April i, 1886.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



693 



can deliver it iu London at 6A per lb., or little more 

 tbau halt the minimum cost of Assam tea. Nor is 

 it, like Tokay or Johannisberger, limited to favoured 

 spots. It gi-o\YS indifferently over all the hillsides 

 of ('oylon, and when the young gardens come into 

 full bearing, it may be supplied without stint. The 

 crop of the current season is expected to roach 

 6,(X)0,W0 lb., of fully 10 per cent of the whole produc- 

 tion of Indian tea. The Ceylon planters predict that 

 they will be easily able to double the quantity next 

 year, and tlu'ee years hence they hope to ha\'e their 

 export up to 20,0110,000 lb. There may be a little 

 boasting in this, which those who indulge in it will be 

 the first to regret when they tLnd that it has drawn 

 down on themselves a flood of competiou. But a 

 large margin may be written off for too optimist 

 anticipations, and a formidable residuum of hard 

 fact be left. Until the capabilities of Ceylon have 

 been definitely ascertained, both as regards cost and 

 volume of production, tl>ere can be no very steady 

 level of prices for tea. As regards Assam, import- 

 ers have now a pretty clear idea of bottom values. 

 The industry is to a Large extent in the hands of 

 London or Calcutta Companies, which give their 

 shareholders the fullest and most exact information 

 as to their speculations. Very few articles of Colon- 

 ial produce have their .history from year to year 

 Ro carefully and reliably written as Indian tea. 

 At the close of each season it is made known what 

 every plantation has yielded, what the cost of 

 growth has been, aud how much per lb. has been 

 realized. 



The Indian Tea District Association, which has 

 its headquarters in London, embraces nearly thirty 

 different Companies, and every year it publishes an 

 abstract of their Reports. This valuable document 

 shows that the tea crop of the twenty-six Com- 

 panies amounted in 1884 to nearly Uh millions lb.; 

 and that the average cost was llJd'per lb. The 

 average price realized in Mincing Lane was lid 

 per lb.; consequently, the financial results of the 

 season turned on the comparatively small margin 

 of 'iid per lb. With some individual Companies it 

 was considerably less than that, while with others 

 it was ,a good deal more. The importance of qual- 

 ity as an element of success is very conclusively 

 demonstrated by these averages. The range of 

 prices realized over all the twenty-six Companies is 

 very remarkable. It begins at OJd per lb., and 

 rises to Is 8d. Equally wide and apparently erratic 

 are the differences in the cost of production, tlieir 

 minimum being also 9Jd per lb., and their max- 

 imum Is 7d. One-half of the Companies pay more 

 than Is per lb. for their tea landed in London. 

 f)nly two paid less than lOd per lb., whicli may, 

 Iheiefore, be taken as the minimum cost of pro- 

 duction for Indian tea in 1N84. Several of the old- 

 est and best-managed Compaaiies showed an aver- 

 age of from Hid to is per lb. The Assam Com- 

 pany, for instance, which heads the list in size of 

 crop — its production lust year having been nearly 

 29 million lb. — had a profit of only lid per lb. on 

 its tea. Nevertheless, that narrow niargin was 

 sufficient tor a dividend of 14 per cent on its capital. 

 The average cost of growing was 10 l-.'Jth d. per lb. 

 and the price realized ll^d. As the Directors ob- 

 serve in their Report, such a price would a few 

 years ago have been ruinous ; but owing to the 

 great reduction in working expenses, and the im- 

 proved machinery in use, it is made to yield a fair 

 return on the capital invested. Three other Com- 

 panies paid last year even better dividends than the 

 Assam — namely, the Jorehaut. the Brahmapootra, 

 and the Brokai, which divided 15 per cent each. 

 Their ad\antage was derived mainly from superior 

 quality — the .Torehaut and the Brahmapootra hav- 

 ing realized Is 3d each, while the Borokai made the 

 very high average of Is 8d per lb. 



