August i, 189I.] 
the tropical agriculturist. 
109 
■hort notice and imall advanoea, A Eonga mlitakea 
a Sahib who speaka his natl?e toneno like him- 
self for «ome sort of a dieUnt relation, and he 
MMom doserta such a aatiib for trifling causea The 
Konsa likes to get hia weekly advances of from 8 
to 12 annas ; and to hia credit be it said, that al- 
though (tovernoiont has znoit ooDsidf^rately to tho 
oooly, »na ootifllderately to everv one els®, placed 
t every nook and corner of the Nil- 
guifl, he ipendn nearly the whole of hie weekly 
food. But on the monthly pay day, 
which is invariably a Slaturday, he spends a psrt 
of his earnings on arrack, and the Sunday succeed- 
ing Pay day is generally rc-erved by him for settle- 
ment of disputes with his fellow labourers, which, 
w never attended with broken limha or 
biooaahed, as the Kongas are wise in their genera- 
tion, and while they abuse each other in the vilest 
language and call each others forefatherA all the 
abusive names they can think of, they stand about 
10 yards apart, and after exercising their lungs for 
• couple of hours they return to the same lines and 
^‘7® .jn peace and harmony until next pay day. 
Hitherto, as I have alreadv said, Nilgiri plan- 
ters have been well off for labour, hut it is doubt- 
Jnl whether ws shall be as fortunate in the 
jnture. The railway line between Ooonoor aud 
Meitapollium has been traced and as soon as 
cortaiu disputes are settled between the G-ov- 
ernment, the Railway Company, aud the plan- 
ters, with reference to tho amount of money due to 
for the portions of their estates taken up by 
line and for tho damages that may he done to the 
^'ijacent parts when tho line is being oponed, work will 
oramence, and as a very Urge number of coolies will be 
o ^ for the earthwork, there will be a great strain 
fo Market. I believe ordinary labourers— 
tD*i! u libonr is to bo imported from elsewhere— 
^ from the Coimbatore District, and as 
me thousands of hands will be required for this 
will, to a certain extent, interfere with estate 
Dour. It will be a very serious matter if labour falls 
the picking season, and it will be a(Ivis^• 
. ® planti^rs to anticipate matters aed 
enter into early oontraots with maistrios for a audi- 
ci«nt number of hands for their estatea. Th^'re is 
another question to be considered in conuectiou with the 
rail vny 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 
P'he nresent rstos of R6-8-0 per man aud 
• R4-1-0 per woman for a month of 26 work- 
some years ago, after taking into 
anH the requirements of the coolies, 
of planters. Rut if the 
A contractors should eitAor through ignorance of 
through some sborl-sightcd policy, 
doings tfroat deal of damage to 
mn.v r*‘8idents on tho Nilj^iris without in anv 
themselves; for as soon as th'o 
nellof? ♦•/f Pi'i'ty, the others will be com- 
ffainft.i *Pd thus no adk^antage will be’ 
sS I acted in a right 
!^n DlovM of t>VV for coolies 
ho h-vl f'”' ’''’‘■'’''y'ng fha line, and although 
L Ih! -’iffloolty i» men for a 
tho r ites P them without enhancing 
oontraotewith iv .'nr.rt’, 
may Rive higher r .t.., • , , Til °op‘fa«forH 
andloa dnalorl 
soJnnr, h-JelTr. aoirr/il/’l, "’ISr"':, e"b'» 
df, .IMi/, June a,,,]. betler.- 
lIEMfLElA VaSTATHIX. 
Sir^ll'/'' qf the " Madra,^ itail." 
eorreapandeuoe that has 
Pimarn.l m our oolumaa during the past month, oa 
the Rubjeot of Hemeleia Vastatrix, and more eapeoiall, 
to Mr. Pringle’s assertion that he has discovered a 
remedy for it, which he is willing to communicate 
to the planting oommunitv far a oonslderation, would 
It not bo well for such of them as feel disposed to 
outertsin hia propoial to first ssoertnin from kleMrs, 
Matheson if Oo., or from their Agent In Ooorg, what 
has been the result. In this way, of his experiments 
on their behalf P Mr. Pringle states that he baa been 
employed for four years on this and kindred snbiects 
at a coat of £5,000 sterling, and the inferenoe from 
hi* etfer Is that he has given his late employers a 
qvidpro qw). I do not think Messrs. Matheson & Oo., 
or their Agent in Coorg, could have any ohjeofinn to 
answering a simple question of this kind, whieh might 
be so pat ns to take in tho borer difficulty also. 
P R UDRI^CE* 
Pollibetta, South Coorg, June 6th. 
THE ART OP MANDRI.SG COFFEE. 
To the Editor of the " M^tdroji ilaU." 
• ture that all interested in ooflfee will 
]om with me in thanking you for publishing, and 
Mr Pringle for writing, the interesting, valuable 
and suggestive paper on -The Art of Manuring 
Coffee whioh appeared in yonr issue of the 0th 
instant. The disousaion of tho nnaierrm points 
oonneoted with the cultivation of coffee is of the 
highest value, and if planters can only be persuaded 
to publish in your columns the result of their 
expenenoe, the /l/«drn« J/a,7 will soon beooiue iu 
India all that th i Cci/fou Ob»en>er is to the interests 
of that Island. My object m writing now is to ask 
Mr, Pringle if he has carried out any experiments 
in (.oorg as regards the green manu ing to whioh 
he alludes in his oloainit remarks. The subject is 
one of great imiiortanoe. Baron Rioby (?) called 
attention to R nimy years ago, and suggested 
that lupins might besiwnwith advantage between 
the rows of onffee in Oeylon, and I may mention 
that I am now making some experiments wilh 
various leguminous plants in my ' plantatiors in 
Mysore But if leguminoas plants are valuable 
rom their power of taking up aud retaining nitrogen 
rom the atmosphere it is possible that coffee 
bs much beneated if we used leguminous 
trees as shade, and 1 venture to suggest that this 
point IS worth looking into. It is supposed that 
leguminous plants take up and retain, through the 
medium of nodules on their roots, the nitrogen of 
the atmosphere. Now, I am informed by a verv 
competent observer that he has noticed nodules of 
a similar oharaoter at the roots of a leguminous 
tree, and it is therefore probable that these roots 
are as rich in nitrogenous matter as are the roots 
of clovers and other loguminoiis plants. And if 
this surmise should turn out to be correct, and 
ahniiM^”* ''’*’'** ^''K“™oous trees, we 
should. whoD digging, be const .utly cutting many 
of their roots and so obtain ohoup supplies of 
mtrogenoua matter. I „m uow going to make 
some expenraenta with leguminous trees and shrubs, 
or rather very short trees, as shade for coffee, and 
ai "T • ®'^8Re8t to other p’anters to di "o too. 
j ‘'['fl,® alludes to lan.t beoomlng oolTee sick, 
and doubtless it nrist often become so; but the 
land does not neaeHrt.irily bcoom-i so even when 
kept for a very Ion'.; '.imc imd r n > other crop but 
coffee. One of the oldest piroes of c ft«e land 
that I have seen was opened in Mysore abom 115 
years ago. It was roplaiited about 25 vnara 
ago. and when I saw it some years laf 
coffee could not be surpnssed, ami 
to I^st. 
Ootaoamuud, 11 th June. RobmiH. Ebmoi, 
