73° 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 



[April i, 1885. 



I think thfl Planters' Association ought to be the 

 means of collecting all information of this nature. 

 It is not at all necessary that those affording the 

 information should state the name of the garden the 

 results are obtained from, but I think the quantity 

 of tea on which the data are based should be given. 



Cost of Rolling and Firing Tats by Various Methods, 



Process. 



-■3 

 B 



S 





as — . 



. S Jo M-r 



ee o 



3 IS 



c. 



4-98 



Izi" h3 

 Hand-rolling and c. c. 



firing over chulas 201,964 411 0'S7 

 Hand-rolling, firing 



with chulas and 



Siroccos of old 



type ... 103,042 3'82 0-38 4-20 0-78 f 



Rolling: hand-power 



Challenge ; firing 



witli chulas and 



Siroccos of ■ old 



type ... 44,070 232 Q'3S 2'70 2'28 t 



Rolling No. 2 Kin- 



mond roller, and 



drying with No. 2 



driers & chulas: 



water poioer very 



imperfect ... 05,052 1 15 0-31 1 76 3'22 J 



Hulling No 1 Kiu- 



moud roller and 



drying with No. 



2 drier : steam 



power ... 118,362 145 0-2S 1 73 325 § 



Total ... 563,090 lb. 

 • Average of 4 gardens, t 2 gardens. J 1 garden— the 

 saving shown would have been greater, had water-power 

 been sufficient. $ 1 garden. 



The other items of coat in manufacturing this quantity 

 of 563,09'J lb. of tea were as under : — 



Average of Fuar Gardens. 

 Plucking, including baskets aud transport Cents, 

 to lactory ... ■•■ 1031 . 



Sorting aud packing ... ••• 0'53 



Boxes, lead, "solder and hoopiron ... 2'SO 



Transport to Colombo, charges f. o. b. ... 1 "75 



Tea-house sundrits ••• ••• 0'4S 



15 87 

 One Garden. 



Cost ( f rolling and firing, if done by machinery D73 



Tolal erst of manufacture f. o. b. Colombo 17 60 



Certain gardens are woiked for less than this, but 

 I give these figures as the average results of four 

 gardens, and 1 think in this form they will be more 

 uaefnl to planters than if I had singled out one partic- 

 ular estate. The cost of plucking is at variance with 

 the rate which was given by many writers on the 

 subject in 1S83, when it was put down at 7 cents 

 per lb The average cf 10 31 cents is arrived at on 

 two and a quarter million lb. of green leaf plucked over 

 fields varying from 1| to 6^ years old. At 10-31 

 cents per lb. of made tea, this is equivalent to 2 57 

 cents per lb. of green b af, or at an estate average 

 of 33 cents would f.ive a plucking of about 13 lb. 

 per cooly. 



The following tables may be fouud useful to tea 



planters, and you are at liberty to make any use you 



like of the information herewith sent you. 



Tea Transjiort. 



Railway freight on Tea per lb. calculated on a basis 



of 1,080 ib. of tea to a ton of gross weight:— Kaltitara to 



Colombo '20c ; Peradeuiya '70c ; Kandy '74c ; Gampola '78c ; 



Wattegama '82c; Nawalapitiya'SOc ; Matale '92c; Galboda 



l'04c; Watawala l'18c; Hatton l'37c; Kotagala l'44c; 



Wattegoda 1 06c; Nanuoya l'85c. From Patupowla, Kalutara, 



by canal to Colombo '30c per lb. ; from Yatiyantota by 



river -o0c per lb. 



Ocean Freights aud Insurance. 

 1 Ton of shipping = 50 cubic feet. — an average of 



917 lb. of tea. Cost of freight ppr lb. of tea in cents = 



freight iu shillings x '067 cents. Insurance at Is 3d pet Ib. 



value ; cost of insurance per Ib. of tea in cents = shillings 



per £100 x '038 cents. 



Freights. . Insurance. 



Rate per ton. Per lb. tea. Per £100 Per lb. tea. 



s. d. cents. s. d. cents. 



25 5 ... I'07 10 038 



27 6 ... 1'84 3, 11 0-42 



30 ... 201 «- 12 0-46 



32 6 ... 21S £ 13 050 



35 ... 234 -g 14 0'53 



37 6 ... 2-51 „, 15 0-57 



40 ... 2-68 g> 16 0-61 



42 6 ... 2-85 § 17 0-65 



45 ... 302 o 18 0-70 



47 6 ... 3-19 (3 19 073 



50 ... 3-36 20 0'77 



— Yours truly, (Signed) H. K. Kothekford. 



TEA CULTIVATION IN CEYLON : 



EXTRACT FROM A REPORT OF MR. JAMES 

 IRVINE ON TEA CULTIVATION IN UVA. 

 Tea. — There is no longer any doubt as to teagrow- 

 ing freely aud remuneratively in most districts of 

 Ceylon, but it has been objected that the climate of 

 Uva is too dry and the rainfall not so equally dis- 

 tributed as to give a continuous Hush, and that the 

 heavy flush during the growing season would not give 

 a sufficient return per acre to be remunerative. It 

 has also been urged that fuel cannot be obtained in 

 sufficieut quantity or at a price which would leave a 

 profit on the crop. Difficulty and cost of transport 

 for boxes, lead aud other requisites up and tea down, 

 has also been urged against the district : these objec- 

 tions can be easily met so far as this estate is con- 

 cerned. Climate aud soil, it is true, are dry iu some 

 parts of the district, where the droughts arc loug and 

 continuous aud heated air from the Biuteuua country 

 bo bakes the soil and scorches b11 vegetation at cert- 

 ain seasons that tea would prove a hopeless specul- 

 ation ; but, on the other hand, a large portion of 

 Upper Uva is peculiarly,, adapted to the cultivation 

 of tea both ns to soil and climate. The soil is deep, 

 generally more or less ferruginous and retains moisture, 

 the lower strata being very much broken aud disrupted. 

 The soiipossessesnatur.il drainage and is never sloppy 

 even iu monsoon weather. During the cold but wet 

 months of December and Jauuary and the dry cold 

 mouth of February, vegetation almost ceases, giving 

 the trees a rest and admitting of heavy pruning, the 

 result of which will be heavy Hushes in March, April, 

 May and June ; a light pruning during the dry hot 

 mouths from the middle of June to the middle of 

 August will cruise the tea again to flush with the 

 first of the mousoou rams. The tea bushes will rest 

 twice a year between the monsoous, giving from three 

 to four months for one full pruning and one light 

 pruning, and say eight mouths for crop. Cultivation 

 as now carried out on the Kandyanaud other (States 

 will have to be modified to suit the climate. Of one 

 thing I am quite convinced : that Uva will assert its 

 superiority as a tea-growing district just as much as 

 it has proved superior in soil aud climate for coffee, 

 It will be found first that with proper cultiv- 

 ation Uva tea will, under favourable circumstances, 

 give the maximum yield of tea per acre ; second, 

 that the quality of the tea produced will be the 



