480 



MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI lUSTRICT. 



CH. XXVII. internally. Chlorate of potash one tablespoonful to one quart 



Agricultuhe ®^ water — half a pint twice a day. Animal kept warm and 



separate. 



— foot-and- 

 mouth 



General 

 remarks. 



Make the animal stand in marshy ground. Diet, soup of rice I 

 or raggi. Wash out the mouth with carbolic acid and water. 



The agriculture of the Nilagiris may be truly described as being 

 in the progressive stage : nothing but tea, coffee, and cinchona 

 bark can at present pay the cost of transit to the coast. Pota- 

 toes, it is true, are exported, but in very limited quantities. Until 

 a railway from Mettapollium to Ootacamand is an accomplished 

 fact agriculture must languish and the resources of the Hills 

 remain undeveloped. It has been mentioned that the great want of 

 the Hills is lime to develope the soil ; the present rates of carriage 

 being quite prohibitory, lime cannot be applied. The system of 

 burying green fodder to ferment, if largely carried out on the Hills 

 and in Waindd, where good grass is so abundant, would reduce 

 the cost and risk of keeping all kinds of animals in the dry season. 

 The cultivation of too large areas by the Badagas is a suicidal 

 policy, and is the result of cheap land. Were the amount of labour 

 and capital expended upon half the area, the results could not fail 

 to be far more satisfactory than at present ; but a Native is ever 

 prone to have a greed for land, perhaps more so than Europeans, 

 and it is very difficult to convince him that one acre well culti- 

 vated is far better and yields a better return than two indifferently 

 farmed. In the Badaga valleys there are fair soils, an excellent 

 climate, and a good market for many products which might be 

 produced, but are not. In fact, if the Badagas would only exert 

 their intelligence to grow good vegetables in addition to wheat, 

 barley, raggi, and millet, they would soon improve their condition : 

 they possess the intelligence, but not the assiduity. Much has 

 been written about spade husbandry, and small European farmers 

 have settled on various sites on the Hills, but hitherto no man has 

 succeeded in realizing an ordinary living. It may be that the 

 thrifty, hard-working, intelligent, small settler has never tried the 

 Nilagiris, but only men deficient in those qualities so necessary 

 for success in life. The retired soldier makes a bad settler in 

 India ; he has been accustomed to have so many things done for him 

 that he has lost the art of doing anything for himself. The man 

 who is not prepared to lead a frugal life and work hard need not 

 hope to obtain a living from the soil, and it would only be by 

 superior intelligence that he could with frugality and hard work 

 succeed at all. Natives can afford to raise grain so cheaply m 

 ordinary seasons that even high farming would hardly pay the 

 European ; nor, indeed, is it desirable that he should raise grain 



