"Chick" variety of coffee, there is little
difference in value between the produce of Coorg plants which have been
long established in Mysore and the coffee of the original and now
generally discarded variety. I may here add that the coffee of Mysore has
always had a high reputation. This high quality has been partly attributed
to soil and climate and partly to the coffee being slowly ripened under
shade. But, however that may be, a glance at the weekly lists in the
"Economist" will show that Mysore coffee of the best quality is commonly
valued at from 10s. to 15s. a cwt. above that of any other kind that
reaches the London market.

I now propose to give a brief account of our coffee land tenures, and
shall then address myself to the intricate question of coffee cultivation
in Mysore, and the still more difficult question of the shade trees which
shelter the coffee from sun and wind, and the soil from the wash of the
tropical rains.

When I entered the province in 1855 anyone who desired to have a given
tract of forest land for coffee planting sent an application to the
Government for it. An inquiry was then made, and, if no objection existed
to the land being made over to the intending settler, or applicant, a
puttah or grant, free of any charge for the land or any fee even in
connection with the grant, was made out in Kanarese, which mentioned the
name of the land and the boundaries of it, and stated that the land was to
be planted with coffee within three years' time, and that, if not so
planted, it was liable to be resumed by the State. No survey was made of
the land, nor was it of any importance to estimate the acreage, there
being no land tax, but in its place a tax of 1 rupee per cwt. of clean
coffee produced, which was only liable to be demanded when the coffee was
exported from the country, and not before. This system may seem to many to
have been an objectionable one, and, from one point of view, no doubt it
was, because the more highly the planter cultivated, the more highly he
paid on each acre of his holding, but, on the other hand, the system
enabled the planter to start with a very small capital, as he paid nothing
for his land, nor a single shilling to the State till he had produced his
crop. For starting and stimulating the industry the system certainly had
its merits; but after the industry had obtained a firm footing, it was
evidently of advantage to institute a taxational system of a different
chara