260 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



Product. 



Cardamoms ... 



(Jinchona 



Camphor 



Other products on 

 plantations, in- 

 cluding grass & 

 timber trees ... 



Total area 



Cultivated area 



No, of plantations 

 (cultivated) ... 



No. of Superin- 

 tendents and 

 Assistants 



Acres. Acres. Increase 

 Middle Middle or 

 1908. 1909. Decrease. 



8,350 

 173 

 1,200 



38,641 

 944,403 

 614,023 



7,738 

 196 

 1,200 



612 dec. 

 23 inc. 



39,500 859 inc. 

 957,749 13,346 inc. 

 625,629 11,606 inc. 



1,722 1,731 



1,600 1,661 



9 inc. 



61 inc. 



Year. 

 1901 

 1902 

 1903 

 1904 



Per Acre, 

 lb. 

 1,092 

 1,009 

 868 

 801 



Year. 

 1905 

 1906 

 1907 

 1908 



Per Acre, 

 lb. 

 864 

 863 

 968 

 789 



Rubber planting was represented by an esti- 

 mate of 750 acres in March, 1898 ; and by May, 

 1901, we estimated 2,500 acres ; while the return 

 to the middle of 1904 gave an equivalent of 

 11,000 acres. Planting went on very rapidly 

 in subsequent years, until last year when a halt 

 was made, save for a clearing here and there. 

 Of the 184,000 acres at present under Rubber, 

 no less than 131,800 acres are in separate clear- 

 ings, the rest being intermixed with other pro- 

 ducts. It must be remembered that we have 

 calculated the equivalent acreage for each pro- 

 duct by dividing where products are intermixed 

 and by allowing 175 rubber trees as the equiva- 

 lent of an acre where only number of trees was 

 returned ; the latter aggregated nearly 800,000. 



It is of interest to note the leading Rubber- 

 growing Districts in Ceylon, in their order, 

 according to acreage, viz : — Kelani Valley, 

 Kalutara, Ratnapura, Kegalla, Galle, Kuru- 

 negala, Matale East, Matale North, Matale 

 West, Haputale, Monaragala, Madulsima, 

 Matale South, Rakwana, Kadugannawa, Ala- 

 galla, Nilambe, Ambagamuwa, Passara, Dolos- 

 bage and Galagedara. Kelani Valley returns 

 30,321 acres rubber alone, beside 22,839 tea and 

 rubber; Kalutara 29,902 and 12,016 respectively ; 

 Ratnapura 12,963 and 2,352 ; Kegalla 10,000 and 

 3,437 ; and Gaflo 7,322 and 2,327— to name only 

 the first five districts. 



As regards the oldest regularly cultivated tea 

 field in Ceylon, that of 19 acres (Assam -Hybrid) 

 on Loolecondera, planted by Mr. James Taylor 

 (for Messrs Harrison and Leake of Keir Dundas 

 & Co.) in 1868-9, we are glad to hear it is still in 

 good heart. On 9th ult. Mr. G F Deane was 

 good enough to write to us as follows : — 



" It gave 395 lb, made tea per acre last season 

 It is to be pruned again shortly and 1 expect to 

 give a better result in 1910-11 as there is nothing 

 much wrong with it. It is still without manuring 

 in any form." For 1907 the return was 230 1b. 

 per acre, owing to pruning in January to Juno. 



For many years our Directory recorded the won- 

 derful yield of tea from the famous Mariawatte 

 garden of the Ceylon Tea Plantations Co. and 

 more especially from the special and oldest field 

 of 101J acres on which plucking first began in 

 1880 and which was regarded as in full bearing 

 in 1884 when the crop equalled 1,078 lb. made 

 tea per acre, rising to 1,384 lb. in 1890 and 

 1,357 lb. in 1900. But from 1901 onwards the 

 yield has been as follows : — 



It will be seen that since a regular system of 

 more or less up-to-date cultivation was adopted, 

 as opposed to the former method of occasio- 

 nally applying manure carted from Gampola, 

 the vigour of the old tea has been gradually 

 built up and the yield increased ; but Mr. D 

 J Blyth, the present Manager, is of opinion 

 that the crop in 1907 cannot fairly be ascribed 

 entirely to up-to-date cultivation, but chiefly to 

 pruning being delayed that year, and that this 

 delay has affected the yield of 1908. The yield 

 from the whole estate— 458^ acres — averaged 

 678 lb. last year against 756 lb. in 1907 and 792 

 lb. in 1906. We take it that such figures are 

 without parallel in the history of Tea Culti- 

 vation in India or Ceylon ; and long may Maria- 

 watte and our Premier Tea Company continue 

 to break the record. It is sad to contemplate 

 how both coffee and cinchona have dwindled. 

 Finally we give the six largest tea factories in 

 Ceylon with the outturns for 1908, as supplied 

 to us by the Managers direct: — 



Outturn in 1908. 

 lb. 



Galaha ... ... ... 1,610,569 



Demodera ... ... ... 1,500,000 



Diyagama .. ... ... 1,283,000 



Spring Valley ... ... 1,048,366 



Meddecombra ... ... 957,431 



Sunnycroft... ... ... 864,858 



A BARK DISEASE OF HEVEA, TEA, &C. 



Tea. 



The most serious attacks of " Corticium java- 

 nicum " on tea occur on an upcountry estate. The 

 disease makes its appearance fairly regularly to- 

 wards the end of the south-west monsoon after 

 " three months cold, dull, wet weather." The 

 rainfall is 100 to 105 inches per annum. It is 

 said to occur only on good jat tea, China tea 

 never being affected, and it does not appear until 

 the tea is two-and-a-half years or more from 

 pruning; these phenomena are probably depen- 

 dent on the density of the bushes. The estate 

 is surrounded by jungle on three sides. 



The growth of the pink fungus on the smaller 

 twigs is the first sign of the disease. It spreads 

 from these down to the thicker branches, but, 

 in this instance, it is said that it is not 

 found on the old wood. The branches lose their 

 leaves and die back, either over the whole bush 

 or only on one side, As in most cases on Hevea, 

 the fungus is at first quite superficial, but when 

 it has become established on the twigs its 

 hyphEe penetrate the bark and kill both bark 

 and cambium. In very many cases, however, 

 the fungus travels along one side of a branch 

 only, usually the under-side or it may com- 

 pletely encircle the branch for a length of a 

 few inches, but be confined to one side else- 

 where. In such cases the bark is killed only 

 where the fungus grows, and the subsequent 



