April i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



745 



COST OF PRODUCTION OF TEA IN CEYLON. 



We have been reminded of what we, for the 

 moment, forgot when writing on Mr. Rutherford's 

 valuable figures (see page 729) that all home charges are 

 fully ooveied by exchange. The remaining items our 

 authority estimates at 



Weeding, pruning, upkeep of 

 roads, paths, drains, &c. ... 10 cents per lb. 



Superintendence ... •■• *. " " 



This is within 1 cent of our calculation, with the 

 home charges adjusted as above. Tea, therefore, 

 which sells for (JO cents per lb. wholesale at Colombo 

 can be grown and manufactured for 30 cents per lb. 

 Out of tlio resulting profit of 30 cents per lb., must be 

 paid interest on cost of land, money borrowed, &c, ac- 

 cording to the varying circumstances of each particular 

 case. Of course, in calculating capital expenditure, it 

 will not be fair to calculate all the back expenditure on 

 coffee estates converted into tea plantations against 

 the new product. In many cases the coffee estates 

 ceased to have any value and the planting of 

 tea amongst and to supersede the coffee, may be 

 taken as imparting a perfectly new value to the land. 

 There will be the cost of roads and drams in most cases 

 and the effects of manuring in some cases to be 

 charged against the results of tea cultivation, but it 

 is impossible to give even approximate figures for 

 cases which must differ so materially. As a rough 

 guess, let us deduct R50 from the sum of R150 per 

 acre we calculated in our last, as the pi-efit of an 

 estate producing 500 lb. per acre. There will still 

 remain R100 per acre of absolute profit, provided 

 tea sells at an average of 60 ceuts per lb. It seems 

 evident, therefore, that where an average yield of 

 about 500 lb. per acre per annum of good tea can be 

 made, the enterprise canuot but be a paying one. 

 How India (and Ceylon) teas are superseding those 

 of China, will be seen by the articles we publish 

 (page 732) respecting the once celebratedteas of Foochow. 



While writing, we received a letter from the 

 superintendent of Abbotsford, (see page 739) giving 

 wonderful statistics of yield, on this elevated estate, 

 for the early portion of this year. We may add 

 that quality is not sacrificed to quantity, for, plucking 

 is rigidly confined to the bud, the first developed leaf 

 and half the second leaf. The prospects are that 

 the average of 50GJ, lb. per acre obtained in 1SS4, and 

 which has sold at" an average price of about_ Is 3d 

 per lb., will brt very appreciably exceeded in 1885. .We 

 need not say how readily we shall publish equally 

 encouraging figures from other estates. Blow we 

 also give the dark side of the shield as painted by an 

 Assam planter. 



POSITION OF TEA PLANTING IN ASSAM. 



(Extract Jrom a letter Jrom arj Assam Planter.) 



I am so placed at present, that, even if I wished 

 to c, o to Ceylon, I could not do so ; nor have I suffici- 

 ent faith in tea to embark any more money in it. 



The prices are so low, and there is so little prob- 

 ability of any rise of importauce, that the margin of 

 profit is very small, and in most concerns there is no 

 profit at all. 



I have had 10 years' experience of tea, and may 

 mention that 500 lb. per acre is a good average even 

 in Assam, which province cannot be approached in 

 yicM per acre. 



Anything much above 500 lb. per acre is very rare 



indeed and cannot always be kept up. By the time 



a lb. of tea is sold in London the cost of the same 



is usually one shilling even where every reasonable 



til 



economy is practised, and the average price of tea per 

 lb. to the producer is very little more. 



If you look at the share-list, you will see that very 

 few companies piy any interest all. 



[The above contrast, in every way, reached us as we 

 were summing up figures to show that in Ceylon a 

 giod, very good profit cau be derived from 500 lb. an 

 acre selling at a less average than Is per lb. — Ed,] 



CEYLON UPCOUNTRY PLANTING REPORT: 



SAD EFFECTS OF THE DROUGHT— rOVERTV-STRIC'KEX AND 

 STARVING SINHALESE — WORK ON TEA ESTATES FOR 

 SINHALESE — LABOR OFFERING — ADVANCES — EFFECT OF 

 THU URY WEATHER ON \OUNG TEA — VANILLA CULTIV- 

 ATION : PROFITS TO BE MADE— COFFEE PROSPECTS — 

 THE ELKADUWA TEA ROLLER. 



2nd March 1885. 

 These dry times are telling on everyone. We had 

 a little rain last week, but just enough to make us wish 

 for more, and one would fancy it were the begiuniug 

 of January instead of March, so strong and chill does 

 the N.E. wiud blow. The paddy crop is going to 

 be very light, I learn in some places it has done no 

 good at all, and the natives are at present not in 

 a position to stand a failure of crop without assist- 

 ance, from without. Already, I am told, the Government 

 is supplying rice to the Sinhalese iu the Bumbara 

 Valley, and ere long there will be more and as 

 urgent demands from other places. In going through 

 the villages, it is quite distressing to see how poor 

 the people have become. Squalor visible everywhere, 

 and the paddy-fields, except where there is a plenti- 

 ful supply of water, a sad enough sight to look at. 

 No coffee in these days to fall back on : what native 

 gardens or trees remain are as barren as the sea- 

 shore, unblessed with either leaves or a promise 

 of fruit. There is one thing, however, which helps the 

 impoverished Sinhalese, the work they cau get on tea 

 estates. Someone was telling me of a large batch 

 winch has left the Kandyan district to find work on 

 the estates about Awisawella, and you hear of others 

 travelling considerable distances to do the holing work 

 in new clearings. 



Those however who know most about the Sinhalese 

 villagers say, that hard as is their lot at present, 

 there is yet before them a pinch severer than any 

 they have yet experienced. 1 cannot from my own 

 knowledge say if this be a fair forecast of the 

 future, although I heartily wish it may prove in- 

 correct. Gangs of coolies keep Moating about, wanting 

 employment. Many are willing to engage without 

 any advances, or an indefinite promise of having 

 the matter considered at some future time ; some 

 however stick out for cash down, and perhaps get it. 

 I know of one estate which had not a cooly at the 

 beginning of last month, and has sixty now without 

 advancing a cent. 



Yet some people must have been giving big ad- 

 vances. A kangani offered me thirty men the other day ; 

 he could increase the force to one hundred he said, and 

 when we were coming to closer quarters, he asked me to 

 look at his " tundu," in which was written that 

 on payment of R540 ! bearer and his coolies would 

 be paid off. That certainly was a chance for some- 

 body. He may have got employment since then, 

 but he didn't just at that time. 



Some of the young tea about here which was 

 planted last year does not look as if it appreciated 

 this dry weather at all, especially that planted in 

 the N. E. Still, all things considered, it is holding 

 out wonderfully well. The S. W. last year was 

 such a miserable failure that it is rather rough on 

 the lea, this long-continued drought, for, although 

 we had some rain last week, it did not damp the 



