56 ‘* THE COFFEE PLANTER OF CEYLON,” 
reckon this at £15 an-acre. The estimate when 
worked out, however, would, if unexplained, shew a 
higher figure. If the cost of the land, which is the 
plant ; extra to superintendent 3rd year; pulper, 
pulping-house, store, cost of gathering and transport— 
all charges against crop after the estate has been 
brought into bearing—be deducted, the result will be 
very close on what I have stated; and, besides to 
be very economical, a saving might be effected on 
roads, and on supplying if the seasons have been 
favorable. 
A. B: 
“ THE COFFEE PLANTER OF CEYLON.” 
JA Review oF Mr. SABONADIERE’S ‘‘COFFEE PLANTER 
OF CEYLON,’ BY THE EpIror oF THE ‘' CEYLON 
OBSERVER.”’| 
February 1871. 
First Notice. 
A careful perusal of Mr. Sabonadiére’s valuable manu- 
‘al gives us amore vivid idea than ever of the mistake 
which some people commit in supposing that any half- 
educated person will do for a coffee planter ; that 
less of natural intelligence and acquired knowledge is 
requisite for the tropical agriculturist than for his 
brethren, who are destined for the walks of commerce 
or the ranks of the civil and military services of 
government. We fear that much of the loss and dis- 
appointment which proprietors have had to mourn 
over owe their origin to the fallacious notion we have 
referred to. To make a good coffee planter, as to 
make a good anything else, a man ought to have 
a sound mind in a healthy body. A robust constitu- 
tion is perhaps more to be desiderated in this line 
‘of life than in those of commerce, banking, the civil 
service, and the learned professions. A conscience 
guided by Christian principle, too, is here of the last 
importance. Why have so many, who began a cofiee 
planting career so well, broken down, and why are 
the experienced planters who can be thoroughly trust- 
ed, and for whose services proprietors and agents 
eagerly compete, comparatively so few ? Moral princi- 
ple has not been strong enough to enable men to resist 
temptations to which a solitary life, distant from so- 
‘cial amenities and religious restraints and_ privileges, 
has added force. Comfort is found in stimulants; 
‘the man ‘“‘takes to drink”; that leads to habits and 
