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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March 2, 1885. 



ALBIZZIA STIPULATA, THE RENOVATING 

 TREE FOR TEA PLANTERS. 

 Having now referred to Thwaites' Enumcratio, we 

 find that the tree so favourable to tea cultiv- 

 ation is quite common in Ceylon up to 2,000 feet. 

 As it grows iu the Himalayan regions, i0 u north 

 of Ceylon, to 4,000 feet, we need merely repeat 

 our conviction that it will flourish here to any 

 elevation to which cultivation has extended or is 

 likely to extend. From the .extract we quote it will 

 be seen that there are four Albizzias indigenous to 

 Ceylon, the Sinhalese name of A. stipulata being 

 " Kabal-uulra-gaha ; A. odoralissima being known to the 

 Sinhalese as " Huri-raclra-gaha." One of the writers 

 in the pamphlet mentions " Ainlukie" and "Modar" 

 as good for tea. We find that Amlukie is one of the 

 native names applied to A. stipulata. It is also the 

 Assamese name of Phyla lUhus emblica, of which 

 Gamble states that " the bark is used for tanniug and 

 in medicine ; chips of the wood are said to clear 

 muddy water." The fruit is the emblic myrobolam 

 and is used as a medicine, for dyeing, tanning and 

 for food and preserves. It gives a gum which is 

 not used. P. emUica is the common " nelli-gaha" of 

 our patanas, which is found up to 4,(00 feet. We 

 should never have supposed that this tree could be 

 useful to tea. Thwaites says " the fruit of this tree 

 is much esteemed as a medicine by the Singhalese, 

 The timber is used for buildings." " Modar " is not 

 ;n Gamble's list of vernacular names, but we find 

 " Modhuriam " as the Assamese name of Psidium 

 guava, introduceed from America and now semi-wild 

 all over India. It is cultivated for its fruit, the 

 bark is used in medicine as an astringent and the 

 leaves for dyeing in Assam. The following is the list 

 of Ceylon Albizzias : — 



70. Albizzia, Durazzini, Benth. 



1. A. Lebbek, Beuth. Hook. Journ. of Bot. iii. 87 

 Walp. Rep. v. 596. — Acacia speciosa, Willd. ; W. et A. 

 Prod, i. 275, cum syn.— c.p. 3,130. 



Hab. Anooradliapoora, Mr. Jjrodie; bauks of the Ooma 

 Oya, in the Badulla district. 



2. A. odoratissima, Benth. 1. c. p. 88 ; Walp. 1. c. — 

 Acacia odoratissima, Willd. ; W. et. A., 1. c. cum syn. — 

 c.p. 1,520. 



Hab. Warmer parts of the island, up to an elevation 

 of 2,000 feet. Norn. vulg. "Hooree-mara-gass." 



3. A. amara, Boivin, (Benth. 1. c. p. 90; Walp. 1. c. p. 

 597.)— Acaoia amara Wild. ; W. et A., 1. c. p. 274, cum 

 syn.— c.p. 1,518. 



Hab. North of the island, Gardner. 



4. A. stipulata, Benth. 1. c. p. 92; Walp. 1. c. p. 598, 

 cum syn. — Acacia stipulata, DC; W. et A., 1. c— c.p. 1,517. 



Hab. Warmer parts of the island, up to an elevation of 

 2,000 feet. Norn. vulg. " Cabul-mara-gaes." 

 Mr. W. Ferguson writes to us as follows :— 



" The Albiasia stipulata,'Boir., is quite a common tree 

 iu the Western Province of Ceylon, and is well-known 

 under its Sinhalese names Kabal-mara or Hulau-mara. 

 It is a high tree, and, as its specific name iudicates, is re- 

 markable for its large stipules. When in flower it is a 

 very beautiful plant. The closing up of the leaves of this 

 tree at night is common to the Leguminosere, but I think 

 this group of plants is more sensitive to the want of light 

 and the leaves droop as soon as the sun sets. The tree 

 seeds freely, and seed can easily be procured. The tree that 

 is so fatal to tea plants after it is dead is no doubt the large 

 Ceylon form of Symplocos obtusa. Wall., and C. P. 1820. 

