25 S THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1887. 
in the hills where the temperature suits it best. It 
is used for dessert, like the medlar, peach, &c, &c. 
The external portion of the husk is said to contain 
aa active acid. The pulp is employed as a medioine 
for the alleviation of inflamed ulcers and for the 
maturing of abscesses. The seeds of all the species of 
this genus when reduced to powder are used for 
destroying insects. D. M. 
, + 
INDIAN EXPERIENCES. 
Before entering upon my remarks on the Neilgherry 
Hills proper, I may be permitted to say a few words 
on a famous valley, which if not forming part of the 
plateau of the Neilgherry range, is situated at the 
foot of its north-western slopes and within its jurisdic- 
tion. The Ooffee tree has been cultivated in this valley 
since the year 1842, and has always had a wide-spread 
reputation of being by far the finest Coffee-producing 
district of southern India. This tract is called the 
" Ouchterlony " Valley, from the fact that in 1842 the 
late Mr. James Ouchterlony, then a member of the 
Madras Civil Service, obtained from the Rajah of 
Nellumboor (who was at that time in possession of a 
vast extent of country lying at the base of the west 
and north-western slopes of the Neilgherries) some 
forty square miles of this valley, portions of which he 
subsequently resold for the purpose of Ooffee planting, 
the remainder being cultivated by himself. The history 
of Ooffee planting in this wonderful and delightful 
valley of South India, from the year 1842 to the present 
time is, I venture to think, a deeply interesting one, 
as illustrating the sad fact of how tracts of magnificent 
and fertile virgin land may be permanently ruined 
from the combined influences of mismanagement, want 
of knowledge of the first principles of agriculture, and 
the thiist for immediate gain. 
As stated above, the valley lies at the foot of the 
north-western slopes of the Neligherry Mountains, and 
is surrounded on two sides by precipitous hornbleudic 
gneiss rocks, the detrition of which in the course of 
ages has formed in the valley below a soil of wonder- 
ful depth and richness. The elevation above the sea 
of this valley ranges from about 3,500 feet to 4,250 feet. 
The climate is therefore much more cool and agreeable 
than that of the neighbouring district of "Wynaad. 
The rainfall, too, is very moderate, not exceeding 
perhaps an average of 75 inches per annum. With all 
these advantages therefore it is not surprising to find 
that tho yield of Ooffee for some years after the pur- 
chase of the tract by Mr. Ouchterlony frequently 
reached the enormous figure of 20 cwts. per acre, and 
this without manuring or any cultivation save the keep- 
ing of the plantations as clear of weeds as possible, 
and pruning in a variety of ways according to the 
caprice of the various superintendents. Some 4000 
acres of the valley are at the present time under culti- 
vation of Coffee in the hands of the Ouchterlony family, 
while other large areas are cultivated by others who had 
the good fortune to obtain land from the original pur- 
chaser. For twenty -five years at least this valley 
) ielded excellent crops of Ooffee on an average, notwith- 
standing the unscientific and wasteful system that was 
adopted throughout the whole of that period, so deep 
and fertile was the soil worked upon and so favour- 
able the climate. But a time came at last when the 
Coffee tree began to show signs of loss of vigour and 
the want of something more in the way of support than 
merely the natural food to be found in the soil of the 
valley. The taking of larger crops of Coffee than the 
trees could well support the absence of systematic 
cultivation, and the varied and haphazard style of 
pruning adopted told their tale at last, and aroused 
the proprietors of the several properties to a sense of 
the absolute necessity of employing men trained in the 
art and practice of horticulture, and the adoption of 
measures having for their object a more rational sys- 
tem of cultivation, with a view to retrieving their fast- 
ying fortunes. But all this was found to be too 
late; the evil had taken too deep a hold to be eradic- 
ated, with the. consequence that, notwithstanding the 
expenditure of vast amounts of money and well-directed 
energy, the Coffee properties in the once-famous valley 
hive lor u number of years been gradually decreasing 
in yield of berry and value, till at the present time 
considerable tracts of land, once covered with a mantle 
of magnificent Ooffee bushes, have been planted with 
Tea and Cinchona. 
