August r, 1851.] THE TROPICAL AQRfetjLtURI§T» 
Bhort notice and email advances, A Konga mistakes 
a Sahib who speaks his native tonsrue like him- 
self for soiue sort of a distant gelation, and he 
seldom dnserta suoh a Sahib for trifling causes. The 
iLonesL likes to get his weekly advances of from 8 
to 12 annas; and to his credit be it aairl, that al- 
though Government hag most considerately to the 
cooly, and considerately to every one else, placed 
liquor shops in every nook and corner of the Nil- 
giris, he spends nearly the who'e of liis weekly 
advances on food. But on the montbly pay day, 
which is invariably a Saturday, he spends a pirt 
of his earniags on arrnck, and the Sunday S'looeed- 
ing piy day is generally re-erved by him for settle- 
ment of disputes with his fellow labourers, which, 
however, are never attended with broken limbs or 
Woodshed, as the Eongaa are wise in their genera- 
tion, and while they abuse each other in the vilest 
language and call each others forefathers all the 
abusive names they can think of, they stsnd about 
10 yards apart, and after exercising their lungs for 
a couple of hours they retnrn to the same lines and 
live in peace and harmony until nest pay day. 
Hitherto, as I have already said, Nilgiri plan- 
ters have been well off for labour, hat it is doubt- 
ful whether we shall be as fortunate in the 
future. The railway line between Coonoor and 
MettapoUium has bean traced and as soon as 
certain disputes are settled between the Gov- 
erument, the Railway Company, and the plan- 
ters, with reference to the amount of money due to 
planters for the portions of their estates taken up by 
the line and for the damages that may be done to the 
adjacent parts when the line is beinsr opened, work will 
commencfi, and as a very larsre number of coobes will be 
required for the earthwork, tb°re will be a s;reat strain 
on the labour market. I believe ordinary labourers— 
for skilled labour is to be imported from elsewhere— 
will bo drawn from the Coimbatore District; and as 
some thousands of hands will be required for this 
work it will, to a certain extent, interfere with estate 
labour. It will be a very serious matter if labour falls 
short during the picking season, ani it will be advisa- 
ble therefore for planters to anticipate matters and 
to enter into early contracts with maistriea for a suffi- 
cient number of hands for their estates. Thura is 
another question to be considered in connection with the 
rail s-ay works, and one which is of far greater 
importance than the mere number that may be 
employed by the Railway Company, and that is the 
rate of wages the Company intend paying their 
ooolie<!. The present rates of R6-8-0 per man and 
from R4 to R4-4-0 per woman for a month of 26 work- 
ing days, were fixed some years ago, after taking into 
consideration both the requirements of the coolies, 
and the paving powers of the planters. But if the 
railvFay contractors should eitner through ignorance of 
present rates or through some short-sighted policy, 
raise them they will be doing a great deal of damage to 
planters and residents on the Nilf?ins without in anv 
manner benefitting themselves ; for as soon as the 
rates are raised by one party, the others will be com- 
pelled to do the same, and thus uo advantage will be 
gained. Hitherto Mr- Wooliey has acted in a right 
spirit with regard to the rates of pay for coolies 
employed by him for sm ypyiug the line, and although 
he had at first some JifRculty in getting men for a 
work new to thim, he overcame them without enhancing 
the rate^. But as contvaets will have to be given tj 
different pflvti^'s, nnie!"! stipulations are made in the 
contracts with re^nrd t i coolies' wages the contractors 
may give higher rat's •!. lu those at present in vogue 
and do a den! of mischief . Thf>re has been some talk 
ann(,ing planters on this aubjecl, hut uothinr; definite has 
asyetbepu done to prevent an impendi' t; evil. The 
sianer, hnwe('er, sotne^hing is done the better. — 
Madras il/ai', June '.iud. 
HHMILEIA VASTATRIX. 
To the Editor of the "Madras Mail." 
Sir, — Reference to the correspondence that has 
appeared in our columns, iluring the past month, ou 
the subject of Hemeleia Vastatrix. and more especially 
to Mr. Pringle's assertioa that he has discovered a 
remedy for it, which he is willing to communicate 
to the planting community far a consideration, would 
it not be well for- such of them as feel disposed to 
entertain his proposal to first ascertain from Messrs, 
Matheson & Co., or from their Agent in Coorg, what 
has been the result, in this way, of his experiments 
on their behalf ? Mr. Pringle states that he has been 
employed for four years on this and kindred subjects 
at a cost of £5,000 sterling, and the inference frorn 
his offer ig that he has given his late employers a 
qvid pro quo.- I do not think Messrs- Matheson & Co., 
or their Agent in Coorg, could hav« any ohjeetion to 
answering a simple question of this kind, which might 
be 80 put as to take in the borer difficulty also. 
Prudence. 
Pollibetta, South Coorg, June 5th. 
THE ART OF MANURING COFFEE, 
To the Editor of the "Madras Mail." 
Sir,— I feel sure that all interested in coffee will 
join with me in thanking you for publishing, and 
Mr. Pnngla for writing, the interesting, valuable 
and suggestive paper on 'The Art of Manuring 
Coffee " which appeared in your issue of the 9th 
instant. The discussion of the numer-m noints 
oonneoted with the cultivation of coffee id of the 
highest value, ami if planters can only be persuaded 
to publish in your columns the result of their 
experience, the Madras Mail will. soon become in 
India all that the Oeylon Observer is to the intereots 
of that Island. My object in writing now is to ask 
Mr. Pnngle if he has carried out any experiments 
in Coorg as regards the green manu ing to which 
he alludes in hia closing' rpmark.«. The subject is 
one of great importance. Baron Ricby {f) called 
attention to it miny years ago, and suggested 
that lupms might oe sown with advantage betweea 
the rows of coffee in Ceylon, and I may mention 
that I am now making some expprimeots with 
various lagummous plants in n,y, plantations in 
Mysore. But if leguminous plants are valuable 
from their power of taking up and retaining nitrogr-n 
from the atmosphere it is posaibie thst eoffpe 
might be much henfefited if we used leguminous 
trees as shade, and I venture to suggest that this 
point IS worth looking into. It; is supposed that 
lagummous plants take up and retain, through the 
medium of nodules on their roots, the nitrogen of 
the atmosphere. Now, I am informed by a very 
competent observer that he has noticed nodules of 
a similar character at the roots of a leguminous 
tree, aad it_ is therefore probable that these roots 
are as rich in nitrogenous matter as are the roots 
of clovers and other leguminous plants. And if 
this suroaise should turn out to be correct and 
our ooffbe were sharted with leguminous trees, we 
should, when digging, be const. ntly cutting many 
of their roots and so obtain cha^.p supplies of 
nitrogenous, mattAr. I am now going to make 
some experiments with leguminous trees and ehrufas 
or rather vety short trees, as shade for coffee, and 
I would suggest to other planters to do too. 
Mr, Pnngle alludes lo land Decoming coffee sick, 
and doubtless it must often become so • but the 
land does noi necessarily beooma so even when 
kept for a very long time uud r no other crop but 
coffee. One ,)f the oldest pieces of e fffie land 
that I have set>n was opened in Mysore about 95 
years ago. Is was replanted about 25 years 
ago, and wb,m I saw it some years ago the 
coffee could not be surpassed, and there 'seems 
to be no reason why the land s.houkl not go ov 
bearing coffee for as long as ihe world is likeln 
to last. 
Ootaoamund, 11th Jane. BoberxH. Eiaiot, 
