812 



THE TROPICTFL JLGRTCTTLTTJRIST. 



[May i, 1885. 



estate, so as to perfect himself iu the art ! Wo all could 

 not afford this, aud with what envy I looked upon the 

 man who need not be told how. 



Native coffee even is trying its best to look well, and 

 blossom like its better cultivated neighbour. I heard 

 of a aplanter who more was than surprized with some 

 coffee of this kind which was allowed to grow at its 

 sweet will, uutended and uncared for, in a semi- 

 abandoned portion of his estate. Nothing like it has 

 he seen for many years : so full was it of blossom. 

 What it will come to, need not now be anticipated: 

 there have been so many disappointments with this 

 product, that one naturally inclines, in spite of any 

 amount of promise, to expect nothing or next to it: 



There are very few signs of bug — visible at least — 

 where la-it season it cast its darkest shadow. Still 

 a careful observer can find it clustering about the 

 young shoots, and only wanting suitable conditions 

 and a favourable environment to spread as rapidly 

 as before, and ruin what it spared last year. 

 There is an amusing paragraph in the British Trade 

 Journal for this month relative to Cape-grown 

 coffee for which that paper prophesises " an important 

 future." Aud this is founded on the fact that a 

 sample sent home was reported on by four reliable 

 authorities, as having many characteristics of Mocha, 

 and worth in the London market from 50s to 52s ! 

 An " important future " certainly. If the Cape can 

 grow coffee to pay at these figures, there should be 

 au exodus from Ceylon. 



The American evaporator, which is being used on 

 some estates for drjing cacao aud tea, is as usual 

 being altered, aud improved to fulfil the Ceylon 

 planters' idea of what a perfect machine of that 

 kind should be like. Double racks have been supplied, 

 and runuers all along the machine so as to allow 

 the trays to move from end to end with as little 

 expenditure of power as possible. But the machine 

 would be very much better if it were built of light 

 iron, instead of wood, there being with the latter 

 always the danger of fire. 



Planters who have been going iu for digging and 

 draining swampy grasslands for planting tea know 

 what an expensive process that is, and bow slow 

 the work progresses. They don't care to say 

 how much it cobts, and seldom like to think of it. 

 Yet, if I am rightly informed the expense of dig- 

 ging out the grass is almost unnecessary, for a 

 bi monthly weeding is said to be iu time quite as 

 effectual as the most careful picking out of 

 ro.'ts. The constant removing of the grass has the 

 effect of causing the roots to rot, and the tea plant, 

 in the meantime, is not kept back very much. 



Cacao, both in the lowcountry and here, is looking well. 

 Now that the cold winds have ceased, and the showers 

 have fallen, the bare leafless branches which looked as if 

 a fire had passed over them, are bursting into a 

 beautiful flush of young foliage and clothing them- 

 selves afresh. The trees are full of blossom, and 

 what with the decrease of Helopeltis and the pro- 

 spects of good pries at home, there is much eucour- 

 niciit to the grower. Peppercorn. 



THE CEYLON NORTHERN COFFEE (TEA) 

 DISTRICTS. 



Matale, 1st April. 

 Having done the once grandly profitable northern 

 coffee districts from Western Rangala to the Knuckles, 

 the Kelebokka Valley, Elkaduvva, and Kandanuwara, 

 my conclusions are that the utter extinction here 

 of coffee is but a question of a very limited period 

 of time, and that the rapidity aud success with 

 which tea is superseding the ancient product requires 

 to be seen to be appreciated. There have been 

 thunder-storms each day but very little rain, whioh 



is sadly wanted. The weatherwise Sinhalese predict 

 six months yet of comparative drought, but the 

 little monsoon and the big one will doubtless yield 

 the moisture which the new product desiderates. 



TEA BULKING AND PACKING IN COLOMBO 

 The opinion is spreading among some of our most 

 thoughtful planters that the time is fast approach- 

 ing when the store space in Colombo now lying 

 unoccupied through the failure of Coffee, will be 

 largely utilized in connection with the Tea Enter- 

 prize. It is said that notwithstanding the objection 

 to the retiring and repacking of tea in Colombo, 

 the work of sorting and bulking and the pack, 

 ing in large chests can be done so much more 

 conveniently here that the practice is likely to be 

 revived and gradually to increase in favour. One 

 plan adopted in Rakwana was to send the tea down 

 in air-tight barrels suitable for the shipment of 

 plumbago for which purpose they were afterwards sold. 

 As the only extensive experiment yet made was 

 that by the Ceylon Company Limited in their Grand- 

 pass store, we asked for information from the gentle- 

 man who then managed their affairs and the follow- 

 ing reply will be read with interest :— 



" In reply to yours of 1st instant, yes, it was in my 

 time that the experiment of sorting, final firing and 

 packing tea was tried by the Ceylon Compauy, Limited, 

 at their Grandpass stores. These stores have been 

 recently let, 1 understand, to Messrs. Delmege, Reid 

 & Co., but I fancy the tiring apparatus may" still bo 

 seen there unless Messrs. Delmege, Reid & Co. have 

 removed it to make room for storage of oil &c. 

 Financially speaking, the experiment was an un- 

 doubted success, partly no doubt owing to several 

 windfalls we had in repacking the cargoes of more 

 than one steamer laden with tea which came to 

 grief during the period I am alluding to. But, apart 

 from these windfalls, we did very well, and' I be- 

 lieve my successor strenuously opposed the shutting up 

 of this establishment, but orders from London were 

 imperative. Many complaints were made of the 

 tea being burnt, and it was gratuitously assumed that 

 this happened at Grandpass, whereas such a thing was 

 almost impossible there as we never did more than just 

 warm the tea to expel any little dampness which it 

 might have acquired on the way down or in store 

 prior to being packed. With small breaks from 

 gardens it was a great advantage being able to bulk 

 several lots so as to make sizable breaks. Doubt- 

 less packing in Colombo has its disadvantages, not the 

 least being the conveyance of the tea to Colombo in 

 packages other than such as could be used when 

 packed in the estate. We used zinc or tin lined cases 

 which were unscrewed after removal of the contents aud 

 then sent back to the estate. Iu this way we were 

 able to do all our carpentering and tea making in 

 Colombo, and freight to the estate on nails and tin lead 

 was saved. When the tea arrived here it was im- 

 mediately removed and transferred to large zinc or 

 tin lined bine which were easily rendered quite 

 as airtight us aDy similar receptacles on the 

 estates. We had sorting machinery to do the 

 ortiug, and, unless waiting to make up a break, 

 sortiug, bulking and packing were operations which 

 permitted of being carried out with the utmost 

 expedition. 



"I am quite satisfied myself that uo harm 

 need arise to the tea in an establishment of this 

 kind if properly conducted ; but when the Ceylon 

 Company, Limited, teas did not fetch the prices that 