It would be difficult to exaggerate the financial 
benefits that might have accrued to the proprietors of 
this particular portion of the Coffee districts of South 
India, if, from the first opening of the plantations, 
they had procured the services of well trained gardeners 
from England, say men of a certain age and experience, 
as superintendents, and younger men to work under 
them. This common-sense view of the matter, however, 
does not appear to have occurred to them, and men 
were engaged to perform the work of planting, and 
subsequent so-called cultivation, utterly ignorant of 
the first principles of agriculture or horticulture.* My 
first visit to the Valley was about the year 1864, on my 
way to Ootacamuud. I stayed a few days in the neigh- 
bourhood with a friend, and had a good opportunity 
afforded me of visiting the different estates, and of 
seeing the various modes of pruning and cultivation 
being carried out at that timt. I found that Ihe late 
Mr. Ouchterlony had then, as general manager of his 
properties, an ex-captain of a Peninsular and Oriental 
Steam Company's ship, with his fifth officer as an 
assistant, whilst the resident superintendents of the 
different plantations included not a single gardener or 
person in the slightest degree trained to, or in the 
possession in the faintest degree, of any kind of know- 
ledge relating to the cultivation of the land. These 
last individuals were made up of clerks, sailors, car- 
penters, ex-army officers and sergeants, doctors, and 
others of various professions. These men seemed to 
adopt styles of pruning and cultivation according to 
their various fancies, and not from any general rule 
set down by the manager. It was no surprise, there- 
fore, to find one plantation so pruned as to appear, 
from a little distance, very much like a brown grass 
hill, so ruthlessly were the unfortunate Coffee trees 
deprived of their branches, whilst on an adjoining estate 
the wood left on the trees produced a tangled mass to 
the entire exclusion of light and air. Some had the 
ground dug between the rows of trees to a depth of 6 
or 8 inches during the height of the dry season, destroy- 
ing innumerable fibrous roots in the process of turning 
over the huge clods, whilst others disturbed not the 
soil from one year's end to another. Some buried the 
weeds in pits dug between the lines of the Ooffee plants 
several times a year as they were hoed up, 
whilst others never buried them at all, but left them 
on the surface of the ground to die. Some disbudded, 
or handled as it was called, heavily during the rains, 
whilst others handled not at all, but performed the 
one yearly act of pruning with the knife during the 
dry season. Some there were who placed bone and 
other artificial manures at the rate of a half coconut 
shellful to each plant close around its stem,- whilst 
others placed it further out, or where the feeders of 
the Coffee tree would be more likely to find it, and 
thus the work went on with the frequent change of 
superintendents introducing new systems, if they 
deserved the name, till, as I have already said 
the trees began to tire of such treatment, grow sickly, 
and eventually give up bearing to a considerable ex- 
tent. In a letter from a friend dated January of 
this year, I am informed that the crop of Coffee 
just picked from the 4000 acres in the hands of 
the Ouchterlony family only amounted to 350 tons, 
or 1J cwt. per acre ; so that allowing the moderate 
sum of 30,000rs. or £3000 on account of working 
expenses for the year, and 21,000rs., or £2100, for 
value of crop, this leaves a deficit of 9000rs., or £900 
on the year's labour, and there seems to be no prob- 
ability of the planter in this valley ever being able 
to reverse this state of things in the future, no matter 
how high and liberal the cultivation may be that is 
adopted, seeing that the Hemileia vastatrix, or leaf 
disease, is now added to the long list of evils to which 
the unfortunate Coffee shrub has been subjected. — 
Planthh. — Journal of Horticulture. 
* The animus of all this is evident. Men with fair 
education soon acquire all the practical knowledge re- 
quired. — Ed. 
