1-202 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Sept. 1, 1899. 
KANDAPOLA TEA COMPANY. 
The report of the directors for the year ended 
December 31st last, states that the profit and loss 
account shows a profit on the working of tlie 
estates of £1,843, and adding transfer fees and 
the amount brouglit forward from last year, there 
is a total of £2,103. The directors paid during 
the year the interest on tlie debentures and sun- 
dry charges, and the balance after tliese payments 
amounts to £467. The directors propose to pay 
off £250 of the preliminary expenses, leaving £250 
to be provided hereafter, placing to coast advance 
reserve account tlie sum of £133 to provide for 
doubtful coast advances, carryina- forward the 
balance of £84. The directors regret that the 
season's operations have been so unfavourable. 
The profits have been reduced principally ))y a 
heavy loss on working theFrotoft group of estates, 
which amounted to £1,058. The estimated yield 
of tea for the season v>'as .503,000 1b., but owing 
to the unfavourable season, the actual yield was 
369,9941b. the shortfall, amounting to 133,000 lb. 
being 79,406 lb. less than the previous year.— 
Grocers Journal, July 15. 
COONOOR NOTES. 
Coffee seem^ to be improving under the 
conditions and pieparinp; tor a good late 
blossom. Let us hope that two cwt. per acre will 
be added by a September blossom. Cultivation 
has not been much abated, in fact upon this 
estate ic is being vigorously pushed. Jlore power 
to it. When i)rioe5 were high some stnff made 
up of three parts dry pulp and one part broken 
coffee was sold in the Coonoor market at six annas 
a measure ; now the finest parchment beans can 
be had for that and broken at annas 2/6. This 
will stimulate demand among the poorer natives 
very much. A native can go without food a 
whole day if he can get coH'ee ad lib. He can 
drink a gallon a day of weak coffee made up with 
jagherry. 
The "Nilgiri Railavay improves daily and is 
becoming more and more popular. The one 3rd 
class carriage is generally quite full and many 
passengers have to be accommodated in the 2nd 
class. The 2nd class going into the 1st, one 
half the 1st class carriage being reserved for first. 
One engine is burning 
PETROLEUM 
and can run a train up in 50 minutes from Hill- 
Grove including a stoppage of 6 minutes at Kun- 
nyinede, the distance being 6 miles. With 
this fuel steam can be got up in a few minutes 
and the engine arrives with her (ire almost out, 
there being thus no waste. The furnace in the 
oil is carried in a reservoir over the boiler, a jet 
of steam is admitted into it, which forces tlie oil 
into the furnace in the form of a beautiful spray, 
which ignites into an intense flame from some 
coal kept burning at the bottom of the furnace 
box. 
A dense smoke issues from the chimney at 
the start, and this lasts a few seconds after which 
there is hardly any smoke at all to be seen. It 
is charming to hear the beat of the pistons as 
compared with the laborious sound with ordinary 
fuel. It would be a help to many if 
CHEAP CARRIAGE FOR FUEL 
be arranged down, during the slack season to 
Coimbatore. The price at Coonoor is now R4, 
l)er ton, at Coimbatore perhaps 7 a ton. This 
leaves a margin of U3 for railway carriage. — 
Nilgwi News, .July 22. 
THE ANAMALAI HILLS, 
CEYLON MEN OWN HALF THE ESTATES 
OPENED UP. 
( From a Correspondent of the Madras Mail. ) 
With the rapid extension of tea and coffee cultiva- 
tion in Southern India, any information throwing light 
on the tracts of laud still available for such enterprise 
slaould prove welcome and valuable, especially to those 
anxious to invest in either undertaking, and who may 
be on the qui vice for latest details on the subject. 
The districts which hitherto been exploited include 
Ooorg, Mysore, the Nelliampathy Hiils, Travaneore, 
Wynaad, the Slievaroys and Pulueys, while more 
recently the Anainalais, or Elephant Mountains, have 
been cominij into prominence. The first four tracts 
lie outside the limits of British India, while the other 
group is situated within the confines of Brit'sh terri- 
tory, and of these the least known, though in many 
respects the most important for planting purposes 
is the Anamalais. It seems explicable that the Ma- 
dras Government should have for such a lengthened 
period pursued the fatuous policy of allowing the 
magnificent Forest tract on the Anamalais to remain 
unoccupied wliile other districts have been developed 
and the exports from the country materially increased, 
but until the last seven or eight years, Government to 
all intents and purposes, passively acquiesced in per- 
sistently ignoring the most obvious interests of the 
planters. As instances, Waste Land Rales were 
framed, wliich literally discouraged the enterprise of 
the European planter, and during the past 40 years the 
planting industry in Southern India has been severely 
handicapped by the inadequacy of the Labour Law 
(Act XIII of 1859) then introduced, and which, so far 
as its effective working is concerned, practically 
offered a premium to unscrupalons raaistries ana 
coolies to defraud their employers. Fortunately, H E 
Sir Arthur Havelock, who enjoyed much valuable 
experience in Ceylon, fully realises the importance of 
the planting industry. So it came to pass that, nearly 
three years ago, the Board of Revenue recommended to 
the Madras Government the leasing of lands on 
the Anamalai Hills, and the report indicates that 
by September, 1896, applications had been re- 
received from several Madras firms and planters, 
and from a well-known firm largely interested in 
Ceylon, and with a still greater stake in Travaneore. 
Tlie applications embraced tracts of forest from 500 
to over 12,000 acres in extent, and aggregated 63,560 
acres, or somewhere about 100 square miles. The 
Government disposed of the matter by assigning 
1,000 acres apiece to each of the original 15 appli- 
cants. These selections have since been demarcated, 
and include some of the richest land in India, 
thoroughly suited in every way for growing coffee, 
tea, pepper, rubber trees, and other products, while 
ranging from an altitude of 3,500 to 5,500 feet and 
enjoying a well distributed rain-fall from 100 to 120 
inches. The experience of planters who have resided 
there during the past two years is that the climate 
is delightful and exhilarating. The plateau com- 
mands magnificent scenery, and at 7,000 feet offers 
unique advantages for the establishment of a sani- 
tarium in this region. Although the Madras Govern- 
ment restricted the first leases to some 15,000 acres, 
should the properties now being developed prove a 
success, a further allotment of similar lands, pur- 
chaseable at auction, will no doubt be initiated. 
In fact, several such blocks for 844, 717 and 400 
acres, respectively, are already advertised for sale by 
public auction at the Collector's Office, Coimbatore, on 
the 2nd October, 1899, when the upset price is fixed at 
' R5 per acre. 
The total area, of Forest lands on the Ana- 
malais is estimated to cover 80 square miles. As 
regards terms of leases, these seemed to be 
framed and on equitable scale, the cultivation tax of 
R2 per acre being leviable froip the 6th year, 
on one-twentieth of the holding, only _ con- 
tinuing in progressive increments.' ' And in the 
interim the balance of the land is taxed at _ 8 as 
per acre. One provision remains to be reconeiderea 
