

THE TROPICA! AGRfCm.tTJ^IST. 



[June i, 1885, 



Notwithstanding your advocacy of this Bjstem' and 

 •'C. W. H." 's attempt to prove that it would bo 

 feasible, not one redeeming feature has been shown 

 iu its favour ; but, on the contrary, from whatever 

 point of view it is looked at, increased cost to the 

 producer appears prominently before us, and side by 

 side with it division of responsibility, los-s from re- 

 weighing and linal firing, creating confusion in accounts, 

 lots" by bursting of bags en route, loss from pilfering 

 and mixing by 'cartmeu and damage by rain when 

 after atime the waterproofing becomes worn olf the bag. 



No, no, Mr. Editor, you must not saddle the al- 

 ready overburdened planter with the maintenance 

 of the Colombo mills. They have had their day. The 

 auuual export of coffee is rapidly . decreasing that 

 for next year+ will cert duly be under 200, 00U cwts., 

 probably will not much exceed 150.000 cwts., enough 

 perhaps to give full work to three of the largest 

 mills, and merchants will have to submit to the 

 inevitable and turn their attention to purely com- 

 mission business. I suggested in a former letter 

 that some other use might be devised for the empty 

 stores and barbacu.es. Could not a Skating Kink 

 Company be promoted to take over a few of them? 

 A Public Hall Company to purchase one in the 

 Cinnamon Garden?, another or perhaps two in the 

 neighbourhood of the Pettah ? A few more might 

 be utilized for the erection of baths now that Co- 

 lombo will so on be provided with an abundant sup- 

 ply of water. "• 



TEA FACTORIES: OLD RAILS AND 

 CHARCOAL. 



Wattegama, 9th May 1SS5. 



Sl Rj In your issue of the 8th, " Planter " asks what 



is the'average length of old rails of the Ceylon Govern- 

 ment Railway. Most of the rails are 21 feet in length, 

 and I believe two of them would be equal to the 

 strain that an IS inch pillar of masonry would stand, 

 and, if you wanted three rails, you could take off half 

 the flange of two of them and bolt all together, or 

 four rails' even with half flange taken off each rail; 

 and if " Plauter" wants any further information 

 as regards what can be made from old rails, I think 

 Mr. H. K. Rutherford would be the man to apply to, 

 as I saw some good bridges that he made from old 

 rails eight years ago at Gampola, and the same can 

 b-; done' as regards tea-houses. Old rails are' sold at 

 £4 per ton, and about rive rails go to the ton and 

 a few tons would go a long way with a tea-house for 

 pillars, beams, ties, and so on, and would last for ever. 



As regards charcoal, if " Planter " will cut his wood 

 iu lengths of about six inches, make a pile of it and 

 cover with earth, leaving a hole at the bottom to 

 set light to it and a hole in the top as a vent 

 for smoke and so on, until the whole is well alight, 

 and then cover up completely, he will get charcoal. 

 — Yours truly, RUST, 



THE ROCKS~OF CEYLON : INTERESTING ' 

 AND ACCURATE INFORMATION. 



Colombo, 12th May 1885. 



Dear Sir, — I would remind your correspondent 



"A Geologist" that the rocks of Ceylon belong 



almost entirely to the gneiss and mica schist groups, 



known also as the azoic or nonfossiliferous system. 



* This is a curious, example of jumping to conclusions ; 

 we "advocated" nothing of the kind; we " speculated " as 

 to what the future might bring about and asked "O. ~\Y. H." 

 for his opinion, and so we are both criticized as if we 

 were urging planters to make a change !— Ed. 



I "S." talks of "next year": we refer tq/n yean hi uce, 

 when 80,000 acres at 100 lb! each should be smiling 

 30;OOU,000 lb. of tea through our port: a good dial no doubl 

 sold locally and dealt with tinally in Qolombo - Br 



This distinction, however, rests solely on negative 

 evidence, no remains of life having been as yet dis- 

 covered in these rocks. They are also known as 

 mctamorphic, a name referring to their mineral 

 characteristics, and implying that the original 

 structure of the rocks has undergone a change. 



