Fbe. 19D8.J 



119 



Edible Products. 



the character of the tea produced. The 

 Cinchona strain was commenced with, 

 and it was thought better to keep 

 to that alone. The next step was to find 

 out whether the leaf would make good 

 tea. For this purpose a small quantity 

 of the leaf was plucked, rolled by hand 

 and dried in the sunshine. This proved 

 to be of very good quality, and all the 

 initial difficulties were disposed of, the 

 requisite machinery was imported, and 

 the tea placed on the market in the latter 

 part of 1903. The manufactured tea has 

 a mild character similar to the old China 

 teas, and the absence of astringency is a 

 marked feature. At the beginning of 

 1906, about 100 acres were under cultiva- 

 tion (only a part being available for crop), 

 and since then 50 acres more have been 

 planted with seed. 



CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH CULTURE 



HAS TAKEN PLACE. 

 The Ramble is on the north side of the 

 island, 13 miles from St. Ann Bay. It 

 consists almost entirely of hills with a 

 basis of white limestone, which provides 

 complete natural drainage. The tops of 

 the hill where the rock crops out are 

 thickly covered with trees, while on the 

 lower slopes lies a deep red soil. At 

 the edge of the rocky parts the 

 limestone is in many places decom- 

 posed into what is locally called 

 gravel. It is only in the red soil that 

 the tea plant looks healthy ; seed 

 planted on gravel will germinate, but 

 the leaves are yellow and sickly, and 

 the plant will die out. There are no 

 streams, and for practical purposes no 

 springs in the neighbourhood ; the 

 rainfall therefore is of primary import- 

 ance. From Table I. it will be seen 

 that during the nine years, 1898 to 1906 



the highest rainfall in the twelve 

 months was 96 '36 inches, the lowest 

 71*79 inches, and the average 82 "80 inches. 

 The greatest number of days in a year 

 on which no rain fell was 194, the least 

 number 145, and the average 163. The 

 number of days with rainfall of -01 to '04 

 inches was— the greatest 70, the least 40, 

 and the average 56. The number of 

 days with a rainfall of "05 to "49 inches 

 was— the greatest 111, the least 70, and 

 the average 94. The number of days 

 with rainfall of *50 to less than 1 inch 

 was — the greatest 33, the least 21, and 

 the average 28. The number of days 

 with rainfall 1 inch tp under 2 inches 

 was— the greatest 20, the least 13, and 

 the average 17. The number of days 

 With rainfall of 2 inches or over was — the 

 greatest 10, the least 4, and the average 

 6§. It is therefore seen that, on the 

 average, about 200 days in each year 

 have some rain, and about 145 days have 

 more than 5 points. The longest period 

 in any year which had no rain of 5 

 points or over was 26 days, the shortest 

 8 days, and the average 16 days. The 

 dry time occurs in March and April, 

 This even distribution of the rainfall is 

 of the utmost importance, for the crop 

 depends on a constant growth of young 

 leaves (called flushes) being thrown out, 

 and it is evident that frequent gentle 

 rains, with intervals of bright sunshine, 

 will produce the best results. The 

 average temperature of the year varies 

 between 80 - 06° and 77-25° for the maxi- 

 mum, and 66-88° and 63-23° for the 

 minimum. The day maximum has been 

 above 90° only five times during the nine 

 years (all these being in the years 1903 

 and 1904), and eight below 65°. The 

 night minimum has not gone above 73°, 

 and once fell to 50°. 



Table /.—Summary of Rainfall from 1898 to 1906. 



Number of days with : 



Year. 



Annual 

 Rainfall. 



No rain. 



tp 



n3 

 a 

 & 



•05 to 

 under '50. 



•50 to 

 under 1 in, 



1 in. to 



under 2 in. 



2 in. to 

 under 3 in. 



3 in. or over. 



*£ 



A) 



H 



a 



o 



To*l, 



1898 



76-85 



175 



45 



93 



32 



16 



2 



2 





365 



1899 



90-56 



194 



44 



70 



28 



20 



5 



4 





365 



1900 



78-02 



145 



60 



111 



28 



15 



5 



1 





365 



1901 



86-99 



150 



70 



85 



33 



19 



6 



2 





365 



1902 



75"74 



165 



64 



91 



23 



18 



2 



2 





365 



1903 



71-79 



157 



69 



90 



29 



13 



2 



3 



2 



365 



1904 



96-36 



155 



49 



111 



21 



20 



7 



3 





365 



1905 



77-35 



176 



40 



98 



29 



13 



4 ' 



3 



2 



365 



1906 



91-57 



148 



64 



98 



29 



19 



3 



4 





365 



Average 



82-80 



163 



56 



94 



28 



17 



6 









