time to time. People who
are particular have all the pots and pans ranged out ready for inspection
daily, and such inspections are most necessary for health, as the dirty
habits of the native servants are such that persistent vigilance is
requisite. And I may here add that there is no use in telling the servants
a thing once--they must be told again, again, and again. At last they give
in to your persistence, and being, like most people in the world, a good
deal creatures of habit, go on fairly well. It is only fair to the native
servants to mention that, if they do keep things in a dirty state, it is
often because they have not the means that servants have at home. The
water supply at their command is commonly very deficient, and often not
over clean, and they are generally ill supplied with places to wash up in,
and with dusters and glass cloths, and then they are rated, and often
abused, because plates are badly washed and things in general dirty.

Under the heading of health requisites, I, of course, include literature.
This, for a planter of moderate means, is generally a matter of great
difficulty, and must continue to be so till the railway system is extended
to the planting districts. At present novels that cannot be read more than
once are quite out of the question on the score of cost, and, under the
circumstances, the planter should content himself with buying Scott's and
Bulwer's and George Eliot's novels. He should, of course, have a good
Atlas, an Encyclopaedia--Chambers' is good and moderate in price, and
Balfour's "Cyclopaedia of India," which contains much valuable and
interesting information. He might also buy Lecky's Works, and Sir John
Strachey's "India," and Buckle's "History of Civilization," for, whatever
the faults of the last may be, the writer's style is admirable, and the
book stirs up thought and inquiry in the mind. Addison's "Spectator," as
it is commonly called, Amiel's "Journal," and Locke's "Conduct of the
Understanding," might also be bought. Ville's "Artificial Manures" should
be procured and studied. Then for newspapers, I may certainly recommend
"The Spectator," "The Mail," or tri-weekly edition of the "Times," and
"The Illustrated London News"--not the thin paper edition of it, which is
most unsatisfactory in every way. One of the best, if not the very best of
Indian papers is the "Madras Mail," and that should certainly be taken,
more especially as there is much planting intelligenc