614 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
IMARf'H. 1, 1900. 
COORG IN 1889-99 : 
COFFEE RAPIDLY DECLINING IN AREA : IN- 
DEBTEDNESS INCREASING. 
We have just received a copy of Report 
on the AdmhiistratioTi of Coorg for the year 
1898-99, which sliows that the once favour- 
ite coffee district of Southern India is fast 
entering on " tlie sere and yellow leaf " stage 
for that staple. Once on a time, when the 
worthy Highlander, Donald fStewart, was 
regarded as "King of Coorg," no coffee dis- 
trict was more prosperous. From the de- 
tailed Report we quote as follows : — 
CoFFKK. — The total area of coffee land was 
1,04,545 acres against 1,U8,G11 acres in tlie previous 
year. As explained last year tliis area includes 
a great extent of land which, though originally 
under coffee, is now allowed to remain waste by 
its owners as not suited for coffee. It also con- 
tains a considerable extent of Cardamom lands. 
Many of these waste lands, however, have been 
resigned by their holders during the year, the 
depression in coffee rendering them less salealile 
than before : hence the falling off in the acreage. 
The area of assessed coffee lands held by Euro- 
pean and native owners respectively is as fol- 
lows :— 
No. Acres. 
European Estates ... 378 32,612 
Native „ ... 14,639 71,933 
>, 
Total ... 15,017 1,04,.545 
Coffee. — The coffee crop during the year was 
4,558 tons against 2,500 tons in 1897-98. Although 
the crop was satisfactory in quantity, it, for 
some unknown reason, turned out to be, as a 
rule, poor in quality. Owing to this and to a glut 
of coffee in the market caused by large supplies 
from Brazil, wretched prices have been obtained 
and the industi-y is in a very depressed state. 
Tea. — The tea planted in the Sampaji Ghaut 
was not very successful, perhaps owing to the 
operations being somewhat hurried. Planting is 
being continned this 5^ear with every prospect of 
greater success. 
Cinchona.— The planting of cinchona has ceased 
in Coorg. There is a chance, should the present 
prices continue, of attention being again turned 
to this cultivation. An application was received 
for the right to bark some trees on one of the 
abandoned estates. The right was put up 
to auction, but only the small offer of RlOO 
received. 
Then the Commissioner makes the^following 
remarks : — 
The year's harvest was good, but prices ruled 
low. The coffee crop was also good ; 4,.558 tons 
against an average of 3,200 tons. Unfortunately 
the prices realized have been very disappointing, 
especially for the poorer sorts, owing to the home 
market being over tasked by Brazil coffee, and 
in spite of the good crop the industry is seriously 
depressed. In Padinalknad, where the coffee crop 
was bad and coffee itself threatens to die out, 
with the sanction of the Chief Commissioner, the 
postponement of half ths assessment has been 
allowed. 
It is trusted that the figures given above will 
not lead Government to believe that Coorg is at 
present a most prosperous Province. For such is 
unfortunately not the case. One may try not to 
take too gloomy a view of the prospects of the 
Province, but it is impossible not to feel that 
there is cause for grave anxiety. The Coorgs have 
been living for the last 20 years on borrowed 
capital. They have fallen into lazy and extra- 
vagant habits, as they themselves admit. They 
have borrowed on their lands, tdl they are hope- 
lessly in debt, and cannot raise any more money 
even at 50% interest. Their families are increas- 
ing, but the nature of the country is such that 
the area of cultivation cannot be nicreased in 
jjroportion. The threatened failure of the coffee 
industry owing to the competition of the Brazils 
will also, if it continues, mean poverty to many 
a hitherto well-to-do Coorg family. The Coorgs 
are getting poorer and poorer and consequently 
discontented, and of cour.se they blame Gov- 
ernment, not themselves, for all their difficulties. 
There has been some talk of raising; a Coorg Regi- 
ment. This is a project which, if carried out, will 
do good by affording employment to the young 
Coorfc, who now too frequently does nothing but 
loaf round the toddy shops. But what is re.illy 
required is .some scheme by which the ryot could 
be given a chance of getting out of debt. At pre- 
sent he is hopeless and consequently reckle.ss. 
And on this the (!hief Commis.sioner, Lieut. - 
Col. Donald Robertson, c S.I., writes as fol- 
lows : — 
I am afraid we may look in vain for an agricul- 
tural revival in Coorg. Not only has there been 
no improvement since the tenuination of theperiod 
now being reported on, but the general depres- 
sion may be said to have deepened ; for though 
there will, it is confidently expected, be no famine, 
the rice crop has sutfeied in various parts and 
failed altogether in a few villages, whilst those 
coffee estate-holders who have been fortunate 
enough to secure moderate crops, are confronted 
with a discouraging outlook in respect to prices 
oijtainable in England. Additionally codec has 
entirely gone out, once tlourishing gardens in large 
tracts in the West of Coorg containing now 
nothincr but l)are poles, and it is onlv the 
remarkable tenacity with which the Coorgs 
stick to their land, even though it may be 
commercially valueless, which pirevents a large 
decrease in the land revenue demand. I con- 
fess that I am not hopeful that it will be 
possible to adopt immediatelj' any remedial 
measures for removingthe burden of indebtedness. 
The necessarj' i-eform should, moreover, originate 
amongst the Coorgs themselves. Their country 
has been pauperized by the introduction of such 
a ready means of becoming rich as pi-esented 
itself some years ago in the cultivation of coffee, 
with the higher style of living which unfortu- 
nately resulted, and especially the facility for ex- 
tensive borrowing which it afforded. It is now 
extremely difficult to obtain advances on coffee 
estates, and the Coorgs have nothing else to offer 
as security ; if they mortgage their sagu rice 
lands (Jama lands being inalienable) they cannot 
live. I carefully examined the very serious ques- 
tion of l®cal indebtedness at my last visit to 
Coorg in February of this year, but was enabled 
to arrive at no satisfactory conclusion. The mat- 
ter seems to be as yet hardly ripe to-: Government 
intervention nor is the situation so desperate as to 
call for extraordinary measures. There are, I 
believe, some signs that the Coorg character is 
slowly undergoing change in a recognition of the 
necessity for thrifty living and the abandonment 
of the foDlish pride which has operated to prevent 
the people taking service, whilst it tolerated dis- 
sipation and laziness. 
The case is one somewhat similar to that 
which occmTed in Uva when coffee failed : 
the natives who owned coffee gardens were, 
for a time, hopeless and helpless. But by 
degrees they have come round and now find 
other products to growin their gardens. 
Receivers of Java Coffee in this city have 
been advised tliac the coming crops of that 
description of coffee are growing less satisfac- 
tory than heretofore, the flowering in many 
distiicts having been insuHicient, so that not more 
than a small half crop for 1900 can fcecounlel 
upon.— New York Merchants' Rtviexu, Dec. I. 
