83; 



CHAPTER 9.'. 



% 



SHADE. 



ITS CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT. 



Climatic conditions peculiar to Mysore render it neces- 

 sary that the cultivation of Coffee be carried on under shade.. 

 Subject, as this Province is,, to a variable rainfall: and long 

 periods of drought,. any attempt to cultivate in the "-Open" 

 invariably results in, a failure. In former years however 

 these requirements were little understood and considerable 

 misfortune was the consequence. The fact that shade was 

 unnecessary every where else where coffee was grown, and the 

 splendid results obtained inCoorg, Ceylon and the Wynaad, 

 sadly influenced the discretion of many of the pioneers, at 

 least in the Munzerabad Talook, which being healthy and 

 freely accessible was the field chosen by a great number 

 of new comers. SeveraL immense clearings were made and; 

 innumerable small ones rapidly followed suit. The Jungle 

 was cleared and burnt in the most approved, manner, and 

 many were the felicitations exchanged as to the- " good 

 burns" which had been effected "Hastily run up" plants,, 

 with wonderful promise soon appeared,, and' for a few years 

 all was undoubted success. A couple of unexceptionally 

 good seasons greatly added to appearances, and.even two or 

 three magnificient crops were gathered. The seasons ex- 

 tending from 1865 to 1867 however were of a very different 

 nature a drought of seven months following on an abnor- 

 mally short rainfall,, not; only sealed the doom of all the 

 Estates in the open, but even seriously affected many in the 

 shade. 



The Borer during these seasons appeared'^ almost uni- 

 versally, but the loss although not entirely confined to the 

 open, was yet decidedly heavier where clearings had been 



