12 TEA 



the exception of that of 1909. In 1880-81 there were 

 13,500 acres of land in Ceylon planted up with tea ; on 

 1,750 acres the plants were in full bearing. By 1911, 

 Ceylon had 395,000 acres under tea, and 386,000 acres 

 were in full bearing. The bulk of Ceylon tea used to 

 come from plantations in the low country, but the 

 best quality tea was that grown on the hills. In 1904, 

 Ceylon began to take a keen interest in rubber-growing, 

 and in the course of the next few years thousands of 

 acres of tea-bushes were interplanted with rubber ; 

 the experiment was made chiefly in the lowlands, 

 because the native home of the rubber-tree — in Brazil 

 — is in low country. The rubber has thrived, but only 

 at the expense of the tea-bushes, which have been 

 choked to death, or seriously enfeebled, by their new 

 neighbours growing up into big trees and depriving 

 them of light and air. Nevertheless, the production 

 of tea has been kept on the increase by the more and 

 more extensive cultivation ' of the tea-plant on the 

 hill-sides ; and nowadays the up-country regions yield 

 not only the best quality Ceylon tea, but the bulk of 

 the whole island's output. At the same time, there- 

 fore, that the exports are increasing, there is a tendency 

 for the average quality of Ceylon tea to become higher. 

 The average price realized in the London wholesale 

 market by this British-grown tea in 1908 was 7|d., in 

 1909 and 1910, S^d., in 1911, 8|d. ; the average price 

 of Indian tea has, up to the present, inclined to keep a 

 trifle ahead, but so close is the quality competition 

 that during 1908, Indian and Ceylon teas commanded 

 the same average price in the London market. 



One last word before we go ashore. Remember, when 

 you see tea growing in Ceylon, that it is not a native 



