574 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[January i, 1885. 



vantages, in the case of tea at least, which ought to 

 enable us to hold our own in the contest of com- 

 petition. We must, however, study economy to the 

 utmost and the one great means towards this object 

 is the extension of facilities of communication. 



CEYLON UPCOUNTRY PLANTING REPORT. 



HOLIDAYS OVER— TEA, TEA EVERYWHERE— WHERE IS 

 THERE BAD TEA IN CEYLON ? — MAKIAWATTE — PRICE OF 

 OLD LAND RISING — TEA COMPANIES — THE KOTMALE VAL- 

 LEY TO BE BOUGHT UP FOR TEA — TEA MACHINERY 

 — CACAO, THE RED-ANT AND HELOPELTIS — TEA F. O. B 

 FOR 25 CENTS PER LB. !— COFFEE AND BLACK-BUG. 



5th January 1SS5. 

 Now that the holidays are over, and people are 

 again settling down to work, let us hope that with 

 1S84 the period of unremunerative labour will have 

 closed in Ceylon, and that the reward for honest 

 endeavour will be different in the coming year from 

 what it has been for some time past. Of late we 

 have too often reaped disappointment ; have had 

 worry and anxiety given us for the sweat of our 

 face ; have planted and cultivated with fear and 

 trembling— " thorns and thistles" alas! too frequently 

 the guerdon for experience and watchfulness — till 

 there has crept over us the feeling of blank despair, 

 and the unnatural belief that the future would be as 

 the past, and that misfortunes would dog us to the 

 end. Now-a-days we plant with no sure expectation 

 that the product of our hopes will grow : at least 

 that is the sort of under current — born of bitter ex- 

 perience—which is present in the mind, altheugh not 

 often put into words. 



Tea, however, is the great exception to this rule ; 

 and the swing of the pendulum has been so marked 

 and strong, that over all kinds of waste lands and 

 abandoned estates there is now a glamour, and the 

 mind dwells on a future fraught with wealth, ease 

 and contentment— a pleasing contrast to the past 

 with its deep depression, heavy losses and sad trials. 

 You travel over the country with a sauguine friend. 

 The light in his face and the cheerfulness of his 

 tone is as refreshing as a cool morning breeze, and, 

 like the genii who could turn earth into gold, he 

 puts wealth into land lately worth only an old song, 

 as he scans the lantana-covered ground, and with a 

 magnificent sweep of his hand says : "All suitable 

 for tea." 



And who can gainsay this ? Where Mr. Editor, 

 can we see bad tea ?— an honest enquiry, no libel case 

 snare in this. A friend of mine has been often urging 

 me to get for him the name of the district and 

 estate in Ceylon where this is to be seen. He 

 will make a pilgrimage to it, drink in its lessons and 

 perhaps congratulate its owner on his unique possession. 

 I don't kuow that he will go the length of wanting 

 to buy it, still if such an estate is in existence here, 

 why do we not hear of it, so that we may go and 

 see it? The "all suitable-for-tia" mau has a decided 

 advantage over us until we can point to such a place. 

 The scoruer may sit in his seat, prate about a poss- 

 ible disappointmint, try to be wise above what is 

 written, and tho?e away fiom the whirl may consider 

 his scoffings and warnings not without value ; but what 

 are we to do with the sanguine man until we can 

 lay our hands on the bad tea, and ' ' stick him " 

 with that? 



When Mariawatte was being planted, one who 

 had to do with it was most emphatic in his opinion 

 that it would grow nothing — a mere sandhole— and 

 now ? Well everything is changed. 



From the sea level to the tops of the highest 

 mountain ranges there comes from the sanguine man 

 the one cry : " All suitable for tea." We are sadly in 



need of having the bad tea trotted out, that is if 

 there is any. Supposing the sanguine man to be right ' 

 even to a very limited extent, it is a bad look-out 

 for " the boom" although the prospect for Ceylon 

 itself will thereby be much improved. With such 

 large extents of land in which tea may be expected 

 to grow, it will want a very big: rush before prices 

 go very high. 



It is very marked how a good tea estate raises the 

 value of land all round. I have heard that R100 

 an acre has been refused for an abandoned property 

 — "suitable for tea" — in the vicinity of Gampol.i, which 

 some time ago might have been bought very much 

 cheaper. A (Jhetty in that same quarter who had land 

 to sell, answered an inquiry as to price by saying 

 that he asked all gentlemen R15U an acre but would 

 consider an offer. 



The Tea Companies which one hears of in the course 

 of formation are getting very numerous. Friends 

 write you from home that they have knocked up 

 against some old Ceylon mau, and in asking what he 

 is doing get the invariable answer : ' ' Trying to start 

 a Tea Company." 



I hear that a lot of Indian men — capital (so the 

 rumour) says, unlimited — have their eye on buying 

 up the whole Kotmale valley, and have already pur- 

 chased some of the places. 



Tea Machinery is becoming so important a 

 matter here, that inventors are keeping their 

 eyes open as regards their new rivals. It 

 is rumoured that one of our planters whose 

 roller has given satisfaction has been called on by 

 one of the largest makers to give an account of him- 

 self in regard to an alleged infringement of patent. 

 I sincerely trust that the planter may be able to 

 establish his right to his machine, and reap somo 

 reward for his expenditure of time and brains. Ceylon 

 men have always been very inventive, and one cannot 

 but wish, that, when they hit upon something which 

 is useful to the public, it also may prove of value 

 to themselves. One of the largest "Sirocos," and 

 also the newest kind is about to be erected at 1m- 

 boolpitia, an estate which looks well, and is doing 

 well. An idea of the size of this dryer may be 

 gathered from the fact that a hole seven _feet deep 

 had to he dug for the foundation. It is on a new 

 principle, I understand, or at least new in the field 

 of tea-drying never before having been thus applied. 

 The promise on cacao is said to be very good, 

 and where last year things were looking queer, 

 now there is a marked change for the better. The 

 red-ant — of the bull-dog type — is proving a com- 

 plete cure foi the Helupcltis. Where colonies of 

 these iusects have been established there the pods re- 

 main free from the pest, and those who know the 

 value of this cuie, do what they can to encourage 

 the red-ant to take up its abode among the cacao. 

 At what cost tea can be put f.o.b. is interesting to 

 most people. The best rate I have heard for a year's 

 working was 28A cents a lb ; in another case lor a 

 portion of a year the price was 25 cents. These 

 doubtless are exceptionally good, but as far as I know 

 they can be relied on. 



As to coffee, those who don't know what black 

 bug is, keep up a kind of cheery tone ; but those 

 who do, are inclined to draw the curtain and retire. 



Peppercorn, 



A Compliment to the T. A — A well-known planter 

 upcountry has been good enough to report to us the 

 following, which we take as a compliment to the 

 T, A. as conveying the opinion of a chemist of high 

 standing upon it:- "Amongst other papers &c. a chemist 

 of high standing at home sent me, through a mutual 

 frieud, your T. A. for June last." 



