Farming with Dynamite 519 



average, Rs.io (135. 40!.) an acre. This is a 

 point to note in face of the present tendency of 

 the demand for cheap labour in the Tropics 

 to considerably outstrip the supply. 



Work carried out on hard, cabooky ground 

 planted with rubber and tea, with 100 holes 

 drilled to the acre (about 21 x 21 ft.), in- 

 cluding the preparation of the charges and 

 firing of same, two coolies being employed to 

 do the work, costs as follows. At a very con- 

 servative estimate it is reckoned that two 

 coolies could put down at least 175 holes a day 

 working seven hours a day. Such labour at 

 35 cents each man a day (100 cents = rupee 

 or is. 4d.) equals 70 cents. Two other coolies 

 with more experience for preparing the charge, 

 charging the hole and firing, at say, 50 cents 

 each a day, would bring the total cost of four 

 coolies to R.I. 70 per day ; so that the actual 

 cost would work out at i cent, i.e., the hun- 

 dredth part of a rupee or is. 4d., per hole. 

 Coolie labour, it is claimed, cannot be com- 

 pared with the use of dynamite for such work, 

 since the coolie can only make spade holes of 

 a certain depth and circumference and there 

 it ended so far as effectiveness was concerned, 

 whilst dynamite broke up the subsoil and hard 

 pan, and created a cavity which was both a 

 hole and a reservoir for holding water, at the 

 same time permitting the moisture in the sub- 

 stratum to come through to the roots of the 

 trees during periods of drought, which was in 



