380 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Dec. i, 1885. 



VEGETABLE MARKOWS. 



The Colombo Scliool of Agiiciilture, Oct. 12tU, 1S85. 



Dear Siit,--I hopt' the following account of my 

 v«'^etiible marrow plantation may iiitt'.rt-.st, if not be 

 useful, to your numerous readers, as I have heard it 

 said marrows do not often prove a success iu the low- 

 country, 



in the ordinary cinnamon garden soil round holes 

 were dug a foot and a half in iliameter and depth, four 

 fci't apart, and dry leaves and other rubbish put in 

 and burnt. "Well-rotted- cow-dung was then applied. 

 The .seeds three in each hole were put in on the 19th 

 of August last and were found germinated in a week's 

 time. On the 10th September pigeon-duug dissolved 

 in water was applied to plants in a few of the holes 

 only, the others being left tu feed on the ash and cow- 

 dun^ previously applied. This afforded me a good 

 opportunity for comparison, and the result has shown 

 nie the decided advantage of the application of pigeon- 

 dung. For these plants to which I applied this rich 

 manure are veiy healthy and productive. The heavy 

 downpour wliich we had lately has been very destruc- 

 tive to my marrow-plants; many pistilate flowers and 

 young fruits have decayed. But notwithstanding this 

 drawback I have been able to get a good produce 

 trom the vines, and several of those to which pigeon- 

 dung were applied have yielded fruits weighing from 

 4 to 7h lb. I may also remark that these latter plants 

 have braved the late inclement weather much better 

 than the others. Care also was taken to wrap the 

 young fruits round with rags to prevaut attacks of in- 

 sects which infest the plants. This is a very import- 

 ant precaution for very rarely does a fruit enjoy im- 

 niuuity from these creatures when it is not thus 

 treated. — Yours faithfully, 



J. A. G. KODRIGO, Agricultural Student. 



TEA ; 



AN INDIAN CBITIC ON CEYLON TEA 

 PROSPECTS. 



We must congratulate the tea-planters in Ceylon 

 upon having brought their wares before the market 

 in a most noticeable way. At a time when India 

 was producing about the same quantity as Ceylon 

 now is, little, or nothing, was heard of it. Judg- 

 ing from the prices at hrst obtained for Ceylon 

 growths, we are forced to the conclusion that any 

 new country producing a small quantity in what 

 we may say an experimental way, can always 

 command more than its market value, and we 

 are already beginning to hear a complaint 

 now and again that Ceylon teas are going 

 off, even although the quantity to date is so 

 small, and we have not the slightest doubt 

 tluxt all with one or two exceptions, as in 

 Assam, will come to the same level of prices, and 

 that in a year or two. It will not take Ceylon teas 

 so long to suffer so-called deterioration as it has done 

 Indian teas, for as the supply increases so will the 

 fastidiousness of the brokers and dealers. When 

 Ceylon tea was first talked about we heard of nothing 

 less than 10 to 12 maunds per acre, Mariawattie and 

 some others being quoted as examples. Now, it is 

 strange that the yield should have come back to 

 something lilce what we predicted when first we 

 noticed this point, so far our predictions were 

 correct, and we very much doubt whether 

 Ceylon will ever be able to turn out its tea as cheaply 

 as India can. As instances of large yields in individ- 

 ual cases we can point to Doloo in Cachar, and 

 I'aijitola, Doom Dooma, Talup, and Hilika in Assam, 

 aud Chatlapore and Chaudpore in yylhet, so that 

 we may say that every district in Assam has its 

 own " ilariawattie,'" but it does not necessarily 

 follow that every inch capable of growing tea 

 will turn out at the same rate. Ceylon will not 

 for many years be able to come up to the average 

 of outturn of India, and wo therefore fail to see 



how Ceylon tea can be any better an investment 

 than Assam. We do not think that there is any 

 doubt, that given a reasonable time, the consump- 

 tion at home and abi-oad will expand suliiciently 

 to take oft' what will be produced, but if exten- 

 sions go on at the rapid rate they have been 

 doing for some years past, we do not believe that 

 the result can be anything but disastrous, aud 

 we will not be at all astonished if there is some- 

 what of a panic in a few years, as prices are 

 bound for a time to fall below cost of production 

 on many old estates. Looking through the tabul- 

 ated list, the cheapest rate which anyone can 

 lay down his crop in London is 9Jd, Chargola 

 Tea Co., Ld. ; whilst the most expensive is Is. 

 7d, the production of the Mungledye Co. We 

 will now take the lowest price obtained, which is 

 lljd, obtained by the Panitola Co., whilst the 

 highest is that of the Borokai Co., namely, Is 

 8d. The quantities per acre stand as follows : 

 Cargola, 301 lb. ; Mungledye, 1(58 lb. ; Panitola, 

 SGO lb. ; and Borokai, 297 lb. With regard to 

 profit, Borokai makes the lai-gest per cent, Pani- 

 tola next, Chargola last ; whilst Mungledye is 

 out of the running, making a good loss. We must 

 not forget to take into account the capital per 

 acre, which is respectively £48, £61, £48, and 

 £102, thus Panitola and Borokai carry the same 

 capital, whilst the Mungledye Co. has double,' 

 and Chargola, we may say, one-third more ; taking 

 this into consideration Borokai pays a better per- 

 centage, and can afford to stand a decline in prices 

 better than any other, but it is an exception, and 

 must not be counted upon as a general factor, and 

 we consider that Chargola is a better representative 

 than Borokai on the one hand or Mungledye on the 

 other ; there may be circumstances particularly 

 favorable to the one and as disastrous to the 

 other. Suppose we take Chargola as an instance 

 then the initial cost of the tea is Slid., and 

 the gross price realized is Is l|d., or a net 

 profit of 4d per lb., equal to 7^^ per cent on 

 the capital ; supposing the market should drop 

 2d per lb. all round, this reduces the profit 

 by half, and is scarcely an investment much to 

 be desired. The question then comes to be, 

 can the Chargola and other companies turn 

 out these teas any cheaper than they are doing ? 

 and this we doubt much, but we will even go so 

 far as to say they can buy Id per lb., that is to say, 

 for Sdperlb., and say the market does drop con- 

 siderably, yet the crop realizes Is per lb., and we 

 still retain our 7i per cent. That the market will 

 be affected by the large extensions coming into 

 bearing, we do not doubt for a moment, but so long 

 as companies can be managed in this way thei'e 

 need be no fear. We come now to the question of 

 Ceylon teas, and naturally ask the question can 

 the tea be turned out on a cheaper scale than the 

 above ? We unhesitatingly say, No 1 It is true 

 some of those heavy yielding gardens to which 

 we have referred, may do so, because they 

 were begun under particularly favourable auspices. 

 Had they not the old factory buildings to fall 

 back upon ? had they not the lauds cleared, and 

 ready to plant'? abandoned coffee lands at least. 

 Allowing all these ailvantages we come to the more 

 important one of labor, and this is perhaps the 

 equalising point ; the Ceylon planters are the same 

 as our Indian planters, obliged to import the article, 

 and if they do not give bonuses they give higher 

 rates of pay, and we imagine with one thing and 

 another they cannot import more cheaply than their 

 Indian brethren. So far, we have heard but little 

 of the many pests that tea is heir to, but it will 

 be indeed be a land flowing with milk and honey 



