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The World's Commercial Products 



H 



THE TEA HARVEST AT BATOUM 



stationary, and it is the opinion of those best able to judge that, for the present at any 

 rate, the growth of the tea industry has reached its upper limit. 



The average size of an estate in Ceylon is about 300 acres. As in so many industries 

 in all parts of the world, there has been a tendency of late years to group several estates under 

 one working staff to effect economies in working and management expenses, but, nevertheless, 

 by far the greatest proportion of estates are small, and in the hands of the European planters 

 resident on the estates themselves. In a very large number of cases, perhaps in the majority, 

 the estates are owned by companies and the planters are servants of the company, and not the 

 actual owners of the estates, as was more often the case in former years. 



VThe enormous labour supply necessary for the Ceylon plantations is recruited principally 

 from among the Tamils of Southern India, who have proved themselves to be, on the whole, 

 very satisfactory labourers. The people — men, women, and children — are recruited from 

 their villages by their future overseers, who are locally known as " Kanganies," and while the 

 majority return to their homes with accumulated savings, some elect to settle down in Ceylon 

 for life. The approximate number of coolies employed is about 400,000. 

 / By far the greater part of Ceylon tea is exported to the United Kingdom. Next to 

 ' England, the> most important customer is Australia, followed by Russia and America L At the 

 present time, special attention is being paid to the production of green teas, the object in view 

 being to foster the American market. The total exports from Ceylon in 1905 were 

 approximately 160,000,000 lbs. 



TEA IN INDIA 



The first practical suggestion for the establishment of tea plantations in India was 

 made in 1788 by Sir Joseph Banks to the East India Company; but his suggestions 

 were not acted upon until 1833, when experimental plantations were laid out in the 





