268 



NATURE 



\yan. 20, i< 



TEA-PLANTING IN CEYLON 



The Tea- P /Miter's Manual. By T. C. Owen. Pp. 162, 



with Coloured Lithographed Plates of an Iron and 



a Wood and Stone Tea Factory drawn to scale. 



(Colombo, Ceylon : A. M. and J. Ferguson, i8S5) 



■piGHT years ago, on account of the depression in the 

 coffee industry of Ceylon, the prospects of the 

 colony were of a sufficiently gloomy character. A great 

 improvement has, however, been effected by the partial 

 substitution of tea and cinchona for coffee, and by 

 the general attention given to c.icao, cardamoms, and 

 other subsidiary subjects. Ceylon has also been fortu- 

 nate in possessing a practical scientific institution in the 

 Botanical Gardens of the colony; and its local press is 

 enterprising and well-informed. 



It is well to mention here that the excellent growth 

 made by tea plants at the Perideniya and Hakgala 

 Gardens fully justified the advocacy of tea-planting in 

 Ceylon by the late Dr. Thwaites in his Annual Reports, 

 while it is also due to the Colonial Office to state that 

 through Lord Blachford it warmly supported the intro- 

 duction of Assam tea plants into Ceylon in 1867. In 1877 

 Ceylon tea in commercial samples was submitted, through 

 the Royal Gardens, Kevv, to the Indian Committee of the 

 Society of Arts, and the Report of this Committee clearly 

 foreshadowed the high place which Ceylon tea has since 

 taken in the London market. 



The present manual is one of a series issued by the 

 Ceylon Obseri'er press, and is intended to be a complete 

 hand-book to all the multifarious duties of a successful 

 tea-planter. Colonel Money's " Essay," and the " Tea- 

 Planter's Vade Mecum," both publications having special 

 reference to the circumstances of Indian gardens, have 

 hitherto been the only books on the subject. 



.As stated in the preface, Mr. Owen's manual "is more 

 a compilation of the opinions of others and the results 

 they have arrived at than an original work." The very 

 valuable notes of one of the earliest and most successful 

 of Ceylon tea-planters, Mr. Armstrong, of Rookwood, 

 form an important portion of the book. The compiler 

 wisely avoids an extended disquisition on the original 

 home of the tea plant and on the question whether 

 the " Assam tea tree '' and the '■ China bush " are speci- 

 fically distinct. In the latest works on the subject they 

 are both included under Camellia theifera. Griff. There 

 is no doubt that the Assam tea tree — for in a wild state it 

 often reaches 40 to 50 feet in height — is indigenous to 

 the mountainous district lying between South-Western 

 China and the River Brahmaputra. It is probable also, 

 although not clearly proved, that the China tea plant — of 

 a somewhat shrubby habit — is derived from the same 

 stock ; although, as we now know, it was greatly altered 

 by persistent cultivation for several centuries in a soil and 

 climate different from those of its original liome. The 

 China tea plant has been found wild in no part of China. 

 Under cultivation in Ceylon the Assam variety is suited 

 to the plains, a hybrid form is sought for mid-elevations, 

 while the Chini variety is useful only for the highest 

 elevations up to 6ooo and 7000 feet. Mr. Owen re- 

 commends that for all new plantations the best "jat " 

 of Assam or hybrid plants should be obtained, as "no 

 amount of care or skill will make up for a bad class 



of plant put into the garden at the outset." To a 

 beginner in Ceylon, or to a planter in any other country, 

 unacquainted with the pirticular msthods pursued on 

 Ceylon estates, the book would prove at first some- 

 what perplexing. Too much knowledge is assumed on 

 the part of the reader as regards the important ques- 

 tions involved in the selection of land, while as regards 

 the details of cultivation the particular " fads " and 

 "fancier" of individual planters are too largely dwelt 

 upon. It would have been more to the purpose to pre- 

 sent a clear and simple statement of the first principles 

 upon which the growth and culture of the tea plant, as a 

 plant, should be based, in order to produce the best 

 results. As regards the details of the manufacture of tea, 

 quoting authorities is no doubt the best course, for the 

 process of manufacture consists of a series of purely 

 empirical operations, and a statement of principles alone 

 would not meet the case. After discussing selection of 

 land (Chap. I.), varieties of the tea plant (Chap. II.), 

 seed and nurseries (Chap. III.), lining, holing, and plant- 

 ing (Chap. IV'.), field cultivation (Chap. V.), topping and 

 pruning (Chap. VI.), plucking (Chap. VII.), and manufac- 

 ture (Chap. VIII.), the writer devotes the remainder of 

 the book to buildings and machinery (with plans), and 

 to statistical returns connected with yield and cost of 

 production. 



The rapid progress made by the tea industry in Ceylon 

 is exemplified by the fact that, while in 1878 only 

 2S2 pounds of tea were exported, during the past 

 year (1S86) the exports reached over 7,000,000 pounds. 

 The probable exports in 1S87 are placed at 12,000,000 

 pounds, while in 188S they are expected to reach 30,000,000 

 pounds. So far, the price of Ceylon tea has maintained 

 a slight advantage over Indian teas — the average price 

 during 1885 being ij'. '^\d. per pound for Ceylon tea, as 

 against is \\d. for Indian teas. The combined effect of 

 large shipments of Indian and Ceylon te.ts will no doubt 

 lead in time to a displacement of much that now comes 

 from China. And while the general character of tea obtain- 

 able in European markets will improve, there obviously 

 must come a fall in prices for which both Indian and 

 Ceylon tea planters must be fully prepared. At the 

 Colonial and Indian Exhibition, thanks to the energy of 

 Mr. J. L. Shand, Ceylon tea was admirably brought 

 before the English public. Tea from Natal, Fiji, and a 

 small sample from Jamaica were also shown ; but the tea 

 from Fiji possessed such special qualities that we shall 

 probably hear more of this promising article. 



To return to the subject of this notice, the "Tea- 

 Planter's Manual " is a useful summary of the knowledge 

 gained respecting tea-planting in Ceylon, and it em- 

 bodies much valuable information for the use of practical 

 planters. What fault there is to be found is not with the 

 book itself, but with the system of cultivation it inculcates 

 — a system which unfortunately appears to be adopted 

 in the treatment of most tropical economic plants by 

 European planters These plants are treated too purely 

 as so many " rupee-making " machines. Too little atten- 

 tion is given to the characteristics and habits of the plants 

 as living subjects, and too much to the details of an 

 u isympathetic and essentially artificial system, already 

 proved in Ceylon to be unsuited to the coffee plant, but 

 into which there is now a strong tendency to force the 



