rongly suspect that much of the ill-health in India is due to the dirt
and horrors of the Indian cook-room, which is usually at a little distance
from the bungalow, and turned into a general lounge for the servants, I
think it well to show that, with a little contrivance and attention, as
great a degree of order and cleanliness may exist in India as in any other
portion of the globe.

On the following day I called on Mr. Mann, son of one of the pioneer
planters of 1855, and inspected an interesting coffee garden of four acres
which is close to his bungalow in Mercara. Some of the coffee trees were
planted thirty and others forty years ago, and they have given for many
years fifteen hundredweight an acre on the average, and though many of the
trees were evidently suffering from the effects of overbearing, there
seemed no reason why they should not continue to bear good crops for an
indefinite period of time. Estimating the value of the coffee at 80s. a
hundredweight, the produce of an acre would be worth L60, of 100 acres
L6,000, and allowing one-half for expenses--a very liberal estimate--there
would be a clear income of L3,000 a year from 100 acres of such coffee. As
100 acres of land so situated--it was flat, lay in a hollow, and was well
sheltered--could not be obtained, it might seem that an account of this
garden could be of no practical value. But the garden in question raises
one very important point in the mind, and that is whether it would not be
better to abandon all inferior soils and situations on an estate, and
concentrate all the labour and manurial resources on a more limited area,
every operation on which could be carried out exactly at the right moment.
This is a highly important question which I state here for the
consideration of planters.

After spending two pleasant days at the Retreat, I bade my kind host and
hostess good-bye (I have thanked Mr. Meynell, who I may mention represents
Messrs. Matheson's large interests in Coorg, in the preface for the
valuable information he subsequently sent me as regards planting in
Coorg), and went on my way towards my home in Mysore, and stayed first at
the Hallery estate, which is about six miles from Mercara, and is the
property of my friend Mr. Mangles. The approach to the bungalow through
the coffee is very pretty; the building stands at the head of a slope,
and commands a fine and extensive view of the country and the distant
hills. The amenities here had be