THE SUPPLEMENT TO THE 



Tropical Agriculturist and Magazine of the G. A. 8. 



Compiled and Edited by A. M. & J. FERGUSON. 

 No. 3.] SEPTEMBER, 1911. [Vol. IX. 



THE PRODUCTION OF TEA IN 

 CEYLON. 



THE PRESENT YEAR'S SHORTAGE. 

 The Financier has been collating some figures 

 relating to the production of tea and gives the 

 following as showing what has taken place 

 within the last fifteen years. 



Additions to Acreage. 

 1895 to 1899. 1900 to 19U4 1905 to 1909. 



India 115,000 9,000 30,00( 



Ceylon 89,000 11,000 6,00< 



Total acres 

 added 204,000 20,000 36,000 



Additions to Chops. 

 1895 to 1899. 1900 to 1904. 1905 to 1909. 

 lb. lb. |lb. 



India 47,000,000 40,000,000 41,000,000 



Ceylon ... 45,000,000 29,000,000 32,000,000 



Total 92,000,000 69,000,000 73,000,000 



Avekagb Yield Per Acre. 



1899. 1904. 1909. 



India 3531b. 4231b. 473 1b. 



Ceylon ... 3431b. 408 1b. 486 1b. 

 Total Purchased Outside the United 

 Kingdom. 

 1900. 1905. 1910. 



85,000,000 1b. 142,000,0001b. 186,000,0001b. 

 Not including what is now used in India es- 

 timated to be between 10,000,000 and 12,000,000 

 lb. annually. 



Average London Value. 



1898. 1900. 1905. 1910. 



8£d 7id 7gd 8|d 



1898, the combined output was 278,000,0001b. 

 1900 ... 346,000,000 lb. 



1910', ... 450,000,000 lb. 



On the question of the future production of 



Ceylon our contemporary enquires if the decline 

 in Ceylon's returns from estates now planted 

 with Rubber will he made good by new plant- 

 ing in Uva or other places where even small 

 plots of land can be utilised. The total are* 



interplanted with tea and rubber, as given in 

 the Ceylon Directory, is approximately 75,000 

 acres and in quite 40,000 acres of that it is anti- 

 cipated the older cultivation will ultimately 

 have to go. There is a certain amount of open- 

 ing up for tea going on, chiefly in the Uva and 

 Sabaragamuwa provinces, but the acreage of 

 these extensions comparatively speaking, is 

 infinitesimal. Uva has gone through a serious 

 drought. Not a drop of rain fell for months 

 but now good rains are being measured and the 

 shortage in crops is being reduced. Most of 

 the producing districts reported bumper out- 

 puts during the first two or three months of this 

 year, but since April there has been a gradual 

 falling.-off and though bushes now are flushing 

 freely our exports to September 4th show that 

 wo have exported 2,901,397 lbs. less than last 

 year to same date. 



RUBBER TAPPING CUPS. 



There is seemingly no end to the varieties of 

 Rubber Tapping Cups now on the market. Tin, 

 Aluminium, Glass, and Papier Mache are among 

 the substances these are made of, but the 

 experience in Ceylon and in the Straits is that 

 there is really nothing to surpass the coconut 

 shell for the purpose. The objection to the tin 

 cup is that it soon rusts; the aluminium 6tands 

 little usa^e, and while the earthenware and glass 

 ones have been found suitable and easily kept 

 clean, breakages and the predilection the cooly 

 shows for annexing them to his own use make 

 them expensive. The coconut shell has not the 

 same attraction for the cooly. It is cheap, has 

 been found durable, and after being washed once 

 or twice can be easily kept clean. In some dis- 

 tricts a small cadjan hut is built in various parts 

 of the estate, When the shells are ready for 

 cleaning, water is boiled at the nearest hut in a 

 kerosene tin and the shells washed. This adds 

 another to the 169 uses to which the coconut 

 can be put 1 



