5* 



<THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, i8g4. 



of from three to four miles. This was a work of 

 some difficulty and considerable expense. Rocks had 

 to he blas'.ed in several places, and three or four 

 large aud substantial bridges built before it was ;.c- 

 complished. I thiDk I am correct in saying no other 

 planter iu Fiji has spent so much time, energy, and 

 mouey in making a road outside his own estate. It 

 was of course a necessary piece of work, but others 

 participate iu the ..dvamages it confers as- well as 

 Mr. Wil-on. When it was made there was jungle on 

 either side ; now the road is lined with native plant- 

 ations. — Fiji Times. 



OBYLON AND INDIAN TEA. 



(From the Indigo $ Tea Planters' Gazette.) 

 At the present time a deal of attention is being directed 

 towards Oeylon aud its production of tea, which, at any 

 rate so far as regards quality, has during last season stood 

 out iu bold relief, and has caused our planters to gird up 

 their loins for the struggle to come this year. The Brokers 

 at home seem all pretty well to be of one mind, and that is, 

 that Ceylon teas have excelled Assam, Oachar and Dar- 

 jeeling growths of the past season, with one or two notable 

 exceptions. There is no doubt that standard teas such as 

 Budderpore, Borokai, Dooteriah aud Kalej Valley, and 

 others, are quite able to hold their own in the com- 

 petition, aud with something in hand, but how few are 

 these amongst Indian teas compared to those quoted in 

 Ceylon as attaining high values. AVith the information 

 at present available it cannot satisfactorily be explained 

 how this comes about. Can it be put down to climatic 

 influences, or what ? if so, it would appear that much 

 laud is available for tea culture which was before con- 

 sidered useless. We can scarcely think that our plant- 

 ers have lost their cunning in preparing the " article, 

 and we are inclined to think that locality has a good 

 deal to do with it. Many years ago planters were wad- 

 ing in darkness with regard to manufacture, yet their 

 teas invariably fetched high prices. Can it be that the 

 Broker has been taken in by a new article, and that, 

 after the newness has worn off, it will be discovered 

 that Ceylon teas like Indian ones lose their keeping qualities 

 in a few years ? No, we cannot accept this explanation. 

 Perhaps the one most difficult thing to explain is the 

 reputed enormous yield per acre, combined with the fine 

 quality. With regard to some of those companies quoted 

 above, the only one which, as a public company, is referred 

 to by our home contemporary, the Home and Colonial Mail, 

 Borokai, is put down as consisting of 824 acres, which 

 gives a yield of 199,200 lb., or about 3 mds. per acre ; this 

 is but a poor result as far as regards outturn, but looking 

 at the dividend declared, it seems to bear uncommonly good 

 fruits. In 18S2 the result was 11 per cent, which con- 

 sidering the season, was highly satisfactory, and is best 

 judged by its heading the list in dividends for that year as 

 quoted on the London Exchange. Could Borokai produce 

 at the same rate as the Ceylon gardens are said to do ? 

 We leave our readers to figure out what the result would 

 be. Turn again to the labour question, and we find that 

 Ceylon like Assam has to import its labor, but, although 

 it does so, it would appear from all we can learn as if 

 better arrangements were in vogue there than at present exist 

 iu Assam. In Ceylon the labor question is more nearly 

 of a kin to the Dooars, and what is there known as the 

 sirdaree system ; and we believe that although the Ceylon 

 planter pays perhaps a higher daily wage, having no bonus 

 to pay, besides many other little comforts the Assam immi- 

 grant is supplied with, the result is at the end of the 

 year cheaper working all round, and a contented labor force 

 untrammelled with all the red-tapeism which is considered 

 so necessary for a coolie the moment he leaves his Mooluck 

 for the tea districts. 



