February i, 1892,] THE TROPICAL AQR!OULTUR!Sl . 
601 
Fathers and sons all lend a hand to transplanting. 
"We gather up the plants in bundles sufficient to 
till the hand. 
We will plant them east and west in the broad tields. 
Teansplanting. 
At early morn we began our work. 
The plants must be sown in straight lines and 
evenly apart. 
With the bundle on the left arm we plant witli 
the right. 
Beginningfronithelefteach his line towards theright. 
Amidst song and talk thus we pass the day. 
This is the husbandman's busiest of times. 
Weeding. 
The rains have been falling, 
The plants have taken root, 
But the weeds have started and are invading the soil. 
They must be eradicated as should all evil things. 
So up to our knees in mud we walk between the 
pla.nts, 
And with the hand pluck up these noxious foes. 
Second Weeding. 
If you take off your coat the sun will scorch your 
back. 
Although wearing a hat the perspiration trickles 
down one's neck. 
But can we refuse to brave the heat of the day '? 
Whoo ! the work is very hot, 
But here come the good ladies 
With a pitcher of tea and something to eat, 
And see, they bring the little youngster. 
Is it that he may take an early lesson in agriculture'? 
Weeding. 
The paddy grows up, right glad are we, 
But yet another weeding, or ill 't will be. 
To get our daily meal how hard it is, 
For all our toil and labour 
Is but with the view to fill the stomach. 
Irrigating. 
There was a man of the time of Sung, 
Because the paddy grew slowly he pulled it up an inch, 
And returning boasted how he made things grow. 
■ There was a man of the Tang Dynasty 
Who watered his field with a cup 
And thought he would do what others could not ; 
But we of this wise generation. 
We use chains, x^umps, and buckets, 
And never do such foolish things. 
Heaping. 
With our backs bent well to our work 
The sickles ply from right to left. 
Come, boys, and gather up the leavings. 
The sun is ah'eady in the western horizon. 
Biu-dened with the fruit of the soil 
Wc return with joy to our humble homes. 
Stacking. 
See the stacks how they rise on high. 
There, then, are our winter supplies ; 
Our minds are at rest, 
For we have plenty to eat, 
And our labour is easy from this time forth. 
Thrashing. 
When the hoar frost sets in 
The leaves begin to fall and the weather is fine ; 
This is the time we choose for thrashing. 
From the open space before the cottage 
The noise of flails resounds afar ; 
The fowls pick up the straying grain, 
And the black crows sit kwaing on their perches 
around. 
POUNDINO. 
The rustling sound of wind ia heard without, 
Tho noise of pounding goes on within, 
Wo pound tho grain by hand in a tub, 
We pound it also by working with tho feet, 
And while this scene goes on 
A neighbour may bo drops in ; 
To talk of crops and other things. 
Sifting. 
Before tho winnow the grain must pass the sieve 
Fine work it is for our arms. 
With a baniboo copse to shelter us from the wind, 
A youthful wifo from tho window looking on, 
Aull tho bi'iglit »viu ppi-g(v(lius warmth aiouud, 
The tim e passes busily but pleasantly along. 
Winnowing. 
The wind is high and good for winnowing. 
The grain drops down with noise like rain, 
While the chaff being light is blown with the wind. 
As we fill our baskets and measure what 's left 
We are thankful that with plenty we are blessed. 
Hulling. 
The husk has been, you 've seen, removed ; 
There is the skin of the grain to go ; 
The wherefore of it 's ground between two stones, 
Three men to push and pull and one to ervc 
he while s 
And one more sifting, and the grain is rice for 
human kind. 
Storing. 
It is winter, the weather is very cold, 
Many of us seek warmth iii the sun without. 
While our cattle we house secure from the wind. 
See how we store the rice in bulk, 
The officials will now come to collect their tax. 
Returning Thanks. 
The spades and forks are now put away, 
The sieves and baskets no longer required. 
One year's operations have thus rotated, 
And on our knees before our altar god 
We give offering and thanks for blessings vouch- 
safed. 
— Queenslandcr. 
SOUTH WYNAAD NOTES. 
Jan. 2nd, 1892.— * * There is no blotting 
out the fact that though on some estates, crop thia 
year has beeu all that could be desired, ou others, 
it has proved a failure, perhaps the more keenly felt 
on account of the previous hrave promise, so pleasantly 
held out to us at blo-soming time. The blossom of 
1891 was an exceptionally fine one, and to all ap- 
pearance it set with every prospect of success. This 
was followed on some estates by wave after wave 
of leaf disease. Still crop remained visible in most 
satisfactory quantities upon the leafless branches. 
The first result of such denudation was that the 
berries dropped off in large numbers, the next, that 
the trees, uusheltered and sapless, refused to ripen 
their fruit, and tbia either blackened and shrivelled 
up, or remained green and unfit for pulping. As I 
write, whole tields are to be seen here and there 
as green as though we were in September instead 
of January. Auo'htr effect of the continued leaf 
disease is, that much of the coffee, apparently per- 
fectly good, contains, when pulped, a large pro- 
portion of floaters, wliilst amongst the parchment 
are to be found many discoloured and spotted 
benns. All these little difficulties have consider- 
ably taken the gilt off our ginger bread, and if we 
in South Wjnaad depended entirely upon Ooffee 
Arabica, it would be anything but a bright look 
out for most of us. The high prices help na to and 
wo can heartily rejoice with those fortunates whose 
crops have turned out trumps: and as I have 
always said, there is no need for us to strike our col- 
ours because one industry in one locality is more or 
lees a failure. 
We are perfectly and thankfully conscious that other 
things will grow and fl urish in Wynaad, and that 
only money and enterprise are needed to make us pros- 
perous again. At the same time, from what I see just 
rtund me, I venture to doubt the wisdom of stating 
that the prospects of coffee Arabioa are entirely flour- 
ishine. The youon tields may look well and promise 
hopefully, but with the soil and atmosphere saturated 
as they undoubtedly are by vastatris germs, it would 
be absurd for us to suppose that our enemy is con. 
quercd. That this is not a mere craze of my own, aa 
some of your corrtspondcuts have asserted, is proved, 
for my statement is practically supported by the fact 
that a very couaiderable acreage has already been 
planted up in Wynaait with Liberian ooffee, and that 
almost every one who objected to the idea twelve 
months ago, is now acknowledging the force of such visi- 
ble arguments as abandoned estates provide, and piakiuy 
