96 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1882. 



of whioli is 18 per cent, paid in a dividend, is a trutli 

 doubly proved tbat Sugar Estates Companies are 

 the real thing. 



A new Sugar Estate Company is established under 

 the style Compaqnie suciiire dc I' Union. This Com- 

 pany has acquired the two sugar estates of Messrs. J. 

 Constantin & Co. at Savanne : L'Union and Petit St. 

 Aubln. 



It is stated that the estate Bar-lc-duc belonging to 

 Messrs. Chastellier & Co. has been acquired by 

 Messrs. Leclfeio for a price of Pi400,0()0. 



The estate Henrietta belonging to Messrs. Shand 

 & Co. and Rdunion to Mr. G. Robinson have been 

 converted into a Company under the style of the 

 Vacoa Siif/ai- Estates Compamj, the capital fixed being 

 Kl,500,O06, value of the 1st of April last. 



It may be seen that Mr. Robinson as a thorough 

 man of business has lost no time in setting him- 

 self to work ; he is here for the last few days 

 only on his return from Europe and he has already 

 succeeded in starting the above large oper.ation. 



It is stated that a new Sugar Company for the 

 working of the estates Maison Blcnche, Mon Bocher 

 and Moil GoiXt has juet been formed under the style 

 " The Pamplemousses Sugar Estates Company Limited " 

 The capital will be Pv2,000,000 divided into 

 ten thousand shares of E200 each. On that 

 capital E450,000 of shares are now issued ; 

 the remainder will be affected to the purchase of new 

 sugar estates, if necessary. The Mon DCsert and Helvetia 

 estates at Moka are in course of being formed into a 

 Company. 



The estate "Petite Eivieke noire" (the portion 

 known under the name of Belle Vue not included) 

 has been sold by Messrs. Bremon & Co., for a sum of 

 PwO.OOO. — Mauriti'di Gazette. 



TEA PLANTING IN ASSAM. 

 We regret that the second article from the Pioneer, 

 which we publish today, should have been so long 

 in following the first. We have already noticed the 

 strange miscalculation about China tea imported into 

 India. The actual qunutitj is nearer 3 millions of lb. 

 -than 300,000 ; although a considerable proportion of 

 the tea so imported is again exported from India to 

 independent states on its north-western borders. We 

 believe also that, not only is Indian tea rapidly ad- 

 vancing in Britain, but thiit the imj)ort of Cliica 

 tea has considerably decreased. What tea drinkers 

 in India and Ceylon, as well as Britain, have to 

 learn is that good, pure Indian and Ceylon tea, though 

 not relatively eo cheap as the China stuff, is absolutely 

 cheaper. The average of 200 lb of tea per acre of cultiv- 

 ated land is too low, because young tea and tea not 

 in bearing are included. About 2S0 lb. per acre, or 

 lessthau half the average originally auticip.ited, seems 

 to be the return from m;iture bushes. It will be 

 strange if we do not exceed this average, even on 

 the estates of loftiest altitude in Ceylon. In any case 

 it is evident that, if tea cultivation is to stand or 

 fall on a question of labour supply, our enterprize 

 has at least as good a chance of permanent success 

 as that of our friends in Assam ; — 



THE ASSAM TEA GARDEN. 



In reviewing the Assam Administration report 

 for 18S0-81, we mentioned tbat the ai'ca of land 

 under tea cultivation in that Province was 153,(3.57 

 acres in that j'ear — being an increase of 3,017 

 acres ou th.^ previous year, notwithstanding a 

 continued depression of the industry. The fact is 



that, in spite of a yearly increased difficulty in the 

 matter of labour supply, the great tea industry of 

 the lower provinces is steadily making its way, and 

 is displaying a vitality which appears certaiti to insure 

 it against the disasters that have befallen the, at 

 one time, equally flourishing industries in indigo and 

 silk. In Bengal, for instance, tea cultivation is now 

 rapidly extending, and there were, in 1880, 38,805 

 acres of land under lea in that province, besides the 

 quadruple area in Assam. In that year 50,276,883 lb. 

 of India tea were brought into Calcutta, a very trifling 

 quantity of which was fiom tlie Punjab and N. \V. P. 

 (323,620 lb.), and the rest from Bengal and Assam. 

 Of this quantity 45.797,558 lb. were exported 

 to foreign ports, wliich export was an increase of 

 21 per cent on that of the jirevions year. It is stated 

 that : — '• this increase was duo in part to the enormous 

 expansion of the demand from Australia in conse- 

 quence of the Melbourne Exhibition ; but a great in- 

 crease was also observable in the exports of Indian 

 tea to London, where the greater demand wafaccom- 

 panied by a decline in tlie importation so China tea." 

 Indian tea has thus not only successfully encountered 

 China tea in India, wheru it has brought down the 

 importations from China gradually, from 692,852 lb 

 in 1876-77 to 343,495 1b in 1880-81, but also at home. 

 In the latter case, it has not actually supplanted the 

 China teas, for China maintains a fairly steady aver- 

 age of exports to the United Kingdom, but it has grown 

 rapidly in favor by its side. Thirteen years ago the 

 supply of China tea to England was fifteen times as 

 great as that of Indian tea ; it is now little more 

 tban three times as great. Moreover, a certain amount 

 of China tea will also always come to this country. 

 As remarked by the collector of customs in Cal- 

 cutta in 1878 : — " It is a fact beyond dispute 

 that the inhabitants of India are developing 

 a great taste for tea, and, as they cannot afford the 

 expensively-manufactured Indian tea, it is for them 

 thiit the inferior and cheap China tea is imported." 

 China tea can be sold retail in Ctdcntta at 6 annas a 

 pound, whereas the average value of Assam and Bengal 

 leas is 11 annas to 12 annas a pound. It seems that 

 India at present manufactures only black tea, and 

 exclusively for the home and colonial market. It pays 

 better to do so, and for that market the tea must be 

 of best quality and conspquently costl.v. It is stated 

 in the Bengal administration report for 1878-79, I hat 

 " the advices from home insist strongly upon the vital 

 necessity of very careful manufacture in respect of 

 qunlity, if Indian td is to compete successfully with 

 Cliina tea in the London market." The fact is that 

 India caunot hope to compete with China in cheap 

 tea=i, owing to the immense advantage that China pos- 

 sesses in respect of labour. Indian tea must be com- 

 paratively expensive ; therefore its only chance is to 

 excel in quality, which depends on care in ouliivation 

 and manufacture. 



In the early days of Assam tea it was estimated that 

 in the fertile soil of that province 800 pounds to the 

 acre would be a possible, and 600 pounds to the ncre 

 the average, outturn for a tea garden after the third 

 year. This was for the luxuriant hybrid phant, which 

 is that generally used in the plains. The Assam returns 

 for 1880 show an average of 2S01I>. per acre, but the 

 Bengal report says : — " The average yield of taper acre 

 calculated upon the entire cultivation is now believed 

 to be rather over 200 pounds. This amount, though 

 falling far short of thi sanf.uine expectation.^ of the Hr>t 

 days of tea planting, is ainply remunerative, and the 

 prices obtained show that the average quality of Indian 

 tea must be very good. It is unquestiouabb: that the 

 industry ii now m a good and safe position . The cultiv. 

 ation has enormously extended, and the gardens are, 

 as a geiiuial rule, well filled with plants, highly cultiv- 

 ated, and carefully managed." 



