4 COFFEE PLANTERS’ MANUAL. 
are not disputed, and where opinions differ among 
planters of established reputation, I shall quote as 
far as I think necessary, such variety of opinion. If 
in doing so, I may, by errors of omission or com- 
mission, offend the prejudices, or run counter to the 
preconceived notions of others, my plea must be that. 
{ am endeavouring to inform the young and inex- 
perienced, not the veteran Planter. Still, in doing 
so, 1 claim his indulgence should anything be over- 
looked which he may consider necessary to this end, 
and promise to give due weight to all suggestions 
made by experi nced practical Planters, with a view 
to the correction or amplification of this little manual, 
should a future issue of it be required. Thus far by 
way of explanation. Now revenons a nos moutons. 
FELLING AND CLEARING.—Having got his land, the 
young Planter should now look out for a contractor 
to clear it of the jungle. But why a contractor, I 
may be asked? Cannot he doit by daily or monthly 
labourers? Yes, but not so satisfactorily. The Tamils 
(Immigrants from the continent of India) who are the 
class Whick alone can be relied on for ordinary, steady, 
estate work, are of a more slender make than the 
Sinhalese, and not nearly so expert at the use of the. 
axe and the catty or bill-hook- Hence their work im 
this operation is slower and much more costly than 
by Sinhalese. But Sinhalese have an aversion to 
steady labour. ‘They will much rather take a contract. 
And it is better and safer as a rule for the proprie- 
tor to encourage this taste in the Sinhalese than to 
attempt the work himself. Even if he could procure 
daily labourers to dothe work, he has to take the risk 
of the season, and the burn. If, after felling and Icpp- 
ing, rain falls in quantity before the felled trees are 
dry enough to burn off, a mess will be made. A 
little patch here and there will be burned. The rest 
merely charred; and that charring will be sufficient 
to prevent a running fire subsequently. He will there- 
fore have to pile and burn, in separate heaps, all the 
timber that has come under the axe and the catty— 
i. €., all the leaves and branches, everything in fact 
except the trunks, which must be left to decay at 
. their leisure. Being only single sticks however and 
generally straight, these do not much interfere with 
the work of planting afterwards. To get rid of the 
underwood and branches is the great desideratum. 
And if you have, in the above contingency, to pile 
and burn these, the labour of cutting into pieces, 
carrying to the pile, stacking in heaps as large as. 
hay-ricks, and burning, involves an expense much 
greater than any profit the contractor would derive. 
by undertaking the whole work of felling, clearing 
