March i, 1890. 1 THE TROPICAL At3R1t>ULTUmST. 
621 
gardens had been supplying local demands, and had 
proved the London market with success. From these 
gardens a good deal of the seed for the formation of 
nurseries was procurable, and the experience which the 
pioneers had gained was freely placed at the disposal 
of others. Ceylon had also the great advantage of 
being able to avail itself of the advice and assistance 
of Indian planters, and to profit by the experience 
whioh, in the face of difficulty and obstruction — which 
in great measure paved the way for Oeylou — had built 
up the great Incliau tea enterprise. 
There was a further advantage which, though often 
painfully felt, has given an element of safety to the 
capital invested in tea in Ceylon. The general distrust 
naturally arising from thefailuieof coffee caused a 
great withdrawal of credit and purchasing power, and 
borrowing facilities were at so low an ebb that, though 
suocess was apparent, it had often to be attendant 
upon means, and the enterprise has been built up on 
a sound financial basis, entirely free from any rush of 
speculation ; but still the progress has been mar- 
vellous, and perhaps unprecedented in commercial 
history. In the Ceylon Customs, during the year ending 
30th of September, 1880, 114,8-16 lb. of tea were export- 
ed ; 1885, 4,352,895 lb.; 1889, 32,516,682 lb.; aud during 
the current year more than 40.000,000 lb. will probably 
be exported; and as tea his thoroughly adapted itself 
to the conditions of Ceylon, which possesses the great 
advantage of a good climate, a cheap and abundaut 
labour supply, and unrivalled facilities for the trans- 
port of produce from plantation to market, and as 
there is still much suitable land available, it is im- 
possible to a«s'Vn the limits of the enterprise. 
The various operations connected with the formation 
of a tea plantation are very similar to those required 
for coffee cultivation. The young plants are removed 
from nurseries aud placed in pits, at distances from 
one another varying according to circumstances, but 
an acre of tea land generally contains about twice as 
many plants as an acre of coffee. 
A year or to after the planting out of the young 
trees, which grow very rapidly, they are cut down to 
a height of about three feet, and encouraged, for con- 
venience of cultivation, to assume tho form of a bush 
rather than of a tree ; and as soon as the tree is old 
enough the work of plucking commences. Tea is made 
from the very tender leaves and buds, great care being 
required not to impair future plucking. The tea har- 
vest in_ Ceylon is perennial, except when the trees 
are taking the rest which is annually imposed upon 
them by pruning. The whole area of the plantation 
requires to be plucked over, according to climatio 
circumstances, from seven to 12 days. The green leaf 
is then carried to the factory, and weighed and spread 
out on trays to wither, four pounds of green leaf 
generally giving a return of about a pound of manu- 
factured tea. After sufficient moisture has been eva- 
porated, and the leaves have become fliccid, they are 
placed in heavy rollers, and all the cellular tissues are 
thoroughly broken up. They tben go through a slight 
process of fermentation, during which the colour 
chauges from green to a bright copper. They are then 
passed through furnaces aud thoroughly baked, and 
here the actual manufacture ends, and all that has 
now to be done is to sort into the various grades of 
orange pekoe, pekoe, pekoe souchong, &c, &c, and to 
pack in lead-lined chests, when the tea is ready for 
its destination, each of tliese operations is carried out 
as far as possible with the assistance of machinery, 
and requires scrupulous cleanliness aud uuremitting 
attention ; and it is perhaps owing as much to careful 
preparation as to natural advantages that, since Ceylon 
tea bceuiue established in London as a commercial 
ariiole, it bus averaged higher prioes than the tea from 
any other country. 
What coffre planting did for Ceylon has been al- 
ready told, and its great successor — though the imme- 
diate profits derived from tea cultivation may not al- 
ways be so great as from coffee — has placed the island 
on a firmer ami more permanent basis. 
