February 2, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



611 



tween August and November. The large yield of 1884 was 

 obtained with 65 per cent, of the acreage beiug manured in 

 1882 and 1883. 



The yearlj yields per acre from the original 100 acres of 

 Mariawatte estate have been: — 



Per ani.. Rainfall. 



1880 9 H) 5 " inches. 



1881 ... 136 „ 113-82 



1882 ... 312 „ 117-11 



1883 ... 550 „ 92-77 



1884 ... 1.003 „ 82-72 

 The produce from the 100 acres in 1884 has hern as 



under: — 



Tea lb. 100,230 



Oocoa „ 1,740 



TeaSeed Maunds 20 



Monthly .yield of Tea. 



lb. made tea 



January 

 February 



March 



April 



May 



June 



July 



August 



September 



October 



November 



December 



4,298 



4,124 



5,138 



14,1,07 



10...1 i 



13,188 



1 1,830 



13,230 



11,132 



8,102 



2,611 



1,393 



Total 109,230 S2'72 



The weight; of green leaf plucked per acre was close on 40 

 cwt. and the average yield of each tree was equal to 1J lb. of 

 green leaf, or -44 of a pound of made tea per tree. 

 Coldstream, January 12th. H. K. JRutheeford. 



* First plucking began October, 1881. 

 It must be remembered that 1S84 was one of the 

 driest years on record on the Kandy side, and in the 

 Gampola Valley the lainfall return was not more tban 

 S2 iuches, which is well within the average of many Uva 

 estates. In our correspondence column today will he 

 found Mr. Johnson's report from one of the driest 

 portions of Badulla showing an average for eight years 

 of 7T27 inches but so well-distributed that we feel 

 sure tea will do fairlywell, as indeed is evidenced by 

 the growth already described by Mr. Johnson. Then 

 again from Haputale and Matale we have returns 

 which may as well be included here - — 



the Pass).— Rainfall in 1SS4 



Haputale (Below 

 was : — 



January 



February 



March 



April 



May 



June* 



July* 



days. 

 15 



9 

 15 

 21 

 IS 



3 



3 



2-32 



304 



15-24 



15-16 



16-66 



1-07 



1-04 



August* 



September* 



October 



November 



December 



days. 



7 



6 

 23 

 20 

 20 



•4. 



1-20 



7-41 



24-94 



J 2-10 



160 111-19 



* The average number of days on which rain fell during 

 these months in twelve years previous were 

 June... 9-5 days. I Aug. ... 1208 days. 



July ... 8-42 „ I Sept. ... 12-42 „ 



These months have therefore been exceptionally dry for 

 Haputale. Do you consider Haputale too dry for tea ? 

 Certainly not — with 111 inches! Here is another re- 

 port from a different part of the district : — 



West Haputale, 9th Jan. — After perfect planting 

 weather, from 4th October to end of December, 

 January has opened very dry with a parching wind 

 which is disastrous to the tea planted (seed planted 

 at stake especially) daring December. Tea appears 

 to grow here like a weed, and with our rainfall, 

 which, as enclosed statement for 1SS4 will show, is all 

 that could be desired for the satisfactory growth of 

 that product, I cannot see how tea can fail to 

 give remunerative returns, if we aie to get anything 

 like the good prices for our tea which many believe 

 we will do. Notwithstanding the long drought 



during June, July and August, the rainfall for 18S4 

 has been 54- 1 in. over that of 1882, and 29-83 in. 

 over what fell in 1SS3. I do not think anyone is re- 

 j. ding really good coffee for tea: but where tea is 

 planted the coffee must be Bicrificed. The theory of 

 getting crops from the coffee, while the tea is growing, 

 will not hold good. Our good coffee has a crop on 

 it as much as we could wish for, little or no disease 

 showing. Cinchona suecirubra has been a great success, 

 so far as the growth is concerned : wore prices better, 

 all would be well. The following is the raiufall for 1SS4 : 



Jan. 

 6 not 

 I not 

 5 0-03 



204 



Feb. 



1 1-50 3 



2 1-20 M 

 72 1 I 

 054 15 

 0-04 16 

 0-81 17 

 0-02 IS 

 0-37 19 

 ... 20 



March. 



0-88 I 



1-25 6 



3-46 7 



2-21 8 



031 13 



201 14 



2-12 15 



0-32 23 



... 24 

 25 



... 26 



... 27 



... 28 



... 30 



April. 



0-82 

 1-33 6 



o to 7 



112 1 S 



O20 18 



110 17 



L-15 2:; 



0-07 



0-7» 



l-lo 



2-03 



L-07 



014 



0-10 



1-10 



May. 

 11-71 



OS, 



077 

 0-47 

 0-30 

 1-21 



0-75 



Juno.99 



28 n 



Total... 4-67 

 1883 ... 5-95 

 1882 ...17-39 

 July 



6-50 

 6-11 

 4-73 



Aug. 

 22 O-02 



26 0-01 11 



27 002 12 



18 

 19 

 22 

 25 



15-51 



1170 



798 



Sept. 



6 -07 



10 



•17 



•60 



•40 



•17 



12-39 



12-84 

 11-58 



Oct. 



9 



-In 10 

 12 

 15 

 16 

 17 

 18 

 1!) 

 20 

 23 

 24 

 25 

 26 

 27 

 28 

 29 

 30 

 31 



007 



2-85 



4-41 



3'02 



292 



3-35 



421 



2-36 



1-26 



2-00 11 



1-10 12 



2 00 14 

 •31 15 

 •SO 16 

 ■07 17 

 •05 18 

 •02 22 

 •01 23 

 •02 24 



1-10 25 



1-75 29 



1-10 



105 



8-20 



10-40 



603 



Nov. 



1 2-70 



1-20 



2-91 



1-51 



6-37 



•10 



•50 



•20 



1-1)0 



•70 



1-19 



1-50 



1-62 



■in 



■10 



3-20 



2-07 



•94 



2-90 



2-10 



■46 



099 

 2-72 

 301 

 Dec. 



3 14 



4 227 



5 110 

 -70 



8 09 



9 "70 



11 116 



12 400 



74 

 ■05 

 75 

 ■20 

 1-27 



18 200 



19 1-40 



•01 

 ■19 

 •14 



23 2-47 



24 -14 



•67 

 •33 



•60 



30 201 



31 '15 



Total 



1883... 5'45 

 1882... 316 



1-61 

 318 

 232 



35-93 



13-92 



5-21 



33-28 

 15-49 

 11-90 



24-18 



8-54 



1055 



Total 1884 ... ... 143'31 



„ 1883 ... ... 113-48 



„ 1882 ... .. 8920 



The average of the three years here is over 115 inches. so 

 that, looking at the distribution of the rainfall over the 

 months, a better climate for tea could not in ou opinion 

 well be desired. Fiom Matale we have the following : 

 Matale East, 9th Jan. — I enclose a memo, show- 

 ing the rainfall here for the past 6 ll-12th years. 

 \\ ith reference to our future in tea : the figures 

 show a sufficient and well-distributed rainfall, and, 

 with our generally speaking good soil, there ought 

 to be a good future for the old district yet. The 

 1883 plantings promise remarkably well, aud with 

 the present outlook are. very encouraging : in several 

 instances the growth is as fine as can be seen any- 

 where at the age. As regards coffee, I am afraid 

 we are rearing the end, bug in so mauy c>ses having 

 all but extinguished it, 



