November i, 1887.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
327 
drink Indian or even Chinese tea. Surely they might 
be converted. [The recent high price of coffee has 
Jed to increased use of tea, and we hear that Indian 
and Ceylon tea arc finding favour.— Ed.] 
OEYLON TEA. 
The praises of Ceylon tea are sung this week by 
the Grocer, which seems to be gruduallv deserting 
its early love, Ohina, and placing its affections else- 
where. The rapid rise of the tea industry in Ceylon 
is a fitting subject for laudatory comments, and 
now that the tide has so distinctly set in favour of 
Indian and Ceylon teas, it is well that retail traders 
should bo informed as to the developement of the in- 
dustry. Says our contemporary: — "When the cultiv- 
ation of tea in the island of 06ylon was begun in earnest 
in the year 1880, tho number of ' gardens ' where it was 
grown was only thirteen, producing about 1,300 pack- 
ages; but in 1882 thero was a speedy extension to fifty- 
six gardens, when 9,500 packages of tea were raised ; 
and in the following year there were as many as 111 
gardens, yielding 22,500 packages; which was further 
augmented in 1S84 to 135 gardens, bearing sufficient 
tea t« fill 32,600 packages. Since then, year by year, 
there has been a great number of gardens planted out, 
till in 1880 the total, according to Messrs. I. A. Kucker 
and Boncraft's list, comprised above 000, being equal in 
acreage to about 120,000 acres under tea. 
"At an averago of only 500 lb. of tea to the 
acre, the production in one year would amount to 
60,000,000 lb.; or if at tho rate of 800 lbs. to 
1,000 lb. per acre, as some are inclined to calcul- 
ate, with the additional gardens formed this sea- 
son, the entire crop would turn out to be some- 
thing between 9,600,000 and 120,000,000 lb. now, 
especially as the plants bear more plentifully than 
they did at the commencement of tho industry. Tho 
increaso in tho imports of tea from Ceylon to Loudon 
has boen equally marvellous, us the subjoined figures 
clearly show :— 1880, 114,8501b; 1881, 311,1501b; 
1882, G21,0701bs. ; 1883, 1,500,0901b ; 188-1, 2,285,3001b; 
1885,3,702,9501b ; 1886, 6,874,9001b; 1887 (eight mouths), 
7,663,000 lb. 
•' Progression so romarkablo as the above has sel- 
dom been witnessed in any new enterprise, still less 
so during recent years, when trade in nearly all parts 
of the world has boen as bad as it possibly could bo, 
aud some persons, whose judgment and experience 
entitle them to be received as authorities on the sub- 
ject, are of opiuion that there is a fear of the supply 
shortly overtaking tho demand, aud of growiug so 
enormous and unwieldy as to entail a serious loss 
instead of bringing a decent profit to the planters 
and importers. But there aro several reasons for not 
believing that this will be tho case, although the ten- 
dency of soino moves in commerce and agriculture is 
to go from one extreme to another. May bo the 
utmost limits of production have not yet been reached, 
and therefore thero is no immediate danger of the mar- 
ket having a glut of supplies ; but even supposing 
arrivals of Oeylon tea wero to como forward much 
more extensively than they have done, the demand, 
which is likowise an increasing one, promises to con- 
tinue unimpaired so long as the ' quality ' is kept up 
to its usual staudard of excellence ; and to ensure 
this desideratum the planters out there must sparo 
no pains to grow and prepare such teas as they know 
are particularly approciited by the British public. 
For the great body of consumers it has been proved 
that many grades of China teas, though perfectly 
pure, are too thin aud weak to bo taken alone, 
aud often need an admixture of the pungent Assam 
kinds to make tin in rutin ly p:ilntable to those who 
prefer having their tea strong. Or, to reverse the 
ease, bucIi tea-drinkers asoaunot imbibe Indian growths 
of full strength aro glad to reduce their rasping flavour 
by adding the milder and i-oftcr qualities of China 
ton, which to some palates are simply perfection. 
