September i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



atiou of Australia is exactly the same as that of Cey- 

 lon. But, wliile over twenty millions of pounds of 

 tea arc consumed in Australia, the consumption in 

 Ceylon is not much over 100,000 lb. ! Now tliat the 

 native patches of coffee have so largely gone out, these 

 accustomed to coffee ought to take to tea. If our 2j 

 milUons only consumed ^ of a pound per head per 

 annum, that would be nearly 700,000 instead of 100,000. 

 If the consumption of tea could he increased and that 

 of arrack lessened seven-fold, the change would.be for 

 the better for all classes. I cannot doubt that the 

 Hindus will yet rival the Chinese as tea drinkers. 



The blue gums gi-ow rapidly as a general rule, but 

 at higli elevations, where they are exposed to cold 

 wind and drizzle, they suffer from what I take to be 

 a species of leaf fungus wlucl\ spreads to cinchonas, 

 tea and other plants. A very considerable proportion 

 of the gums get broken oi' blown dovni in tlie high 

 winds, being topheavy and often with but a slight 

 hold of the ground. Tea is being pruned as well as 

 planted, and tliere Is at present no sign of the moth 

 which does so much harm to the tender flush. The 

 climate is today perfection — cool without being cold, 

 even at 5,800 feet altitude. 



Lindula, July '23rd. 



I suppose it is due to the unusually wet monsoon that 

 the species of tea-blight which affects the older leaves, 

 turning them to a rusty copper colour, deepening to 

 dark brown as the leaves wither and die off, is so badly 

 prevalent. The Australian gums are innocent of any 

 responsibility in this case, for the disease was seen 

 long before the eucalypti were grown on this estate. 

 Many years ago, I sent some affected leaves to Dr. 

 Thawites, but he made light of the matter, indic- 

 ating that discoloration of some of the older leaves of 

 the trees would not affect their general healtli. 

 So it has been generally, but this year the blight 

 has caused the withering and droppuig of a large 

 amount of foliage, especially in the case of trees re- 

 served for seed-bearing purposes. Much more serious 

 enemies as yet, however, have been the symplox, 

 round tlie stock and root of which from two to a 

 dozen bushes soraetunes die, and the moth which, in 

 warm weather, attacks not tlie mature leaves but the 

 tender flesh, much of whicli it ruins. 



There is always something for the planters to con- 

 tend agauist Strange to say the unusually wet wea- 

 ther has not developed bug to any extent ; Heiiiileia 

 vaMatrix seems in abeyance, and gi'ub, " which swept 

 up, in the course of the past four or five years, from 

 Nanuoya estate through tabnerston, Rituageri, Som- 

 erst, Langdale, Avoca, Lome, and Abostford to iSIaha- 

 Eliya is departing in the same order, the last-named 

 estate alone being now badly aftected. At this juncture 

 the coffee planters' old and much dreaded enemies the 

 rats have appeared, and recommenced then- diabolica 

 work of destruction, taking oft' the primaries close to 

 the stem, witli a cut as clear as if a sharp primiiiij knife 

 were used. If the rodents are attracted by hunger, 

 and I believe some of the nilu (strvbilaiitltiis) is flower- 

 ing, the strange thing is tliat they do not eat the 

 branches tliey sever. I can as yet only speak of the 

 wood-rats on Dessford and Abbotsford, but I suspect 

 they will diffuse their attentions. A good deaA of rain 

 fell tliis mornuig, but thei"e is some promise of a 

 fine afternoon. Cinchonas seem te be flourishing as 

 they never did before, up here. 



Lindula, July 24th. 

