April i, 1885.] 



THF. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



765 



" AND TEA AND CINCHONA REIGNKD IN 1 

 ITS STEAD." 



Colombo, 9th March 1885. 

 Dear Mk. Editor,— Soma two years and four months 

 have passed since I addressed you under this head- 

 ing, my object having bran to afford my testimony 

 to 'what was then almost an acknowledged fact, 

 that the reign of King Coffee was at an eud, and 

 that tea and cinchona had succeeded him. Very 

 few planters ventured to dis>ent from this view, , 

 but one gentleman hailing from Lindula (not Logie) 

 rather ridiculed the idea of coffee being done for. 



Since I wrote to you, I have been to England 

 and have only very lately returned to the Island, 

 where, I am sorry to say, I am rather deeply inter- 

 ested in coffee planting. I have just come back 

 from nn excursion over nearly the same line of country 

 that I visited in 1SS2, viz. Dimbula. Lindula, the 

 Agrapatanas, Pundaluoya, NuwaraEliya, Udapussellawa, 

 Ramboda, Pussellawa, Atabage, and Gampola. 



I need hardly tell you that I found the new 

 cultivation more firmly established than ever, and 

 in most districts there was every sign that coffee 

 was gradually dying out. 



I fear that leaf-disease is by no means on the 

 wane, and that it is too surely undermining the 

 constitution of the coffee trees. It is true that there 

 are a few districts, such as Dimbula, Lindula, Pun- 

 daluoya and a few others, where coffee can still be made 

 to give a small return, but these are exceptions, 

 and I much fear very few are even self-supporting, 

 especially with the low prices ruling at present. 



The appearance of the young tea plantations is, on 

 the other hand, most encouraging. Tea seems to grow 

 everywhere. The clearings in Ramboda and Pussellawa 

 are especially very extensive, in fact those districts 

 may be said to have abandoned coffee, which is grad- 

 ually dying out. What with tea and cinchona the 

 appearance of this part of the Island is quite altered, 

 but the same may be said of most other parts where 

 once upon a time coffee reigned supreme. 



What struck me very strongly during my travels, 

 was the evident want of capital. Even good coffee, 

 where it exists, is not cultivated properly. Pruning is 

 little attended to, and as to manuring very little is 

 being done. 



I could not fail to notice that on those estates where 

 these operations are performed satisfactory results have 

 followed in the shape of crop. I know of three pro- 

 perties lying in a line, with which I am intimately 

 acquainted, where one is highly cultivated and has 

 the largest crop in the dist.xt, the next is fairly 

 well culti/ated in the wiy of pruning and manuring, 

 and has a paying crop — the third lias a miserable crop 

 in consequence o.' expenses having been cut down to 

 a minimum, and leaves a heavy loss. 



With regard to tea, I should mention that the un- 

 usual dry weather for the last two or three months 

 has seriously affected the growth of the November 

 and December planting, and that the young plants 

 have made scarcely any growth, as far ai I could see. 

 It is a great pity that the want of money is oblig- 

 ing many planters to harvest their bark at a time 

 when the European markets are' becoming over-sup- 

 plied. Those who can wait a little should certainly 

 do so. The bark will improve by age, and will prob- 

 ably meet a better market a few months henee. 



Altogether I have been most favorably impressed 

 with the wonderful progress that has been made in 

 planting of new products during the last two years, 

 and am lo<t in admiration at the skill and energy dis- 

 played by our planters, in contending with the diffic- 

 ulties which have opposed them, by the want of con. 

 fideneo in capitalists and the consequent scarcity |of 

 money. Success, I feel assured, must eventually 



follow and Ceylon again become a thriving and 

 prosperous country. — Yours faithfully, G. 



[A few days ago we met another old Ceylon resident 

 who had just completed an extended tour over high 

 eouutry and low, and he was enthusiastic regard- 

 ing the rapid progress and the assured success of the 

 tea enterprise. In former times he had profited by 

 coffee as he is certain he now will by tea. — Ed.] 



THE BEST METHOD OF FERMENTING TEA. 



[The following letter addressed to a Young Ceylon 

 Planter has been sent to us for publication. — Ed.] 

 Colombo, 11th March 18S5. 



My dear , — The difficulties of which you com- 

 plain in properly fermenting your teas, have set me 

 thinking on tbo subject. 



Unfortunately, as yet I know nothing practically 

 about fermenting tea, and I have here no means of 

 experimenting. I think I will write to the newspapers, 

 suggesting that the P. A. or C. of C. should offer a 

 prize for the best method of fermenting tea, or rather 

 for the best sort of room, temperature, or climate 

 for fermenting it, so that the time occupied in the 

 process should be the same all over the island, in 

 all weathers, and at all elevations. 



It is to be done, I should think, by constructing 

 fermenting rooms, which could always be kept at a 

 uniform point of temperature and humidity for the 

 object in view. If a warm moist climate is necessary, 

 a little steam from a kettle would give the necessary 

 humidity. See in England how in green or hot- 

 houses they make any climate they want ! Why, 

 when our tta leaves won't wither or ferment properly, 

 do we blame the weather, or the drafts of air in 

 the store or the roof, instead of our own want of 

 ingenuity ? 



Set your mind to work, ascertain what is the best 

 temperature, the best sort of climate (moist or dry), 

 and then make a room the air of which could be 

 made exactly to suit your purpose. 



There is but one mystery connected with the proper 

 manufacture of tea, and that is the fermentation, as 

 everything depends upon its being properly done. 

 Surely, amongst so many intelligent minds the problem 

 can be solved. — Yours, &c, 



COST OF GATHERING. MANUFACTURING AND 

 PLACING TEA F. O. B. COLOMBO. 



Strathellie, Nawalapitiya, 30th March 1885. 

 Deak Sib, — Mr. Rutherford, in his letter on the cost 

 of manufacture &c. of tea, expresses a wish that 

 others using machinery should give data based on 

 experience. The following are the actual tigures of 

 cost on the past season's working here with Jackson's 

 Excelsior Roller, Ansell's Sifter and Davidson's No. 1 

 Sirocco. Facilities of transport give Mr. Rutherford's 

 estates a slight advantage, but piaetically the cost of 

 plucking, manufacture and placing f. o. b. in Colombo 

 are the same : — 



Plucking, iucluding baskets Cents. Cents. 



and transport of leaf . . 10'3G against Mr. 



R.'s average of 10 31 

 Rolling, firiutr, sifting, and 

 packing including boxes, 



and tea-house sundries ... 5 47 ,, ,, ,, 5 "54 

 Transport to Colombo and 



charges ... ... L8G ,, ,, ,, 175 



Total cost of manufacture 



f. 0. b. Colombo... ... 1772 



17-00 



—Yours faithfully, ARTHUR E. SCOVELL. 



[The close coincidence of the results is certainly 

 striking ; but we hope the ligures may be brought down 

 to 15 cents. — Ed. j 



