May I, 1884.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 847 



million and a-half poi;nds (1,522,882), and in the three closing months of 1883 probably not less 

 than loO,000 lbs. more. The acreage under tea is estimated at 32,000, but on 20,000 acres of this 

 the plants are not yet three years old. A very large proportion is, however, old coffee land, and 

 about 5,000 estimated acres of tea are mixed with cotfee or cinchona. 



The prospects of tea-growing are, on the whole, very favourable, and present experience 

 is most encouraging. From the first, when the consumption was almost entirely local, an excellent 

 character distinguished Ceylon tea; and its special qualities appear to be generally maintained 

 and to be winuing approbation in the home market. The fine series of samples (over SO in 

 number) which competed at the Colombo Agri-Horticultural Show in August, has been sent on 

 by the Planters' Association to the Calcutta Exhibition, where they will be able to be compared 

 with the picked teas of India. 



It may be pretty confidently hoped that the lesson of leaf-disease has rendered it impos- 

 sible that exclusive attention to one cultivation should ever again be the practice in Ceylon agri- 

 culture, but a warning in the case of tea is perliaps uot quite unnecessary. In addition to the 

 ordinary vicissitudes of all crops, it is wise to bear in mind that there is still some doubt as to the 

 extent of the demand for such high class teas as those which Ceylon vuist produce. We are at 

 present disappointed of a market in Australia for the reason that people there do not care to pay 

 our price, being quite contented with an inferior and cheaper article. It is probable that the 

 same is true of the great tea-drinking classes in England ; they must have it cheap. It is 

 predicted that in three years' time Ceylon is to throw 10,000,000 lbs. of Pekoe and Pekoe Souchong 

 on the market, and it is perliaps possible : but it will be well to be jirepared for the probability 

 that this may have to be disposed of at the price of inferior qualities, to the benefit no doubt of 

 the consumer but at the expense of the cultivator. 



In some of the coffee districts where tea is being largely planted, some difficulty is felt as 

 to the supply of fuel necessary for its manufacture. The reckless and ill-judged clearance of the 

 whole of the jungle, as yet regretted principally as shelter from wind, will now be felt from another 

 cause. As it is quite useless to attempt to bring back the old native trees to their much changed 

 habitations, it will probably be necessary to plant and keep up fuel reserves. For this in the higher 

 elevations nothing can be better than the quick-growing wattles, blackwood and eucalypts of 

 Australia. In the lower districts (2,0(jO — 4,000 feet) there are many quick-growing native trees 

 that would be found suitable ; for example, "Malaboda"(J/j/risi«ra ^awri/oZ/re), which is recommended 

 also for tea boxes, " Milla" ( Vitex altisshna), "Badula" (Semecarpus Garclneri, ^'c.) "Gedumba" 

 (Trcma orientalis), " Gurauda" (Ccltis ciiinamomea), " Nuga" (Ficus laccifera, (^'c), " Kalaha" 

 {F. Wlghtlana), " Walgona" (F. callosa), " Dawul kuruudu" (Lttsoea zcylanlca), " Etamba" 

 ( Mantjifera zeijlanlca). " "^Vk (Cassia s'lamea) is an excellent tree for fuel at elevations below 2,000 

 feet. Several of these woods would also do for tea boxes, and, " Helamba" (AnthocephalusCadamba), 

 a common low-country tree, is also well spoken of for that purpose. It is of great importance to 

 use only perfectly seasoned wood for boxes ; if used green the juices may act on the lead lining, as 

 happened in a case which has recently given rise to litigation. 



Cinchona. — The export of bark from Ceylon for the last commercial year attained the 

 extraordinary total of nearly seven million pounds (6,935,595 lbs.), and it is supposed that fully 

 one and a-half million more have been exported in the three concluding months of 1883. This 

 is a greater quantity than could have been expected, but it is to be feared that a large iiroportiou 

 has been very poor stuff, which, at the low prices prevailing, it can scarcely have been worth while 

 to send home. To make it profitable to sell "twigs" at 2d. — Qd. a lb., needs the existence of a 

 local manufactory in operation. This, too, would be independent of all "rings" and combinations 

 in Europe, such as that which during the past year has succeeded in lowering the price of bark 

 and raising the cost of quinine. A local factory for extracting alkaloids on the spot, when it is 

 established, will indeed be an equal benefit to the growers of cinchona and the consumers of the 

 febrifuge alkaloids in the East ; but at present it seems more likely to be set uji in South India 

 than in Ceylon. 



It is estimated that there are probably 128 million cinchona trees in the Colony, of which 

 not over 22 millions are more than two years old. What proportion of the remaining 106 millions 

 is likely to grow up to maturity can only be guessed at, but it will probably not be a large one. 

 Much less cinchona has been raised during this year, and it is a very doubtful if the large export 

 of the past one will be maintained. 



