TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [MAkcH i, t*8& 
market that injudin'ous cultivation and excessive 
plucking ha-> so serioasly affected their trees that, until 
a new area comes under cultivation, China can never 
fill that place in the tea market she once did. The 
remarks of Mr. Morris on the botanical question are of 
great interest. That is a question I did. not venture 
to touch upon, because I am not a scientific 
man, but I may say that those who were asso- 
ciated with him know the vigilance and the 
energy he brought to bear in all the cultivations in 
which we were engaged. I do not think I need fol- 
low the vagaries of our peripatetic friend who is such 
an admirable advertisement of the effects of India-i 
tea. I claim for Oeylon tea no peculiar protection. 
I want India, Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, Natal, 
and any British Colony who can produce tea, to go 
hand iu hand in checking the mal-practices of the 
trade, and I ask consumers to help us in introducing an 
article that is good and pure. It is a great privilege 
to have had the opportunity of addressing this meet- 
ing. We all know that we are units in an Empire 
holding a position which no Empire has ever held 
before, and I may say that there is no institution in 
any other country that offers the same facilities for 
the exchange of ideas, and for imparting tbat know- 
ledge which producers desire to convey to consumers 
as the Royal Colonial Institute. Here is a common 
platform, on which the consumer or the producer of 
Canada or the Australian Colonies may meet and dis- 
cuss their requirements and their means of benefiting 
one another, and thus I have had an opportunity of 
conveying, however imperfectly, a slight knowledge 
of an enterprise which, I claim, requires to be thoroughly 
recognised by the tea drinkers of the United King- 
dom. — Colonies and India, Jan. 20th. 
THE TEA INDUSTEY OF CEYLON. 
London, E.C., 20th Jan. 1888. 
Dear Sib, — I send you cuttings of letters that 
have appeared in the Standard in reference to Mr. 
Shand's interesting paper on Ceylon Tea, which 
has evidently attracted a good deal of attention 
outside Mincing Lane circles. The enterprize is 
really regarded almost as a new industry well worthy 
of full inquiry, and it is therefore most important 
that correct and authoritative details of the pre- 
sent acreage already in tea should be sent home 
and made public for the future guidance of those 
interested. I daresay your regular London corre- 
spondent will have supplied you with other letters 
tnd notices from the papers, and The Colonies and 
India contains a full account of the discussion 
which followed the reading of the paper, also some 
remarks of my own in support of Ceylon tea. 
It is wonderful what rapid strides it has made 
of late years ; go where you will, you see it ad- 
vertised in the grocers' shops, in the provinces as 
well as in London. Indeed, I am afraid that poor 
Ceylon is made use of in passing off rubbish that 
has never come from the beautiful spicy island 
of the East. A note of warning also comes from 
Mincing Lane, where, 1 regret to hear, there are 
complaints that the quality of Ceylon tea is falling 
off in consequence of planters picking too coarsely 
in order to increase the yield. It is to be hoped 
that this complaint applies to only a few cases, 
and that more and more attention will be paid to 
the scientific manufacture of tea, so as to improve 
the quality year by year. I can assure you, Ceylon 
is more talked about now than I ever remember, 
and so many that I know are either already engagpd 
in the tea industry or intend sending their sons 
out to try their hands as planters on your beautiful 
hills. — Believe me, yours faithfully, 
JOHN HUGHES. 
To the Editor of the " Standard." 
Sir, — I have perused with interest the extract given 
ii your edition of today of Mr. John London Shand's 
paper on the Tea Industry of Oeylon. With all due 
deference to that gentleman, I cannot but think that 
he is overstepping the mark when he mentions forty 
million pouuds as the probable export of tea from Cey- 
lon in 1890. A closp intimacy with the island, and a 
recent visit thereto, satisfies me that while a consider- 
able acreage has been planted with tea only a certain 
proportion can be expected to give a fair yield. Tea, 
like most products, requires good soil and suitable cli- 
mate ; and these points have not, in my opinion, been 
sufBcentlj adhered to with regard to the acreage al- 
ready brought into cultivation. For this reason, I 
fear Mr. Shand's expectations in regard to exports of 
Ceylon teas in 1890 will not be fulfilled. — I am, sir, 
your obedient servant, J. M. Maitland-Kirwan. 
38, Mincing-lane, E. C, January 11th. 
To theEditor of the Standard. 
Sir,— I have noted with interest Mr. Maitlaud- 
Kirwan's remarks in your issue of the 13th iust. on 
Mr. John Loudoun Shand's paper respecting the prob- 
able export of tea from Ceylon in 1890; and as this 
question is of importance to the trade here, it would 
be of great benefit to know upon what basis Mr. 
Shand quotes forty million pounds as the probable 
out-turn of Ceylon for 1890. 
It has been my privilege to visit Ceylon, after many 
years' experience as a planter iu India, and a\< hough 
Ceylon may for a time increase in her export, we 
have the grave questions to ask : — 
1. How long can this last if the bushes are plucked 
from January 1st to December 31st ? 
2. Can any very great increase continue from soil 
that has rendered good service to the coffee shrub 
years gone by ? 
3. Is not Ceylon just as liable to blight— i. «., 
mosquito and red spider— as experienced in old gar- 
dens in India ; aud, if so, what allowance has been 
made? 
4. How much virgin land can Ceylon planters 
open up that will guarantee the figures as stated by 
Mr. Shand? 
5. The island having suffered so greatly from 
blight in the past does this not point iu a greit 
measure to poorness of soil from over work; and if 
so, are the probabilities in favour of any great in- 
crease of tea? 
Having interests in one or two estates, and having 
spent many years amongst the tea districts, I should 
like to know if the above queries affect the produc- 
tion or not? — I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
Indian Planter. 
16th January. 
To the Editor of the Standard. 
Sir, — I see with pleasure in your issue of today 
a letter signed " Indian Planter," bearing on the 
Tea Industry of Oeylon, and calling in question 
statements made by me before the Royal Colonial 
Institute. I claim for this industry that it possesses 
an interest far beyond the mere question of pro- 
duction, and the vast dimensions it is so rapidly 
assuming make it important to all concerned that 
the figures of the future, about which there is 
necessarily the element of doubt, should be framed 
and received with caution. 
The estimate of an out-turn of 40,000,0001b. of 
Tea from Oeylon in 1890 is based upon the follow- 
ing figures. A most careful census taken in 1886, 
after making the most liberal deduction for land 
only partially planted up, and full allowance for 
the numerous cases in wliich the wish of the agri- 
culturist is father to the thought, showed that there 
were rather more than 150,000 acres fully planted 
with Tea in Ceylon. 
I calculate that this area should yield fully 250 lb. of 
made Tea per acre iu 1890, and that 30,000 acres 
planted in 1887-88 should give 150 lb. per acre, 
showing : — 
150,000 acres at 250 lb. per sere = 37,500,000 lb. 
30,000 acres at 150 1b. per a ore = 4,500,000 1b. 
Iuall.. 42,000,0001b. 
