and plenty to think of. In regard to soil I consider 

 it would be vain to attempt to do anything more than gene- 

 rally point out what should be considered as typical, and 

 leave the rest to individual judg ment and discretion. One 

 cannot always get what is wanted perfection but with 

 typical requirements and conditions given, a man of ordinary 

 intelligence can generally be trusted to form his own con- 

 clusions more satisfactorily than by being led by more 

 definite directions. 



