502 MANUAL OP THE NIL.VGIRI DISTRICT. 



CH. XXVIII. morrums or native winnowers, separate all the pea-berry or 

 oTTT^.. round sing-le beans and the black and broken berries, and each 

 Cultivation, woman's work is then carefully examined by an inspector. 



The coffee is finally packed in casks, cases, or bags, and marked 

 with the name of the planter or plantation, and alphabetical 

 letters A, B, C, PB and T to distinguish the different classes, 

 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Pea-berry, and Triage. Indian coffee is, as a rule, 

 shipped to England generally by canal steamers, but a small 

 quantity is yearly sent direct to France. There are now two 

 coffee-cleaniug establishments at Coimbatore, to which most of 

 the coffee from Coonoor and Kotagiri is sent for preparation, 

 and these crops thus have the great advantage of being cleaned 

 and packed in a dry climate, and do not imbibe any moisture, as 

 the coffee prepared on the coast is almost certain to do. For a 

 long time Messrs. Stanes and Co. enjoyed the monopoly at 

 Coimbatore, but lately Messrs. Binny and Co. have also started 

 works there. From Coimbatore the coffee can be sent by rail 

 either to Madras or Beypur for shipment, at which latter place 

 Messrs. Stanes and Co. have another coffee curing establishment. 

 The coffee from the Segur side is sent to the Bangalore Works 

 of Messrs. Binny and Co. for preparation, whilst the crops from 

 the Ouchterlony Valley are sent either to the works at Mamale 

 on the Nellambiir river, some little distance from Beypur, or 

 to one of the numerous coffee-cleaning houses in Calicut, viz., 

 Messrs. Parry and Co., Pierce, Leslie and Co., Hinde and Co., 

 Andrew and Co., or to Stanes and Co. at Beypur. 

 Enemies of The coffee plant is a very hardy one, as spite of years of 

 the coffee ngglect and careless cultivation followed by repeated attacks 

 ^ ^° ' from one foe after another, it still survives and yields, though in 



diminished quantities. Birds, monkeys, jackals, and squirrels, 

 all have a decided liking for the berries when ripe, as the pulpy 

 covering is sweet ; but these can scarcely be called enemies of the 

 tree, for, though they deprive the coffee planter of a larger or 

 smaller share of his crop, they do no absolute harm to the tree as 

 far as I have seen, and the birds are, in reality, friends, as they 

 destroy millions of caterpillars and noxious insects. 

 —bug {Leea. This, the first pest that attacked the coffee tree, appeared in 

 nium caffec^). Qeylon in 1845 according to Dr. Bidie, and caused a great 

 deal of alarm in 1847. The bug prevailed for a long time, appear- 

 ing and disappearing in the most uncertain and perplexing 

 manner, being especially well developed during the monsoon and 

 giving the trees the appearance of being covered with soot. On 

 one estate in Wainad a large portion of the plantation was infested 

 with bug, looked as black as ink, and gave no crop at all for 

 about five years ; but this pest has apparently worn itself out and 



