Nov. I, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIS'To 



n^ 



3IS 



lysis of the bark of a two-year old tree 3-3 per 

 cent quinine sulphate, trace of cinchonidine, and 

 0-5.") per cent cinchonine. The bark from the other 

 species of the same age ^ave 'rl per cent quinine 

 sulphate, 0-43 per cent cinchonidine, with no cin- 

 chonine or quinidine. The improvement brought 

 about by the successful cultivation of the cinchonas 

 is further shown by the results obtained from the 

 same plantations in 1872 and 1881 of several kinds 

 of cinchonas grown in Jamaica, and these results 

 were even more favourable in the cultivation in 

 Columbia of descendants from the Jamaica plant- 

 ations. In the case of a succirubra cultivation in 

 Columbia from a Jamaica plant the bark yielded 

 as much as 7'0 per cent quinine sulphate, with 

 only I'D per cent cinchonidine, and 0"fi7 per 

 cent cinchonine and Mr. Howard remarks tha'j 

 this succirubra is one of the finest he has tested. 

 In Mr. Howard's opinion it cannot be too clearly 

 borne in mind that the prospect of future profits 

 in the cultivation of cinchonas depends entirely 

 on the cultivation of high testing bark, for in the 

 face of the importation of such highly valuable 

 cultivated bark from Bolivia, as well as from Java, 

 the profitable growing of inferior bark is impossible. 



THE KALUTAEA TEA DISTEICT. 



{Ffdiii (I Rfsuhnt Phinler.) 



THE KUBH INTO AKD COLLAI'SE OF LIBERIAN COi'FEE 



THE SUCCESS OF TEA, YIELDING UP TO 1,000lH. 



I'EU ACRE— CHEAr SINHALESE LABOUR FOR TEA-1'LUCK- 



INCJ — THE TEA DISTRICT PROPER NEARLY ROADLESS 



THE TRAFFIC LOST BY THE RAILWAY — THE NEED 

 FOR A VISIT FROM THE GOVERNOR. 



A very few years ago it was doubted if tea would 



grow in this District, at all ; and experiments on 



were tried, partly alone, and partly intermixed with 

 coHee. I only know what crops two fields of this 

 have given, but it all looks very tine indeed. The held 



you saw on is giving 800 lb. per acre this season ; 



and during the last 9 months the field you saw on 



has given Ifii lb. of made tea per acre, with 3 months 

 to run yet, during which time it will be pruned, i 

 estimated some time ago that at least E800,000 had 

 been invested in the District, mostly spent in Liberian 

 Coffee cultivation, which has turned out a snare and 

 a delusion, and of which there are only a few acres 

 left now. 



Perhaps never in the history of the Island, has so 

 much capital been put into an industry, which, 

 practically before it [ihcc any returnx, collapsed ; and 

 the perseverance of the planters under the heart- 

 breaking circumstances, is beyond all praise. As 

 much as E70 per acre was paid for some of the land, 

 and most of it was planted with plants costing from 

 50 cents to 12* cents eacii ! so you can easily 

 imagine what some of the capital accounts must 

 have stood at, to start with. Then came the fact 

 that it took i bushels of cherry to make I bushel of 

 parchment, and when it became known that instead 

 of being worth 50 per cent more than ordinary coffee 

 in New York, it was worth much less the last straw ■ 

 was piled on " that broke the camel's back,"' or 

 rather that decided the fate of Liberian coffee, and 

 in the last 3 years a wonderful change has taken 

 place in the District, as practically all the colfee has 

 been replaced by tea, which is coming on remark- 

 ably well. 



With Liberian coi¥ee, everything was an experiment 

 and the calculations of profits were built upon 

 fables waited over the sea, and pamphlets published 

 by the sellers of seed ; while the few trees in 

 Ceylon at the time only served to confirm the 

 exaggerated reports of its bearing capabilities, as they 

 bore enormous crops simply, I suppose, through over- 

 Uianurin^.Iknowoivne in^ti^uQe >Yhere dghl c;ipen* 



mental trees gave at least at the rate of 50 cwt. per 

 acre ; one individual tree giving 2 bushels parchment /« 

 one year ! while the adjoining field never gave over 5 

 cwt. per acre, and this was very good for Liberian 

 coffee. With tea, on the contrary the planting generally 

 was gone about in a far more systematic manner,' 

 and with previous experience before them in the fields 

 fa-st planted, and in estates in other districts, there 

 have ensued the happiest results and I venture to 

 assert that there has not been a single (or married 

 either for that part) visitor to this district, who 

 has not been surprised at the state of the tea 

 industry and the wonderful growth of the plant 

 in the district. 



Tea planted in abandoned citronella land and 

 in its Sth year giving over 1000 lb. per acre 

 augurs well for the future of the district. The price 

 that tea can be produced for in this district is another 

 point, with scarcity of Tamil labour and reduced 

 prices both looming ahead of us, this is an important 

 factor, and we have cheap work in the shape of 

 indigenous population, who will work more cheaply 

 and quite as well as Tamils. 



" I pick leaf regularly at 2] cents per lb.,' 

 said a superintendent to me lately, " I have a 

 gang of 00 women (Sinhalese) always employed." 

 If prices fall, and as the women get better up to 

 the work, I have no doubt that leaf will be plucked 

 all over the district at 2 cents per lb. ; and even 

 supposing half the plucking only is done in 

 1888 by Sinhalese, it will mean an income of 

 about E50,000 (fifty thousand rupees) for this work 

 olo)ie to the local Sinhalese population. 



It is clearly in the interest of Government to 

 encourage planting in Kalutara as much as they 

 can, for the very reason that it is employing a 

 large population of hitherto idle people (in many 

 cases idle, because except at seed time and harvest 

 time, there was no work) and there is still an 

 ample number of labourers of this description in 

 this population of 270,000 , many of them being 

 on the verge of starvation before the approach of 

 harvest. 



The question of the value of low-grown tea at 

 first caused some anxiety to the owners of tea 

 gardens in the district, but the fallacy of the theory 

 that low-grown tea means poor prices has long ago 

 been proved; and in the last week's Sale List live 

 Kalutara estates had tea sold ; three of them real- 

 izing between 1/3 and 13^ sterling and two between 

 11 and l,2d sterling, averages that will compare 

 favorably with those of any district in the island. 



The next question to be faced is how to get the 

 crops despatched and food imported for the labourers. 

 By their present policy Government are driving 

 the traffic from the railway to the river and canal to 

 Colombo. 



Fancy what would be the action of -i private 

 Company if it owned 30,000 acres of available 

 tea land, within 10 miles of a raihvay, and wlieer 

 useful cart roads could be cut for EH, 000 per mile, 

 Certainly not to refuse to cut absolutely necessary 

 feeding roads, to its own direct loss. 



In the year 1888 there v/ill be made 

 in Kalutara, tea . . , , yGO,000 lb. 



Say packages, tea- lead and up and 

 down . , . . , , 300,000 j, 



Eice, (say 1 bushel per month per 

 acre) .. ., ,. 2,ti00,000 ,, 



Sundries .. .. . , 780,000 ,. 



i,480,000 lb. 

 or 2,000 tons of traffic, and not a road through 

 the district to take it to the railway, although 

 this could be made for 1130,000 at the outside." 



Tea is an article v,-hich should be possible fo 

 dispatch direvi, to iUi destiuativu witijout th§ iiel»i/<; 



