f it should be freely
sown in the fences, waste jungle, and the bottoms of deep ravines, but it
is not a desirable tree to have in the plantation.

Wood for handles should be kept in store, as it is of great importance to
use well seasoned wood. Jack roots are valuable for all short handles.

Lines, or rows of houses for labourers should be made of sun-dried bricks,
and roofed with corrugated iron. For sanitary reasons they should, if
possible, be divided over several sites. The manager should occasionally
visit the lines, and a duffadar be appointed to see after them, and that
no dirty water is thrown down in front of the doors. The houses should be
numbered, and a list of the occupants kept. New arrivals should be at once
reported, as bad characters are often harboured in the lines. A pensioned
sepoy might be advantageously employed to look after the lines, and report
on new arrivals, and also keep an eye on persons who may be suspected of
stealing coffee. The advantage of employing a stranger for such purposes
is obvious, as natives residing permanently in the locality are much
afraid of making enemies, whereas a fresh pensioned sepoy might be got in
from time to time, and he should be changed before he had time to make any
friends on the estate. An application for a sepoy should be made to the
officer in charge of pensioned sepoys in Bangalore. These pensioned sepoys
might also be employed with advantage in the crop season, with the special
object of preventing coffee robbery from the plantations, which are often
surrounded with villages.

As regards coolie lines, it is important to consider aspect, and a slight
slope towards the east, or slightly south, is a good one, as it catches
the first rays of the sun, and so reminds the people of their duties in
coming early to work, and enables them to warm themselves when the
mornings are chilly. Such an aspect is also sheltered from the south-west
monsoon blasts, and, in the hot weather, from the heat of the westering
sun.

When I look at a magnificent row of Casuarinas (_Casuarina Equisetifolia_,
the Tinian pine or Beefwood) which I planted on my property about the year
1859, and which are now about 150 feet high, and consider the value of
this tree, both for timber and firewood, I stand astounded at my own
stupidity in not having planted them on a considerable scale. But it is
thus in all new countries where you are surrounded by trees, and it is
difficult to believe