64 



COFFEE. 



population of Mysore, wliich exceeds five millions, is large. The 

 average yield must be very small. The aggregate number of coffye 

 bushes on European and native estates is returned at over 118,000,000. 

 Even if v^^e strike off one-third of the trees as too old or too young to 

 be in bearing, there remain 88,000,000 trees, which, at the Ceylon 

 average of half a pound per tree, ought to yield 400,000 cwts. of clean 

 coffee. Perhaps the coffee bushes in Mysore, while yielding berries 

 famous for their quality, give but few of them, say an average of a 

 quarter of a pound of clean coffee per tree. 



The slopes of the hills that rise on the plateau of Mysore are 

 thickly clothed with coffee plantations, and in the Munzerabad and 

 Nugger districts coffee is even planted under the shade of forest trees, 

 to obtain the requisite temperature ; so that there is hardly a spot of 

 land fit for coffee culture that is left uncultivated. 



In the Nugger district of Mysore, the Bababooden hills present a 

 bold and rugged appearance, towering upwards to a considerable 

 height, and their crags, slopes, dells, woods, and waters impart a 

 charming variety to the general feature of the country. Near the 

 base of the hills, prettily situated in wooded ravines, are the coffee 

 plantations. The plantations in the Munzerabad district offer a more 

 pleasing appearance to the beholder than those of Nugger, as the 

 country surrounding them is far more picturesque. 



The coffee estates in Coorg may be classified into three groups : the 

 Mercara plateau, the Ghat and the Bamboo estates. Each group has 

 its peculiar characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages. The 

 Mercara plateau has an average elevation of 3500 feet, and, in 

 the higher planted portions, rising to upwards of 4000 feet, enjoys 

 a bracing climate, being equally exposed to the sweeping mousoon 

 rains and to the dry east winds. With an average rainfall of 

 121 inches, extended over almost the whole year, the moisture is 

 ample. The granitic soil consists generally of a red felspar clay, 

 more or less mixed with gritty ferruginous stones, and covered with a 

 layer of humus. 



The slope of the land being steep, it is evident that unless cultiva- 

 tion is carried on with due precaution against the " waste " of the 

 surface soil, by terracing, draining, or a judicious system of weeding, 

 the trees will in a few years be deprived of the coolest and most 

 nourishing portion of earth, and the land become sterile. Artificial 

 shade is not required. Sheltered hill sides and gently sloping 

 valley are here covered with the most luxuriant and productive 

 trees. 



The Ghat estates extend over both sides of the Sumpaje valley, on 

 the road to Mangalore, and on the Perambady Ghat beyond Verajapet, 

 on the eastern and western declivities of the range of the western 

 Ghats. This group of estates being originally covered with primeval 

 forest, possessed a splendid soil for cultivation, its fertility being 

 heightened by a heavier fall of rain, and by an invariable condition of 

 atmospheric humidity. 



The extensive felling of forest, however, combined with a probably 

 faulty system of cultivation, seems to have washed away the best por- 

 tions of the soil of the steeper plantations, leaving the exposed roots 



