September i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



^95 



November, nevertheless, it is believed from past ex- 

 perience that the estimated outturn of 6,650 maunds, 

 or 532,000 lb. of tea is likely to be realized, should 

 fair averiige weather prevail throughout the season. 

 "Assuming thai the estimates wdl be realized, the 

 cost of production may be stated as follows : — 



Outlay on Flautatious Os 8-56d per lb. 



iTeiarid outlay Os 5-6id „ 



Less difference in exchange 

 Cost 



Is •2-20d per lb. 

 Os l-81d 



Is 0-39d per lb. 



THE RATE OF INCREASE IN CONSUMP- 

 TION OF INDIAN TEA IN BRITAIN FROM 

 1874 TO 1881, 

 (averaging Hi per cent per annum), is thus given 

 in the Ijidiyo Planters' Gazette : — 



Deliveries. Increase. Increase, 



lb. lb. per cent. 



1874 ... 17,756,700 ... 



1875 ... L>a,2(3,fl00 ... 5,517,200 ... 31 



1876 ..." 26,733,500 ... 3,45s),600 ... 15 



1877 ... 28,011,-500 ... 1,278,000 ... 5 



1878 ... 36,766,700 ... 8,755,200 ... 31 

 187!) ... 35,243,200 ... 1,523,500 ... 4 



1880 ... 41,605,100 ... 5,361.900 ... 15 



1881 ... 48,862,300 ... 7,257,200 ... 17 

 During the past seveu years then, the average increase 



has been at the rate of 16 per cent each year over tbe 

 preci'ding season. A consideration of this ought to 

 guide planters in extemling, but it does not, aud the 

 flooding of the market at home is largely duo to this 

 disregard. When a season proves unu.«u(illy good, 

 extensions are the order of the day, aud it seems to be 

 entirely overlooked that this same sanguine feeling 

 takes possesaifiu of the minds of all plauters simul- 

 taneously, the result being a very largely increased 

 area, which comes into bearing a few years later on, 

 when prices may lie at zero. If the produce of newly 

 plimted land was immediately available, there might be 

 some excuse for this rashness, but the state of the 

 market four or five years after any given date has 

 no connection with that first point. Now we find that 

 tbe general increase ought to be about 16 per cent, 

 every year, and at first sight the simplest mode of 

 keeping pace with the increasing dem,and would be to 

 add 16 per cent, of new clearing every year ; but this 

 would be fatal, as no account is taken of entirely new 

 gardens, which are continually being opened out, and the 

 produce of which is steadily coming to market. Taking 

 all these things into consideration, we imagine that an 

 annual increase in the case of gardens already pro- 

 ducing should not exceed five per cent, every year, and 

 we fi'el convinced that this would not lead to the 

 markets being glutted on the one band, or starved on 

 the other. 



We are not believers in the theory that the cure 

 for an overstocked market is to make fine teas only. 

 Doubtless it would Bpeedily reduce stocks, but this 

 would bi> effected at a heavy cost. A large proportion 

 of consumers caunot ali'ord to pay for expensive tea, 

 and a reduction of stock of such qn.dities would drive 

 consumers to the China article ; aud besides, ne believe 

 the theory to be mischievous as applied to the financial 

 working of a garden. We know that the prevailing 

 feeling in this connection is, that you can only get a 

 thoroughly good quality by limiting production — by 

 plucking ligbily. This v,e hold to be a f.illacious tlieory. 

 and we ehall give our ivusons for holding that opinion. 

 We will suppose a garden whose manager is bent on 

 making five mauuds per acre of fair all-r. und tea, 

 while another has estimated for four maunds, but of 



superior quality, or to speak more correctly, of fin^r 

 classes. The latter ought to make — and we are now 

 speaking in round numbers — one maund Pekoe, two 

 maunds .Souchong, and one maund Congou. The 

 other ought to make precisely the same, with one maund 

 Congou extra. Now the theory believed in by many 

 being, that you cannot make such fine teas where 

 you have a larger quantity of low class leaf in the 

 factory, and it is just at this point that we join 

 issue with the holders of this theory. We insist 

 that the one maund Pekoe, .and the two maunds 

 Souchong of the "quantity" garden need not necess- 

 arily be of lower quality than the same teas of the 

 " quality " garden. It is true that the one has 

 more to make each day than the other, but that is 

 a question of establishment. If the same number of 

 factory hands be employed in both cases, then the 

 theory holds good, for if the proper number of men 

 to make four maunds are employed, it would be 

 absurd to look for equally careful manipulation if 

 they are called upon to manufacture five maunds. 

 Another reason frequently advanced in favor of quality, 

 as against quantity is, that the bushe.s are not so 

 heavily plucked. Let us see what this belief amounts 

 to. The quantity short-plucked being one maund per 

 acre, represents, say, -S201b. of green leaf. Allowing 

 fnr vacancies, and reckoning plants to be 4' + 4' 

 we may estimate the number of bushes per acre at 

 2, ,500, and this saving to the bush, is thus at the 

 rate of two ounces. Considering the quantities 

 remofed by the pruning knife every year, we look 

 on this other relief as beiuj utterly insigni- 

 ficant. Regarding the proper quantity to pluck, for 

 bush, we hold that n pretty safe rule is to pluck all 

 leaf that will make tea, the only exception to this 

 rule being during the early spring season, when the 

 entire crop consists of single »»hoot9, and before the 

 second and subsequent shoots have had time to grow 

 out from the axils of the first. To pluck heavily under 

 such circumstances would be the extreme of folly. 

 Besides, what do five maunds per acre amount to after 

 all ; one maund of tea requires about 4 maunds of 

 leaf, hence 5 maunds of tea per acre is equal to '714 

 ton per acre of green leaf. It canuot surely be seriously 

 advanced that with such a plucking the bushes would 

 be the better of a rest. From a consideration of these 

 points we arrive at the conclusion that it is a mistake 

 to suppose that quality and quantity are opposed to 

 each other. The aim of the intelligent planter should 

 be quality nnd quantity. The limitations of outturn 

 must therefore take the shape of a limitation of the 

 size of gardens, since it is always good policy to pluck 

 all flushes adapted for tea-making, 



TREES ON COFFEE ESTATES FOR SHADE, 

 SHELTER, AND OTUER USES. 

 Cii'cumstances of climate, such as proti-acted drought 

 and parching winds, may render shade indispensable, 

 and we feel bound to bow to the better judgment of 

 the large majority of planters in Southern India who 

 consider shade necessary for theii- cultivation (see the 

 letter elsewhere), although in Ceylon the conviction 

 is next to universal that where coffee will not grow 

 without shade it had better not be cultivated at 

 all. But Imes or belts of trees are valuable as shelter 

 ag.iinst tearing winds, which are most injurious to 

 colfec apart from the fact that they infect the leaves, 

 which they do not blow off the bushes, with the 

 spores of the fatal fungus. In many parts of Ceylon , 

 too, where the climate is rainy and the subsoil damp, 

 trees are valuable for purposes of " suction drainage. " 

 In planting, whether for shade or shelter, it is, of 

 course, desirable, if possible, to use trees valuable for 



