January i, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



469 



TEA AND COl-FEE IN CEILOX. 

 The utmost activity eoutinues to prevail among 

 oar tpa-planteis, and machinists are very busy 

 over the needful preparing machinery for the tea 

 factories, in ail its varied forms of rollers, dri ers 

 withenrs, sifters, etc. Planters whose gardens 

 are just coming into bearing are glad to 

 be able to sell their leaf at remunerative prices 

 to their more advanced neighbours, and we hear 

 that as much as 13 cents per lb. is being paid in 

 Maskeliya for newly plucked leaf, at a rate equal 

 to '.»d a lb. (or the dry leaf. But, after all, the 

 ambition of estate proprietoi-s is each to have his 

 own set of machinery and factory as soon as poss- 

 ible. This may be all right where there is a con- 

 siderable area under tea, but the convenience of 



central well-equipped factories wliere their leaf is 

 bought (or even prepared on account) must be 

 more and more appreciated by smaller gardens. One 

 proposal mooted which deserves serious consider- 

 ation from the owners of tea-gardens around Kandy 

 is tu attach a tea-factory to the well-known ISogam- 

 bra Mills of Messrs. John Walker & Co. where 

 there is plenty of power in water and steam to 

 drive the reipiisite machinery. By and-hye we may 

 expect lo have similar favourable central positions 

 in the lowcountry taken advantage of, for the benefit 

 more particularly of native growers of tea. 



There is another department in which a renewal 

 of activity may be anticipated with progress in 

 tea, namely in the import and local preparation 

 of suitable manures. And as the foundation for any 

 such work and indeed for many more useful oper- 

 ations (more esjjecially the establislnnent of a 

 local manufactory of cinchona alkaloids if not of 

 quinine itself) we have had a proposal laid before 

 onr readers by a Loudon correspondent of practical 

 experience for the establishment of a Sulphuric 

 Acid Manufactory in Colombo. A pattern one has 

 already been set agoing with success in the little 

 island of Barbados in the West Indies, and there 

 is abundance of room for one in Ceylon, so that 

 the project is likely to take shape ere long and 

 directly and indirectly to afford the aid of the 

 chemist to the plantmg coniiiuniity. 



That new life is springing up in the community 

 is evidi'iiced by the sales of lea property and 

 forest-land -the latter by private parlies at I{:10 per 

 acre, while a share in the Kandaloya tea estate 

 has been disposed of for 17,1)00 cash. The tea- 

 plant in Ceylon certainly astonishes old eotfee 

 jdanters by its ready adaptation to climate and soil : 

 a report on tea at an altitude of from fl.OOO to 

 C,800 feet in Udapussellawa stated that the growth 

 and Hushing were almost as good as in the low- 

 country ! From sea-level to the top of I'idurutala- 

 "ala even, the tea-plant in its several varieties will 

 .■Iiparently llourish. The hivrdy variety of the Assam 

 •Indigenous" has given very good results at an 

 elevation of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet in Ceylon 

 where there is shelter, abundance of rainfall and 

 fairly good soil. There are some, too, who have 

 planted " Indigenous " lower down who are satisfied ; 

 but, as a rule, those who have tried or watched both, 

 much prefer a good Hyhiid as the liardier and 

 generally more satisfactory plant. This opinion an 

 old Assam proprietor and practical planter i)assing 

 through Colombo the other day fully endorsed to us. 

 The 'Indigenous,' which costs from Kl'iO up- 

 wards on the estate in Assam, is too delicate a 

 plant in our climate as a rule, while the kind 

 which succeeds is tliat sold in Colombo at from 



E70 to ESO under the name of 'Indigenous,' but 

 which is probably move a high-class Hybrid. 