There are many other points with which we are un- 

 acquainted, that no doubt may tend to give a high yield in 

 Oeylon. such as the rainfall and the close proximity to the 

 sea. The latter no doubt is open to question as an ad- 

 vantage, but as a rule very heavy dews fall at night all 

 along a coast line, so that if the rainfall is less when' tea 

 flourishes best, it may be that nature supplies the want in 

 Ijio excessively heavy dews. The temperature too is not 



to be lost sight of in taking everything into consideration' 

 and being so near the equatorial line, the variation in 

 temperature cannot be very great ; which of course allows 

 plucking to be carried on pretty nearly all the year round. 

 Java teas have long been famed for their liquors, but 

 somehow extension in cultivation there has not been rapid 

 nor would it, so far as one can learn, be attended with a 

 large outturn per acre. Some years ago we saw tea in Java and 

 the Straits Settlements flourishing fairly well, but we were 

 by no means impressed with it as anything extraordinary 

 in the way of outturn. The soil seemed much the same 

 as what we understand the Sylhet Gardens mostly is, 

 namely, a light sandy loam, very subject to wash unless 

 carefully cultivated. The Maharajah of Johore, we believe, 

 proposed going in for tea cultivation on a lar«e scale, but 

 as we have never heard of it as a success, we imagine it 

 did not turn out the good thing it was expected. From the 

 number of new names of estates in Ceylon that duly ap- 

 pear in the sale lists, it would appear as if there was now 

 a pretty considerable area under tea in the island. At 

 any rate, being in such an equable climate, we must not 

 forget in comparing the results of the sales, that the Ceylon 

 teas that met our Indian produce in July and August are 

 the Oeylon second or third flush meeting the first flush from 

 India. That this is an important factor no one will deny, 

 and we will perhaps in a year or two, when many private 

 concerns are converted into limited companies, be better 

 able to judge from the share lists whether the result at 

 the end of the year is so widely different from our Indian 

 estates, as rumour would at present have us believe. One 

 thing the Oeylon planter seems to beat our Indian planter 

 in, and that is in putting his wares before the purchaser. 

 From remote corners in New Zealand we have lately heard 

 that Oeylon teas are to displace Indian, aud that we have 

 a formidable rival now in addition to China. Well done 

 Oeylon, nothing like it, the colonies are somewhat like 

 America, and are to be done best by advertizing, and the 

 Oeylon planter seems to have found it out, and that too 

 quickly. Able to hold their own in outturn aud prices, 

 what more is left ? We advise our Indian friends to be 

 on the qui viie. 



THE CHINA TEA TRADE. 

 In regard to the trade in black teas for 1883 the 

 China Mail remarks: — 



The dangers that beset the trade and threaten its 

 future are set forth with convincing force in the 

 Foocbow Report, and it is earnestly to be hoped that 

 such warnings will be heeded. The total export of 

 black tea represents a falling off of 2£ per cent from 

 the export of the year before. The decline has been 

 continuous since 1880. 



In regard to green teas, on the other hand, although 

 exports have diminished, prices are represented as having 

 been good : — 



Green Tea. — The Green Tea season 1SS3-S4 has 

 been a very good one indeed for native teamen as well 

 as for foreign shippers. This unusual aud most 

 welcome experience is attributable to the smallness of 

 the quantity exported to the United States- -the chief 

 consuming country for this staple — and to the con- 

 sequent rise in price there, winch took place in the 

 latter part of the year 1883. Eaily in that year the 

 Act against the importation of tea unfit for human 

 food went into operation in th° Uuited States, with the 

 effect of reduciug very considerably the export of 

 common teas from China to that country. The 

 sm illness of the export has also been due in part to the 

 difficulty whieb— owing to the financial distrust pre- 

 vailing early iu the year — the teamen encountered in 

 their efforts to obtain advances. The export of green 

 tea to Great Britain has been slightly larger — say, 

 some 700,000 lb. — than in the season previous ; but the 

 export to the United States is only about 11,500.000 lb., 

 as against 1S,000,000 lbs. for the season before. The 

 rise in values duiing 1883 has been very marked ; the 

 quotation for fine Moyuue aud Teenkai chops iu New 

 York in January was 23 to 24 cents, and in December 



