OCCASIONAL NOTES FROM SIKHIM. — NO. I. 387 



then many of the great changes made in the vegetation 

 by large clearances, are permanent, instead of being temporary, 

 as in the case of the seeding of the bamboo, which give those, 

 whose food-supply has been permanently increased by the 

 changes, the better chance in the long run ; and a correspond- 

 ing disadvantage to those whose food-supply has been for 

 ever diminished. If Tea planters would only study ornithology, 

 or any other branch of natural science, they would soon dis- 

 cover fqr themselves how quickly changes in the nature of 

 the vegetation affect the distribution of different animals, and 

 such knowledge would be very suggestive of the causes of the 

 multiplication of the insect pests which affect their tea bushes, 

 and might lead them on to think of either preventatives or 

 cures. The utter nonsense that has been published about tea 

 pests of late by empirics could have never for a moment been 

 listened to by men with the slightest knowledge of animal 

 or vegetable physiology ; but I must not enter into Tea subjects 

 here. 



% fist of girbs rollcrtcb anb ofcmbeb on tje plant fills. 



By Rev. S. B. Fairbank, D.D. 



Eleven years ago the state of my health required me to 

 leave ray home in the Dakhan and seek its restoration by a 

 sojourn of some months at a mountain sanitarium. 



Providence kindly sent me to Kodaikanal on the Palani Hills. 

 1 was allowed to stay there for ten delightful months, and 

 came away with the assured opinion that the climate of the 

 Palani Hills is as near perfection as that of any spot, at least, 

 in India. 



It may have been exceptionally fine that year. It was 

 continual Spring. Rain fell in every month, and just about 

 as we needed it. Not less than three inches and not more 

 than eight inches of rain fell in each of those consecutive 

 ten months. At our house, which we called Rose Cottage, be- 

 cause it was always embowered in roses, the thermometer did 

 not fall below 50 tf , nor rise above 75°. We needed a fire every 

 evening and had a cosy wood fire in an open fireplace. 



During some years there are months when no rain falls, 

 and sometimes there are storms with high winds and heavy 

 rain. Some tell of cold snaps when ice is formed on the sur- 

 face of the lake. That year we had ice at Christmas, but 

 only enough to make ice cream to accompany the strawberries 

 that were just then most abundant. The ice grew in stalks, 



z 25 