Now, it so happens that Ceylon teas naturally combine 
all the tiuer attributes of both Indian and China 
descriptions, and huvu on that account commanded 
so nuuhattriiti. il fr.'in the trade siin i- ihey wero first 
tried, that .it tho uioweut it scouts ao if the demand 
would novor bo permanently satisfied, so strongly does 
it set in one direction. 
" Dy attending to the main requisite in their 
supplies, viz., the ' quality' of the teas they produce, 
the Ceylon planters may rest assured that there will 
always be a ready market here for all they may send ; 
aud so long as uniform strength, flavour, and fragrance 
can be relied on, new purchases will succeed the 
old ones, until a demand as great as that for either 
China or India teas will grow up, and further stimu- 
late the production in our British Colony. While the 
demand and supply are of nearly equal extent, with 
the latter, if anything, rather in advance than other- 
wise, as a safeguard against undue speculation or 
' cornering, ' prices are likely to remain at such a 
moderate lovel as will tend to promote consumption, 
in spite of the sharp competition prevailing from other 
sorts ; and let Ceylon tea once establish itself as a 
favourite, nothing but the grossest folly or short- 
sightedness in studying the wishes of the public will 
cause it to lose ground afterwards, — so that all the 
planters have to do is to go on with their enterprise 
as they have begun it, doubting not that they will 
achieve success. They should also bear in mind that 
what consumers want most is a really useful and 
strong brisk-flavoured tea at not more than about Is 
per lb. in bond, as there are more teas sold at and 
below that figure than any other, and those who 
import the largest quantities and the best qualities 
at such reasonable prices may depend upon obtaining 
the lion's share of what patronage there is to bestow." 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE " HOME AND COLONIAL MAIL." 
Sir, — I havo the pleasure to enclose you copy of a 
letter received from Mr. J. Berry- White, and should 
feel greatly obliged if you could give it a place iu 
your next issue of the Home and Colonial Mail. — 
Yours, &c, W. A. Gibbs. 
" Monkham's Hall, 
" Waltharu Abbey, Essex, Sept. 12th, 1887. 
"To W. A. Gibbs, Esq., 
" Doar Sir, — 1 regret that great pressure of busi- 
ness has prevented my replying to your enquirios 
boforo. 
" Thero aro seven or eight of your Gibbs and 
Barry tea-drying cylinders in uso on the estates in 
which I am interested, and after somo years' experi* 
once of their working, I am satisfied that they proved 
moro economical than any other appliance for drying 
tea that has as yet been introduced. 
" I cannot give details as to the savings effected, 
as it would be only misleading to compare tho cost 
of production on an estate using your cylinder against 
tho cost of production upon another estate using a 
different drying apparatus without at tho samo time 
showing the conditions under which tho ostates in 
question are worked ; but the broad fact remains, 
that tea in produced at a lower cost at those factories 
Using the tiibbs and Barry machines than elcsichtre in 
India. 
" This does not apply alone to my gardens, but 
to all tho neighbouring estates in Upper Assam, and 
I bolievo that this statement is equally truo as re- 
gards Cachur. 
" Economy is effected by tho smaller consumption 
of fuel and less labour required to work the cylinder 
than any other machine turning out a similar largo 
quantity of tea. The simplicity of its mechanism 
and consequent non-liability to get out of order also 
tcuds to this end. 
"The fenr that the exposuro of tea in courso of 
manufacture to the direct influences of tho combus- 
tion of coke would prejudicially affect its flavour, 
has been proved to be utterly unfounded, somo of the 
highest priced teas sold during tho last four years 
iu Mincing Lano — notably those from tho l'anitoln 
and Kellydeu gardens— wero dried in your cvlindors. 
— Yours, etc., J. Bbiuiy-Whitb. 
TEA MACHINERY. 
TO 1KB t.MTOU OK TIIK "IIOMK AMI COLONIAL MAIL." 
Dear Sir, — About a year ago, wheu 1 was iu Ceylon, 
thete wan u yreat deal of talk lhi.ru uboul thu U0QO) 
