It is of great importance that a planter should have some pursuit which may be both useful and interesting, such as botany, natural history, or geology, and drawing, too, would be most valuable.  In the old days sport filled up our leisure hours, but that, in these days, is not always to be had without going far afield, as, from the number of guns in the hands of the natives, the game within their reach has been mostly destroyed.  It is of great value, then, to have some pursuit to fill up time when there is not enough of it to spare to go to a distance from home for sport.  Attending to, and taking an interest in a garden is a great resource, and indirectly a source of great pleasure, which I am reminded of as I write these lines, and at the same time listen to the warbling of the Bulbuls in the flower garden in front of my bungalow.  These charming little birds are very active, and are now (February 28th), collecting materials for building their nests.  There are, too, many charming warblers which are attracted by a garden so arranged as to attract birds.  The beds in the foreground should consist of a mixture of flowers and standard roses, and those at the back of various flowering shrubs, and low trees which are suitable for the birds to nest in.  I have no carriage road in front of the bungalow, and with this arrangement can have the beds quite close to the foot of the steps of the inclosed veranda.  I am much struck with the persistent loquacity of these Indian birds, and at no time of day—­not even for a minute—­is the sound of birds absent, and their notes are to be heard all through the fine weather.

It is very advisable to take up waste paddy fields, i.e., abandoned rice terraces, for cattle grazing, and I may point out that this is also of advantage to the amenities of an estate, by providing snipe shooting close at hand.  It will also be found of advantage for feeding ducks and geese.  I have a stretch of such land on one of my properties, and find it most useful.  The water, I may add, should be carefully conducted to the various terraces, just as if they were to be cultivated with rice, this, as I need hardly say, being necessary for the snipe.  Amongst these scraps of hints, which may be useful, I may mention the fact that tealeries were once common in India.  I am told that they are easily established, though I have, myself, no experience of them.  It is sometimes possible to add to the amenities of an estate by reserving pieces of land for tigers to lie up in, and this is very important, now that every scrap of land is being taken up for planting either coffee or cardamoms, and that cover for game is becoming proportionately scarce.  There are two such pieces that I have reserved on my estate for tigers, but care must be taken beforehand to see that such reserves are on the exact route by which tigers cross from one part of the country to another.  For instance, the pieces I have reserved are about three miles apart, and I have never known or heard of a tiger being between them excepting on one occasion last year, when a royal tiger inspected a cattle shed of mine about five minutes’ walk from the house.  At first sight it seems singular that these animals, like hares, should have their runs, and still more that the runs should be so regularly adhered to, though they may be several miles apart.