738 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Mav I, 1886. 



couufries, together with the average quantity auDually 

 consumsd per head of the population : — 



18S."> 



18M 



about 

 about 



Australian Colonies 



New Zealand 



Great liritain 



Newfoundland 



Canada 



Tasmania . . 



Various British 

 Possessions 



United States 



Holland . . 



Capo Colony 



Natal 



Eussia 



Denmark . . 



Arf;entine Re- 

 public . . 



Persia 



Portugal . . 



Switzerland 



Norway 



Germany . . 



Morocco . . 



Belgium . . 



Sweden 



Austria Ilun- 



Spain 



We also fiive, 



the total exports of tea from Java for ten 



years : — 



1875 .. .. 4,80S,S27 I ISSO 



is7(> .. .. n.grifi.saa | issi 

 1S77 .. .. ri,(i7(l,l:-!.s I 188-2 



1878 .. .. i;.lr>i).lJH 1883 



187!1 .. .. r),7'21,C,8!l I 1884 



1883.8.4 

 1884 about 



1880-82 '. '. 



1883 

 1880-83 



1883-81 

 1884 



about 



H 



a: a 

 CM 



o 



r3 5 !■" 



9 « 3 



35 ° 

 <;.3 p. - 



18,018,000 



3,'.]{ 12,1100 



17»,r,.-).-,,(i(H) 



.821,1100 



l(i,C>00,Ono 



389,2.-)0 



3,930,000 



6,''i,000,000 



4,3,82,r>00 



l,128,.i(X) 



327,300 



62,408,.'>00 



74U,000 



900,000 

 1,013,000 



r)fii,o<xi 



292,000 

 170,400 

 3,113,,'-iOO 

 354,(XX) 

 203 ,01 « 

 139,2.^0 



739,500 

 13(1,000 





S 5 g 3 

 S o o 



7-B6 

 7-23 

 4-90 

 4-38 

 3-69 

 3-04 



1-66 

 l-,30 

 l'0.-> 

 0-90 

 0-76 

 0(il 

 0-37 



0-.30 

 013 

 12 

 0-10 

 0-09 

 0-07 

 0-06 

 0-03 

 0-03 



0-02 

 0-01 



for purpo.ses of future comparison, 



.1,548,138 

 4,8(11,793 

 .'>,918,896 

 .'.,870,34,5 

 "i,.';90,069 



A .TAVA ITANTERS IMPEESSIONR ON 

 PLANTIN'G IN CEYLON. 



As we nuntirned .<!Ome days ago, there is at 

 present in ("eylon a visitor from Java who is 

 mikini,' a tour of Ceylon and India to compare 

 mlo;; on planting; matters — Mr, G. Mundt of Paran- 

 kanF.alaU estate, Preanger Regencies, Java — and a 

 few of his impressions on ]ilanting in Ceylon 

 gathered from him in the eoui'se of conversation, 

 may he of interest to Ceylon planters. 



Mr. Mundt is President of the Java Planters' Associ- 

 nLioii and a large proprietor owning sonie2, 400 acres, 

 CiOO aercs of wliicli are i)]anted with China tea and 

 3O0 neres with Assam, the bulk of the remainder 

 of his esl.ate being cinchona and cacao. As he has 

 had '22 years' experience of planting and occupies so 

 leading a position, liis views may be taken as 

 carrying considerable weight, Mr. Mundt has nothing 

 but praise to bestow on wliat he terms the mar- 

 vellous energy which in a few years has trans- 

 formed the crtTce plantations of Ceylon into nourish- 

 ing tea estates, producing an article unrivalled by 

 any country in the world. Our roads especially are 

 objects of admiration, no such highways existing 

 in the planting districts of Java. " Your magnifi- 

 cent roads were the salvation of the country when 

 the eofl'ec enterprize failed, for without them you 

 could never have opened up the country and planted 

 it up witli tea as you have done," says Mr. Mundt. 

 " Move s the pity," will probably be replied " that 



they should now be in danger of being ruined by 

 that wretched MacBride system." 



Mr. Mundt severely condemns the system of plant- 

 ing on steep hillsides, and says that when he left 

 the train at Nanuoya, after a journey from Kandy, 

 his mental observation was that Java need not 

 fear any rivalry from Ceylon in a few years for 

 tea could not last long planted on such slopes as 

 everywhere met his view from the i-ailway carriage. 

 This opinion has been somewhat modified by closer 

 and more minute inspection, but he still holds to 

 the view tliat planting on such steep hillsides is a 

 mistake which Ceylon planters will in time to come 

 have occasion to regret. In .Java, no one would 

 dream of cultivating a slope of more than 3.5 degrees. 

 In the process of cultivation, he says, it is inevit- 

 able that the little fine soil there is left on tliose 

 hillsides will be washed away and your tea will 

 die out as coffee has done. There seems to be no 

 steps taken to prevent the washing away of good 

 soil ; on the contrary the system of drainage 

 adopted here is calculated to assist in carrying off 

 the soil into the ravines. Here, he says, the drains 

 are continuous, emptying themselves into the waste 

 land, and soil must be washed away and lost.* 

 Questioned as to the method adopted in Java, Mr. 

 Mundt drew a sketch of their drains which we 

 roughly reproduce : — 







[ZI] [—] 



I—] 



[Zn 



[=] [z:] [zi] 



It will be seen from the above that the Java drains 

 are mere oblong holes with no outlet and the soil 

 when washed into them remains there till taken 

 out, as is done after heavy rains, and replaced 

 round the tea bushes. In tliis way really no soil is 

 lost and Mr. Mundt says that since this method was 

 ado])ted some fifteen years ago, there has not been a 

 handful of soil washed away.t Mr. Mundt expresses 

 considerable surprise that so little of the com- 

 paratively flat land in valleys is cultivated. In Java, 

 he says, they would care nothing for. the steep 

 hillsides, but would devote their attention to the 

 tiai land lying at the foot of the hills. There are very 

 few estates there at a greater elevation than 3,000 ft. 

 and they are nearly all ot them 2,000 ft. and lower. J 

 There is a good deal of such laud to be fo jnd in the hill 

 country of Ceylon, the soil of which our Java visitor 

 thinks is well suited to tea planting. Ifa\ing visited 

 some of the estates in the neighbourliood of Nuwara 

 Elliya, ICandapola and Dimbula, Mr. Mundt is of 

 opinion that generally speaking the jAt of tea grown 

 thereon is not superior, though in places lie saw some 

 very line hybrid tea. ■ The soil, too, he considers 

 poor, and thinks that it is possibly owing to this 

 and to the elevation that the tea compared with his 

 own growth looks poor. But ihough the tea bush 

 does not grow to what he considers perfection, Mr. 



* The soil in Java ia loose decouipesed volcanic mat- 

 ter. Ours is generally clayey enough to be tenacious. 

 We do not, therefore, fear steep hill side.«, or helping 

 the natural draiu.ige with a good system of ebanueU 

 which carry off the maximum ot water and the niini- 

 inumof .soil.— En. 



t It is reiilly the sy.stem of manuring which we saw 

 in perfection on Sinagar. It is gooil for mnnuriug 

 purposes, but certainly not for drainage. "\V'e believe 

 in abundaut drainage and in our steep estates lasting 

 nearly as long as the level or undulating lauds oi Java. 

 —El), 



{ Quite true, but we believe that much better resultjs 

 would be obtaiupd.at twice the altitude, — Ep. 