Primary limestone is found iu parts of Ceylon, 

 notably between Hakgala and Wilson's Bimgalow, 

 and between Radulla and Taldeua ou the old Batti- 

 caloa road, but it is a highly crystalline rock de- 

 void of fossils. 



( v !uartz rock occurs largely in many of our plant- 

 ing districts, notably iu ■ Madulsima. Mica schists 

 and talc schists are not uncommon : very perfect 

 specimens of the latter can be seen near Migahakeula 

 ou the old Batticaloa road. All these, however, be- 

 long to the same system of metamorphic rocks iu 

 which, as I stated before, no fossils have yet been 

 found. Being however distinctly stratified rocks 

 originally formed by the action of water, it is possible 

 that remains of life or plants may be found in these 

 rocks.— Yours faithfully, GRANITE. 



Bocjawantalawa, 9th May.— We' are at last having 

 what appears to be the little monsoon, wet, thundery 

 afternoons, and stuffy, hot mornings. Coffee is look- 

 ing well, and in the lower end of the valley crops 

 will exceed those of last year. No signs of leaf, 

 disease. Tea is doing wonders. On one field of 40 

 acres, 20 months old, topped only 3 mouths ago, 

 the yield of the 4th plucking is 36 pounds leaf per 

 acre ! What do you think of that ! The immediate 

 necessity for large factories and machinery has given 

 us a sudden but pleasant shock. I am pleased to 

 see Colonel Money is taking notice of the increased 

 duty on tea. If it passes, the producer will suffer most. 

 Mark my words ! [No fear of ajduty on tea now.— Ed.] 



Notes on Planting and Pkoduce — Several letters have 

 reached us upon the subject of a proposed duty on tea. 

 "Common Sense" writes :—" All should protest against 

 tins proposed tax. It is monstrous that tea, a neoessity for 

 the poor and a harmless drink, should be taxed at such an 

 absurdly high rate, it is difficult to perceive. II this in- 

 crease is carried out it means 100 per cent on Chinese, and 

 75 per cent on Indian teas, ?'. e., on the prices they now 

 fetch iu Miucing Lane ! The increased tax will all be paid 

 by the consumer, no part by the retailer. The Gd duty is 

 already out of all proportiou to the value of the article." 

 Anglo-Indian writes :— " Apart from other considerations 

 a tax on tea would be a blow to India." Tea culture in 

 Hindostan has made rapid progress during the last twenty- 

 one years. In 1861 the consumption was little more than 

 100,000 lb. It reached last year quite 60,000,000 lb. Would 

 it notbe most impolitic and inexpedient to put heavier 

 shackles on this important industry, to check the expanding 

 output of extending gardens. — //. <f O. Mail. 



The Assam Tea Industry.— We -quote as follows 

 from the general summary prefixed to the report on 

 the administration of the Province of As^am for the 

 year 1883 SI:— "The total number of tea gardens 

 on their register is 1,023, of which 590 are worked 

 by Act coolies, 221 by coolies not under the Act, and 

 209 have no resident labourers, but are worked 

 by the inhabitants of the neigbnuring villages. These 

 gardens occupy 923,000 acres, but only 167,700 acres 

 were returned as occupied by mature tea-plants iu 

 full bearing. The tea crop of 18S3 amounted to 46 or 

 47 million pounds, or about 290 pounds per acre ; 

 it was an average crop, and much the same as that 

 of 1SS2, but the area under tea having increased, the 

 outturn was larger by about 2 million" pounds. The 

 average cost of cultivation may b>- roughly set down 

 as 6 annas per pound, and the average price obtained 

 in Calcutta, after payment of freight, at 8 aunae. 

 This docs not leave a largo margin to cover interest 

 on capital, which may ruu as high as R 1,000 per a 



Indian Daily S 