 The specimens of roots of this tree sent from Abbotsford 

 are very much affected with dry ret, and it is likely that 

 this fungus affects all the living plants near it." 



THE TEA TRADE IN 18S4 : THE RELATIVE 

 POSITIONS OF INDIAN AND CHINA TEA. 



SUPPLY ANI1 DEMAND— TEA PRICES— INDIA, CHINA AND 

 CEYLON— PLUCKING AND SORTING -GOOD PROSPECTS. 

 Coffee has been at a low ebb during the past year, 

 but we cannot, in view of the prices of 1840-49, 

 say of this article, as we must say of wheat, 

 of sugar and of tea, that never in the world's history 

 were they to be obtained for so little money. 

 If, as we suppose, competition amongst, retailers has 

 in the end given the consumers a large portion of 

 the benefit thus secured, we may well affirm that, 

 whatever be the case with the owners of capital and 

 the conductors of agricultural enterprize, never before 

 were the wages-earning class in a better position as 

 regards the necessaries and even some of the luxuries 

 of life. Supply in almost every commodity and even 

 in shipping has overtaken demand, aud prices and 

 profits have gone down in proportion. As regards tea, 

 the British planters on the banks of the Brahmaputra 

 and on the slopes of the Eastern Himalayas, equally 

 with the toiling peasantry on the borders of the Yang- 

 tze-kiang and in the neighbourhood of the Yellow 

 River, have felt the effects of their own enterprize 

 and industry, in the shape of lowered, in many 

 cases utterly inadequate, returns. The consumption 

 of tea, in Britain at least, has increased, and is in- 

 creasing, until it has reached 5 lb. per caput of the 

 population ; but as the supplies poured in from 

 India and Java, added to China and Japan, are be- 

 yond the demand for consumption or for export, the 

 process of selection has gone on rapidly to the detri- 

 ment of China and the comparative benefit of India. 

 " Comparative " we have written, because, although 

 India is rapidly gaining on China in the matter of 

 consumption, prices for the better tea as well as for 

 the inferior have gone down to an unprecedented 

 level, to a level indeed which but for aud even with 

 all advantages of labour-saving machinery must leave 

 a lots to many Indian "concerns" as well as to the 

 cultivators and the middlemen of far Cathay. The 

 contest is at present between China and India, and the 

 representative of modern civilization is rapidly driving 

 its ancient rival from the field. Ceylon has commenced 

 to intervene and will soon be seriously compel iog with 

 both, aud her ultimate sucoess will depend as laigelyon 

 keeping up the high quality of her produce as on the 

 increasing quantity she will send into the maikets. 

 Of course neither skill nor care cau always counter- 

 act the effect of meteorological conditions, but we need 

 not advise our planters to do their best, because we 

 know they quite appreciate the situation aud their own 

 prospictB and responsibilities. 



The uiBtory of the tea trade in 1881 as regards 

 both Chini and India is summed up in an elabor- 

 ate review by Messrs. Stem ing, luskipp & Co. ( 

 which we should gladly publish in full, did space 

 permit. That being impossible, we proceed to sum- 

 marize the main facts and figure?. To many the 

 results of the China trade must have been disastrous* 

 while, shoitly stated, the history of the Indian 

 trade for the paBt year has been equally disappoint- 

 ing to grower and importer. The season, generally, in 

 Iudia was not favourable to quantity and quality of leaf, 

 aud prices, as we have indicated, reached their lowest 

 level. But w<) cannot deubt that the beneficial effect 

 of largely iucreased consumption iu the future, arising 

 from low prices now, will tell in favour of tlioBe who 

 produce the best article. And iu this respect Ovylon is 

 not likely to fall behind, In the summary generally 