From tea we may turn for a moment to coffee 

 to mention, that, wliile, taking the country as a 

 whole and especially the old districts, there is 

 scarcely any crop to gather, yet in some planmtions 

 we hear of wonderfully g®od picking's which is 

 the rule in the fine Udapussellawa district where 

 also the promise is very favourable. Oxer '270 acres 

 of comparatively young coffee on Peacock. Pussellawa. 

 Mr. \Vm. Smith who has recently gone therefrom 

 Bimbula, has got such a crop as lias ke))t him 

 as busy as in the palmy crop days of the 

 years ago. Pulping by lantern liglit to a late hour, 

 picking against time to save crop from dropping, 

 and even gathering coffee from under the trees are 

 all novel experiences of late years, and yet we 

 cannot help hoping that where good coffee is kept 

 up in cultivation and surrounded with other products, 

 old diseased trees being pulled out, there may be 

 profitable crops gathered for many years to eome. 

 In the midst of his hurry in crop, Mr. Wm. 

 Smitli found the greatest possible help and satis- 

 faction in Mr. Westland's recent invention, the 

 sieve-plate for preventing good coffee beans drop- 

 ping among the rubbish from the pulper. It is 

 simply perfect as a labour-saver and ought to 

 have made the fortune of the inventor -most 

 simple as it is — had he only appeared with it 20 

 or HO years ago in Ceylon. As it is, Mr. Westland 

 ought to be able to get "royalty" from Java, 

 Biazil and Central American planters for a con- 

 trivance which cannot help being greatly appreci- 

 ated wherever coffee is "pulped." 



PiiYLLoxKRA Laws. — -The kiugdoin of Greece is 

 the last which has fuuud it imperative in the interests 

 of the vineyard culture— an import.njt one indeed 

 for the ininiatun^ moiiirchy — to forbid all trade 

 with North and South AniL-rica, Avistralia, Africa, 

 the coast of Asia Minor, and the whole of liurope, 

 \vith the exception of Holland, Belgima, Denmark, 

 and the Scandinavian kingdom, iti trees and plants 

 of every kind. fr(!sli fruits and tiu-ir foliage, fruit 

 jiiicts in natural or mixed state ; tlovvfiiiiij l»ull)s, and 

 friisli tlcsby roots of every description, \'ine slakes 

 which have been useil iu vineyanls; and, lastly, hay 

 ill biuiilles. The rtigulafioii dates from .fuly 5, 1883. 

 As usual the rtjstrictions are for the uiost part absurd 

 anil unnecessary. — G'afileiio'a' Chronicle. 



LoeAii Sales ok Cinchona Eauk. — In a letter from 

 Mr. M. A. Lawson, Director of Government Cinchona 

 Plantations, Parks and (Jardens, Nilgiris, to the 

 (tovernmcnt, reporting the result of the auction sale 

 of Cinchona bark on behalf of Governnieiil, on the 

 Tith October, he says: — '■ It will be observed thai the 

 Hoot Crowu bark sold very well {iiVl^t against 11112 

 at the auction of September 188.5) but that the 

 price realised for the Kcnewed and Mossed Crown 

 viz., E124 and K122, respectively, is somewhat below 

 that obtained at fhe February and March sales, viz., 

 1U:S0 and K12H. This is due to the comparatively 

 low price which the Naduvatiini .Mosseil Crown 

 fetched (l{ll:i) compared with that of Dodabetta 

 (Rl!t2). This latter has sold better than any of those 

 in February or March. The rate per pound, however, 

 (Is 11^1:1) compares favorably with the last London 

 quotation for the same kind of bark (lis IJd), that is 

 after making a due allowance for freight, insurance 

 and other charges ; and on the whole. I think, that 

 the results of the sale may be considered fairly 

 s.atisfactory. Messrs. Oakes & Co. mention that a 

 Bombay Firm of Chemists was among the pur- 

 chasers, while heretofore, Tiouses of agency in 

 i Madras have been the only purchasers. This is an 

 I evident sign that competition for the bark in Madras 

 ' is on the increase.— J/<((/r«.N Mud. 



