June i, 1892.] 
THP TROPICAL AQRIbULtUftlST. 
919 
the Coast curers, and the cash tor the taila and refase 
counted out by the local native mprchant. Jannary 
will be often on the ^vane when this consummatiou is 
arrived at, and then there will be another two or three 
week's work, clearing up, pruning the old coffee, 
msnnring the fields shaken by overbearing, &c., &c. 
So the year wears away. In the hot weather there 
is usually an exodus for six weeks or two months, for 
a good ' writer ' is capable of suppriutending new 
clearings up to a certain point, more ( specially if a 
Btay-at-home friend can be found who will ride over 
once or twice a week and see everything is going on 
all right. The Shevarojs in the Salem District 
and the Pulneys in Madura get but little of 
the Bouth-west monsoon, the north-east being tho 
one on which they depend, and so the foregoing 
hardly applies to them. 
As resrardsthe climate which the coffpe planter of 
Southern India enjoys, it is varied but giod, except 
that at some sea<^0U8 and in some distric's malarial 
fever is prevalent. As the elevation of coffee cultiva- 
tion varies from 2,000 feet to 5,500 feet, the temper- 
ature is, of oonree, different: but Wynaad, where the 
estates are on an average at just under 3,000 feet may 
be taken as a fair average. The south-west monsoon 
usually begins in the first or second week of June. 
Then the flood-gates of heaven are opened, and the 
rain beats down in torrents, and the Zephyrs rage and 
bluster : but it is in July when the heaviest and long- 
est burst takes place. This climate is not nice, for, 
equally with nature out of doors, your books, your 
boots and your bread assume a verdure, which is dis- 
piriting. However, crackling wood fires and hot toddy 
can be indulged in in oomlori, and there are many 
things more unpleasant thin of evening to sit m front of 
the one and with the other V eside jou whiL' ouisidethe 
stormy winds do roar and the rain comes down n torrents. 
Presently there will come a break Hnd a few days 
of the most glorious weather that ever glad<lenethiM de«r 
old " vale of tears days such as that one DDUnt have 
been at the dawn of which " the stars of the morning 
came toge h^^r and all the eons of God shouted for 
joy." August is sometimes beautiful and fine, some- 
times dem'd moist and unpleasant, and so September : 
in fact these months take it in turns to be one or 
the other. October is a month of lovely mornines and 
wet afternoons, the north-east monsoon being about to 
declare itself, wherefore thunderstorms are rife and 
heavy downpours frequent, in which an inch or more 
of rain will fall in lees than an hour, much to the 
annoyance of the p anter whose land is steep. The 
mornings in November grow oriip and cold, wisps 
of snipe are in the swamp, the bell of the eam- 
bhur is heard on the mountain side, and life 
is as full of fport as work allows and very much 
worth living. December and January are gl.otioua 
months with a climate that would make the fortune 
of the , district many times over if it could only 
be transposed to Europe or the St ttes. Fires blaze 
in the hearth at nights and in the mornings the 
planter bUzes in the swamps, which are frequent 
and hold many snipe, and while tramping through 
them an occasional shot at a jungle sheep or 
Slotted deer may he got and no little excitement 
worked up over khuhher of bear, panther or tigi r in 
an adjacent sholn. February is rendered unpleasan 
by a rsgiug and tearing N.-E. land-wind, which dries 
np everything, curls up the backs of your editions dc 
luxe, and converts your cheroots into tinder. At nigbts 
beacon fires flare oo all the hills, a glorious eight 
to gaze on from afar, but not so pleasant shonki the 
fire come tearing down the hill above the stables, the 
flames leaping and rushing and frolicking through the 
tall jungle gracs and scrub like a her i of wild horses at 
play. The whole country cide tiecomes black and burnt 
np, and a heavjmistof smoke liesover the land. Before 
March oomee in thunder is heard remote, and each night 
the lightnings blaze and flush and quiver along the dis- 
tant horizon. The morningearo hot and sultry and every 
nfternoou black massoa of cloud, big with the rain 
that means fortune or disaster for the planter, roll 
heavily acro'S the sky. At iwngth the rain falls in 
bliadiog ttheets, and from tho giuuuda there goea up 
that strange fragrance all know so well, like • song 
of thanklulness from a thirsty land. In a very few 
days everythiug is green again, save the fields of coffee 
which are covered with the sweet white petals of the blOB- 
som for which the planter has been waiting BO anxiou-ly. 
April is much the same as March — snltriness followed 
by heavy thunder-storms, then a few days of refresh* 
iiig coolness. In May the weather oootinues broken, 
and the middle of the day very hot, but the morn- 
ings and evenings are delioiously cool and fresh ; 
and so on till the monsoon again breaks. Thi» is the 
climate of the Wynaad, and it is very Bimi'ar in other 
districts. No little rain interspersed smongat days of 
the most glorious and perfect weather. 
The present Government of Madras biB 
at length realized that the planting industry 
of Southern India which brings into the coun- 
try a crore or two of rupees per annum, 
and is a very present help in time of famine and 
•iistress to the ryots and labourii g classes of Southern 
India, deserves encouragement, and the planter il 
beginning to feel that he has but to represent his 
case to receive consideration at the hands of Lord 
Wtniook and his advisers. Slowly and by degrees 
that curious delineation of the brutal planter, is fad- 
ing from the walls of tha Council Chamber where it 
has figured for so many years, and he is ceasing 
to be looked oa as that strange specimen of 
obsolete feudal barbarity, who when not wallowing 
in whii-key and wantonuess was dancing a wardanoo 
on the spleens and the domestic virtues of his coolies. 
The wtakoessof the planting community of Southern 
India coiii-ists in its being under the rule of so many 
different Governments ; for while Wynaad, the Nil- 
giris and the Shevaroys are uniler the Madras Go- 
vernment, Ooorg is under the Government of India, 
the Mysore and Travancore planting districts are 
within the boundaiiea of these native states, while 
the N. lliampthies belong to Cochin. Here we will draw 
to a close and reserve our dtscription of the districts 
themselves for another week.— /ntijam Planters 'Gazette. 

THE PIONEERS OF NORTH TRAVAN- 
CORE. 
{From One of Them.) 
From time to time you have admitted to your 
columns fugitive oommunioations from the planters, 
or to speak more correctly, from the pioneers, who 
have for the last ten years been engaged in opening 
out the northern portion of the Travancore State to 
planting enterprise. It will be remembered that 
the main obstacle in the way of settling the ex- 
teneive and salubrious range of mountains and 
valleys which are known by the name of the 
Eannan Devan Hills lies in the di£Qoulty of aooest. 
While the estates were in a state of ohildhood, not 
yet having reached the productive stage, the 
absence of roads did not muoh affect the formation 
of estates. Forests have been felled, nurseries for- 
med, plants have been set out and even bungalows 
built (though at great cost) while all the tools, rioe, 
stores, roofs, and building materials necessary for 
the above objects have been carried up from the 
plains on pack cattle, ponies, donkeys and on men's 
heads. Time has meanwhile been rolling along, 
and the plant has developed into a bush, the oin- 
ohona seedling into a tree. The years have at 
length rewarded the settlers, and they pride them- 
selves with thousands of pounds of bark, tons of 
coffee, and chests of tea But now has oome into 
play the question of cost of oarriage, and the delay 
and expense of pack animals seriously handicap the 
exporters when competing for markets with produce 
from other planting Districts where carts take the 
crop from the planters, then to the railway 
station or port without break of bulk. However 
these planters are a Belf-reliant body. Thej 
