6io 



THE TROPXCAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February 2, 1885* 



given3001b.au acre aud that the average from a number 

 of years lias been very much less than this ? 



How much tea has been sent away from the large estates 

 lying between Ambagamuwa aud Yatiyantota ? 



Have any of the Dolosbage estates averaged more than 

 300 lb. an acre? 



Is it true or is it not true that 400 lb. an acre of pucka 

 tea is a nearer estimate of the average from the districts 

 of Yatiyantota aud Awisawella than the 700 which Mr. 

 Cameron said might be expected ? 



That tea does pay and will pay well in many parts of 

 Ceylon I do not for a moment doubt ; but; that it is all 

 absolute success I deny, and let those who think it is 

 make further enquiries particularly in the directions I have 

 indicated. 



Now, as regards the land adapted for further extension. 

 A gentleman, writing a few days ago in the Observer sign- 

 ing himself "Peppercorn," seems to think that in the 

 course of a very few years there will be one unbroken 

 sheet of tea from the sunny shores of Kollupitiya to the 

 frozen plains of the mountain Sauatarium. "Peppercorn'' 

 is not singular in this ; on the contrary there are many 

 equally simple. My own experience teaches me that good 

 land is very hard to get, and that inferior land pro- 

 duces very inferior results. People are planting up 

 old coffee estates with tea, aud. if you ask them whether 

 Ihey are satisfied that the bushes will flush freely in old worn- 

 out 6oil, they say : "Yes, look at Mariawatte, Imbooipitiya 

 and Kadawella; if these don't satisfy you, goto Windsor 

 Porefct and so ou." Now noue of the estates alluded to 

 can be accepted as affording satisfactory evidence on this 

 point, for the reason that they were all abandoned for 

 many years aud their soil was to some extent renovated. 



I believe myself that several of our old districts will 

 prove themselves admirably adapted to the cultivation of 

 the tea plant, but so far w (have absolutely no data 

 to prove it ; on the contrary the few statistics at our disposal 

 are unfavourable, and yet one would not gather this from the 

 papers. Can quality and quantity be combined is a question 

 which must naturally suggest itself to a thoughtful mind. 



Mr. Taylor of Loolecondera, than whom a more in- 

 teligent, practical planter does not exist, contents himself 

 with a very moderate yield; he does not distress his bushes 

 and Ihe tops the market. My own conviction is that he 

 shows a larger profit per acre with his 300 lb. than others 

 do with 600. 



"We have heard a great deal about Mariawatte lately ; 

 how that it gave 1,000 lb. an acre aud that it would have 

 given 1,500 if every flush had been taken at the proper 

 time. No further information is vouchsafed: we are 

 iu ignorance as to the prices realized and the cost 

 of production. Will the euterprizing proprietors of 

 this Ivery remunerative garden supplement the statist- 

 ics • they have already furnished us with by answering 

 the following questions : — 



How much tea was sold locally!' How much was sent 

 home, and uuder what marks? aud what was the average 

 per lb., including dust and fannings? Seeing that so 

 much has been written about the yield, it is only fair 

 the public should have information as to prices realized. 



I heard it stated not long ago that Galbodfle had given 

 an average yield of upwards of 800 lb. an acre, and that 

 the cost f.o.b. was 27 cents per lb. I do not believe 

 this, but I will if Mr. Hughes tell me positively that 

 the figures have not been exaggerated. 1 was also in- 

 formed that this 800 lb. per acre had netted 80 cents 

 in the London market. I can believe this, for the tea 

 is very good indeed, and considering the yield, which is in 

 the highest degree satisfactory, the result is probably 

 inn quailed ; but how much of the inferior tea is sold in 

 the country ? 



Aberdeen estate is, if I mistake not, somewhat steep 

 and possesses an interior soil. The rainfall per annum 

 is not far short of 200 iuches, and yet the yield from a 

 certain field rivals Mariawatte. Here again further in- 

 formation is desirable. I should like to know the acre- 

 age of this field and whether or not similar results may be 

 expected from other portions of the estate. I should also 

 like to know how many leaves were plucked and the 

 prices realized. 



