July i, 1889.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
67 
126-00 
10100 
Gross return per acre 300 lb. at 42 
Less upkeep and manufacture 
Profit per acre ••• . •". 25 00 
= 8 33 per eont on an outstanding capital 
of E300 per acre. 
Same estate, coarse pluckine 400 lb. per acre and 
shipping 20 per cent of teas at 5d: — 
per cent. cents. 
B. pekoe ... 18 @ 1/0 equal 61 equal 10-98 
Pekoe ... 22 „ 0/8 ,,, 36 „ 7'92 
P. souohong ... 40 „ 0/7 ' „ 30 „ 12-00 
Oongouetc .... 20 „ 0/5 „ 18 „ 360 
100 average per 1H. 34'5c. 
Gross return 400 lb. per acre at 34-5c. 
Upkeep and manufacture 
Profit p er acre 
L_ 6'6 per cent on R300 per acre. 
34-50 
138.00 
118-00 
20 00 
THE FIRST PRIZE TEA. AT THE KANDY 
SHOW ; REVISED PLUCKING. 
Brunswick, May 31st, 1889. 
Dear Sir, — In reply to your correspondent 
" Inquirer," and for the information of others I 
annex a copy of breaks of tea from which the 
" gold medal" tea samples were drawn, which was 
the quantity of all tea made on Brunswick from 
24th April up to the 18th May last, and will be 
Bhipped in a few days, marked " Gold Medal 1889," 
so that the public will be able to see how it sells. 
I would suggest that " Del Rey" and " Hoolan- 
kande" do publish their breaks and ship their 
Exhibition tea, with special marks too, so that the 
test of the London market may also (I hope) 
confirm the opinion of the judges at the Kandy 
Show. 
I may add further that since the 24th of April 
I have been plucking § of a leaf finer than I ever 
did before, and my present system is two leaves 
and the tip, leaving one whole leaf and the dummy, 
and going round the estate from 8 to 10 days 
plucking.— Yours faithfully, A. E. WRIGHT. 
Memo, of Breaks. 
14 chests Orange Pekoe 1,190 lb. 
10 „ Pekoe 900 „ 
19 „ P. Souchong 1,805 „ 
2 ,, Fannings 200 ,, 
J ,, Dust 84 „ 
4,179 „ 
COTTON CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 
Dear Sir, — Herewith I send you copy of article 
on cotton caterpillars taken from Planting Register 
of 29th August 1872, not 1887 as your printer 
made it,* which I consider useful information for 
my fel'ow planters at the present time. Planters 
have not the money to spare to cultivate what 
does not pav them, and I firmly believe from the 
trial Dr. Duke and I gave to cotton cultivation 
it will not pay. If Mr. Blackett will be good 
enough to give us an account of what it coat him 
for seed, planting, attending and harvesting his 
cotton and amount realized for the cotton and 
seed, latter should be valued as to what it would 
be sold for as cattle food or manure, not as seed 
cotton for planting, then planters can have the latest 
test on a fair scale. 
It has been said you can plant cotton between 
young tea; no doubt you can, but at what cost 
* J. H.'s mistake, not the printer's. — Ed. 
to the young tea. Cotton seed I saw mentioned 
the other day as nutritious food for cattle and 
good manure ; so it is; test or analyse your soil 
before you plant your cotton, then again after 
you have taken off your crop, and you will not 
grow cotton at the expense of weakening your tea, 
I held from the first that Cear c 'i rubber and 
Liberian coffee would not pay to cultivate in 
Ceylon for simple reasons : — (1) Rubber requires a 
moist and fairly good soil (we were told to 
grow it on ridges and poor patches of coffee) ; 
(2) Liberian coffee requires a deep rich soil, of 
which we had no more as our best land was already 
planted with Arabian coffee ; (3) there were other 
products paying us better than rubber ; and (4) we 
were not allowed to give Liberian coffee that 
assistance with manure which it required, to say 
nothing about its being subjeot to attacks of leaf 
disease and bug as much as Arabian coffee. 
What has been our fault ? When our ooffee was 
first attaoked with leaf disease, why was it not 
properly treated at once? Pruning, manuring, forking 
soil, disinfecting both bushes and soil was all that 
was required and I have proved it. Bug same : the 
only additional treatment for the latter is to keep 
the stem of the tree free of decaying bark, moss 
&c, their hidingplace and passage to the roots. 
Our coffee was weakened by planting oinchona, 
pruning and manuring neglected ; strong remedies, 
carbolio acid powder, coral lime and sulphur, 
applied which did more harm than good ; what is 
strong enough to kill the insect is also strong 
enough to damage young wood. 
There was a rush for tea, everything had to 
make room for tea, the first in the field no doubt 
made a handsome profit, getting high prices for 
their tea and seed ; anyone writing in favour of 
coffee (trying to stop the wholesale destruction) or of 
cutting out cacao was called a maniac, a lot of land 
unsuitable for tea cultivation without assistance was 
planted; the required assistance not being given, tea 
proves unprofitable, but who is to blame ? Find out 
what is deficient in your soil, give it in time, make 
your roots and bushes strong, and you will find tea 
will pay even at 6c per lb. in Colombo. 
Palace for factory, waste of machinery avoid; see 
to careful pruning at the proper time; give good 
supervision to your plucking; proper nourishment 
on old estates where surface soil is poor, especially 
when plants are young ; if crippled in their youth 
for the want of some nourishment the plant will 
often never make a good bush. 
In my last letter your printer made me say, come 
and see Maria estate cacao, Raxawa tea and 
cinchona, Wattegamawatte cacao and coffee, " and 
in which:" these last three words should have been 
" all of which," were old abandoned native gardens 
once ; please correct same if reprinted. 
Cacao on some estates in this neighbourhood 
elsewhere was cut out or shade cut down and tea 
planted ; whereas if assistance had been given to the 
cacao in time with water-holes, forking, manure, 
more shade planted, the large shade trees thinned 
out by cutting out some of the branches, the surface 
roots cut away, and pepper, vanilla, or betel 
planted to run on the shade trees, how profitable 
these properties might now be ; whereas coffee and 
cacao are gone, tea is left struggling for existence, 
no assistance given. What little coffee and cacao 
is left on these properties have given fair crops 
last year. 
More power must be given to the superintendents 
who are on the spot and must know best what is 
required and when. " A stitch in time saves nine." 
know there are many good superintendents in 
eylon who could show good results if they were 
b\e to carry out their wishes in cultivation ; it is 
