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COFFEE : ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



This fern (Pteris Aguilina), generally known as 

 the bracken, is found abundantly in many parts of 

 the higher hill ranges of the Madras Presidency. 

 It is used as a litter for cattle stalls very largely 

 by Coffee planters resident on the Neilgherries, 

 in Wynaad and in Coorg. For this purpose it is 

 well suited when the straw of cereals is costly and 

 difficult to obtain. Used in cattle boxes, the fern 



rots more readily than in ordinary byres ; it is used 

 chiefly in the large open u crawls" in which buf- 

 faloes and hill cattle are confined at night. These 

 " crawls " are kept liberally bedded with ferns, 

 grass, &c., which, under the treading of the cattle 

 at night, aided by rain, become broken up and 

 worked into a black-coloured mass. This is a 



