manure. Such an officer would be very useful in
searching for coprolites and new manurial resources. My life-long
experience in agriculture on a large scale both in Scotland and Mysore has
shown me more and more the great value of an agricultural chemist for
discovering new manurial resources, and perhaps more especially
economizing those that already exist; and the great want of such an
officer was brought to the notice of Government by me when I was a member
of the Representative Assembly in 1891.

I may conclude this chapter by alluding to a discovery, or rather, I
should say, a probable discovery, of the greatest importance, of a new
hybrid coffee plant--a cross between the Liberian and the coffea Arabica.
This has occurred on the property of a friend of mine, but, at his
request, I do not publish his name, as he would be inundated with
applications for seed. This magnificent hybrid, of which there are only
two trees in existence as yet, has enormous bearing powers, and leaves
which are apparently absolutely impervious to leaf disease, for I could
not discover a trace of it though the hybrid is standing next to a coffee
plant which is covered with it. It is of course uncertain as yet whether
the new plant can be established as a distinct variety, nor do we know
anything of the flavour of the coffee, as the quantity produced is yet so
small that berries are reserved exclusively for seed; but should it be
possible to establish the new variety (and I know of no reason why it
should not be established), quite a new departure will take place in
coffee production in India, and the value of coffee land will be enormous,
as, from calculations made, the hybrid can produce at the rate of eight or
nine tons an acre, while as many hundredweights an acre would be
considered an unusually heavy crop in Mysore.

FOOTNOTES:

[51] "Hayes' Mysore and Coorg Directory," Bangalore. This valuable
compilation, which contains no less than 573 pages, gives a most complete
account of almost everything relating to Mysore and Coorg.

CHAPTER XI.

SHADE.

I now turn to the greatest of all the points connected with coffee--the
question of shade. And I call it the greatest point, because if good shade
of the best kind is grown it is absolutely impossible to destroy a
plantation in Mysore, even with the worst conceivable management or
neglect, and I say this after ample experience, as had it not been for the
abundant and excellent s