114 CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION. 



Ceylon eventually began its career as a tea-growing 

 country under the most favorable circumstances ; all the 

 mythical hallucinations about tea cultivation having been 

 removed, the disastrous experience of India saving Ceylon 

 from falling into any serious error at the outset. Several 

 India planters settled on the island, bringing with them a 

 knowledge of its proper cultivation and preparation, so 

 that when these facts are taken into consideration, the 

 success which has attended its cultivation in Ceylon is 

 not so much to be wondered at. The island also pos- 

 sessed other advantages over India in that it suffers less 

 from drought, the rains are more regular and equable, 

 there being scarcely a month in the year without at least 

 some rain, and apart from the adaptability of its soil and 

 climate, it has cheaper labor and superior facilities for 

 forwarding the tea to the shipping ports, all important 

 factors in its cultivation for profit. The tea-producing 

 districts of the island are very compact, having Kandy as 

 its chief centre and extending well into the southwestern 

 provinces touching the coast toward the west. The 

 southwestern section of the island is considered a perfect 

 tea-growing district, soil is good, the climate hot and 

 moist, and the plant can be cultivated at almost any 

 elevation, several plantations there being situated as high 

 as 6,000 feet above sea-level. But although the crops 

 are fairly healthy at this altitude, it is admitted that the 

 plantations lower down are best adapted for the produc- 

 tion of the finer grades. The first successful garden was 

 established in 1870 in the now celebrated Loocandura 

 estate, with plants brought from Calcutta, and coolies 

 skilled in its cultivation and manipulation. Tea of par- 

 ticularly good quality was produced from the begin- 

 ning, samples of which were sent to London and 

 highly spoken of by dealers there. Since that time tea 



