creased to about thirty, while the number of native planters 

 is estimated at between three and four thousand. 



The average produce per acre in Mysore is probably not 

 half that of Ceylon. Some attempts have been made to cul- 

 tivate coffee in the open country, but without success ; it 

 seems to require forest land and considerable elevation and 

 moisture. " Cannon's Mysore" is grown on a range of hills 

 from 3500 to 4000 feet above the sea, having the benefit of 

 the south-west monsoon, which very seldom fails at all, never 

 entirely, and of the tail-end of the north-east monsoon. This 

 elevation gives a pleasant climate, well suited to Europeans. 



Several species of the genus Coffea (C. alpestris, C. gru- 

 meloides, and C. Wiglitiana) are indigenous to the JS"eilgherry 

 Hills. 



A berry, generally one which has. itself fallen ripe from 

 the tree, is put into the ground, usually in a nursery plot, 

 though some planters prefer to place the seed in the identical 

 hole which is to be its future situation. The nursery plan 

 is, however, generally adopted, and here the young plant, 

 which shoots up in about a month after it is sown, is allowed 

 to remain until about sixteen months old. It, or rather we 

 will say they, for hundreds and thousands are generally dealt 

 with at once, are transplanted to holes which have been care- 

 fully prepared for them on the soil which is to be their future 

 location. These holes are generally two feet cube, and many 

 good planters prefer them even deeper ; in this the plant is 

 carefully placed and covered around, and in eighteen months 

 from that time, i.e. about three years from the time the 

 berry was first planted, our small coffee-tree begins to bear 

 fruit, the first crop being of course very scanty. 



The berry is picked from November to the end of February, 

 by any number of men, women, and boys which can be col- 

 lected, and who are paid by the quantity they pick, some ex- 

 pert hands earning a good deal. 



