246 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



[Oct. I, 1886. 



The Tea Plantek's MaiJual.— 'The public 

 ation of this book has been somewhat delayed - 

 but we arc liappy to state it is now nearly ready 

 and the 14th of this month will we hope se e 

 copies in the hands of those whose orders hav e 

 been registered. We may mention that the two 

 large factory plans have been lithographed at the 

 Surveyor-General's Office, Coloinbo, and they are 

 as well done as they could have been in India 

 or even the old country. The way in which this 

 work has been executed speaks very highly for 

 the quality of the work turned out by the Siir. 

 veyor-General. 



Mangostekn Trees in Ceylon. — I learn that 

 there are several very line mangosteen trees at 

 Galle which have been in bearing for at least 20 

 years past. Durians also bear at Galle. I hear at 

 Baddegama there are mangosteens planted on a 

 cabook hill, but these probably have been manured. 

 They are bearing heavily this season. A day or 

 two ago I- heard of a lot of trees at Ratnapura 

 doing well, and if my recollection serves me there 

 used to be mangosteens on the old Nillarabe nut- 

 meg estate which was abandoned over 20 years 

 ago. Home of your correspondents might tell us 

 the history of 'those nutmegs and other spices 

 which were tried at Nillambe, I think, by Sir John 

 Cheape. — Cor. 



Value oe Tea Property. — Our Upper Lindula 

 correspondent — an old and experienced planter 

 both as proprietor and superintendent, — starts a 

 discussion on this subject, by showing that a 

 certain favourite property if it gets 000 lb in 

 tea per acre as is expected, should at seven 

 years' purchase, be worth over R900 per acre 

 when in full bearing. We do not at all quarrel 

 with the calculation in this particular case ; but 

 if we were asked for an average valuation of tea 

 properties coming into bearing in Ceylon, we should 

 be inclined to fall back on what was at one time 

 the old standard rate for coffee namely BiOO per 

 acre — basing our estimate on an average crop of 

 400 lb per acre and 10 cents per lb. protiit at 10 years' 

 purchase. Of course a very mucii better return 

 can be shown, and is expected, from tlie major- 

 ity of tea gardens in Ceylon; but there are ex- 

 ceptions already and these will probably increase 

 as tea fields on old coffee land begin to crop. 



The Cixchon'A of Netherlands India. — We had 

 occasion some time ago to notice a paper read by 

 jNIr. Brady at a meeting of the Pharmacentical So- 

 ciety, in wliich he gave an account of a visit he 

 liari paid to tlie Government Cinchona Plantations 

 in Java. We gathered from his remarks thp«t, for 

 some years to come no considerable exports of bark 

 was to be expected from that island, as nearly all 

 available trees had been uprooted to make room for 

 the more valuable kind of " ledgers," to which 

 species the local authorities had decided to devote 

 all their attention. Tiie fact of old ground having 

 to be cleared to make room for the new plantings 

 did not look as if suitable land was abundant, and 

 the total extent of the Government's estates, which 

 have usually been supposed to be the principal source 

 of the Javan baric export, was then only 1.200 acres. 

 * * * Mr. Mundt'r IT.'i.OfM) acres of cnichona will 

 probably come into yield about the same time as that 

 riglit good fellow Allan Onatermain revisits Leu, and 

 sw.imns the diamond market with his discoveries in 

 " Solomon's Mines." One phase of this question has 

 apparently escaped the attention of the Ce't Ion 

 planters, who by the last accounts, are still some- 

 what alarmed about the .Tavan ledgers, namely, what 

 effect the approaching largely increased Indian ex- 

 port is likely to have upon them. Hithcnto the 

 bark trade from this country has been comparatively 

 insignificant, but were statistics tivaiiable, it would 

 be found that the five years' exemption from tax- 

 ation conceded by Sir M. E. Grant-Duft"s Govern- 

 went in 1»82 baa atartliugly increased tlie acreage 



under cultivation. Our planting districta cannot show 

 175,000 acres of cinchona ; and the Forest Depart- 

 ment will probably see that they never do so, but 

 there is enough growing— and growing remarkably 

 well too — to make a very fair show even besides the 

 Ceylon export of the last two years ; not that that 

 inflated state of things is likely to be maintained. 

 Even if the 20,000 acres which it is just wildly pos- 

 sible may be in existence in Java, should ever come, 

 into maturity, the competition will not be enough 

 to hurt the Indian planter. It appears that in Java 

 the custom is not to harvest bark from trees less 

 i than six or seven years of age, — a fact that will 

 perhaps raise the old controversy as to the relative 

 profits from growing these expensive and delicate 

 varieties as compared with the commoner sorts 

 which yield less quinine, but can be worked earlier, 

 and give more bark. On the whole, the opinion of 

 large owners who can afford to wait some time is 

 in favour of planting ledgers. — Madras Mail. 



Tea in Upper Dimbula : VAiiUE of Tea Property. — 

 Upper . Lindula, 11th Sept.— No change in the 

 weather : it still continues to rain every hour of the 

 day. The sun peeps out between the clouds for a 

 few minutes at intervals to let us know he is there, 

 and to let us know he will "give it us hot" by 

 and bye. Everyone is taking advantage of these 

 September rains to get another round of tea supply- 

 ing done, and splendid weather it is for that work. 

 I had the pleasure yesterday of a long walk with 

 the proprietor, over one of the most promising, 

 perhaps the most promising of the young tea 

 estates in the whole of this district. Lippakelle 

 is well-known to be a property of exceptionally good 

 soil, good aspect, and very favourable in lay of 

 land. Its grand expanse of coft'ee in days gone by 

 encouraged its former proprietors to pay i' 18,000 

 sterling for it ; that figure was not considered 

 too high in those days when prices of coffee were 

 good and the estate gave regular crops. That coffee 

 is gone, and the beautiful fields of young tea spring 

 ing up where the coft'ee used to be, give promise 

 of giving as good returns as the old product did 

 in its former days. Every care has, and is being 

 taken to have none but the best jat of plants in 

 the ground. The great advantage that this estate 

 and most estates in this district have, is, that the soil 

 is not worn out, and no wash of soil has occurred, 

 the land having been well drained from the year 

 of clearing the forest. On the property I 

 am referring to, the rotten bark of the old 

 forest-trees and stumps is still to be 

 seen scattered on the surface of the ground. 

 Mr. Maciver, the lucky proprietor of Lippakelle, is 

 commencing the conversion of the coffee store 

 into a tea factory. In another eighteen months' 

 or two years' time, this hue property will be in 

 full bearing, and judging from tlie vigorous 

 growth of the bushes, a regular return of bOO lb. 

 the acre will not be too much to expect from it. 

 It is not easy to get at the value of a tea estate. 

 How many years' value to place on it ? Say 

 seven years after the fourth year from date 'of plant- 

 ling. At seven years' purchase, giving (100 lb. the 

 acre at 02 cents a lb. and say 40 cents for all 

 charges would leave 22 cents profit or R132 per 

 acre value of estate Pi<l24 per acre. Bnt how about 

 those who take their estates at ten years' pur- 

 chase and calculate a yield of at least SQO 

 and 1 .000 lb. per acre ? It makes one's hair stand on 

 end to think of such figures, and to make such cal- 

 culations will do more harm than good to the 

 tea enterprise of this island. The lucky owner 

 of Lipiiakelle need not fear short returns from 

 such line soil and tine jat of lea. Beginners in 

 tea would do well to take a walk over this 

 properly. I will undertake they will get a hearty 

 welcome, and, what's more, a rare glass 0' whiskey 

 into the bargain. 



