52 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July I, 1885. 



A Botanic Station for St. Lucia. — A contemp- 

 orary, diacussing the propoBal of Mr. Morris to estab- 

 lish a botanic station at St. Lucia in couneotion 

 with the Jamaica Gardens, says : — " Without wish- 

 ing, in any way, to forestall the judgment o£ the com- 

 mittc?, we would at once state that a botanic station* 

 on the very limited scale suggested by Mr. Morris 

 would be perfectly useless in St. Lucia. That we want 

 information respecting the profitable culture of indus- 

 trial plants is quite certain. But we want that in- 

 formatiou to be, not merely mechanical, but intellig- 

 ently reasoned. We could not look for this from a 

 gardener at L^s to 18s a week, as recommended by 

 Mr. Morris, If we could get a good man, loving his 

 work, who could teach us how to make two pods of 

 cacao grow where one only is growing now, who could 

 show us how to get 7 tons ot sugar from the land 

 that now produces only t«'o, oud who could direct 

 our industry into new and paying channels, we could 

 well aftord to cheerfully pay him a liberal salary." — 

 Colonies and India. 



A Tea r,iMiNE Peodable. — The supply in this country 

 decreasing, aud nothiug coming from China. New Vorlc 

 World: The war between China and France creates great 

 luieasiuess among the importers ot tea. By reason of the 

 blockade of Chinese ports the supply in this market 

 is becoming limited, and fears are entertained that 

 this country will be affected with a tea famiue." 

 A member of the firm of A. Oolburn & Co., No. 110 

 AVall street, said yesterday ; — " The Island of Formosa, 

 npoi\ which we depend largely for our supply of black 

 teas, has been blockaded by the French since September. 

 As a natural consequence we have been unable to com- 

 municate any ordtrs we might .see fit to make to shippers 

 at that point. Therefore, we have received no invnices 

 since the war began," " For bow long a period will the 

 supply we now po.'-se.ss last y" " I fear we shall be very 

 short of tea before August unless the blockade is raised. 

 It is to be supposed that the planters in Formosa are 

 now sowing their crop. In June they will reap it. If by 

 that time the French vacate Chhiese w.atcrs we shall have 

 an abundant supply. iShoukl France, on the other hand, 

 decide not only to continue the blockade of Formota but 

 to cut off all communication with Shanghai, Foo Chow and 

 other tea ports, we sh;ill be forced to call upon Japan," 

 " Could Japan be depended upon to furnish us nn ade- 

 quate supply? " This country consumes annually in round 

 figures 10U,000,000 pounds of tea. The vast majority of 

 this we have heretofore received from China, Possibly 

 ■fapau sends us between 20,000,000 and 30,000,000 pounds. 

 I doubt if we could depend on lier for more than 

 50,000,000 pounds a ytar in the aggregate. You can readily 

 see then that should our Chinese supply be taken from 

 lis we should be put ou half rations. Tea parties would 

 then be rather expensive luxuries and indigent persons 

 would be compelled to forego the pleasure of partidcing 

 of the delicious drink. Our advices today say that as 

 yet there is no reason for believing that tlie blockade at 

 Formosa will be raised for sometime to cOme, The other tea 

 ports have not yet been compelled to sever communication 

 with us. What may happen in a week's time we are too 

 far from the scene of conffict to predict. 

 Strange idra of the steds sewing — quite as good as some 

 of the Directors of the L'eylon Company, Limited, who 

 proposed at a meeting of the shaieiiolders : — " That all 

 their estates should bo planted witli the seed of 

 * Orange J^ekoc' tree — and none of the coarser kinds 

 jilantcd." And another one wdio wrot'i to a friend 

 and asked him " to send a ]iinch of tea seed in his 

 Ufxt letter." But perhaps these ,ire old. Our cart 

 road is getting very na'ty, not at all like our " .Spoouer" 

 days. It is not tlie mim tliat is to blame. Mo''e improve- 

 ment in machinery nnc notices in every pap.r ; yes, in 

 two years' time most of our present will compare with 

 our future as " Alleck's rattle T. traps" (IS.'i.'ii to J. 

