Sept,  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
being  5|  ft.  long.  The  mathankai  or  pumpkin  which 
secured  a prize  was  4 ft.  in  circumference  and  weighed 
24  lb.  or  El, 008.” 
Paper. — The  paper  manufactured  by  the  Travan- 
core  Paper  Mills  Company  at  Poonalore  was  awarded 
a prize.  The  exhibits  show  that  the  Company  have 
made  considerable  improvement  since  they  started 
the  manufacture  a year  ago. 
His  Highness  the  Maha  Kajah’s  Government  have 
liberally  sanctioned  a special  honorarium  to  be  given 
to  a lecture  in  Malayalam,  on  some  agricultural 
subject.  We  have  on  this  occasion  hit  upon  a res- 
pectable ryot  and  a member  of  a well-known  family 
in  Quilon,  owning  several  thousands  of  coconut 
trees,  to  read  a lecture  on  coconut  cultivation,  the 
staple  product  of  Travancore.  This  is  meant  as  an 
inducement  to  the  tiller  of  the  soil  to  cultivate  the 
art  of  committing  his  experiences  to  writing,  and 
thus  communicate  them  to  his  fellow-ryots.  I shall 
expect  next  year  that  a humbler  ryot  than  a member 
of  the  Kottur  family,  actually  engaged  in  digging 
and  ploughing,  will  come  forward  as  our  next  lec- 
turer. Though,  as  ryots,  I dare  say  you  know  more 
or  less  the  details  of  cultivation  and  the  capabilities 
of  your  lands,  I wish  to  tell  you  what  I learnt  from 
an  able  Civilian  of  Madras,  a gentleman  looked  upon  as 
a great  authority  on  agricultural  questions  ‘that  land  in 
India,  if  properly  cultivated,  will  yield  six  times  as  much 
as  it  does  at  present.’  This  is  a most  important  point 
deserving  of  your  careful  consideration.  Those  of 
you  that  belong  to  the  interior  Taluqs  of  this  Division 
ought  to  know  the  fact  that  you  are  potentially  much 
richer  than  the  inhabitants  of  the  sea-board  Taluqs. 
Nature  is  particularly  kind  to  you.  An  abundance 
of  wealth  lies  just  under  the  surface  awaiting  the 
tiller's  touch.  Much  capital  is  not  required  either. 
Nature  gives  it  almost  for  the  asking.  Take  for 
instance  the  plantain  cultivation  for  which  the  in- 
terior Taluqs  of  Travancore  are  so  well  adapted. 
In  one  of  my  circuits  to  Shencottah,  I made  the 
following  note  for  information  furnished  by  some  of 
the  plantain  ryots.  Every  acre  of  a hill-slope  will 
cost  E250  for  clearing  the  jungle,  planting  and 
growing  a plantain  tope.  This  tope  will  last  for  10  years. 
Deducting  the  expenses  of  cultivation,  each  acre  of 
a plantain  plantation  yields  a clear  profit  of  RIO  a 
month  or  E120  a year.  In  about  10  years,  before 
which  the  plantation  does  not  die  out,  the  ryot 
makes  a small  fortune  of  El, 000  upon  every  acre 
brought  under  cultivation.  This  looks  almost  fabulous ; 
but  I am  satisfied  that  this  is  the  actual  condition  of 
things  in  the  Arienkavu  valley. 
RED  YARD  KIPLING  ON  RICE  CULTIVATION, 
&c.  IN  JAPAN. 
From  a contribution  by  Mr.  Kipling  to  the  London 
Times,  we  quote  as  follows  : — 
If  one  knew  Japanese,  one  could  collogue  with 
that  gentleman  in  the  straw -hat  and  the  blue  loin- 
cloth who  is  chopping  within  a sixteenth  of  an  inch 
of  his  naked  toes  with  the  father  and  mother  of 
all  weed- spuds.  His  version  of  local  taxation  might 
be  inaccurate,  but  it  would  be  sure  to  be  picturesque. 
Failing  his  evidence,  be  pleased  to  accept  two  or 
three  things  that  may  or  may  not  be  facts  of  general 
application.  They  differ  in  a measure  from  state- 
ments in  the  books.  The  present  land  tax  is  no- 
minally two  and  a-half  per  cent,  payable  in  cash  on 
a three,  or  as  some  say  a five  yearly  settlement. 
But,  according  to  certain  officials,  there  has  been  no 
settlement  since  1875.  Land  lying  fallow  for  a season 
pays  the  same  tax  as  land  in  cultivation,  unless  it  is 
unproductive  through  flood  or  calamity  (read  earth- 
quake here.)  The  Government  tax  is  calculated  on 
the  capital  value  of  the  land,  taking  a measure  of 
about  11,000  square  feet  or  a quarter  of  an  acre  as 
the  unit. 
Now,  one  of  the  wayB  of  getting  at  the  capital 
value  of  the  land  is  to  see  what  the  railways  have 
paid  for  it.  The  very  best  nee  land,  taking  the 
Japanese  dollar  at  three  shillings,  is  shout  £65  10s  per 
acre.  Unirrigated  land  for  vegetable  growing  ia 
187 
something  over  £9  12s,  and  forest  £2  11s,  As  these 
are  railway  rates,  they  may  be  fairly  held  to  cover 
large  areas.  In  private  sales  the  prices  may  reason- 
ably be  higher. 