The cultivation of coffee was confined to a hill zone, 
the limit of which varied with se.il aud climate; but 
botb above aud below that zone coffoo refused to yield 
crops, and it was also especially sensitive to ill-treat- 
ment, and at once resented neglect. The area avail- 
able for coffee was therefore limited, and as nearly all 
suitable laud had been planted, and when trees got 
old and exhausted the sime land could not be replant- 
ed, though the end of coffee has been precipitated by 
ltaf disease aud accompanying pests, it was in the 
course of nature bound to come ; and the question 
so frequently asked — whether Ceylon is likely to become 
a large coffee producer again can, so far as the present 
generation is concerned, be answered in the negative 
Tea, on the other hand, grows with the greatest free, 
dom. If left neglected, it triumphs over weeds, and 
asserts itself in the midst of a dense jungle under- 
growth. In flourishes equally from sea level to the 
tops of the higher mountain ranges, so much so that 
it is still an open quesiion whether a tea estate in 
the low country, with its large yield of strong but 
somewhat flavourless tea, or one at a higher elevation, 
where reduced yield is compensated for by iuoreased 
flavour, is the better investment. 
There are few, if any, economic plants which thrive 
over so large a portion of the globe as t"a, and though 
an expansive market to grow for, its very hardiness 
would give rise to the danger of over-production were 
it not that the cultivation, plucking, aud manufacture 
of tea require so much humau labour that it can only 
be grown with profit where population is dense, and 
requirements of life are cheap, and in this respect 
Ceylon posseses unequalled advantages. Tne native 
population would be sufficient for all wants, but it 
will generally only labour intermittently, as the Sin- 
halese have their own fields to cultivate, and the 
religion of Buddha requires the observance of many 
festivals ; and as a resident labour force which will 
labour uninterruptedly is indispensable for the success- 
ful cultivation of both tea and coffee, the labour force 
is recruited from the densely populated villages on 
the Malabar Coast, where life is hard and food ofttimes 
scarce; and when the coolies have crossed tbe narrow 
strip of blue which separates Ceylon from the mainland, 
and which is as precious to it as the English 
Channel to this island, they readily accept the bettered 
condition of life, and though under no indenture, and 
free to come or go at will, many settle clown on the 
plantation where they are comfortably housed with 
their wives and children, and never return to their 
native land. A full grown man's wages are something 
under sixpence a day, and for two-thirds of this sum 
he can purchase as much rice, curry-stuff, betel, to- 
bacco, and salt fish as he can consume, and neither 
custom nor climate requiring a lavish expenditure on 
clothing, though the love of dress is strong, his means 
are ample for his humble wants, and many of these 
labourers remit money to their relatives in India. 
Each coolie is allowed a piece of ground on which 
he cultivates vegetables, many of them keep poultry 
and sheep, and some rise to the dignity of possessing 
a cow. 
The absolute dependence of the planter upon his 
coolies for success, the ready way in which they 
respond to generous treatment, and their really im- 
proved condition of life, promote a thorough under- 
standing betweeu master and servant; they benefit and 
suffer together, and during the severe strain of bad 
times which followed the failure of coffee, conscious 
of their employers' difficulties, coolh s not infrequently 
volunteered to accept reduced wages. 
In Ceylon, apart from many of other iterrs of ex- 
penditure, it requires about two-thirds of a days' la- 
bour to produce a pound of tea; thus, if the average 
rate of labour is sixpence, lourpence is expended upon 
the manual labour necessary to bring a pound' of tea 
to market. In countries where the day's wage is a 
shilling, eichtpeuce would havo to ba expended on 
manual labour ; and though there are several purts 
of the Biitish empire whi re tea may be grown pro- 
fitwbly lor local consumption, cheap labour is indispen- 
sable to compete successfully in European markets. 
Cocoa (Theohroma cacao) was introduced into Ce\olu 
by the Dutch; aud though plants were occasionally 
distributed from tho Peredenya Gardens to different 
parts of tho island, and thedtsirabloness of cultivat- 
