July i, 1889.] THF TROPJCAL 
TEA MAKING AND SUPERINTENDENTS 
AND ACCOUNTS. 
Ambagarnuwa, 24th May 1889. 
Dear Sir, — If people would attend to their own 
business, and not rush into print on matters of no 
concern whatever to the public, I think we would 
all pull together much better. 
One individual starts off with a childish idea, 
viz. that tennis, cricket, &c, have a deal to do 
with the fall in price of our' teas, or in other 
words through want of attention to the manufacture. 
Comparatively speaking I indulge in neither, 
nevertheless, " let those who like it enjoy them- 
selves," re my sentiments. 
Now some other individual, who apparently con- 
siders he has discovered something quite new, 
wishes to inform the public that superintendents 
give cheques on account of the estate, to pay 
their private accounts. If they do, what on earth 
has this question got to do with the public ? And 
besides where is the harm. 
For instance, I have no bank account, and have 
not got the required sum to start one with. Well at a 
certain date my butcher duns me, and I find I have 
R200 due me by the estate. Immediately, I sit down 
and send him a cheque in payment of his 
claim, say R80, some one 6lse duns me, and I do 
likewise. 
Now, as long as I don't draw cheques to the 
amount above what is due me by the estate, where 
lies the harm ? 
Probably " Polly " lias done it himself, so often, 
and to such an extent, that be has landed in 
a hole, and hence his signature, which sounds like 
"from experience." 
However, let us hope the poor creature has learned 
a lesson ; and until he can think of something else 
to write about, my advice to him is, " to shove his 
head into a bag and keep it there as long as he 
likes," for I am sure the readers of your paper 
won't object. — Yours faithfully, 
DID HE DO IT ? 
CEYLON TEAS OF LATE AND THE LOCAL 
BUYEES : A REBUKE. 
Central Province, 24th May. 
Dear Sir, — I was much pleased to see Messrs. 
Forbes & Walker's sturdy disclaimer of the 
oharge of bad quality, made by the several young 
tea- tasters, who purport to be judges as well as 
buyers of Ceyloa tea, in Colombo. For the last 
three months these gentlempn have been exhaus- 
tively studying their dictionaries for newer and 
stronger adjectives to hurl at the staple, which it is 
clear they have now no orders to buy. One of 
them, to prove apparently how bad the teas have 
become, publishf d a list of the epithets he and his 
kind have already applied to it. 
One would, perhaps naturally, have expected to find 
this sweeeping and general condemnation re-echoed 
from London. Yet we find that the market there has 
been taking off 1,000,000 lb. per week ; and even in 
the teeth of such huge arrivals, the decline has 
only been from lOd to 9£d average during the last 
month ; whereas here it has been at hast 2d to 
3d according to 'grades, and only a few thousand 
pounds find purchasers even at that reduction. 
Heir then, ye would be oracles, what the heads of 
your profession at home wrile on May 2nd : — " The 
great bulk of the recent import is of fair average 
quality, most invoices having nice fresh flavour and 
aroma, to compensate for a little want of strength, 
often noticeable, aDd we think this accounts for 
their generally good reception." These words appear 
AGRICULTURIST. 31 
above the signature of Wm. Jas. & Hy. Thompson. 
The only thing you can plead, "ye oracles," is, that 
the teas have improved in transit, instead of 
deteriorating, as ye always tell us. 
It is some consolation to the much abused 
teamakers to know that a firm of such stand- 
ing appreciates their efforts. If they can make 
such good tea in March they would do 
equally well in April if the leaf naturally were 
equally good. It is highly diverting to see 
in one of your contemporaries how the planters 
are one day coaxed and flattered by being told 
that "We" always looked upon them as able to beat 
our Indian brethren, or any other body of men 
engaged in planting ; and the next day that their 
low prices are entirely due to their vicious system 
of manufacture. ECHO. 
TEA CULTURE AND PREPARATION. 
26th May 1889. 
Dear Sir, — The public will, I am sure, fully ap- 
preciate the interesting information that has been 
elicited in reply to the questions I sent you, and 
I am personally under an obligation to you for 
so kindly circulating them. The general opinion 
seems to be : — 
1. That the bushes produce the best tea when 
flushing moderately some months after pruning. 
2. That both natural and artificial manures add 
largely to the yield, but they have not been found 
generally to improve the quality of the liquor. 
3. That under normal conditions medium pluck- 
ing pays best. 
The absence of carefully collected data to prove 
beyond doubt the accuracy of opinions expressed, 
naturally detracts somewhat from their value, but 
the varying conditions under which tea is culti- 
vated in Ceylon, render it exceedingly difficult 
to establish conclusions of a thoroughly reliable 
nature, which could be generally applied. 
The respective merits of fine and medium 
plucking, however, might, by this time, have 
been determined with tolerable accuracy, if the 
two systems had been fairly tried ; but so long 
as- moderate treatment of the bushes resulted 
in good paying consignments, people were con- 
tent to continue it, feeling that it was 
the best from an agricultural point of view, and 
they had no particular desire to establish a re- 
putation for themselves at the expense of quan- 
tity. 
From experiments I have myself made, there 
are not many estates in Ceylon where fine pluck- 
ing can be continued for any great length of 
time without serious consequences, whioh mani- 
fest themselves both in the impaired vigour of 
the tree and deterioration in the quality of the 
liquor. 
Then again there are a great number of 
estates where fine plucking at certain seasons 
of the year is an impossibility, and others 
where it would be difficult to make teas of ex- 
ceptional merit, no matter what system of pluck- 
ing were adopted. 
All this goes to prove that no hard and fast 
rule can be laid down for the guidance of the tea 
planter : each estate must so to speak be dealt 
with on its own merits, and the advice of one 
of your Kelebokka correspondents to proceed on 
these lines, and make the most of any particular 
point which the teas develope (such as flavour, &a.) 
is thoroughly sound. 
At the same time there is the commercial aspeot 
of the case to be considered, and it is not im- 
probable, that temporarily at any rate, the value 
