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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. i, 1886, 



product, is the only way of attaining that object ; 

 but to render it possible to profitably continue 

 cultivation undiminished, under almost the most 

 adverse circumstances which are likely to occur. 

 The compiler of the " Tea Planter's Manual," has 

 in the last three paragraphs of his introduction, 

 set fort) I the peculiar advantages Ceylon possesses 

 for the profitable cultivation of tea, but I cannot 

 recall that either he or any other authority, has 

 ever pointed out, though the fact is well-known, 

 that there is scarcely any product but tea, from 

 which if he wishes it, the cultivator can harvest 

 the finest and highest priced grades of quality, and 

 leave the inferior and lowest priced on the plants, 

 without detriment to them.* 



When you reflect on what would follow if Euro- 

 pean tea-planters in India, Ceylon and Java, could 

 at once, when necessity arises, curtail the pro- 

 duction of their estates by fifty per cent, and still 

 be able to keep up their full acreage cultivation, 

 not only without loss, but at some profit, you will 

 recognize the almost unique advantage a tea-planter 

 enjoys over the producer of almost every other 

 commodity. 



That this can be done, I will endeavour to prove, 

 although in the method I suggest, which can be 

 gathered from what I have said above, I shall not 

 be communicating anything new, for, I believe some 

 of the planting cognoscenti adopt it now, not be- 

 cause they are forced to do so, but because they 

 think it more j)rofitable. 



As long as the cultivation of tea is as remuner- 

 ative as it is now, it is more than probable that 

 the safest course to adopt in harvesting, is to con- 

 tinue^ the system now generally practised, that is, 

 to take from the i^lants all the pekoes, and pekoe- 

 sonchongs they will yield, whether by doing so the 

 planter obtains four, five, six or more hundreds 

 of pounds per acre, but, if the time comes when 

 over-prodnction has to be killed, a different system 

 must, 1 tliink, be carried out to avert abandonment, 

 and that change is to pluck fine, and produce nothing 

 but orange and broken pekoes. 



We now know that by careful manij^ulation, 

 planters can turn out on the present system of 

 plucking, fifty per cent of orange and broken pekoes, 

 which average at present in London, at least eighteen- 

 pence per pound. If in the distant future prices 

 decline fifty per cent below what they now are, orange 

 and broken jiekoes would be worth only ninepence. 

 The question, therefore is, whether fine teas only, can 

 be produced profitably, to sell in London at this 

 average ? JMy answer is, that planters whose estates 

 now yield 400 lb. per acre at a cost of 30 cents per lb. 

 in Colombo, could reduce their yield to 200 lb. per 

 acre and lay it down in Colombo at a cost of 

 about 36 cents per pound ; this at present rates of 

 freight and exchange is equivalent to 8d per lb. in 

 London, leaving for interest or profit, a margin of 

 a penny per pound. 



In support of this statement, I offer the follow- 

 ing calculation based on the figures given in the 

 "Tea Planter's Manual," making such slight alter- 

 ations as an entirely different set of circumstances 

 would warrant. For instance, I have reduced the 

 cost of management a little, because in times of 

 great depression it is necessary to economize in 

 every possible direction. I have omitted the cost 

 of nurseries, as there is no need to provide for 

 increased i^roduction, when reduction is the order 

 of the day ; and I have omitted the charge for 

 machinery and buildings as not belonging to the 

 ■ cultivation expenditure on an estate in full bearing. 



* Mr. Arm<;trong and other experts have charaf^ter- 

 ized tine plucking as more trying to tea plants than 

 medium gathering of ie^f.— Ed, 



The working expenses of a 200 acres garden ia 



full bearing would be : — 



Superintendents and Tea-house Conductor E3,500 

 Weeding El per acre : 200 acres at R12 . . 2,400 

 Pruning RG per acre . . . . . . 1,200 



Upkeep of roads and drains . , . . .500 



Tools ; contingencies, general transport and 



repairs .. .. .. .. .. 1,000. 



Total fixed charges on 200 acres ... R8,G00 



which on 40,000 lb. of made tea, comes to 

 per pound cents.. .. .. .. 21'50 



The cost of plucking, manufacturing, pack- 

 ages, transport, are the same rateably, whether 

 the yield is large or small, I, therefore, take 

 the cost of these from the " Manual " . . 15-00 



Total cost per pound in Colombo cents . . 86'50 



It 'may be urged that the cost of plucking 200 lb. 

 per acre will be greater than that of 400 lb., if 

 this is so, then the 400 lb. may be plucked ; the 

 leaf passed through a green-leaf sifter, and the 

 coarse leaf put into the manure-pit. 



I need scarcely pointjout, that many charges] fall 

 more lightly on high priced tea than on low, and 

 that the fixed charges on cultivation compare more 

 unfavourably than they would do if worked out. 

 There is no use of arguing, that as Ceylon planters 

 can produce tea to sell without loss, even if prices 

 decline fifty i^er cent below the present average of 

 thirteen-pence-half-penny there is no necessity 

 to reduce production ; because as overproduc- 

 tion must be put an end to, prices will fall not 

 fifty per cent, but sixty or seventy until that end 

 is attained. 



A falling-off of 50 per cent in supplies from India, 

 Ceylon and .Java, would not only enhance the prices 

 of fine teas, but those of all descriptions ; more- 

 over the masses, would, whilst fine teas were selling 

 at 9d per pound, be educated into appreciation of 

 good tea, and would not easily be again induced to 

 consume the low teas which form so large a por- 

 tion of what is exported from China. The Chinese 

 have hitherto exported very largely, descriptions not 

 averaging as much as 8:1 per pound, a decline of 

 fifty per cent would compel these accommodating 

 people to consume their own rubbish. No doubt, 

 they would adapt themselves to circumstances, and 

 ship more of their fine teas, but it would take a 

 considerable time to induce them to abandon old 

 customs, we need not, therefore, dread an over-supply 

 of fine qualities, when low sorts are not procurable. 

 It is fortunate, that it would require no united 

 action to carry my suggestion into effect, because 

 if prices from over-produeti:)n are brought down to 

 a ruinous point every planter will be compelled 

 to do something if he can, to avert ruin ; each 

 can " paddle his own canoe," without consulting 

 his neighbour. 



I may be asked, why I trouble myself to write 

 a letter so long in advance, which, if not based 

 on a fallacy, would do much to encourage that 

 increase of cultivation, which those like myself 

 who are already interested in it uj) to the hilt, 

 would like to see stopped short. My answer is 

 that so far as Ceylon is concerned, the mischief 

 — :if there is mischief in it — has been done already 

 or is in the course of being done. There is every 

 probability that the colony will, in the course of 

 five or six years, export GO millions of pounds or 

 more without any encouragement, but the prospects 

 of the immediate future — but there is no disguising 

 the fact, that there is a strong undercurrent of 

 opinion that the Ceylon tea planter in his eager- 

 ness to retrieve past losses, has already overshot 

 the mark and has gone, and is going too far aliead 