It is not fair to quote the yield only, nor is it fair to 

 quote prices only: the two should in all cases he com- 

 b ned, so that exclusions may not be misleading. 



My opinion of tea iu Ceylon is briefly this. — In com- 

 parison with coffee and the hundred other things that 

 have been tried and found wanting, it will come out 

 favourably ; but that every estate will turn out a Maria- 

 watte or a Galbodde, or that an average yield of 300 lb. 

 will be exceeded, taking the country all through, I do 

 not for a moment believe. 



I am quite sure that at least 30 per cent of the places 

 already in bearing don't pay and that another 30 percent 

 show a very slender profit. I am also quite sure that very 

 few people know this. 



I'.l fore closing, I may say that a few more particulars 

 respecting Abbotsford would make the very full 

 statistics still more useful. I iufer of course that tea 

 plucked from the hushes along the roads aud amongst 

 the coffee is not included in the 110 acres. What 

 prices were secured in the London market? How much 

 tea was disposed of locally aud what was the cost of pro- 

 duction ? — Yours faithfully, Moderation. 



As regards Abbotsford, we may say at onee — and 

 we are glad of this opportunity of contradicting un- 

 warautable statements to which, no doubt, "Moder- 

 ation" refers — that the statistics published, as was 

 plainly stated, referred only to the 110 acres regul- 

 arly planted aud by no meaus included the pluck- 

 ing of bushes scattered throughout the coilce or 

 along the coffee-field roads. We shall enquire as to 

 the other information wantfd, although it may not 

 be possible to give answers to all the questions at 

 this time. We have no doubt that Mr. Rossiter and 

 Mr. McLaren of Nuwara Eliya will have some in- 

 formation to give as to the yield of their gardens which 

 should show satisfactory results. Oliphant, too, is surely 

 doing better? ' Moderation" is not aloue iu his scept- 

 icism about [the success of tea in Ceylon being so great 

 or universal as is genet ally declared. Curiously enough 

 last mail brought us the following interpellation from 

 an old planter whom "Moderation" knows well, one 

 of a school noted for looking well before they leap, 

 aud whom to convince, therefore, of tea being a 

 good investment, is worth some amount of trouble. 

 Our friend writes : — 



"No one knows how low Ceylon has fallen till he 

 tries to induce people to invest or to interest them in 

 anything connected with it. How different it was 7 years 

 ago ! Would there be any means of ascertaining the 

 real truth about Mariawatte? Of course no one will 

 believe in 1,2001b., and £40 is out of the question ; but 

 if 600 lb. and £20 an acre could be reasonably calculated on, 

 then 1 know thousands of acres of similar soil — if soil it 

 cau be called — in a climate exactly suited: half Kadugannawa 

 would come in again and three-quarters of Matale rejoice, 

 aud Balakadnwa itself be a fortune to any poor if industrious 

 planter. Mariawatte reports, however, are too good to lie- 

 true. Though I well remember that when one bushel coffee 

 per tree was talked of at Ftajawella the bare idea was scouted 

 till a special agent from Colombo was sent to confirm 

 the fact. These were the-daji before desperate estimates — 

 nn>\ newspaper correspondents were more trustworthy 

 than they are now ! — no offence meant." 

 We think the Abbotsford figures, now on the way to 

 this correspondent, will satisfy him that there is more 

 n tea than he was inclined to believe, aud, as if 

 to answer his enquiry ab >ut Mariawatte, we are 

 nb'e to give the following letter published by our 

 morning contemporary yesterday : — 

 RESULTS OP THE MARIAWATTE ESTATE IT' 

 TO END OF 1884. 

 To tin: Editor, "Times of Ceylon." 



Sir, — One hundred acres of tea were planted 1*4 in 

 1S70, which distance apart gives 2,722 trees to the acre. At 

 the present time there are fully 10 per cent, vacancies, so 

 that the actual number of trees to the acre is about 2,450. 



In 1882 50 acres were manured with cattle manure. 



„ 1883 15 



., l.ibl 40 ., between August and Nov. 



The manuring of 1S84 cannot be taken as having affected 

 the yield for 1S81, as the estate was pruned gradually be- 



