visit a plantation; then the planter is seen threading
his way from garden to garden, with an anxious look,
mentally comparing the show before him with that of
previous years, and estimating its probable result,
provided a bad monsoon does not upset even his most
cautious calculation. Now in the month of November
the trees present a different but also an exceedingly
pretty aspect, crowded as they are with little hunches
of red cherries, perhaps a dozen in each, and from
eight to twelve such bunches on each branch, of the
latter there may be as many as twenty bearing on one
tree ; however, such numbers are rather the exception,
and not to be relied upon, for if a similar result could
be obtained throughout, an acre would produce
upwards of a ton of clean coffee, whilst in Mysore
two and a half to three cwt. is considered a fair
average crop, although Ceylon planters count upon
five to seven cwt. per acre; but working expenses are
very much heavier with them, labour having to be
imported from the Malabar coast.
During picking time it is amusing to take your
stand at the pulper and watch the women bring in
baskets full of ripe fruit, carefully eyeing each lot
being measured, as they get extra pay for any
quantity exceeding a bushel, which often causes disputes
and bad language, which the Canarese excel
in. The pulping machine separates the coffee in its
parchment skin from the red outer pulp, which
latter is allowed to ferment, and in that state forms
excellent manure. The parchment berry, after being
thoroughly washed in stone cisterns, is on the next
morning taken to the barbecue, a large level piece of
ground near the bungalow, in order to see it carefully
watched, where it is for several days exposed to the
sun’s rays, either upon the ground covered with
chunam, or upon long trays about six feet wide,
running the whole length, and consisting of bamboo
mats resting upon short poles stuck firmly into
the ground. When perfectly dry the parchment
coffee is taken into the store, and thence sent to the
coast, where it is cured, that is, dried again and peeled
of its parchment and silver skin, by which process
the two half berries become released and the produce
is ready for shipment to the European market. The
whole operation is very interesting.
Within the last decade a new industry, namely the
cultivation of Cinchona, has met with considerable
success in Mysore and in south-western India
generally, results, however, varying somewhat according
to the process adopted for obtaining the bark,
which is twofold, by uprooting and by coppicing. By