 W.alker & Co.'s, (1870) " improved gearless double pul- 

 pcrs." Sell your leaf to a central " I'actory " and wait a 

 little is my advice to Ks. T. B^. (Kniglits of the Tea 

 Buslies). 



THE PROGRESS OF TEA CULTIVATION 

 AND MANUFACTURE IN CEYLON. 



In a speech made by Mr. John Ferguson at the 

 Colonial Instilute very recently, it was shown, that, 

 though coffee had fallen off in quantity through leaf- 

 disease, the new products were likely erelong to balance 

 the deficiency. We have now arrived at the period of 

 the new products passing coffee, tea taking the lead 

 by several lengths, cinchona a good third and other 

 products bringing up the rear with more or less 

 success. Allowing then that tea will soon be the staple 

 product of Ceylon, coffee second, and cinchona third, 

 with a railway running through the heart of the 

 Central Province and region of tropical products, 

 Ceylon must regain a firm fooling and confidence in 

 commercial circles. 



A Visiting Agent of long experience remarked a few 

 days ago that the traffic on the railway would soon 

 be greater than ever known before since the advent 

 of the " iron horse " into our mountain ranges. It is 

 refreshing to hear the whistle of the steam engine 

 under the Great Western. Capitalists and others who 

 come up into the mountains simply to satisfy their 

 curiosity and breathe the mountain afr will be so 

 delighted with the scenery and struck so much by 

 surprize at seeing such a vast area under cultivation 

 that the f.ame of Oeylun will soon spread far and wide, 

 capital will be restored, and speculative merchants and 

 brokers out do each other in giving the highest prices 

 for produce. 



Let us now glance at the rapid progress tea cultiv- 

 ation has made during the past four or five years. 

 Another Visiting Agent anxious to glean statistics of 

 tea for the information of people at home made 

 a rough estimate of the area now under tea, and, 

 although lie omitted Kotmale and other districts likely 

 to produce tea largely, the total acreage arrived at 

 was no less than 85.000 acres " with power to add," 

 say 100,000 acres or half the cultivated area of the 

 Central Province under coffee, tea and cinchona. 



It IS true much of the above tea is under coffee 

 aud ciuchona, ' and on this important subject of 

 whether it is economical in the long run to grow 

 all three products grouped together much may be 

 written at some future time m this series of letters 

 to the Observer. 



No old planter, experienced in the fluctuation of 

 prices aud disappointments in relying on one pro- 

 duct, would advocate the wholesale rooting-up of 

 old King Coffee or cinchona as long as prices are 

 low. There is a very good prospect of both coffee 

 and cinchona rising in price at an early date. The 

 reason for thinkiug so, in the case of both products, 

 "the rush" has subsided and leaf-disease has shaken 

 confidence is, that thereby diminishing extended cultiva- 

 tion ; but the best of all reasons is the prospect of eman- 

 cipation of slavery in Brazil. As soon as the four 

 millions of cwt. ceas-o to pour into the American ' 

 and European markets and the other ooft'ee-piro- 

 ducing countries all more or less suffering from leaf- 

 disease and indifferent cultivation, coffee will rise 

 steadily and so will cinchona. .-Vs people cease to 

 cultivate this product aud the market is not glutted 

 wiih the article, prices will rise for a certainty. 



It is therefore extremely difficult to give any 

 advice as to the prudence or otherwise of roofing 

 up coffee and ciuchona to replace them with tea. 

 There is no question about the benefit tea would 

 derive by being released from the shade and drip 

 of ciuchona succirubra "itli its large cabbage-shaped 

 leaves, and as tea requires loose soil, well opened 

 to receive moisture, the network of roots must of 



