33 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July i, 1889. 
TEA CULTIVATION AND MANU- 
FACTURE. 
Mr. Forbes Laurie, who has already given his 
opinion in answer to the questions we placed 
before him, is good enough to supplement the 
remarks offered in our special column — which he 
considers are not statistical enough — by the following 
very instructive comparison : — 
Medium d. Fine Plucking. 
I should place much as follows, if the factory ma- 
chiuery were complete 
Medium Pinching. 
O r —Say,— By 100,000 lb. of medium tea 
at 50c. ... R50.000 
Dr. To maintenance of 300 acres at R44 
per acre inclusive of superintendence, 
weeding, pruning, buildings and all out- 
lay except crop expenses R13,200 
To plucking 400,0001b. leaf at 3o. ... R12.000 
To making 100,0001b. of tea at 7o. ... R 7,000 
Cr.— Say,- 
This leaves a profit of 
Fine Plucking: 
-By 40,000 lb. tea at 80c... 
R32,000 
Dr. To maintenance as above 
To plucking 160,000 lb. leaf at 6c. 
To making 40,000 lb. tea at 8c* 
R13.200 
R 9,600 
R 3,200 
R26.000 
This leaves a profit of ... R 6,000 
* The more tea made the cheaper the work ; the 
delays consequent upon stopping and starting small 
lots are unavoidable, &c. &c. 
4, 
MATALE TO BE A GREAT COTTON- 
GROWING DISTRICT. 
A well-known Matale planter writes: — 
" This is the finest moist season Matale has had for 
years, and it will come to the front again. Cotton, 
however, will be its staple." 
CHINA TEA: THE NEW SEASON. 
It is reported from Kiukiang that the market has 
opened in Ningchow at Tls. 8 over last year, and in 
Keemun at about Tls. 5, the quality of the tea being 
20 per cent better and the crop a large one. An un- 
uhually large number of chaaszes are going up to 
Hankow and in spite of very bad news from London, 
the usual rush will no doubt take place. 
Information reaches us from the various tea districts, 
says the Foochow Echo, that the teamen are acting 
with the greatest caution in buying the new leaf, and 
that they seem to be bent more on enjoyment than 
business. The only district in which business has 
already commenced is the Peeling, where we are in- 
formt'il the picking of the new leaf began on Saturday 
ast.— Oh ina Mail, May 4th. 
MARKING TEA CHESTS. 
(By F. F. Street.) 
In reply to the question re " marking " tea boxes, 
it is doubtful if the planter can make quite a cer- 
tainty of the top being removed in London in all 
cases, but 1 think the following would insure it in 
most ! — 
Hoop packages all round except the lid. Mark your 
lid " Top," and placo the estate mark &c. on the 
i vd of the packugo. Caroful sifting in the first 
f)lace so as to remove any dust and small flakey 
eal is most important, especially in the leafy gradea. 
In order to prevent the packages being pilfered 
after leaving the estate, I would advise nails used 
for the lid being rusted before use— a nail slightly 
barbed at the top would make the drawing an im- 
possibility without detection in Colombo. A highly 
polished nail does not take such a good hold of the 
wood as one rusted, and if the packages receive a 
severe jar, the nails are apt to start and the package 
get slack. 
The object of hooping to my thinking is to pre- 
vent the bottom half of the package coming away 
from the top half which the weight of the tea inside 
the package is apt to cause, when the side planks are 
of two or more boards. The weak place in a package 
is at the join of the side planks and not at the top 
or bottom. 
The object I have in view in recommending the lid 
to be left unhooped is to save the wharfingers the 
trouble of cutting and removing when opening for 
brokers' inspection. It is reasonable to think that 
the Wharf people will remove the top in preference 
to the bottom, as it will be ai> easier operation. 
CEYLON UPCOTJNTRY PLANTING REPORT. 
LOW PRICES AND TOO MUCH ADVICE ABOUT TEA— A 
PERSONAL ANECDOTE — NATIVE INDUSTRIES UPOOUNTRY : 
SINHALESE LANDLORDS AND TAMIL TENANTS — COFFEE 
BUG — CACAO PROSPECTS — WEATHER. 
21st May 1889. 
As the price of tea in the London market recedes 
the planter's advisers are in the ascendant. They 
seem to represent all classes, but chiefly the foolish, 
and if it were not rather worrying, one would be 
lost in amazement at the wealth of wisdom dis- 
played by some of this outside world. Every tag- 
rag-and-bob-tail Solon seems at present determined 
to deliver his soul on the follies of the tea planter : 
we are purblind and inefficient, play lawn tennis 
and cricket instead of attending to the tea-house, 
our teas are bad, and we need to be told — heaven 
help us ! — that we are not worth our salt if we 
don't strain every nerve to keep down expenditure. 
Now I don't think that there is any of us who 
blink the seriousness of the times, and who do not 
see that we have a long and a heavy pull before 
us and act accordingly ; but is the rubbishy stuff 
in the form of advice with which we are daily 
deluged and more than satiated likely to do any 
good ? Is it for a moment to be thought that the 
planters alone are unable to see and think for 
themselves, and that they need outsiders to take 
up their parable ? Is all this loving care and 
tender solicitude for our welfare, from a source that 
is pure ? 
It reminds me of an incident that once happened 
to myself. I was four minutes late for my train 
in Colombo, and it was just moving off as I drove up. 
It was evident at a glance how matters stood, and 
there was nothing for it, but to return to my hotel. 
This I would willingly have done without any dis- 
play, but was prevented owing to the number of 
people who took an interest in the untoward state 
of my affairs. It was very touching. " You have 
lost your train," shouted one m an as he drove 
past. " You can't get away till tomorrow now," 
cried another. " Five minutes would have saved 
you, pity you had not had a better horse," re- 
marked a third. And yet I did not know a soul 
of them, and if I had not lost my train I 
should have been unnoticed, What created all 
this interest ? waB it sympathy, regret, or what ? 
It seemed to me that it was but a rejoicing over 
my discomfiture ; there was nothing helpful in it. 
Many of the suggestions and a good - deal of the 
advice which of late have been gratuitously tendered 
to the tea planter is pretty much on the same 
footing. As to its value— why the historic two- 
penny d— of the late Duke of Wellington would 
