25" 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1883. 



wise the "tare" (i.e., the weight of the wooJcn case and 

 lead which has to be deducted from the weight of the 

 tea) could never be arrived at. lu Cliina there are, of 

 course, the differences betweeu the tea of one "picking" 

 and that of another, I'ut the various pickings are sold at 

 once to one common manufactory called a " hong," whera 

 they are all mL-ied or bulked together, and then cured and 

 packed in chests of uniform size and weight. The result 

 is that a Chinese " chop '' of tea, consisting of from 600 to 800 

 chests, runs with such regularity that "taring "a very few of 

 them gives a trustworthy estimate of the contents of the rest, 

 and buyers willingly accept a sample from any one chest as a 

 specimen of the whole " chop." The Indian Tea Planters' 

 Association lately petitioned Government to prevent the 

 Custom House from turning out and weighing the con- 

 tents of each separate package, pointing out the loss 

 suffered by planters from this cause. Their petition would 

 carry more weight if they would do something to secure 

 uniformity in the packing of their teas. It is surprising 

 to the onlooker that the Indian planter has never realised 

 the fact, so patent to the practical Chinaman, of the 

 immediate saving to his own pocket which would ensue 

 from confining himself to one branch of the trade instead 

 of attempting all. If he would be content with growing 

 tea, and sell it when picked to the tea-curer, he would 

 be able to di.spenso with the expensive tea-preparing machin- 

 ery, and with the services of the engineer reqiured to 

 work it. The capital thus freed might be ■ appUed to 

 increasing the size of his plantation, and he would be 

 enabled to concentrate more attention on the cultivation 

 of tea. These remarks do not, of coiu-se, apply to the 

 few large joint-stock plantations in Assam, where the 

 quantity of land under tea cultivation and the large sub- 

 scribed capital makes a difference. The Assam Joint- 

 Stock Tea Companies' teas are not bulked on arrival in 

 England. I have been told that the opposition of Indian 

 planters to each other would render impossible the com- 

 bination that exists with such good effect in China. If 

 this be so, it is unfortunate for India, who wiU assiu-edly 

 find herself outstripped in the race by those countries 

 where the advantages of co-operatiou and divi.sion of labour 

 are understood. It is probable that Ceylon will soon set 

 India a good example in this respect, in which case Ceylon 

 must take the first place as a tea-produciug country, her 

 teas already ranking higher than most of those we receive 

 from ludia. — I am, Sir, your obedient servant, James IxxES, 

 33, ,Seethmg-laue, E. C, July 16. — [This is a repetition, 

 somewhat modified, of the letter which previously appeared 

 in the Tiims. Neither India nor Ceylon is likely to adopt 

 from China, a system of hongs and tea preparation, which 

 accounts for much of the weakness and inferiority of 

 China tea. Tea planting would require to be much more 

 advanced than it is in Ceylon to allow of hongs either 

 in the tea districts or at Colombo. It is of importance, 

 especially in a moist climate Uke that of Ceylon, that tea 

 should be packed as well as manufactured on estates. But 

 the time may come, when sales taking place at Colombo, 

 the buying merchants can blend and bidk. — Ed.] 



MR. C. S. ARMSTRONG 0-V THE TKA 

 ENTERPEIZE IN' CEYLON. 

 Mr. Armstrong's papers on tea culture, prepar- 

 ation, yield, cost, &c., which we publish on page 

 251 et seq., cannot be read with nrore atteut on 

 than it deserves. It embodies, mainly, the results 

 of Mr. Armstrong's own experience, with tnistworthy 

 information added, on tlie important point of average 

 yield per acre. The figures given justify the en- 

 cotiraging and sauguine tone of the whole paper. 

 Mr. Armstrong— and we think he is perfectly justified 

 in his calculations — regards as moderate averages : — 

 400 lb. per acre for estates from 2,500 to 6,000 feet above 



sea-level. 

 600 lb. per acre in the ca.se est.i' -.'00 feet al- 



titude and down to sea-level. 

