9f) 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



conclusion, — and an interesting object lesson is 

 to be seen at the moment on one of the largest 

 and best known tea estates in Java, where the 

 more rough and ready Java system of cultivation 

 has hitherto been de rigueur and (the estate 

 being no longer a young one) had begun to tell 

 badly on crops and profits alike. — A year ago 

 this estate passed under the management of a 

 well-known Dutch planter, who has had special 

 opportunities during the last few years of study- 

 ing the methods and results of the more strin- 

 gent Ceylon system of pruning and plucking as 

 practised now on some of the ordinary average 

 estates in J ava. 



The alteration in this short period in appear- 

 ance of the gardens is something astounding, 

 whilst everything points to the conclusion that 

 the difference in the Crops and dividends will be 

 equally so. The essential difference in hitherto 

 accepted methods of Java and Ceylon " Tea 

 Cultivation " lies in the fact that where the 

 Java planter has in the past directed his chief 

 attention to " grond bewerking " (constant dig- 

 ging and forking of the ground, quite oblivious 

 of the destruction of the root system that this 

 cultivation entails if not done with the greatest 

 care, and only under exceptional circumstances), 

 and considered careful pruning and plucking 

 (especially "tipping" after pruning) as a 

 secondary consideration, the Ceylon planter has 

 . "worked" his bush for all it is worth— and if one 

 compares old tea on inferior ground — very often 

 of inferior jat — in Ceylon, with old tea of the 

 same age on far better soil, and generally supe- 

 rior jat, in Java, no possible doubt is left in 

 one's mind as to which " accepted method of 

 cultivation " is the best, — and my remembrance 

 of conversations with the late Mr Kingsford and 

 Mr Kelway Bamber, whom I accompanied on 

 some of their visits to Tea estates on the occasion 

 of their trip to Java in 1904, when they came 

 over here to study Java methods of Tea Culti- 

 vation and Manufacture, is that they formed 

 much the same conclusion. As regards "accepted 

 methods of Manufacture " there is not much to 

 choose or to compare between Ceylon and Java. 

 Generally speaking, Java-grown leaf requires 

 different treatment in the Factory from that 

 usual in Ceylon, and gets it. The fact that '..the 

 margin between the Java and Ceylon Averages 

 has for the last few years been steadily dimin- 

 ishing and seems likely to reach vanishing point, 

 shews that Java planters are on the right road 

 as far as manufacture is concerned. Enclosed 

 list of the exports of tea from Java for the last 

 (13) years may interest your readers. The ex- 

 tensions in Tea in Java during the last two 

 or three years have been comparatively moderate 

 whilst the area of good suitable land available for 

 Tea in J ava is now distinctly limited, chiefly owing 

 to the policy of the Government in reserving enor- 

 mous areas of land for Forest purposes, and for 

 present and future requirements of the vast and 

 ever-increasi ng population of this island. 



In view of above figures and facts I think the 

 visions of Java output in the immediate future, 

 which the " Malabar " figures have conjured up 

 in the mind of " Planter " will not become 

 realised, or offer the competition to Ceylon tea- 

 growers— at any rate for many years to come- 



that the correspondence that has appeared in 

 the Ceylon Observer on " Tea in Java " seems to 

 suggest. — I am, dear Sir, ycurs faithfully, 



NOEL BINGLEY. 



P. S.—As I have been promised the Annual 

 Exports of several other Java Tea Companies I 

 hope to be able to render you in the early 

 future a more complete statement of Java tea 

 results, which may bo of interest to some of 

 your readers.— N. B. 



ate. 





)k year. 



"3 



aa acreage 

 ill bearing. 



ip per acr 



it per lb. 



A price. 





'£ 



o 



cS 





o 



09 



H 



M 



M 



o 



H£ 



5 



O 





No 



ft. 





F. 



A. 



lb. 



cts. 



cts. 



1 



5,000 



11th 



200,000 



2,124 



1,082 



12-02 



30-20 



2 



5.000 



11th 



175,000 



525 



992 



16-53 



30-74 



3 



3,500 



11th 



200,000 



679 



473 



19-07 



35-33 



4 



3,500 



22nd 



200,000 



716 



549 



2»-16 



33-42 



5 



3,500 



13th 



200,000 



628 



465 



23-70 



37-24 



6 



3,500 



15th 



25M,000 



887 



416 



24-09 



38-54 



7 



3,000 



10th 



100,000 



445 



475 



22-24 



32-02 







13th 



175,000 ) 











8 



3,500 



25,000 > 



499 



470 



24-60 



30-47 





Debentures } 



I 









9 



2,500 



11th 



185,000 



787 



454 



18-98 



27-25 



No. 



413 



95 

 71 

 73, 

 47, 

 4V 

 23 

 26 



569'51 

 908-83 

 459-01 

 466-53 

 374-85 

 805-70 

 397-04 

 96 -8i 

 388-72 



D 



f. 



145,266'76 

 17,097-05 

 11,459-01 

 22,043'4S 

 2,975-46 

 3,986-81 

 9,348-32 

 7,532-26 

 26,36872 



>.2 s 



OA ° 

 f. 



f. 



316,829-39 107,302-76 161,000 



78,811-78 29,81178 49,000 



60,000- - 15,000-— 45,000 



51,423-08 15,423-08 36,00» 



44,399-39 16,399-39 28,000 



41,818 89 11,818-89 30,000 



14,048-72 4,048-72 10,000 



19,428-57 5,828-57 13,600 



per 

 cent. 



80$ 

 28 



18 

 14 

 15 

 10 



[For our private information we have re- 

 ceived the names of the estates to which the 

 above numbers refer. — Ed., C. 0.] 



Statement or Java Tea Shipped from 1895 up 

 to and Including April, 1908. 



Yeah. 



Kilos. 



English L 



1895 



2,673,730 



10,282,206 



1896 



4,554,980 



10,020,056 



1897 



4,794,045 



10,546,899 



1898 



5,328,738 



11,723,? 23 



1899 



5,771,199 



12,709,837 



1900 



6,626,358 



14,577,987 



1901 



7,444,310 



16,377,484 



1902 



7,386,671 



16,250,682 



1903 



9,882,204 



2 ',740,848 



1901 



11,055,262 



24,321,576 



1905 



11,716,517 



25,776,3<7 



1906 



12,151,568 



26,733,140 

 27,595,4-19 



1907 



12,543,386 



1908 Jan. / April 



5,543,( 68 



12,191,740 



BORNEO COPRA AND OIL MAKING. 



The Resident of Dutch South West Borneo 

 calls attention to the flourishing condition of 

 the copra trade there, especially with Singa- 

 pore. The Government is doing its best to im- 

 prove the quality of the copra produced by 

 supervising strictly its preparation for the 

 market. But, for all that, much inferior copra is 

 not only prepared, but it is also sold. The buyers 

 readily snap up the article, knowing as they do, 

 that any kind of copra finds sale in Singapore 

 for oil-making. — Straits Times, June 1. 



