December i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



A3N INDIAN PLANTER ON THE CEYLON 

 TEA ENTEKPRIZE. 



We desire to draw attention to the very encour- 

 aging testimony borne (below) to the fitness of Ceylon 

 for tea growing, from elevations of 70 to over6,000 feet 

 above sea-level ; and of the good quality of our teas 

 when properly pi'epared. We may mention in this 

 connection that we have had a sight of reports from 

 several tea estates, which generally confirm the hope- 

 ful view taken by "Cha." On one estate we ob- 

 serve that 742 lb. of green leaves were plucked on 

 one day, the result being ISO lb. of made tea, or 1 lb. 

 above the usual estimate of 25 per cent dry leaf to 

 green. On another day 598 lb. green leaves gave, 

 not merely 149 lb. 8 oz. which were due, but 162 lb. 

 On other days the di-y tea was considerably short 

 of 25 per cent, but at the end of the, week 2,8081b. 

 of green leaves gave just the exact quantity which 

 "should be" viz., 7021b. Between 1st .January and 

 22nd October this estate had turned out 24,278 lb. 

 of made tea, an increase of 16,132 on the quantity 

 made in the similar jieriod of ISSl. In the case of 

 another estate we find the dried tea was 948 lb., 

 instead of 874 at 25 per cent ; but with still another 

 the process was reversed, the actual quantity being 

 only 572 lb. instead of 594. Again we get 351 

 instead of 334 and 1,196 instead of 1,182, and 9,408 

 instead of 9,336 lb. No doubt leaves gathered in per- 

 fectly dry weather give a better per centage of made 

 tea than flushes gathered during heavy raiu. The 

 general result is one-fourth of dry tea to green leaves, 

 and our Indian tea planter e-stimates 700 lb. of dry 

 tea per acre for low estates and 400 for high, as likely 

 to be attained. 



Dear Sir, — I promised to write to you now and 

 acain on Tea in Ceylon, and ought to have done so 

 before now, but I thought it would be better to 

 wait until I knew more of the climate and land I 

 was writing about ; so that I should not lead any 

 one astr.ay. I can now write to you on the subject 

 witli more confidence, having spent a year among you, 

 durin<' which time I have seen tea growing from 70ft. 

 abive sea-level to over 6,00.1ft., and I am well satis- 

 fied with the growth at all elev.itions, and I no 

 longer doubt that Ceylon will yet be a great tea- 

 growing country, and the sooner all who are interested 

 in tea put their shoulder to the wheel to send to 

 market teas that will fell at a profit, the better. This 

 can oidy be done by giving careful attention to tho 

 plucking and m.anufacture. 



Ceylon teas are now begun to be known in the 

 market, and we should give our careful attention to 

 the manufacture, so that our teas will get better known. 

 We have all a great deal to leain about the growth 

 and mannficture of tea, aid none of us should be too 

 proud to be taught. We can all learn from each 

 other, and should tie all willing to assist each other, as 

 all are striving lor the same end; that is to make tea 

 a profitable investment. This can be done and why 

 make a secret of the fact? 



Now that our old love, coffee, has forsaken us and that 

 tea can b' grown in the old fields among th^ cof^'ee, 

 why not plant tea among tlie coffee, but leave our 

 old love to shelter tea, and should our old love give 

 us a good crop cat down the tea within 6 inches of 

 the grou'id, which will only improve the new love 

 and make her flush and blush better than ever ? 

 61 



I am glad to see that Ceylon teas are improving, 

 and I hope that they will continue to improve, al- 

 though up to the present time there is some awful 

 rubbish shipped from Ceylon, from some of the 

 greatest tea growers in the island — men that should ere 

 this know what good tea is and how it ought to be 

 made, but still they will continue to ship rubbish to 

 the market : in some cases they are ashamed to put 

 the plantation mark ou the chests. If they eend tea 

 at all to market, they surely should put the plantation 

 marks on the chestu, and, it any of us don't know 

 how to make good tea, why should we not acknow- 

 ledge the tact and be taught by some one tliat may 

 know more than we do ourselves on the subject. We 

 can never be too old to learn. I would advise all the 

 Ceylon tea planters to exchange samples with each 

 other and to visit each other; in fact I would advise 

 tea proprietors to give their Superintendents 15 days' 

 leave each year to go round and visit other estates. 

 If they should see nothing to copy, they may see a 

 lot to avoid ; the mere fact of exchanging idi as with 

 each other does a lot of good. 



I have no longer any doubt about the profitable growth 

 of tea in Ceylon, .and I am sure that it can be pro- 

 fitably grown from 20 feet above sea-level to 7,000 

 f e> t. The flavour of the high-grown tea will make 

 up for the shorter yield that one would get at a high 

 elevation. 



I consider with careful management that tea could 

 be worked up to 400 lb. per acre in the highest 

 elevation in Ceylon, and in some districts in tho low 

 country I would not be at all surprized to see an 

 averaf;e of 700 lb. per acre reached, and what I mean 

 is not 400 aiul 700 lb. of rubbish but of good tea that 

 should average Is 5d per lb. I could mention several 

 estates that will turn out more in three months this 

 year than they made in twelve last year, and all 

 among that so-called poor soil of Avisawella and 

 r.uanwella ; the richest tea soil in the island which 

 will yet be the great tea districts of Ceylon. 



I am glad to say a lot of land is now taken up for 

 tea in the lowcountry, which will increase tho value 

 of the oldest pioneers of the district's estates, who 

 well deserve to be rewarded for going into a district 

 that was thought to be feverish and deadly. Had the 

 men that I am now thinking about gone in for tea 

 in the way they went in for coffee, how different 

 would their banking account have been todajr. 



I understand th.at some enterpiizing proprietors 

 are not going to content themselves with growing tea 

 and cocoa only, but they are going to start a daily 

 steamer, which will doa lot to open out the districts 

 anil ought to pay the shareholders well. 



Wishing good luck to the Kelaniganga Steam Navi- 

 gation Company, CHA. 



INCREASE OF COCOA OR CACAO CULTIV- 

 ATION IN TRINIDAD. 



In the first half of 1882, the exports of cacao had 

 risen to over ten-million of lb. against an average of 

 ei"ht-milliou8, and Trtnidad Chronicle states — 



The laying out of new land in Cacao goes on un- 

 ceasingly, as it has been doing over the last 12 or 

 14 years, the great majority of the plots .small at 

 first owned by small people ci-devant laborers and 

 contractors, and cultivated by themselves but by 

 der'rees forfeited to the merchants to whom they are 

 indebted for advances, and by amalgamation conver- 

 ted into good-sized properties eountjng acres by the 

 hundred and (the cacao^ trees by the tens of thou- 

 sautls. There is no movement corresponding to this 

 in cane ; and the opening of new cane estates, on 

 any scale— and a large one, ab ovo, is the rarest of 

 rara "iw — goes on slowly indeed. It cannot be done 



