Juke i, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



813 



of moderate capital now going out to Ceylon. It is 

 very ilifiicult to make people, unacquaiutiil with the 

 islaiul aiul all that is taking place thpi-", uiulerstand 

 the great trausilion necessarily involveil in the oper- 

 ation of exchanging one staple for auother as the per- 

 manent protluct of the laud. Over a very large area 

 in Ceylon, culfee trees are being replaceil by tea phmt.s, 

 aud as far as human experience can jutlge, lea pro- 

 mises to be a most brilliant success. The deep de- 

 pression consequent on the failure of rottV e, culmin- 

 ating in the crash of the tirieutal Bank seems now 

 to be passivg away, renewed hope and coulidence en- 

 gendered by tea prospects is gradually returning and 

 every nioulh the position becomes stronger and .stronger. 

 If anything 1 may have written shouUI clear up doubts 

 remaining in people's niinds regarding the future prii- 

 sperity of the t'eylon Tea Industry. thi,s pain[ddct will 

 not have been written iu vain. 



There is, of eoiirse, very little whicli is not fami- 

 liar to our local reader.-;, hut as indicating the 

 scope of the essay we quote the introductory para- 

 graph with its sensible warning to young men 

 "seeking" employment in Ceylon, adding thereto 

 the headings of the succeeding paragraphs:— 



After a pn longed period of intense depression, ow- 

 ing to the partial collapse of its chief staple, the at- 

 tention of capitalists is" again being directed to the 

 island of Ceylon, which now offers an opening to 

 men of capital, energy, and enterprise, such as is 

 seldom met with iu a tropical colony. The change 

 which ha-s quite recently come over the fortunes of 

 the island, owing to the development of an industry 

 which promises to bo not only a lemuneralive but a per- 

 manent one, isalmost unique in the annals of Colonies. 

 No sooner was it proved that tea of excellent quality 

 could be produced iu large quantities per acre, auy- 

 wlu-re almost where the rainfall was suflicieut, from 

 sea level to 0,000 feet altitude, and at a cost which 

 left a handsome proht on the undertaking, than plan- 

 ters aud merchants, whose hopes aud prospects in many 

 instances had been reduced to the lowest ebb by a suc- 

 cession of heavy losses, commenced to buy seed and 

 plant up their laud with tea. Tea, unlike coffee, does 

 not require virgin soil' although it is possible that 

 tea planted in laud not previously cleared aud 

 cultivated will yield heavily for a longer 

 period without manure than that planted iu laud 

 previously taken up with coffee aud cinchona. There 

 are new districts being opened entirely with tea, 

 yet it is on the estates previously opened with coffee 

 that the greatest and most important development 

 has taken place, and these estates will gradually be 

 replanted entirely with tea. Coffee estates, even iu 

 favoured localities, formerly exceedingly profitable, have 

 ceased to pay owing to wet seasons unsuitable for a 

 fruit crop, coupled with an insidious disease in the 

 leaf of the plant, which gradually spread over the 

 whole island. These causes, followed by a heavy fall 

 in the value of the commodity, had rendered wliole 

 districts comparatively itffertile and unremunerative ; 

 yet ou these estates a considerable income has been 

 ilerived during these years of depression from the 

 bark of cinchona trees, thousands of which had been 

 planted about, or in separate clearings, and by their 

 means a period of uuc-ertAinty and gloom was tided 

 over, aud planters were enabled to cover the exja-nse 

 of planting up their land with tea, portions of which 

 where first" planted are now giving good returns 

 from the latter product. I have found it neces.sary to 

 give thesi- details in order to explain to those un- 

 acquainted with the position of affairs in Ceylon my 

 reasons for stating that a good opening oiici- again 

 offers iu (,'eylou. In these days ofUeeu competition 

 it is a most difficult thing to find any desirable 



« Tl>i.t is rather too bare and sweeping an as- 

 sertioii : although undoubtedly a h-af crop is more 

 easily produced in our Oeylon climate from poor soil 

 than one of fruit : still, in the higher districts es- 

 pecially, it -^^iU be remembered that most of the 

 land opened for coffee never got the ehanco owing 

 to the cft'ect of the leaf disease of being eshausted 

 ita virgin properties. — Kn. 



