S96 THE TROPICAL 
plant has been raised with entire success, but the 
want of any skilful manipulation to collect and pre- 
pare the leaf renders it hopeless to attempt any ex- 
periment on a large scale until assistance can be 
secured from China to conduct the preparation." But 
as tea was, at the time Tennent wrote, being made 
in India, independent of Chinese aid, it is more pro- 
bable that contentment with coffee hindered the de- 
velopment of tea. 
About 1866 attention seems to have been directed 
by several large landholders in Ceylon to the desirable- 
ness of introducing new products, specially with ths 
object of utilising the large tracts of forest land 
in private hands, which, from elevation and other 
causes, were unsuitable to coffee cultivation, and 
from this movement sprang the cultivation of cinchona, 
cocoa, &o., which now swell the export tables. 
Eumour also reached Ceylon of the golden dividends 
which were being reaped by some of the Indian tea 
companies, and an occasional Indian tea planter tra- 
velling in Ceylon expressed himself struck with the 
great natural advantages which Ceylon possessed for 
the cultivation of the plant, combined with its ex- 
cellent labour force and its great facilities for trans- 
port. The seed from the tea trees in the .Royal Botanic 
Gardens at Paredeniya was all taken up by one enter- 
prising firm. The field of tea which was referred to 
by Sir Emerson Tennent, and which had now become 
the property of a company, was taken in hand, cul- 
tivated and extended ; but all the tea seed which had 
been go far introduced into Ceylon was of the China 
variety, which has proved to be of lesser value than 
the Assam hybrid. About this time, a movement was 
made by the Planters' Association of Ceylon for the 
appointment of a Commissioner to visit and report 
upon the Indian tea districts, with a view to a system- 
atic cultivation of the tea plant in Ceylon. The 
report was thorough, and, thoagh made at the time 
of depression following the era of wild speculation in 
India, was so far encouraging that it produced im- 
mediate fruit. Indents for tea seed were sent up to 
India, and nurseries were prepared for its preparation. 
Fortunately for Ceylon, one of the largest and earliest 
of these experiments, and the one to which the public 
most looked, was conducted upon the Loolcondura 
estate, under the management of one who brought 
more than ordinary care and intelligence to bear on 
his subject. He was successful in planting a tea field ; 
and, though entirely | self-taught in eultivation and 
manufacture, he in due season turned out tea which 
secured local appreciation and favourable comment in 
the London market. 
Simultaneously other experiments were carried on, 
all with satisfactory results as to the article pro- 
duced, and the local market which had hitherto been 
supplied from India and China, was soon supplied 
from its own gardens. Nor was opportunity lost in 
bringing the tea of Ceylon into comparison with the 
other teas of the world ; and so favourable was the 
verdiot, that the important fact of Ceylon being able 
to produce an article of superior quality, was at 
once established. The export tables of Ceylon show 
that the death knell of much of the coffee had al- 
ready rung, but in 1873 the price of coffee rose to 
nearly deuble what it had been a few years before ; 
and with every economy being exercised in manage- 
ment, accompanied by liberal and scientific cultivation, 
no wonder the planter clung tenaciously to his coffee 
trees, hoping for a mitigation or a disappearance of 
the pest. About this time, also, the first cinchona bark 
harvests were realised, with such splendid financial 
' results, that, coupled as cinchona cultivation could 
be with coffee by interspersion of cinchona trees 
through the coffee fields, the cultivation of tea was 
for some time retarded. 
About 1876 the adaptation of the low lands of 
CeyloD to tea cultivation was proved, and it was 
also proved that so different wvi the no/ are of the 
tea tree to that of the coffee tree — the former 
throwing down a loug tap root, and drawing nourish- 
ment from sources hitherto untouched by the coffee 
tree, whioh is a surf aoe-feeder — that muoh land which 
bad been under coffee cultivation could be readily 
AGRICULTURIST. [March i, t888. 
and profitably converted into tea-producing property 
The planting of tea now began in earnest, and from 
sea level to 6,000 feet above the sea, a large area 
was rapidly brought under cultivation. 
Ceylon commenced its new era under many ad- 
vantages. The mystery connected with the prepar- 
ation of tea had been dispe'le I, and the tea pla iter 
of India, after years of careful study, had settled 
modes of culture and manufacture. The Inland was 
opened up by roads and railways, an abundant 
supply of tea seed from India was procurable, 
Ceylon planters visited the Indian tea districts, 
Indian tea planters visited Ceylon, and some settled 
there, and then the advice and assistance of experi- 
enced men was readily obtainable. 
The very gloomy financial position of the island, 
and the consequent scepticism of success, whick 
prevented any rush of capital towards the industry, 
though at the time it appeared to many a great 
and almost fatal drawback, has turned out to have 
been a blessing in disguise. The enterprise has been 
divested entirely of the element of speculation, and 
not a tea estate has been sold, not a company for 
the cultivation of tea has been formed, which has 
not been submitted to the most jealous scrutiny of 
figures. 
For several years the wirepullers of Ceylon finance 
had found that many coffee investments showed 
yearly-increasing debit balances, and that the substi- 
tution of cinchona, cocoa, and other products had 
failed to fulfil promise or to restore the balance. 
Every conceivable difficulty was raised — " The soil is 
not good enough; " " You may grow tea, but you 
will never make it in sufficient quantity to make it 
pay;" "You may get quantity, but you will never 
get quality;" "It may go on for a few years, but 
it won't last, " were but a few of the expressions 
of doubt hurled freely and without foundation at 
tea-planting in Ceylon, but it has lived them down. 
The yield from many of the older gardens has far 
exceeded the most sanguine expectations ; the average 
price obtained has exceeded that of other tea-pru- 
ducing countries; the older tea fields — and it must 
be remembered that they were formed on land not 
selected for its suitability for tea, but for its un- 
suitability for coffee — some of which are now twenty 
years old, are giving a steadily-increasing yield, 
maintaining quality, and showing no signs of ex- 
haustion. The labour supply, which comes chiefly 
from the Malabar Coast, and which arrives upon 
the estates free of auy premium or incidental 
charge, is practically unlimited: the average rate of 
pay being about 6d. per day. The transport ad- 
vantages are unrivalled, railways running through a 
large part of the land now planted with tea, and 
the country being covered with a network of 
excellent roads. The many recent improvements in 
machinery have much lessened the fuel difficulty, 
and imported fuel can be distributed among the estates 
which have not an abundant natural supply at a 
price which will not seriously affect the cost of produc- 
tion. The Ceylon tea industry has already assumed 
large proportions. There are probably now 200,000 
acres of tea planted in Ceylon, giving employment to 
1,200 British managers and superintendents, and 
300,008 British subjects from India and Ceylon. The 
probable export of tea from Ceylon in 1890 will be 
40,000,000 lb., and as there is a very large tract of 
land suitable for cultivation, the limits of the enter- 
prise will only be bounded by consumption, for Ceylon 
has proved that it can place tea of superior quality in 
the markets of the world at a price which will defy 
competition, and with the enumerated advantages, 
coupled with its salubrious climate, the enterpise is 
attractive, and promises to continue remunerative. 
Cultivation and Manufacture. 
A few words as to the cultivation and manufacture 
of tea may not be out of place. 
When the laud upon which the tea field is to be 
formed has been selected, the forest trees are cut 
down, and, after they have become sufficiently dry, 
the clearing is burnt off ; the land is then carefully 
roaded and drained, aud pits are dug at regular inter- 
