Cleanliness in the kitchen, and vessels in good order, are points easily talked about, but cannot be attained without some inspection, and the kitchen and its utensils should be examined from 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 intelligence in it.  A note should be kept of the various books reviewed in “The Spectator,” and of any books the reader might fancy to buy, and Smith’s lists of second-hand books, and also the lists of Messrs. Mudie and Co., should be procured, and from these booksellers books may often be bought at a very moderate price.  Do not buy cheap editions of novels, but buy the original three volume editions, which have good paper and print, and which may be bought second-hand at most moderate prices.