openings for younger sons — every profession is more 

 than overstocked. Business just now is bad every- 

 where, an»i it is imperative iu many cases for men 

 to seek an outlet for their capital and eni'rgy in 

 some colony. In Australia, apparently, to ensure 

 success a man must have not le«s than £10,00(1 as 

 a minimum. A man with this amount of capital 

 would |>robably be enabled to find an opening for 

 him.self iu the mother land, and would In- disinclined, 

 unless of au exceptionally enterprising turn of uuud, 

 to expatriate himself to the Antipodes without first 

 trying some occupation requiring such a capital in his 

 ott n country. 



I may as well state, once for all, that there is 

 no openuig iu a tropical colouy for a man without 

 caiiilal. Everyone who goes out to such a colony 

 must go with the intention of investing- on his own 

 account sooner or later. He should have not less than 

 CJ,.')OU behind him, and it will be eveu better if he has 

 from £4,000 to t;.'),000 of his own. It is by no means 

 necessary that he should have his money in his hand 

 at starting. It were better by far that he should go 

 out and live iu the country aud look about him for a 

 year or so and le.arii his work aud his way about, and 

 then decide as to what part of the island he iuteudsto 

 invest in. Arrangements could doubtless be made for 

 intending settlers to have a place to go to on arrival, 

 where they may learn their work, and liave every 

 opportuuity of acquiring a thorough insight into tea 

 planting aud the management of coolies. A man 

 going out without capital, although it is possible ho 

 might push himself into employmeut, aud may seem- 

 iugly be getting on aud drawing a fair salary, exposes 

 himself to euormous risks such as failing health, 

 without adequate means to supply his needs , loss of 

 employmeut through no fault of his own, and no pos- 

 sibility of making a future of any use to himself with- 

 out extraneous aid in the shape of funds. 



Then follow sections headed as follows : — 



Climate. Government. Tenuie of property. Com- 

 munications. Labour Supply. .Soil. Lay of the land. 

 Leaf disease iu the coffee plant. Nature of invest- 

 ments. Forest lands. Partially opened forest land. 

 Opened land yielding produce. Uncultivated estates. 

 Mariawattie. Loaus on mortgage. Cost of production. 

 Present acreage under cultivation. Yield per acre. 

 Production in the ne-xt two years. The future market 

 for Ceylon tea. 



Finally Mr. Hamilton winds up : — 



There are doubtless many parts of the world v/here 

 tea could be successfully growu as far as the actual 

 cultivation of the plant and manufacture of the tea 

 is to be consideretl, yet it is only in countries where 

 a combination of circumstances, amongst which a 

 cheap and ample supply uf labour is the first essential, 

 makes it possible. Ceylon, just now, holds a peculiarly 

 favourable position in this resj>ect, as in addition to 

 the combination aforesaid, the materials for a great 

 tea enterprise are to be found ready at hauil, owing to 

 the collapse, or rather partial collapse, of its great 

 stai)le, coffee. People uuacquainted with the expense 

 anil tedious delay iu developing a forest-grown tro- 

 pical colouy, can s(-arcely realise the important pos- 

 ition Ceyiou holds for intending colonists, in having 

 its eoinniuuicatious fully openeil out, aud a large 

 supply of trained labour. Hloreover, in (Ceylon there 

 already exists a highly enlightened, intelligent, enter- 

 prising body of industrious men, ready to avail them- 

 s-lves to the utmost of the new industry so fortun- 

 ately c.me tu their rescue. There are several books, 

 directories. iVc., (ui Ctiyloii, which the intending settler 

 will h(r sure to hear of, and which will fill in the out- 

 lints 1 have roughly drawn in as )-iiu(;ise a form as 

 possible, iu endeavcHuing to give a short account of 

 the rising tea industry in ('eyion, po.ssibly destined, ere 

 loll';, to make this island the Lea garden of the world. 



BUCHU.PAIBA, 



(.(nick, complete cure, all annoying Kidney, liladder 

 nd Urinary Uisenses. Dniggisls. 



W. E. Smith itCo, Madras, Sole Agents. 



