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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August i, 1887. 
But, seeing all this had taken time, and we had a 
longish drive home before us, by a very pretty road cert- 
ainly, but also by what we thought rather a dangerous 
one ; so we were taken back to the bungalow, given an 
excellent cup of Ceylon tea, and started off home again. 
Soon the moon came out and flooded us with her white 
light — such a different moon to our English one, no 
longer with the accustomed man's face upon it, but 
with something quite different, rather like Britannia 
and her shield. The Great Bear was low in the sky, 
and standing on his tail. We looked for the Southern 
Cross, but it had not risen. Every now and then we 
had to pass a bullock waggon, when both our running 
syce and the driver shouted wildly, and poured out 
floods of strange language, with the result of the bull- 
ocks being leisurely, very leisurely, and apparently 
with great effort, pulled a hair's breadth to one side, 
by way of allowing us to pass. Then we saw the lights 
of the Criterion ; and so ended my first visit to a tea 
plantation-. 
We returned with the conviction increased, which had 
been growing on us ever since we landed on the island, 
that Ceylon has a prosperous future before her. She 
has now apparently pulled through the terrible reverse 
of the coffee disease, which nearly ruined her. At that 
time the island was largely planted with coffee trees, 
and coffee was by far its most paying product. Large 
sums of money were invested in these plantations, which 
were most successful , till this disease appeared in 1869. 
It is a kind of fungus which grows on the plant. The 
disease rapidly spread, though, owing to various reasons 
(a rise in the price of coffee being one), the effects on 
the general prosperity were not at first apparent. But 
by 1879 the disease had penetrated everywhere, and the 
coffee planters saw themselves ruined. The moral of 
the failure seems to be, " Don't put all your eggs into 
one basket." With so many and such varied plants as 
flourish in Ceylon, it should be almost impossible to go 
far wrong in judging what will pay for cultivation, and, 
as roads and railways open up the country, produce will 
be more and more easily disposed of. The railway is 
now open to Nanuoya ; and all along it, soon after 
leaving Kandy, the whole country is either being laid 
out in tea and other plantations, but principally in tea, 
or else the plantations are already in full work. 
Before the railway was begun to be made, most of that 
part of the country was dense jungle. It is now being 
cleared so fast that the Government has lately made a 
rule to sell no more land above 4,000 ft. from the sea 
level. Clearing the hill-top has been found to be 
injurious to this country, as the heavy rains then wash 
away the soil, which is prevented when the hill tops are 
covered with this dense jungle. 
The very air of Ceylon just now seems full of pro- 
sperity. You see prosperity in everyone's face; you 
hear it in their talk ; everybody you meet is overflowing 
with energy and hope. There is a kind of revelling in 
present good things and hope of still better things to 
come, that is most exhilarating even to the outsider. 
After the long season of agricultural depression in Eng- 
land where it almost seems as if agriculture were played 
out — where at once the wildest schemes and the most 
radical changes are discussad as possible remedies for 
it on all sides, from jam-making and chicken-reariDg 
to the nationalization of the land, and yet where all the 
schemes mooted seem to end in giving, after all only 
temporary relief, to be all more or less uncomfortable 
makeshifts — it is delightful to come to a country of 
which agricultural depression is not supposed to be the 
normal state, but which, having pulled through one 
reverse, seems able, with good reason, to look forward 
to another time of success and plenty. 
But it is not as yet all clear sailing and coukiir de 
rtse with the planters [and settlers in Ceylon. They 
have just received rather a blow from the Home Gov- 
ernment, and feel themselves desperately aggrieved 
in concetjuence. It can be imagined how roads, and 
especially railroads, open up a country ; but till one 
has seen the thing, one can hardly realize how hope- 
les? it is to bring down produce without a railway to 
compete with that part of the country happy enough 
to possess one. The railway is now open to Nanuoya 
and oycu while it was being constructed, it was always 
considered that in order to make it pay, it would be 
essential to continue it some twenty-five miles further 
and so open out the rich Province of Uva. To do this 
however, a public loan was necessary and the Home 
Government must be consulted. Many papers were 
written last year on this subject on the advantage of 
this railway and sent in to the Colonial Office. They 
were backed by a strong letter from the Governor. 
The colonists felt themselves sure of their railway — 
felt that it was as good as made — when the reply to 
their petitions arrived, and the Colonial Office re- 
fused consent. "The present railroad does not pay," 
they said, "let it pay first." "Yes," reply the colonists 
" but the present railway does not go far enough, leaves 
untapped the finest and most fruitful part of the is- 
land ; give us twenty-five miles more railroad and 
a narrow gauge afterwards as a feeder and see if it 
does not pay." A cry of rage and indignation has 
gone up from the disappointed Colony. Loud talk 
goes on, stormy meetings are held; but which will 
perhaps eventually prove of the most use, they have 
also got Mr. to come over and give his opinions 
on the subject, Mr. , who did the Darjeeling 2ft. 
6in. railway, and is considered the great authority on 
Indian lines. Backed by his independent opinion, 
which they make no doubt will ba in their favour, 
they still hope to persuade the Colonial Office to con- 
sider this fatal refusal. Energetic and sanguine people 
I wish them and their railway all the success they 
deserve. Heneietta GitEv Egekton. 
♦ 
THE CHINA TEA TBADE AND THIS 
SEASON'S SHIPMENTS. 
The X.-C. Daily News says the " Moynne," with the 
first teas from Hankow, arrived in the Thames on the 
25th June, making the voyage in thirty-seven days 
from Hankow, or thirty-five from Shanghai, or at an 
average speed of thirteen knots an hour. The " Glen- 
ogle " passed the Canal some time before the 24th 
J one, and was apparently about keeping her distance 
from the " Moyune." The advices received in Hong- 
kong give the 213th as the date of the " Moyune " 's 
arrival. 
The same paper says : — News has been received by 
wire of the sale of about half the cargo of the " Mo- 
yune " on the 27th June. Prices were the lowest ever 
known for the first new teas, and about 2d a pound, or 
nearly 25 per cent under last year's opening rates for 
Shantams, which, costing by the book 7|d, were sold at 
6Jd. Medium teas are scraping out in some cases, or 
giving small losses, while the few fine teas sold are 
said to bo covering cost. This is a very melancholy 
result when it is remembered that there was no 
more new tea to arrive for at least a week, that 
the crop generally is going forward much more 
slowly than usual, and that it must be known at 
home that second-crop tea has not yet made its 
appearance at Hankow to any extent. The China 
tea trade, say the pessimists, is finished ; the warn- 
ings that have been reiterated year after year have 
been justified at last. 
In a subsequent issue the Daily Wetm says: — The 
tea news from home is not really so bad as it seemed 
at first. Only common teas are losing money, and 
the market seems to be strengthening for good teas. 
Meanwhile, there are. only common teas on the 
market here, which buyers generally do not care to 
touch, and this restricts shipments, and must react 
favourably on the home market. 
The foregoing paragraph elicited the following letter 
signed "C. C. J.": — In these days of overproduction 
and keen competition wo have to be contended with 
very little, but it was with some surprise that I 
gathered from your leaderette this morning that " the 
tea news from homo is not really so bad as it seemed 
at first," and that the restriction of shipments "must 
react favourably on the home markets." In speaking 
of the results of the shipments per " Moyune," we must 
bear in mind the exceptionally favourable circum- 
stances under which her cargo was placed on the Lon - 
don market, that is to say, she is a week ahead of any 
other steamer and the export to London to date is 
