924 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. a, 1893. 
in January. Daring that month the plantation ie 
watered once a fortnight ; during Febrnary once 
in ten days. In March, April and May until the 
monsoon sets in, the irrigation proceeds once a 
week ; but it is entirely stopped when the monsoon 
sets in. The above months are the dry months of 
each year, rain does not usually fall until about 
the beginning of May ; hence the need o£ irrigation- 
It should be here added that the cnst of the 7 wells 
used for irrigation of coffee amounted to from 
R8,000 to R9,000. This is, however, regarded as ex- 
cessive, the wells having, as has been said, con- 
structed for other purposes. Mr. Meenatchee Iyer is 
of opinion that four wells, such as he deems requisite 
to irrigate his present coffee land, could be constructed 
at a cost of something like B5,000. 
Method op Cultivation. 
Prom the feature which establishes the claim of 
the Rochdale Park Estate to be regarded as .tut 
generis, we pass to details of cultivaflon, &c., more 
familiar to onr planting readers. We understand 
that all the seed used is obtained from Mr. Chis- 
holm's estate in Coorg, and that a fresh supply is 
obtained every year at a moderate cost. The seeds 
are planted in the usual nursery. When the seed- 
lings are three months old, they are transferred ti 
Eots, still within the nursery, and here they are 
ept until they are from 6 to 9 months old and 
about a foot high. They are then planted out in 
pits of 2| cubic feet dug 6 feet apart. Before the 
seedlings are planted a little manure and earth are 
put in. There is no special season for planting 
out, for if it is the dry weather irrigation is avail- 
able to keep them alive. It is found, however, that, 
as a rule, plants put out in July and August in the 
rainy season, require less irrigation subsequently 
than those planted in the dry season. No particular 
system of weeding is' adopted. Once in two years 
the plantation goes through a process of digging 
similar to what takes place in an apple orchard 
When the ground is first prepared for planting the 
whole is dug up. Then the pits are made, the 
digging process oeing repeated at intervals of two 
years after the seedlings have been planted. Two 
years after planting, picking commences ; it continues 
for 6 months from July to December. Picking in 
July, August and September is light; but for the 
two subsequent months it is very heavy, a rich 
harvest succeeding the monsoon blossom. During 
the last two months about 20 maunds of coffee has 
been picked, and it is estimated that ten times this 
quantity will yet be gathered this season. The 
fertilisers available are horse and cattle manure and 
oil-cake. Very few cattle are kept upon the estate, 
but two pairs of bullocks which are available for 
the iappilla are, of course, useful also for manuxial 
purposes. 
Shade. 
In regard to the important matter of shade, 
Mr. Meenatchee Iyer states that he does not ex- 
pect his shade trees to afford protection until his 
coffee shrubs have yielded two or three crops. This 
takes about four or five years. Shade trees are 
planted along with the coffee seedlings, and by the 
time that the former are in a condition to serve 
the purpose for which they are intended, the coffee 
is from four to five years old. The shade trees 
used are that known locally as the B.ov>ligay and the 
Grevillea Sobtiata, or silver oak, which are also em- 
ployed to form wind belts. The former is the Acro- 
carpus jffaxintfolma, the wood of which resembles that 
of some of the cedar tribe. 
Cost of Upkeep. 
The cost of the upkeep of the estate is stated 
it between B170 and R180 per acre per annum, 
Deluding manure* which costs about 11500 a year, 
and supervision, which costs about the same. 
* Cheap labour and garden eultivation which 
could scarcely be given to an appceoialjle area, eav 
100 ftcrea or more.— E». T.d. 
Yield. 
Last year the «zperunental trees yielded 10 maonds, 
the yield having increased from 6 maunds in th« 
previous year, and 6 maunds in the year before that. 
At the present time there are '2,500 plants of thre« 
years old from time of planting, which yielded 20 
maunds last year in the virgin crop, f'rom these 
very trees a yield of tons may now be expected 
according to experts' estimates of the crop on them- 
Out of the other 2,500 trees at least 1 ton is ex- 
pected, though this will be their virgin crop. Ap- 
proximately, a ton is worth flOO in the London 
market. A fair virgin crop can, according to Mr. 
Meenatchee Iyer's experience, be gained after two 
years, the yield beinn probably 3 to 4 cwts. an acie. 
He has, as will hav been seen, only a limited area 
under cultivation, and his experience is not there- 
fore great, but the figures which he has given will, 
we believe, be found very interesting to plantera 
of much longer experience. To the particulars al- 
ready given we may add some more regarding out- 
turn and price. Last year, the proprietor informs ua, 
he had about .SO maunds, and this he sold locaU(/, 
at R16 per maund peaberry at R18. He states 
that the demand is so great locally, <hat for the 
last two months retail dealers have offered to give 
him a large advance in order to secure the crops 
at market rate. Nevertheless, be is thinking of try 
ing the London market tijis year. 
Diseases. 
Leaf disease and borer have had to be contented 
with. When trees are attacked by the former, 
constant irrigation and heavy manuring are resorted 
to, with considerable success. Bored plants are 
simply extirpated by being dug up and burnt. 
Kehahks. 
In conclu.sion. we may observe tV.at Mr. Meenatchee 
Iyer has 7 or H acres of land fit for coffee, besides 
that which is already planted with it. He find'j it 
dif&cult to give reliable information as to the cost 
of similar land in the same part of the country. 
Dry laud in the immediate neighbourhood of Ban- 
galore may be obtained at RlOiJ an acre ; tcet costs 
about R200 an acre. He has tried coffee under 
coconuts, but this proved unsucessful, the reason 
given being that the coconuts, which are surface 
feeders, choked the roots of the coffee. Mr. Mee- 
natchee Iyer is of opinion that 1 ton an acre is a 
poor average, but he remarks that if coffee is to be 
tried under irrigation, the planter must • e sore of 
his water-supply. He objects to planting coffee 
below tanks, oecause it is not likely to succeed 
there unless an efficient system of drainage ia ar- 
ranged for. — Madras Times. 
INDIAN TEA NOTES AND NEWS. 
Our Darjeeling correspondeut writes on 31st August: 
— We bave jutt parsed ibr ugh perbaps one oi the 
oii'SC sunless mouths ki owl for some lime an i what 
with the cold Week I havt- uready mentiOued, crop 
has beuu very short, and mo>t gardcis be e, nsttad 
of hopini< to piik up ou what tbey have 1 • t Hro ouly 
to ' anxious to kerp up wiih what they mtte at the 
^ame tioie last y. ar, September will > p>'u fairly 
wtU ia these parts, .^s sun bas been rather m. re 
frequent the last two or three days and some heavy 
rain fallen wbicb has doae th>- lo^Is anything bat 
good but will probably keep that dreaded pest mos- 
qui'o blight off for some time yet, as it generally 
appears in these parts, on tbe lower elevations, about 
the middle of September if it is at aJ d.y. Raiufall 
is Blill some 20 inches behind, but the soU is soaked 
to as much as it can bold. 
The reports from the Terai are to the effect that 
there is ^ood tea weather, alternate eon and rain, and 
tbe gardeus are flushing treely. 
Duri.^if the last week the w ather at Kur^eong hts 
bemcold and wet, bu there is little to oomn n of 
in regar.s to oattur^, — Indian Planters' Gaaette, SflJ'. 9. 
* But this is equal to far less than £100 a ton; 
not |rd unless parchment coffee ia meant in the 
instant, nud cleaa coffee la tbe other.— En. T. 4 