 On liis own estate, iSIr. Armstrong olitaiucd from one 

 Held, the very high letiuu of l,'20O Jb, per acre. 



nalii flourishes 

 grow. Of course, 

 tea, as for coffee, 

 plants ; but oiu' 



The elevation of this field was 5,o00 feet, but soil 

 and shelter were exceptionally good. Now, much of 

 the soil at high elevations is excellent in quality ; 

 and where such soil, with its subsoil, may be too 

 stiff for cinchonas to live in, tea with its powerful 

 taproot is able to flourish. As Mr, Armstrong re- 

 marks, the tea plant is able to go much deeper for 

 nutriment than even the coliee plant. It may not 

 be out of place to state, from our own experience, 

 that not only will tea succeed where cinchonas have 

 failed, but that, after tea has been in the ground 

 for a few years', the soil gets so opened up and 

 drained of moisture -that C 

 where formerly it refused to 

 the more shelter the better for 

 cinchona and other cultivated 

 experience is to the effect that few plants are more 

 tolerant of wind than tea. We have never seen the 

 staking process noticed by Mr. Armstrong resorted to 

 in this culture, and our main experience is derived 

 from tea culiivatioir running up from 5,000 to nearly 

 6 000 feet, wliere the monsoon winds can certainly 

 make themselves felt. Their main effect when laden 

 with the cold spray of the south west monsoon is 

 to check vegetation and so produce the winter in -lune- 

 July of whica advantage is taken to prune the 

 bushes. Our chief, we might almost say our sole 

 losses have been occasioned by the poisonous roots 

 of a particular jungle tree. Round the root stem of 

 sucli a tree (a S) mplocos) we have lost from four to 

 twelve plants, and to supply such vacancies, (unless 

 it is deemed better to fill them up with cinchonas) 

 there can be no doubt it will be well to have "stumps" 

 ready, such .as ilr. Armstrong suggests. We may here, 

 again, lepeat what we have frequently stated, that the 

 best sites for tea nurseries are the flat swamps in which 

 ravines often terminate, or w hich rather mark intervals 

 in the downward progressof streams. Of course drainage is 

 necessary, and this can beseoured by digging between the 

 beds and heaping the earth over them. If rotting 

 timber, roots and rubbish are burnt and the ashes mixed 

 with the earth in the beds, the progress of the seeds, 

 under the influence mainly of moisture which reaches 

 them by capillary attraction from below, is rapid. 

 Watering is re-sorted to only in very dry weather. Jlr. 

 Armstrong's experience ought forever to shut the mouths 

 of those who are so fond of decrying high altitudes. 

 It inusG be remembered tliat 6,000 feet in Ceylon, 

 within 7° of the equator, is not more than the equi- 

 valent of 3.500 to 4,0011 feet on the sides of the Eastern 

 Hiniilayas, in the Darjiling district, in 2"!' north, 

 w'here most of the rain falls in four or five months 

 of the year and where a marked winter exists from 

 November to ilarch each year. Our rainfall is well 

 spread o^•er the year, only acting as a wintering, when 

 the cold of evaporation is produced by the winds of 

 the southwest monsoon. Looking at the exceptional 

 return obtained by Mr. Armstrong of 1,200 lb. per 

 acre, from a field of 3 acres at 5,500 feet, it is quite 

 possible that ultimately, the high estates will increase 

 their average to 500 lb. against 700 lb. in tlie case 

 of the low estates. But 400 and 600 are exceedingly 

 goid, and. if, while the soil of the high estates is 

 better and more lasting than down belo^r, the climate 

 is undoubtedly more favourab!e to human health, 

 it will be seen that adv.antages will be pretty 

 equally balanced. On the low country estates, 

 where the forcing clLmate will lead to laige 

 crops from the first, manuring will have to be re- 

 sorted to at a correspondingly early period. If course, 

 there are facilities of river and road to be followed 

 iu due time by the railway. When the Uva Exten* 



