December i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



447 



impoverishpd eventually that nothing would grow 

 at a profit on them ; but with cheap manure 

 while soil is still in fair order our crops would 

 here increased. On ilaria estate I liave proved 

 what can be done even with poor soil and old coffee 

 when properly cultivated, and I know there are 

 many planters who would gladly follow out my system 

 but cannot, as transport by cart for manures is 

 too expensive. I trust our new Governor as soon as 

 he comes out will at once take the railway to Haputale 

 into his c ■nsideratiou. tie being an energetic far Sfeing 

 man, I am positive he can c .me to onlyone conclu- 

 sion : this railway must be made as quick as possible. 

 You remember in 1SG6 I was the first who strongly 

 urged District Associations ; this was pooh-poohed at 

 the time by our big folks, but, eventually, I saw it 

 carried out, and now District Aesociations are doing 

 more good for planters than the parent. I now urge 

 on each Colombo firm to appoint a good practical 

 planter in each district to supervise their interest ; 

 then let one of their firm or their V. A., who should 

 have an interest in tlie firm (not separate interests of 

 his own), come round every six mouths, take time to go 

 over the estates carefully, go over all matters with 

 the district V. A., and no doubt a more careful 

 cultivation, — no throwing away of money on unprofitable 

 work or products, — and better profit will be the result. 

 It is the field that wants the best supervision ; accounts 

 are only secondary. Too much has been made o£ 

 elaborate reports and accounts lately. — Yours truly, 



J. HOLLOWAY. 



THE TEA PLANT IN CEYLOn! 

 Dear Sir, — In reference to W. F.'s query "when 

 was the teaplaut introduced into Ceylon?" the fol- 

 lowing extract from rercival's History of Ceylon 

 (1805) is in point (p. 330) :—" But it is not sugar 

 alone, that Ceylon seems destined to ailbrd to the 

 general use of the western world, the tea plant has 

 also been discovered, native in the forests of the 

 island. It grows spontaneously in the neighbourhood 

 of Trinconialee and other northern parts of L'eylou. 

 General Champagne informed nie that the soldiers 

 of the garrison frequently use it. They cut the branches 

 and tv\igs and hang them in the sun to dry; they 

 then take oft' the leaves and put them into a vessel 

 or kettle to boil, to extract tlie juiee which has all 

 the propertie.s of that of the China tea leaf. Several 

 of my frieuJs have assured me that the tea was 

 looked upon as far from being bad, considering the 

 little preparation it underwent. The soldiers of tlie 

 80th made use of It in this manner, on being in- 

 Ttormed of its virtues and qualities by the 72nd regi- 

 ment whim they relieved. I have in my po-ses- 

 sion a letter from an officer of the 80th rei^iment in 

 which he states that he had found, the real 

 teaplant in the woods of Ceylon of a quality, 

 equdl to any that ever grew in China, and that 

 it was in hia power to point out to Cjovernment the 

 means of cultivating it in a proper manner. The viet 

 advautagfs to be derived from the cultivation of the 

 teaphait in our own dominions, ought at least to prompt 

 a spiedy and vikoious experiment on the subject." 



Uoidiiier (1807) says: — •' The real tea tree ia not indi- 

 genous in Ceylon, but the island produces several spe- 

 cies of that penus one of whicH, (used by the milive?) 

 is contained in General MacdowaU'e grounds at Colombo 

 but none of the plants have grown large nor have any 

 of them, produced flowers or berivcs. lieports have been 

 circulated anuounciu}{ the discovery of the real plant 

 in the woods hut specimens of the shrub have never 

 been produced to di tennine the credibility due to the 

 assertion. The China tea tree, however, might be easily 

 imported and there can be little doubt that it would in 

 time, (jrove a source of wealth to the island." —Yours, 



SPERMOLOGOS, 



INDIAN AND CEYLON TEA. SEED : No. I. 



Sir, — "Planter," the advocate of Assam-grown 

 seed, would se-m to imply, that, whUe every Assam 

 planter is a most conscientious and intelligent person 

 incapable of picking or selling unripe seed, 99 per 

 cent of Ceylou tea planters are foolish and immoral 

 who do not know rip..' from unripe and who do not 

 hesitate to sell rubbish as good seed. As a fact, seed 

 picked perfectly ripe in Assam is more likely to 

 reach Ceylon rotten and del'ective than if it were 

 picked the least bit unrips to ripen on the way. 



Assam seed at K75 per maund in Assam will 

 only give some 12,000 plants to a maund, costing 

 fully ElO per 1,000 when ready to put out, whereas 

 Ceylon seed will give some 20,000 plants, possibly 

 co-sting from 114 to E5 per l.OOO when ready for 

 planting. Again, the process of taking out bushes of 

 inferior type seems to go on as much on estates 

 planted entirely from Indian seed as it does on 

 those grown from Ceylon seed. 



Purch.Tsers of Ceylon seed can go and see forthom- 

 selves the trees from which their seed comes. If 

 they buy Indian seed, they to a certain extent buy 

 a pig in a poke Human nature is the same as re- 

 g.ards integrity in Assam as in Ceylon, I opine. 



Will planters prefer going to the expense of RIO per 

 1,000 for Assam plants, or Ho for CEYLON PLANTS ? 



No. n. 



November 9th, 1883. 



Dear Sir,— Persoiially, I so far agree with " Planter " 

 that I would prefer planting up with seed imported 

 from Assam or Dai jiling simply for the reason given by 

 you in your footnote to " Planter" 's first letter, viz., 

 the advantage to bo derived from a change of seed, 

 and I would advise others to plant imported seed 

 also, if (dad here lies the diftieulty) they can depend 

 on getting seed of a good jat delivered on their estates 

 in a sound condition. Is it not probable that new 

 the people in India rind a " rush" from Ceylon. They 

 may pick tea seed off places which have been aban- 

 doned partly because of having been planted with 

 poor class trees and partly from unsuitable soil. But 

 "Planter" will tell us that Assam planters or pro- 

 prietors are incapable of doing any wrong : but he 

 can't deny that it was in Inilia that the tea seed 

 was parboiled in the early days. * 



1 will give another short extract from "Cultivated 

 Plants" by F. VV. Burbidge ! at page 3 he writes: 

 — "The seeds of cultivatcil plants are rarely allowed 

 to remain on the plants until they are perfectly ripe." 

 There is a wide distinction between perfect or fully 

 ripe and merely ripe seed. — Yours faithfully, 



^ . ORION. 



p.g. — Has "Planter" succeeded in selling that seed 

 which a " well-known tea broker in London " advised 

 him to part with ? I wonder if that was the seed 

 which was "sweeped" off and distributed to buyers ! 



TEA PKEPARATION : THE PRICE OF COKE 

 AND COAL TO PLANTERS. 



Maskeliya, 10th Nov. 1883. 



De Ti Sir,— Can you find out for us, what can coke 

 be lauded at from England, per ton, including all 

 charges? Later on, coke or coal must bo used for 

 manufacturing tea on some estates. Coke, of course, 

 would be the cleanest and brightest, and last not 

 least give out more heat than coal. Lenf-dUcase is 

 going away, but when it will take Its departure is 

 'vei7 hard to say. — Yours &c., CHEER UP. 



[As the inost convenient referee we sent our corre- 

 spondent's inquiry to the Manager of t he Gas Works, 



* Is this a trueTuT? "Can such tilings be?"— Ea. 



