April i, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



669 



TEA GAEDEXS IX INDU. 



It may sound somewhat strange, but it is as- 

 serted as a fact by Mr. Luttmaun Johnson in his 

 last report on the Assam Valley districts, that there 

 has never yet been any authoritative definition of 

 a tea garden. In the Kanirup district rayats' patches 

 consisting of only one or two acres, are reckoned 

 as gardens ; in other districts a concern worked by 

 one manager with one set of books for accounts 

 and one set of registers for emigration piirpeses, 

 and only one place for mannifacturing, is counted 

 as three or four gardens, because the tea cultiv- 

 ation is not all comprised within one ring fence, 

 but is situated in different patches. Under these 

 circumstances doubts are thrown upon the figures 

 showing the number of gardens worked in 1884, 

 but these show a reduction from the previous year, 

 due chiefly to the lists of gardens having been re- 

 vised in all the districts except Sibsagar, and tea 

 patches, which are not independent gardens, hav- 

 ing been struck off. There were altogether in the 

 district of Goalpara, Kamrup, Darrang, Nowgong, 

 Sibsagar, and Luckhimpur, on the 31st of Decem- 

 ber 1884, 07(; gardens, containing 93,23.5 acres 

 under mature plants, and 3,432 acres under im- 

 mature plants, the average area under tea in each 

 garden being 157-7 acres. There were also 3(30,407 

 acres of laud taken up, but not yet planted. The 

 total outturn from the above districts was 32,987,107 

 lbs., giving an average of 354 lbs., per acre. This 

 average, however, varies considerably, for many 

 gardens in the Luckhimpur district produce nine 

 and sometimes ten maunds per acre. The Panitola 

 tea garden gave eight and-a-half maunds, and the 

 ]>oom Poem Company reports eight maunds. In 

 the Sibsagar district four maunds is considered a 

 good ontturn, and in Nowgong several gardens pro- 

 duce seven maunds, whilst over a large area the 

 average does not exceed three maunds. The cost 

 of producing a pound of tea up to the moment of 

 its shipment on board the steamer for transport 

 t; Calcutta, has been reduced in some concerns to 

 fonr-and a-half and even four annas. — Enfilishman. 



PLANTING IN CEYLON AND SOUTHERN 

 INDIA. 



TWO OPINIONS ON CP.VI.O.V TEA — I..\NT.4NA — ODIOtJS COM- 

 PAKISONS— RAIN IN CROP TIME—" CANNON's InSORF. " 

 HF.MILF.IA OS COFFEF. BERRIES — TRK CEVI.ON CRICKET- 

 ERS — (iOOD WISHES. 



There is a letter by a Mr. J. O. Logan in the 19th 

 of January issuf of the riidiun Planters' Ga.ette 

 about which I should like to make a few remarks. 



First, I must call altentiim to the great diflerencE 

 between this man's style and tone, and that of the 

 Assam man who wrote in such execrable taste and 

 with such small-pated prejudice to (he inquiring 

 citizen of Aberdeen. Of course the latter's remai'ks 

 were not addressed to Ceylon, nor were they pub- 

 Isihed by his wish ; but such lamentable perversions 

 of truth, such venomous acridity towards a struggl- 

 ing colony should be put down. We all know 

 that it is that etprit dc corps, that " cockiness," 

 that has kept Ceylon through the dark and fiery trials 

 of the past ; and those who still have an interest 

 in Ceylon enterprizc should not be sorry that the 

 smoking flax is not quenched, that the bruised reed 

 is not entirely broken. One of the first hopeful 

 symptoms of a convelascent is a certain assertive- 

 ness of temijer and overbearingness of manner. 



But over and beyond this view, those who love 

 Ceylon are pained in their hearts at seeing anvthing 

 like blind ioily, or wilful repetition of acts the 

 modness of whieh have been so apparent. Mr. 

 Logan during hia short visit has proved his shrewd 



perceptive faculties, though he is rather "out" 

 in many points. 



He remarks on "the unnecessary jealousy" 

 between Indian and Ceylon planters. Well I have 

 seen a good deal of that even where tea is not con- 

 cerned. The fault is not on the Indian side. It is 

 a weakness begotten of insular prejudice. I had it 

 myself, but I trust I have shaken it off. The same 

 class of men engaged in the same pursuits can't be 

 very diverse except through the course and influence 

 of circumstances. Well, in Ceylon financiers had 

 the thick end of the stick and all Ceykn dealings had 

 a stock-broking smell about them. Mr. Logan hits 

 one nail truly when he says " large estimates and ex- 

 pectations have been formed, and if any super- 

 intendent falls behind in his yield, someone else 

 will be sent to bring it up, thus everything has 

 been driven at high pressui-e," Ac. This surely is 

 strong confirmation of my remarks in former letters, 

 remarks which were termed severe. Mr Logan 

 says: "In fact, the planters of Ceylon are hard 

 at work killing their goose." Oh ! it is clear to 

 others ; yet why will Ceylon shut her eyes to the 

 truth 1 Drive those Colombo agents " into the 

 harbour ; provide those Visiting Agents with pen- 

 sions ; burn all those estimate forms and paper 

 logic ; and lastly, dear planters, ask the editors 

 of the Crijion Ohxcrver to encourage prudenci) rather 

 than criminal haste, to praise the quiet careful 

 man and be less flattering to the man o£ statistics 

 and enormous yields whose nan^e is Rutherford.* 

 Mr. Logan says : " Yet they are not without guides 

 in the laud," and goes on" to refer to Mr. Spear- 

 man Armstrong's and Mr. C. A. Hay's cautious ad- 

 vice against forcing yoimg bushes. I put the bulk 

 of the blame on a set of pig-headed V. A.'s.f I 

 heard more unseund doctrine from the V. A.'s I 

 met than from scores of young intelligent aspirants 

 whose wings were singed by the quarterly contact 

 with a peripatetic financier. The great weakness 

 in Mr. Logan's argument is the very culpable 

 omission he made, viz., to visit the Kelani Valley. 

 Mr. Logan, of course, refers to the self-complac- 

 ent contemplation of Ceylon figuratively in the 

 looking-glass and literally in her literature when hQ 

 says : " A remarkable tone of sanguine boastful- 

 nesR rims through all the literature and much of the 

 conversation about tea." 



To sum up my idea of Mr. Logan's letter, — when 

 an expert, trained in and accustomed to certain 

 peculiar conditions of the country of his choice 

 and certain peculiar requirements of the plant of 



his cultivation, 1 say when this expert can 



visit a country where climatic conditions, vegetable 

 requirements and pecuniary resources are all different, 

 ho cannot be a fair judge for or against. Now I 

 have experienced the change I speak of, not as a 

 temporary holiday, but a permanent change, and 

 I have learned to respect both Mysore and Ceylon; 

 and at the same time I have seen weakness on 

 both Bides. I have had time to weigh carefully 

 the arguments, and I think anything like scorn or 

 boastfulness betokens deficient knowledge or defici- 

 ent brains. 



I '11 tell you a case of that. I had occasion to 

 make a remark on the different view Ceylon usually 

 took of lantana from the view entertained in India, 

 namely, that the former thouglU it more of a 

 blessing than a curse. This was at a planters' 

 meeting and th<! remark wfis published, with the 



* This is not fair to Mr. Rutbertord, whoso stat- 

 istics, as giien some time ago, erred, if at all, on the 

 side of iftodTatiiii) — En. 



t What. or. aa they .say iu Aberdeen awa, " Fat liils 

 ye at. the V. A.'s, d juco bodies auil, 'pouslblc aa tlioy 

 are 'r"— Ed, 



