1848.] 



The Neilgherry Moimtams. 



15 



Of the forest land every acre is of course peculiarly well suited for 

 wheat, and being virgin soil it should produce, under proper ma= 

 nagement, large crops of the very finest grain. 



The same may be said of swamps, when drained, but as potatoes are 

 found to thrive well iu the soil which their drainage produces, such 

 land in a farm would naturally be reserved for stock produce, and 

 an allowance has therefore been made for this in the estimate. 



Making, however, exaggerated deductions on all accounts, there j^et 

 remain no less than 200,000 acres of unallotted and unemployed land, 

 of which at the very lowest estimate one half, or 100,000 acres, may 

 be taken as fit for the production of wheat, under a proper system 

 of husbandry, allowing a sufficiency of well prepared manure, an oc- 

 casional dressing of lime, and exercising proper judgment in allowing 

 it to lie fallow or changing crops, according to its condition and com- 

 position of soil. 



It has been already stated that the Burghers obtain from their 

 wheat lands a quantity of grain equivalent to 1 ll bushels per acre, 

 but as the depth to which they plough their fields never exceeds 7 

 inches, and for the most part is barely 6, and as they give them only 

 the most meagre allowance of sun-dried and exhausted manure, never 

 exceeding (as far as I have been able to ascertain by counting the 

 baskets brought and measuring spaces of land dressed with it) half 

 a ton per acre, and this not ploughed well into the ground, but 

 merely scraped into the surface furrows, and as they never supply 

 the land with what, from the composition of the soil, it so much 

 needs, viz. lime, it may be safely assumed that under a proper sys- 

 tem of tillage this amount of produce could be at least trebled, 

 or, at a very low estimate, 4 quarters of wheat could be obtained 

 from one acre. 



I may therefore safely affirm that this district is capable of fur- 

 nishing, for export to Europe, from 4 to 500,000 quarters of wheat 

 of a quality far superior to that which is at present raised, and at a 

 cost sufficiently low (the distance to the nearest shipping port being 

 only 110 miles, 36 miles of which are performed by water) to admit 

 of large profits being realized by the growers, even when the price 

 in England is so low as 65 shillings a quarter. 



The following is an estimate of the cost to the Burghers of the 

 cultivation of wheat per English acre, ascertained with as much ex- 

 actness as circumstances and the deceitful character of the people, 