8pe;iknig in general terms, the financial position 

 of tlie Indian U'ea Companies amounts to this — 

 tliat with the best known appliances and the most 

 careful management, they can grow tea at a mini- 

 mum otlOdperlb. In such a season as 1881-H.5 that 

 would yield very little profit on medium crops, 

 while on inferior sorts it might mean an actual 



loss. But on all teas commanding Is per lb. 

 or over, it represents a substantial profit. 

 Taking Souchongs as a standard, they have 

 been selling during the past week at fld to lOd for 

 low grades, and from lljd to 12id for fair to medi- 

 um. As times go, this, though not a brilliant, is 

 a sound, healthy market for the producer. All the 

 indications point also to continued strength, if not 

 to a further rise. There is certainly some tempt- 

 ation to bold o])erators to lay hold of the market 

 and try to twist it up, as they have been doing 

 with copper. Such an incident may develop almost 

 any day ; and the fact that it has not yet shown 

 itself betokens risks lying below the surface, and 

 visible only to the initiated eye. One of these 

 risks may be the vagueness of our information as 

 to the new sources of supply that threaten the 

 market. Not only Ceylon, nut Java, Brazil, Florida, 

 and even Natal are all coming competitors to be 

 prepared for. Should tea-growing take firm root in 

 all these places, the marketable supply might in a 

 very short time exliibit a startling increase, for it 

 requires only three or four years to bring a tea-garden 

 into bearing. Stocks and deliveries are no doubt 

 very material data for the trade to be guided by, 

 but there are other factors equally essential to a broad 

 forecast of such an industry as tea-growing. The 

 tea trade is evidently entering on a new period of 

 expansion and development, all the possible results 

 of which cannot be foreseen, either in iVIincing Lane 

 or out of it. — Loudon Statist, Jan. '23rd. 



EEPORT ON THE GOVERNMENT CIN- 

 CHONA PLANTATIONS IN JAVA FOR 

 THE -Ith QUARTER 1885. 

 {Translated for tlie '^Ceylon Observer.") 



The weather continued very dry during October. 

 At the beginning of November the rains set in in force, 

 whilst in December again some dry days were recorded. 

 Iu the last month of the past quarter severe winds 

 were experienced, which did some damage to the 

 plantations, especially at Nagrak. Of the croji of 18S5, 

 at the end of the year 401,612 Am.sterdam pounos 

 had been sent to Batavia, whilst about 20,000 lb. re- 

 mained iu the packiug-houses and on the estates. The 

 productinn would have been considerably larger, had 

 the large amount of rain aud the scarcity of labor uot 

 interfered. The tlierough working of the soil carried 

 out during the east monsoon made its good effects 

 felt, e,specially shortly after the setting iu of the rains, 

 and the plants exhibit a general vigorous growth. 

 The production of 1886 ought therefore considerably 

 to exceed that of the past year. About the middle 

 of November a commencement was made with the 

 upkeep of the young gardens, the replanting of the 

 uprooted patches amd the laying out of graft plant- 

 ations iit Tirtasari, which operationsare being carried 

 out uninterruptedly as far as possible. During Nov- 

 ember and December sales of cinchona seed were held, 

 which together realized /6,688'75. The 1,000 Ledgeri- 

 ana grafts sold at the last auction fetched f2,730. On 

 22ud Sept. 188.5 at Amsterdam a second sale of cin- 

 chona bark of the crop of 1884 was held, with far 

 better results than that of 4th November ISS.'i. The 

 highest price obtained at the last auction was /"S-Ol 

 per half kilogram fer .succinibra barks iu long unbroken 

 quills, whilst Ledgeilana shavings realized up to/2*94 

 per half kilo. The total result of botli sales was about 

 .f360,000. By Government order of 30th Dee. 1885, 

 No. 20, G. Toekamp Lammers, after having been for 

 nearly four years actively employed in the Govern- 

 ment enterprize as nurseryman, was jippninted per- 

 mimently to this post, whilst by the same order the 

 fi-xed establishment was increase by two pupil nver.seers. 



Van RoMtJNDi:, 

 Director, Govt. Cinchona Enterprize. 



Bandoeng, 5th Jan. 188G. 



