d, or young forest: this class of land may
readily be recognized by the number of young Nundy and other deciduous
trees. The first-named class of forest is of course by far the most
valuable; the second will be more or less valuable according to the time
that has elapsed since the mother jungle was felled--in some cases this
may be only 40 or 50 years ago, in others from 50 to 100, and perhaps in
some instances upwards of 150 years ago. In the last case, of course, the
land will approximate in value to the mother jungle, but in the first
there is an enormous difference in the value of the land, which will
easily be understood when we consider what takes place when forest is
cleared, burnt off and cropped. For in the tremendous conflagration that
ensues, much of the accumulated wealth of ages is destroyed; and I may
remind the reader that an iron peg driven firmly down till its head was
level with the ground of a newly-cleared piece of forest, was found to be
projecting no less than six inches from the surface after the fire was
over. Then a crop is sown which indeed is not an exhaustive one, but it
must be remembered that the land is exposed to heavy tropical rains, and
perhaps for two years, after which it is abandoned, and allowed to grow up
again into forest. So that the injury to the land from the burning of the
forest, the removal of one or two crops of grain, and especially the loss
from wash, bring about a state of exhaustion which a very long time is
required to repair. The value of the land, then, in which this secondary
growth of forest has sprung up, will entirely depend upon the time when
the forest was cleared and burnt off, and as this is more or less
conjectural, it is difficult to give on paper any guide as to the probable
time, and the valuer can only form an opinion from the practice he has had
in examining forest lands. As regards the third class, i.e., young
forest on land that has never had any previous forest growth, the valuer
can have little doubt. Such lauds are not desirable, and are as inferior
to lands of the second class as these generally are to those of the first,
or mother jungles.

I have said that a vast quantity of forest along the Western Ghauts is
unsuitable for coffee; and it is so because of the excessive and
continuous rainfall, and the estates, fortunately very few in number,
which were started in the wet mountain regions which fringe the Mysore
tableland, have all been abandoned.