 This is a fine planting monsoon, and I suppose a<lvan- 

 tage has been and is being taken of the moist weather 

 to pusli forward the plaiitingof tea, cinchona and shelter 

 trees, everywhere, and, at the lower altitudes, coco.-i, 

 cardamoms, rubber trees, &c. With all the rain 

 falHng up here, the temperature recently baa been 

 so nnhl that the tfa bushes are. shewing decided 

 symptoms of a "flush," which may be gathered 



from some of the bushes before they are pruned, 

 an operation to whicli it is melancholy to see 

 from 2 to 6 feet of most luxuriant green 

 and golden growth sacrificed. This in the case 

 of best Assam hybrid, tlie growth of which between 

 5,000 aud 6,000 feet is so marvellous, that I can well 

 conceive the use of superlatives being necessary to 

 describe the progrfss of the plantations in the low, 

 hot valleys near Awisawella, Kalutara, Yatiyanlota, 

 &c. By the way, the appearance of the flourishing 

 tea plantation which has taken the jlace of coffee 

 on a portion of what was old Sinhapitiya estate, near 

 Gampola, the -first coffee plantation opened in Ceylon 

 vividly reminded nie of a similar but much more 

 extensive e.\panse of undulating tea cultivation, in 

 the valley of Sinegar, Java, the property of Mr. 

 Kerkhoven. The Java elevation is only 1,500 feet, that 

 of the Dunibara valley, "nd my first sight of 1,200 

 acres of closely cultivated and evenly pruned tea sug- 

 gested the idea of a mimic sea, with wavelets of vivid 

 green. Mr. Kerkhoven believes in the "hedge" sys- 

 tem of culture, his China plants being put down at 

 distnnces of 2 feet in the rows (he believes in even 

 closer planting) and 4 feet between the rows, to al- 

 low of the careful hoe and even plough cultute which 

 is possible on his land. That our Ceylon tea must 

 ultimately be manured is evident from the fact that 

 the Java estate, although formed on rich lava soil, 

 is copiously treated with fertilizing mutter, largely 

 manure from the proprietor's extensive horse stables. 

 But I must refer to my notes (which I have not 

 here) for a full account of the Java tea culture, as 

 also for the incidents of my most interesting risit to 

 the establishment at Buitenzorg of the gentleman 

 whose death I regret to see recorded in your latest 

 news from the Dutch colony — Mr. J. E. Teysmann. 

 To his courtesy I owed my first sight of an extensive 

 plautntion of cocoa in full bearing, the only one in 

 Java, I believe ; while the sight of his large col- 

 lection of rare animals was a great treat. The apes 

 and monkejs were especially numerous and varied, 

 some of the former painfully human-like in viBaj^e. 

 I there, for the first time, saw the anomalously tusked, 

 bog-like creature, described by Wallace as almost pe- 

 culiar to Celebes. But what most astonisited me were 

 the breeding cages oi multitudes of insects of the 

 mantis tribe, some enormous in size, curious from 

 their resemblance to leaves aud twigs aud many dis- 

 tinguiehed by gorgeous colouring of vivid scarlet aud 

 orange. I fancy Mr. Tejsmonn never recovered the 

 shock of the death of his wife, for whom he was 

 mourning when, in company with his Euccessor in the 

 Botanic Gardens, Dr. Treub, I visited his interesting 

 place. No doubt my visit to Java took place at a period 

 of abnormal drought, but I came away with a 

 settled conviction that, whatever may be the case in 

 regard to coffee, Java has no advantage over Ceylon 

 as a tea-growing country except that of having earlier 

 adopted tlie enterprize. Our hot, moist climate and 

 evenly distributed rainfall, and especially our coiiunand 

 of labour, more than compensate for a soil somewhat 

 inferior in fertility. Although neighbouring tea bushes 

 get affected by the blight which 1 have noticed as at- 

 tacking the leaves of eucalypti planted above 5,000 

 feet here, the tea does not seem to suffer to any extent. 

 The case is very different with cinchonas, which, to 

 the lee of the gum trees especially, suffer much : 

 not only the leaves but occasionally the top twigs 

 withering, while a few cinchonas have been undoubtedly 

 killed by the disease. After emptying our present 

 nurseries, therefore, we shall plant no more gums above 

 5,000 feet, and we have learned by experience that it 

 is unwise to plant those trees in soft giound by the 

 sides of roads or di'ains, as they do not seem to send 

 down tap-roots, get top-heavy, with luxuriant foliage 

 and fall down iu numbers, not merely in windy wea- 