It  is  to  be  remembered  that  some  of  the  very  best 
rice  land  will  bear  two  crdps  in  the  year.  Most  soil 
will  bear  two  crops,  tbe  first  being  millet,  rape,  vege- 
tables, and  so  on,  sown  on  dry  soil  and  ripening  at 
the  end  of  May.  Then  the  ground  is  at  once  prepared 
for  the  wet  crop,  to  be  harvested  in  Ootober  or  there- 
abouts. Land-taxis  payable  in  two  instalments.  Rice 
land  pays  between  tbe  1st  of  November  and  the  middle 
of  December  and  ihe  1st  of  January  and  the  last  of 
February.  Other  land  pays  between  July  and  August 
and  September  and  December.  Let  us  sea  what  the 
average  yield  is.  The  gentleman  in  the  sun-hat  and 
the  loin  cloth  would  shriek  at  the  figures,  but  they 
are  approximately  accmate.  Rice  naturally  fluctuates 
a good  deal,  but  it  may  be  taken  in  the  rough  at 
five  Japanese  dollars  (fifteen  shillings)  per  koku  of 
330  lb.  Wheat  and  maize  of  the  first  spring  crop 
is  worth  about  eleven  shillings  per  koku.  The  first 
crop  gives  nearly  If  koku  per  tau  (the  quarter  acre 
unit  of  measurement  ‘aforesaid),  of  eighteen  shillings 
per  quarter  acre,  or  £3  12s.  per  acre.  The  rice  orop 
at  two  koku  or  £1  10s.  the  quarter  acre  gives  £6  an 
acre.  Total,  £9  12s.  This  is  not  altogether  bad  if 
you  reflect  that  the  land  in  question  is  not  the  very 
best  rice  land,  but  ordinary  No.  1,  at  £25  16s.  per 
acre  capital  value. 
A son  has  tbe  right  to  inherit  his  father’s  land 
on  the  father’s  assessment,  so  long  as  its  term 
runs,  or,  when  the  term  has  expired,  has  a prior 
claim  or  even  money  as  against  any  one  else.  Part 
of  tbe  taxes,  it  is  said,  lies  by  in  the  local  prefecture’s 
office  as  a reserve  fund  against  inundations.  Yet, 
and  this  seems  a little  confusing,  there  are  between 
five  and  seven  other  local,  provincial,  and  municipal 
taxes  which  can  reasonably  be  applied  to  the  same 
ends.  No  one  of  these  taxes  exceeds  a half  of  the 
land-tax,  unless  it  be  the  local  prefecture  tax  of  2^ 
per  cent. 
In  the  old  days  (he  people  were  taxed,  or  perhaps 
squeezed  would  be  the  better  word,  to  about  one- 
half  on  the  produce  of  the  land.  There  are  those  who 
say  that  the  present  system  is  not  as  advantageous 
as  it  looks.  Beforetime  the  farmers,  it  is  true,  paid 
heavily,  but  only  on  their  nominal  holdings.  They 
could,  and  often  did,  hold  more  land  than  they 
were  assessed  on.  Today  a rigid  bureauoraoy  surveys 
every  foot  of  their  farms,  and  upon  every  foot 
they  have  to  pay.  Somewhat  similar  complaints 
are  made  still  by  tbe  simple  peasantry  of  India,  for 
if  there  is  one  thing  that  the  Oriental  detests  more 
than  another,  it  is  tbe  damnable  Western  vice  of 
accuracy.  Teat  leads  to  doing  things  by  rule.  Still, 
by  the  look  of  those  terraced  fields,  where  the  water 
is  led  so  cunningly  from  level  to  level  the  Japanese 
cultivatior  must  eDjoy  at  least  one  exoitement.  If 
the  villages  up  the  valley  tamper  with  the  water 
supply,  there  musf  surely  be  excitement  down  the 
valley— argument,  protest,  and  the  breaking  of  heads. 

PLANTING  NOTES  FROM  COORG. 
(Prom  our  own  Correspondent.) 
THE  LOSS  FBOM  BORER. 
Coorg,  July  19.— The  largest  loss  from  borer  I have 
heard  of  this  season  is  6,000  trees  off  a young  clearing 
under  20  acres  and  8,000  old  trees  off  a field  of  25 
acres.  Fortunately  these  heavy  losses  are  usually  con- 
fined to  poor  pieces,  the  rich  paying  ones  being  left 
praotically  intact.  Sometimes,  however,  borer  unac- 
countably gets  into  good  pieces  whioh  have  usually- 
enjoyed  an  immunity  from  the  pest ; and  it  is  them 
that  it  makes  itself  most  keenly  felt.  Borer  is  gener— 
ally  severe  after  a heavy  crop,  the  pumped  condition 
of  the  trees  probably  rendering  them  more  easily 
liable  to  succumb  to  an  attack.  Judging  from  th® 
past,  however,  tbe  large  losses  in  some  instances  this 
season,  which  have  made  parts  of  estates  assume  the 
appearance  of  newly  planted  olearings,  wiU  not  affect 
