September i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



447 



but ill various dii'ections, the medical ordinance, and as a 

 climax by leaf-disease — since the stumps were removed, 

 and the Jiist cleared cofifee estate ploughed by elephants 

 could be totalled up, I fancy it would amount to an 

 average sum not far under the round million sterling 

 annually. JIuch of this loss has of course been un- 

 avoidable, but, perhaps, it is worth pondering over with 

 a view to the future. And as to this ; if 25 million 

 pounds more or less, have been lost to the planting 

 interests duruig the present century. I firmly believe 

 as many, fully, will yet be realized before its close, though 

 there are only IS years more to run. 



AuotUer qu ery suggests itsrlf . We are told : 

 "Nitrates are produced as part of the living functions 

 of a very low order of living organisms, bacteria, 

 present in the soil." 



Now is this bacteria identical with the organism 

 similarly named, and to the presence of which in our 

 blood, fevers and malarias are attributed '! If so — 

 though the germs only, 1 suppose, can be borne by and 

 imbibtd from the atmosphere — it would seem certain 

 that a vast quantity of the fully-developed animalcuhu 

 must be present in the water — however clear and 

 bright it may luck out of any strea'ii or spring draining 

 o new clearing. And may not this account for the fever 

 always occurring with greater or less seventy at low 

 elevations, just at first ? May not a reason be foui d 

 here too why malarias of the more severe types than usual 

 exist, and hang on long, in localities where the land is 

 especially rich — and should I add ? — as nitrates seem to 

 be an essential part of the bacterias —is it not pi-ubable 

 that the exemption from malaria at high elevations is 

 to be aitributed to the lower temperature? That hence 

 nitrification taking place leas rapidly, neither they nor 

 their spores are at any one time originated in harmful 

 quantity ? X. 



MINCING LANE CRITICS AND CEYLON TEA. 



Central Province, 1st August 1SS2. 



Dear Sir, — With reference to your article headed 

 " Tea in Ceylon" and the extract from a broker's 

 report which you quote, mny I be allowed to point 

 out that, supreme as Mincing Lane authorities undeni- 

 ably are in such questions as the relative selling 

 value of teas, and the prospects of the market, they 

 are not equally infallible when, overstepping these 

 boundaries, they proceed to enlighten their customers 

 with their views on the subject of manufacture. 

 Gentlemen who take upon themselves to tell us tlint 

 we are ign'-rant of tiie first principles of manufacture 

 should be sure, before making such a statement, that 

 they are themselves acquainted with these principles. 

 Now, when Messrs. Gow and Wilson tell us, as 

 they do by implication, that, because the teamaker 

 does not turn out a "thiols, malty tea," he fails to do 

 so from " neglect of the first principles of manu- 

 facture," they commit a ludicrous error of a kind 

 which recalls to memory the time-honoured story of 

 the coffee proprietor in England, who is said to have 

 instructed his superintendent to grow nothing but 

 peaberry. The teamaker may, by certain variations in 

 his mode of manufacture, make his tea a little more, 

 or a little less, deep in colour and full in davor, but 

 it is not possible to make a "thick malty liquor" 

 from leaf which yields tea of a " thin but fine and 

 d'licate Hnvov." For such a radical change (if it were 

 possible) we must look to cultivation rather than 

 to manufacture. But even more absurd is the solemn 

 injunction to make a " sound, useful tea, not coarsely 

 plucked, however." I italicize the however, because 

 though it may not be known to these gentlemen, it is 

 neverthele'is true, that "sound, useful tea, thick, 

 mally Jlavour, and suitable for mixing with China, 

 forti" could never, by any process of manufacture 

 be made from coarse leaf, I lately observed in another 



Mincing Lane gentleman's report, that certain Ceylon 

 tea had a smoky flavour, which he gravely proceeded 

 to state was to be attributed to incorrect ferment- 

 ation. My brother teaniakers will appreciate the joke. 

 It is really time that some of these gentlemen should 

 cease to be funny, and should turn their attention to 

 elucidating the strange fact, well known to some of 

 us, and of which I, lor one, possess proofs, that better 

 prices can be obtained from provincial dealers than 

 are procurable in " the Lane." 



It is equally incorrect to refer to prices procured 

 for Ceylon tea as unsatisfactory. Some may be so, 

 but the figures fetched by some five or six marks I 

 could name, compare favorably with average Indian 

 prices. On perusing a sale list, it will be found that 

 the very high prices, viz., those from 2s upwards, are 

 few and far between, and form but a small proportion 

 of the bulk. And it is quite possible that our average 

 priced teas may be more remunerative to the producer 

 than some of the higher priced rivals. 



I enclose my card. — lam, dear sir, yours truly, 



TEAMAKER. 



THE COFFEE CROPS AND UNFAVOURABLE 



SEASONS. 

 Waverley, Agrapatana, 2nd August 1882. 

 Dear Sir, — Mr. John Baiuilton is perfectly correct 

 when he writes you (31st ultimo) that our blossoming 

 seasons for the past four jears have been bad, and 

 hence a reason in a great measure for our crops fail- 

 ing. In 1878 we had 31 days in iuccession, without a 

 cloud, and thereafter a shower gave us a blossom, from 

 which was picked on a 25-acre field on Chr^stler'a 

 Farm 276 cwt., or 11 cwt. (over) per acre, while the 

 whole estate gave over 5 cwt. per acre, with one-third 

 of the acreage not in bearing. The adjoining estate, 

 Vuillefield, gave over 7 cwt. pi-r acre, ihese estates 

 in one or all of the years since 1878 have looked as 

 well, if not better, but I do not suppose they have given 

 one-tifth of the crop they gave then, simply because 

 we have not had a succtssiou of scorching, dry days, 

 during our blossoming seasons, such as we had in 

 February and March 1878. — I am, yours faithfully, 



EOBT. C. BOWIE. 



SPHAGNUM MOSS. 



Dear Sir, — I have much pleasure in replying to 

 Mr. Nock's inquiry concerning the localities where 

 varieties of this moss are found. Several of the places 

 where 1 have seen it growing are now culiivated lands. 

 I first found a variety in wet marshy grassy pluces 

 in the wiids of Laggala and iNitre Cave; also in similar 

 spots in Ambagamuwa, Bogawautalawaand Maskeliya. 

 I regret I have not got the epeoimena I collected 

 by ihu Maskeliya-ganga. 



Some years ago I saw the same moss by the old 

 road from Diinbula to Nuwara Eliya, and on the same 

 journey between Nuwara Eli} a and Kandapola. Very 

 I intend spending a day in search of some old 

 favourites in the jungles by Nuwara Eliya, where I may 

 meet Mr. Nock.— Yours, OLD BOTANIC BOY. 



TEA : CLOSE PLANTING FOR OLD CLEARINGS. 

 De.\r Sir, — Mr. C. Shand's hmts are m season. 

 At this moment there are doubtless many coB'ee es- 

 tates m the island being metamorphosed into tea 

 gardens, and a ■word in season may not be amiss as 

 regards distances in planting. We look to the example 

 and experience of India in the great enterprize now 

 dawning in Ceylon : and from all we learn about the 

 dimensions attained by the indigenous Assam and the 

 high class hybrid plants in Inilia, we expect to see 

 plants of enormous proportions here. We read in 



