Jan. 1, 1887,5 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUmST. 



43, 



estate buildiugs are generally a credit to their archi- 

 tects, and an example to be striven after, but the sums 

 we have named are simply impossible to the ordinary 

 cultivator, who, it must be remembered, will, in perhaps 

 the generality of cases, have to also provide an engine. 

 It would have been much more to the purpose if the 

 author had given us half a dozen plans of less costly 

 factories, and of existiug buililings adapted to new 

 needs. Some very fine tea houses— notably those on the 

 Carolina and Mariawatte estates, — have indeed been 

 erected, but it is improbable that imitators desirous of 

 spending equally large amounts would omit to get pro- 

 fessional advice, or copy a plan out of the book we are 

 reviewing without attention to local circumstances. The 

 vast bulk of Ceylon tea making is, however, done in 

 more modest editices. 



Mr. Owen tells us that his " Manual '' is more in- 

 tended as a compilation of the opinions of others, and 

 the results they have arrived at, than an original work. 

 He has, however, done well in collectiug this inform- 

 ation from various scattered papers, and has brought it 

 up to date. The Ceylon tea enterprise, which has re- 

 cently made such remarkable strides, dates — commer- 

 cially at least — from 1841 ; the Dutch are said to have 

 previously attempted it, and failed. Messrs. Worms 

 manufactured some tea about that date, with the assist- 

 ance of a Chinaman, at a cost of about £5 per lb. but 

 their estates, now owned by the Cejlon Com- 

 pany comprise a large area under tea. Coffee, 

 however, paid, and, except in phenomenal 

 cases, still pays better than tea, so until the 

 terrible inroads of leaf disease and other pests made 

 planter despair of pulling their trees round, little 

 attention was paid to any other product. It 

 will be in the recollection of readers of Mr. Owen's 

 previous work, that the greatest difficulty was ex- 

 perienced in inducing Ceylon planters to believe that 

 the cultivation of cinchona was worth attention as 

 a commercial speculation. In 1867 only 10 acres 

 were planted with tea; twelve years later this had 

 increased to 6,500 acres ; but there are now said to 

 be 116,000 acres opened, including old coffee laud re- 



Elanted, and it is confidently predicted that this will 

 e doubled in a few years. The total consump- 

 tion of the world is said to have been 350 million 

 lb. in 1885 ; two-thirds of this was taken by Great 

 Britian, and it is worthy of note that the quantity 

 of Indian and Ceylon tea in this proportion, has 

 risen from 3 per cent. 20 years ago to 39 per cent. 

 This loss has been borne by China, and it certainly 

 looks— in the absence of any disposion on the part of 

 the Chinese to mend their ways— as if the anticipated 

 increase of Ceylon to 30 million lb. in 1888-9 would 

 result in a further falling-o£f of the demand for the 

 China varieties. The advantages possessed by Ceylon 

 as a tea-producing country are naturally laid stress 

 upon by Mr. Owen ; in some respects it may be 

 doubted whether a long enough trial has been given 

 to establish these beyond dispute ; however, the hill 

 districts are certainly healthy, and the railway to 

 Nanuoya (on the occasions when it is open for traffic) 

 is a great convenience ; the system of roads through- 

 out the planting districts is on the whole above the 

 Indian average. As to the low country, we are told 

 that the principal new district, the Kelaui Valley, 

 " though very hot, is not specially unhealthy ; re- 

 sidents have, of course, to take care of themselves, 

 so that exposure to heat may not result in fever, 

 but in general healthiness these districts compare 

 most favourably with the plaiiw of India." This is 

 as it may be, but we have heard that residents in 

 the Kelani Valley consider it imprudent to stay 

 there more than three months without a change. 



In selecting land for tea in Ceylon, the investor 

 hds two courses open to him : he may either purchase 

 abandoned or semi-abandoned coffee laud with a vitw to 

 replanting it, or he can take up a block of forest in the 

 low country; little forest remains in private hands at 

 high elevations, where all (Jovernnient lauds is reserved. 

 Tea has been found to thrive from a little above sea 

 level to 6,000 feet, and taking one thing with another 

 the profits seem about equal. At low elevations a 

 typo of plant closely approaching imligeuous tea 

 should be selected, and in the hills a hardy Assam 



hybrid. Under no circumstances does Mr. Owen 

 recommend the China plant. The advice given 

 respecting nurseries, manuring, manufacture, and 

 the every-day working of a tea estate will 

 we think, be found generally interesting and useful 

 to planters in search of information on these matters. 

