146 



'THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[AOGUST i, 1885, 



perimenta made to bring Javanese, Klinga and Battaks, 

 to plant tobacco in the same way, have all failed 

 owing to those people looking no further than meet- 

 ing their daily wants, and troubling themselves less 

 about the future than their fellow coolies from the 

 North. There is every reason for deeming that had 

 the planters no Chinese coolies available for their 

 tobacco estates, Sumatra tobacco would soon lose its 

 high reputation or become a thing of the past. But 

 it is just because the Chinese are so exactly suited 

 for this kind of cultivation that it is of 1 ho utmost 

 importance that their energies should be as much as poss- 

 ible eiclusively directed hitherto, and not to be largely 

 wasted in many secondary oi^oratious inseparable from 

 the work in hand, such as roadmaking, drain digging, 

 jungle felling, housebuilding, carriage of building 

 materials and tobacco in bullock carts, &e. For such 

 kind of work, labourers of other races are more suitable. 

 But KliDg^ are also particularly required ou the East 

 Coast of Sumatra for other kinds of crops than tobacco, 

 it -being hanl to get Chineve to grow them. As it 

 were from of old, the Chinese are in Deli inseparably 

 bound up with tobacco growing. The more they earn 

 by it, the better for the planters. They understand 

 full well that no other branch of cultivation can yield 

 them Buch advantages. Tobacco is what draws tbeni 

 from China. Were Kling immigration in the East 

 Coast of Sum.atra to be secured, and were it to result 

 in colonization by great numbers of that useful race 

 settling down with their wives and children, coffee 

 cultivation would be as practicable as in Ceylon, and 

 sugar growing as easy as in Provipce Wellesley, to say 

 nothing of many other industrial and planting pursuits. 

 Hence what Deli planters want is the importation of 

 as many labourers as possible of different races so as 

 to give each race a sphere of work suiting it in 

 pnrticular, to bring out as much as possible the 

 inexhaustible productive wealth of their estates, and 

 to settle a permanent population on the land alongside 

 a population which though steadily keeping up in 

 number is still a floating one. 



CEYLON TEA. 



{Written for the" Grocer," hy Jfr. John Hiujhes, Chemist.) 



Of late years Oeylon Tea has attracted so much attention, 

 and the competition at the Mincing Lane sales for specially 

 favoured brands has bi;en so keen, that the eye of the capit- 

 alist, as well as that of the struggling planter, has been 

 directed to Oeylon with a view of obtaining a profitable in- 

 vestment. To all such, as well as those interested in the 

 production and manufacture of tea we would recommend 

 the careful perusal of a little pamphlet on Geylon Tea pub- 

 lished by A. M. & J. Ferguson, Colombo, and which may be 

 obtained of Messrs. Haddon, Bouverie Street, E. 0. 



The book contains valuable information respecting the 

 most suitable soil, the selection of seed, the preparation 

 of the land and the cost of same ; also details respecting 

 the enormous yield obtained on certain estates amounting 

 to as much as SOO to 1,000 lb, of made tea peracre. 



But side by side with this, we find woi'de of warning to the 

 yowugaud iuexperlenoed and a caution tothoSB Ucwtothe 

 island which will be doubtless fully appreciated by all who 

 may be thinking of going to Coylon with a view of trying 

 their fortune. The healthiness of the tea gardens on the 

 Ceylon hills at an elevation of 4,000 to 5,000 feet is pro- 

 verbial and much in favour of the young planters as op- 

 posed to Assiim. 



Special attention appears to bo paid to ttie pfocess 

 of preparing the tea leaf for market, the forineutatiou 

 of the leaf, withering and firing being carried an with 

 every attention to scientific accuracy and with the aid 

 of the most improved machinery. At the present time 

 there is a demand for experienced men* who can super- 



* Nothing in our brochure indicates this: wo saidthere was 

 room tor capitalists, Ceylon has abundance of super- 



intend the manufacture, and take charge of depots on the 

 main roads where the green leaf is purchased from 

 neighbouring planters day by day ; for it is an advantage 

 that tea should be made on a large scale, the various qual- 

 ities being sorted out as soon as received for special sub- 

 sequent treatment. 



Time and space prevent us from going more fully into a 

 review of this little pamphlet, but to all those who may 

 think of embarking in the Ceylon Tea trade either as plant- 

 ers or merchants we would recommend a perusal. 



intendents for :ill " tea " work at present ; 

 £««« will bo differeut.— Eu, 



later on the 



CAOAOl AND CINCHONA BARK IN CEYLON. 



Our plantations of Cocao have undoubtedly sufTered 

 greatly in some places — notably Dumbara— from 

 Helojyehis, The preventive, it is now indisputably 

 demonstrated, is to supply shade which at once 

 stops the insect ravages. An interesting experi- 

 ment is mentioned to us where a planter erected 

 a temporary pandal over some rows of his 

 cacao trees in an almost leafless field. So soon as the 

 bare trees began to throw out shoots or fresh leaves, 

 in the open, the Helopeltis at once disposed of them ; 

 but, under the artificial shade even, the trees soon 

 became green- and vigorous and untouched by the 

 pest. In some cases where Cear4 rubber has 

 grown up into large forest trees, the cacao under the 

 same flourishes untouched. Cacao-planters in Ceylon 

 have therefore practically settled the question, and 

 their cultivated fields will soon be all under shade ; 

 but the same amount of crop cannot be expected 

 from the trees shaded as was got from the trees in 

 the open before Htlopdtis appeared : one-half last 

 year's crops is the estimate, and yet the cultivation 

 should pay well. From Matale and Western Dolos- 

 bage we have favourable accounts of the cacao ; in 

 the latter, it is being in some parts interspersed with 

 tea which in that climate is regarded as the great 

 staple of the future. As regards cinchona, we have 

 the opinion of a planter who has been keeping his 

 eyes open while travelling all over the country, 

 to the effect that Ceylon can supply all the demands 

 of the European and American cinchona bark market 

 for many — perhaps 20 —years to come, from the trees now 

 growing on our plantations 1 This, however, is contrary 

 to other opinious which indicate that with no fresh 

 plantings, our exports must run down erelong. We 

 suppose that if prices prove remunerative, Ceylon can 

 continue to send, at least, 10 million lb, of bark 

 for a number of years to come. — A good deal of in- 

 tere t is excited by the satisfactory coHee crops 

 gathered ^this year not only in Uva, but iu isolated 

 oases in the Dimbula and Dikoya districts. A ciop 

 of 4,000 bushels (SOO owt.) from 200 acres of ooileo 

 in Dimbula is very satisfactory, and it is asserted 

 that with px'Aper attention to cultivation, this may be 

 continued over many fields, especially if they hftve «□ 

 eastern exposure. At the same time everything stums 

 to have taken a turn tf Uto : even the grass, which 

 could not be got to grow eatisfact' rily ot laue years, 

 has been flouriohing this season. — Tea is, of course, 

 growing everywhere, and although there is a check 

 in the ehipmenta for the present, any deflcienoy will 

 Boon be made up, 



Tea. — .Some idea of the extent of the competition in 

 the retail tea trade may be gathered from the following 

 announcement displayed in the window of a Glasgow 

 tea shop:--" Tea for Nothing I One Pound of Tea for 

 Nothing ! — Wo are now selliog this very tine blend of 

 Indian and China tea at 28 per lb. In every fifth pound 

 parcel there is enclosed 2s ; every fifth half pound parcel 

 I1 ; and every fifth qnarter-pnund parcel Gd. The fort, 

 uia'e purchaseis of these particular parcels shall liavo 

 their pound of tea for nothing." — //. d: C, Mail. 



