MANUAL OF THE NILAQIRI DISTRICT. 485 



present time, suffer such privations from the want of it, between the CH. XXVIII. 



seasons of sowing and reaping the crops in the plains, and indeed for 



more than three-quarters of the year. Cultivation. 



The other, or what may be called the old plantations in the other "7"" 

 parts of the Hills, but principally on the north-eastern slopes, are ^t Coonoor 

 insignificant in point of size but remarkable for the peculiarly fine and Kdtagiri 

 flavour of the coffee produced, which is considered to be owing to the °° ^^^' 

 high elevation at which most of them are situated. Some plantations 

 near Coonoor and Kotergherry are 5,000 feet above the level of the sea, 

 but it seems to me that the advantage derived from this superiority 

 of flavour is more than counterbalanced by the general want of 

 vigour and luxuriance of the coff'ee trees, which evidently do not 

 thrive in this latitude so well at an elevation above 4,500 feet, as 

 between that and 3,000 feet. It is not easy to estimate the amount 

 of land at present under actual cultivation for coffee on the Neilgher- 

 ries, as, in most cases, the coffee fields are so mixed up with the 

 mulberry grounds, that it is difficult to arrive at the precise extent of 

 each, but it may be pronounced not to exceed 280 acres on the eastern 

 side, and 300 acres on the western. The general return of those on 

 the eastern side, which are the only ones at present in bearing, is on an 

 average about 6 to 7 cwt. per acre, which is a remunerative rate 

 under the prevailing circumstances of cheap labour, but the trees require 

 manure to keep them up to this rate of bearing, and more care in 

 pruning and managing than is bestowed upon them. 



The opening of the Ouchterlony Valley, the finest coffee tract in Ouchterlony 

 the district, was begun by the late Mr. James Ouchterlony about ^ ®^' 

 1850. The difficulties encountered by this able and energetic 

 pioneer in coflfee planting are thus graphically described in a 

 letter to Government in 1860 : — 



" I was equally a pioneer in the experiment of coffee planting on the 

 Nilgiri slope near the Gudalur Pass, where I first commenced the 

 cultivation. In a limited degree many of the features of a new colony 

 were then presented : there was no resident population within any 

 accessible distance ; no articles of food to be had near the spot ; we had 

 no roads (properly so called), no police, and no law save at courts too 

 distant to be reached. Labour and food had, in fact, to be imported 

 from a remote district, the first being only obtained with difficulty, 

 and then often scared away by the solitariness of the spot and an 

 undefined dread of evil in the minds of the coolies. Doubts of success 

 were even engendered in the minds of most of those who had embarked 

 with me in the enterprise, and who necessarily withdrew from it. But 

 at length a bright issue attended the efforts ; and I will only say, let the 

 changed aspect of the country around in respect of cultivation tell 

 what the effect has been upon the general interests." 



The area now under cultivation in this valley exceeds 4,000 acres. 



Coffee planting has now been tried on various portions of Area now 

 the slopes, and so far it seems to have succeeded best in the t^n^[n tho'^' 

 valleys and slopes to the east, to the south, and to the north-west district. 