 Clean weeding is of course insisted on ; it is not 

 usually adopted, for some reason, on tea estates in 

 India, but it has been found the best system with 

 cotfee, and is undoubtedly the cheapest ; the Assam 

 plan is to grass-knife down the weeds, and then 

 trench and bury in ; it seems an unsatisfactory 

 proceeding and likely to exhaust the soil, but it 

 gives excellent results, and no amount of argument 

 is likely to induce a change.- Shade of all kinds 

 is found injurious to tea, more especially that 

 afforded by cinchona trees, which perhaps partly 

 accounts for the extirpation of these trees which 

 has been going on in the island. Some attention 

 has recently been drawn to an alleged exception to 

 this rule in the case of the " sau " or albizuhi 

 stipulata, but it does not exactly appear how it acts ; 

 there seems to be no doubt, however, that tea in its vici- 

 nity is in some way benefited ; it is a quick grower, 

 and is often planted with coffee. When it becomes 

 necessary to renovate the soil, either cattle or aitificial 

 manure can be used ; there can be no doubt that the 

 former is infinitely the best, and if the amount said 

 to be sufiicient for a tree, both by the editor of the 

 Tea Planter's " Vade Mecum" and the present author, 

 namely 7 or 8 lb., is really so, it ought to be univer- 

 sally adopted. We believe, however, that on the most 

 largely yielding estates considerably greater quantities 

 are applied. Castor poonac seems to be the best arti- 

 ficial fertiliser, as far as experiments go at least, as a 

 plot manured with 24 cwt. gave 961 lb. of tea to the 

 acre. The art of manufacturing tea must be learnt 

 practicnlly; in his chapter on this subject Mr. Owen 

 give« a good deal of instruction as to what to aim at 

 and what to avoid, which is well worthy of attention. 

 As regards packing and shipping, the leading rule is 

 to send in as large breaks, and as few varieties as pos- 

 sible. A tea "account sale" is an even more distressingly 

 complicated document than one of coffee, which is saying 

 a good deal, but certain fixed charges mount up if 

 there are several lots to be dealt with. Nearly all tea- 

 house work is now done by machinery, and in chapter 

 9 will be found some account of the machines chiefly 

 used in India and Ceylon, and an appendix con- 

 tains instructions as to the care of boilers, taken 

 from the Indiaa Tea Gazette. Chapter 10 gives esti- 

 mates for opening an estate and bringing it into 

 bearing. It is somewhat difficult in India to check 

 this, and some of the charges more especially for 

 the first year's weeding, usually heavier than after- 

 wards, appear rather small. No doubt, however, 

 every care has been taken to get correct information. 

 A capital of 1158,000 is apparently required for '200 

 acres ; at the end of five years, supposing a yield of 

 350 lb, per acre all round to be obtained, and no 

 manuring to have been necessary, R4O,0OO woidd be 

 still outstanding. Of course with more gradual ex- 

 tension less money would have to be invested, as the 

 old fields could be made to pay for the expendituie 

 on new clearings, but probably '200 acres is as little 

 as it is usually profitable to put up machinery for. — 

 Madras Mail. 



The " lirae-juice and glycerine " of commerce con- 

 tains neither lime-juice nor glj'ceiine, but consists of 

 equal parts of olive-oil and lime-water, scented with 

 essence of lemon. — Indiaa Gardener. 



CiiLOROi'oioi AND ToOTH EXTRACTION. — Chloroform 

 applied after the extraction of a tooth has a twofold 

 effect : it allays the pain, and arrests the bleeding. 

 The best strength to use is two parts of chloroform 

 in 100 of water. — Bt'.rgni/ne ^- Co.'s Price Current. 



Eczema, according to Dr. "\Vyss, succumbs to re- 

 sorcin. To allay the itching, he used a vaseline oint- 

 ment with 10 per cent of resorcin, and the eft'ect 

 was surprising and most gratifying. In every case 

 he had tried it, it had been a success. AVhen the 

 eruption is oozing is the best time to apply this 

 remedy. — Burgoi/ne ^ Co.'s Price Current. 



