and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



11 



TEA ESTATES " GOiNO OUT" 

 EN CEYLON. 



We recall the visit of two or three experienced 

 Assam tea planters to Ceylon some twenty- 

 years ago, who came to see us and enquire how 

 best they could inspect some typical Ceylon 

 plantations in order to judge of their quality 

 and condition. They were on their way out 

 from home to resume charge— in one or two 

 cases — of their own properties in Assam. We 

 sketched a programme for them, which included 

 part of Dikoya and Dimbula as on the railway 

 route, and they started off; but returned on 

 the second day quite satisfied* and altogether 

 in a chuckling mood over the Ceylon Tea 

 Enterprise. They had not gone beyond Kandy 

 and Navvalapitiya ; but they had seen enough, 

 including Mariawatte (!), to satisfy them that 

 our tea gardens could not " last." They 

 gave no more than five to ten years at 

 most for the profitable life of the plantations 

 they had gone over, and they were going on to 

 India with the full assurance that the Ceylon 

 Tea Enterprise could never amount to much. 



We were reminded of this experience when 

 we read the otherwise clear and able Review of 

 the Tea Industry in India and Ceylon, which 

 is reproduced in full elsewhere from the 

 London Times and in which the one unfortu- 

 nate, and as we think unjustifiable, statement is 

 made in the concluding portion of the follow- 

 ing : _"lt is true that in India some very ancient 

 plots have been abandoned, as in Cachar and 

 Assam, and that of plantings in Terai perhaps 

 one-fifth, which low prices had made unprofit- 

 able, has gone out of cultivation ; while in 

 Ceylon, it is said, there are some gardens 

 which are not likely to last.- No secret 

 is made of it." We know of no evidence 

 to warrant this belief, in respect of Ceylon, 

 unless it be found in the fact that 

 throughout 42,000 acres of our tea, the new 

 product " rubber" is inter-planted, and, there- 

 fore, the surmise is made that the tea must 

 eventually disappear before the rubber ? That, 

 we confess, is within the bounds of possibi- 

 lity, more especially if rubber fulfils certain 

 sanguine expectations of high profits out of 

 all proportion to those derived from tea. In 

 that case, it may be thought advisable to get 

 rid of the tea ; but we are quite sure that 

 a good many years must pass before this 

 takes place, if it ever does altogether, and 

 meantime every care is being taken of both 

 tea and rubber, whilo never before was tea 



cultivation in Ceylon so well fostered and so 

 generally prosperous. The only clouds at 

 present have reference to the possibility of 

 an unduly dry season and a shortness of labour. 

 But we may find both these clouds lifting as 

 the season goes on. 



RECORD TEA YIELDS. 



(To the Eidtor.) 



Rakwana, Jan. 8th. 

 Dear Sir, — To settle a wager will you or 

 your readers oblige me with any information as 

 to whether 870 lb tea per acre all round off a 

 total acreage of 350 acres constitutes a record 

 for Ceylon and if not, what is the re- 

 cord? Thanking you in anticipation. — I am, 

 yours, &c, 



" RAKWANA." 

 P.S.— -Likewise is 1,400 lb. an acre off any 

 particular field a record ? R. 



Record Tea Yields — " Rakwana " raises an 

 interesting question in his letter given above and 

 undoubtedly a yield of 870 lb of tea per acre off 

 a total of 350 acres is a magnificent return ; but 

 it does not make a " record " f oi Ceylon. That 

 " record." we apprehend, belongs to Mariawatte 

 for Mr Saluiond, the then M-mager reported to 

 us*in January, 1901, that the crop for 1900 over 

 the whole estate of 458 acres was equal to no 

 less than 996 lb made tea per acre— the largest 

 ever gathered up to that date. Nowhere in 

 India or Java, we said at the time (And our 

 challenge has remained unanswered) have we 

 ever heard of such a yield over so large an area. 

 This, of course, beats " Rakwana's " 870 lb over 

 350 acres. But iu respect of his 1 ,400 lb off one 

 field(what extent ?), we are not sure that he 

 may not score the record. At any rate the 

 highest yield we have for Mariawatte is 1,384 lb 

 (all over 101i acres) in 1890 an d 1,357 lb in 1900- 

 (For 17 years this field averaged 1,144 lb.; while 

 for nine years the average over the whole 

 estate of 458 acres, equalltd 822 lb.) In 1901, 

 before the rush into rubber, we ventured to 

 estimate that there were " 18,000 acres of the 

 finest tea land planted in Ceylon capable of 

 bearing 800 lb aud upwards per acre ; 80,000 

 acres equal to an average of 600 lb, and 300,000 

 acres equal to 250 to 400 lb." 



