THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [May i, x888. 
able importance to the well being of our fellow- 
creatures. To that primary advantage must be 
added the beneficial effect the advocacy of the 
change would have upon the future of an im- 
portant industry in this colony, which is now 
languishing owing to production being in excess 
of the demand created by existing European practice. 
For both of these reasons we deem that the 
medical authority among us who shall take the 
initiative in bringing this question to the notice 
of his fellow-practitioners in Europe will confer a 
boon both upon humanity generally and upon 
his fellow colonists. 
We must say one word as to Mr. Christy's 
recent observations respecting the prejudice enter- 
tained at home against the Anti-Opium Society. 
There can be no reason why, because opium is 
in many ways a blessing to men, the abuse of 
it should not be attacked. The Society referred 
to is, in point of fact, a Temperance Society, and 
its aims are as deserving of appreciative recogni- 
tion as are tbose of the Societies whose object 
is to reduce the evil effects of alcoholic intem- 
perance. If the objects of the Anti-Opium 
Society were as popularly known as are those of 
the Temperance Societies, they would be as widely 
approved of as are the aims of the latter by the 
greater proportion of our fellowcountrymen. 
The latest indication of interest in this subject 
comes to us from Chicago, where a leading paper 
has been especially calling attention to the letter 
advocating the more general use of quinine and 
its value as a substitute or antidote for opium. 
THE CULTIVATION OF TEA ON OLD 
COFFEE LAND. 
The discussion on this subject has excited very 
considerable attention, to judge by the several 
letters which have reached us. We have a strong 
opinion that the most economical and profitable 
way of cultivating a good many groups of estates trans- 
formed into tea in Ceylon will be through the agency 
of Limited Companies, eaah of which, by establishing 
a central and well-equipped factory, can work 800 or 
1,000 acres of tea in a far more effeotive and inexpen- 
sive way than say half-a-dozen distinct proprietors 
each with his separate factory burdened by a 
considerable bill for buildings, machinery, &c. 
Districts which present favourable conditions 
for the application of the principle of Limited 
Companies, are, it seems to us, llangala, Hewa- 
heta, Kotmale, Ambegamuwa and Eakwana among 
others. It will be remembered that in his last 
letter the correspondent who originally started this 
discussion wound up with a very encouraging re- 
port on tea land giving 250 lb. per acre and up- 
wards, valuing the same at E500 per acre. A good 
many have been interested in the experience of 
manuring old tea land which we quoted, and among 
others Mr. J. H. Hadden of Wewelmadde asks 
'• What was the manure or manures that at an 
expense of R20 per acre gave so good a result, 
and what quantity wasj] applied per acre ?" On 
inquiring further, we learn that the actual cost of 
the manuring in question was R30 per acre, the 
effect lasting over two years, and therefore the outlay 
was only equal to B15 per acre per annum. No 
special account was kept, but those concerned are 
positive the fields manured yield quite 300 lb. per 
acre arid nearly double what they gavo before being 
manured, or what is got now on adjoining fields. 
Our informant has perhaps had as much experience 
Of manuring tea as any planter in Ceylon, having 
had 1.00 tons of castor cake alone put out on land 
belonging to him or under his care during the past 
three years. Here is one instance of results and 
some further practical remarks we venture to quote: — 
" A field of four years old tea on very old cottee land, 
manured with white castor cake about the end of 1886, 
at the rate of one tou to three acres, costing under 
R73 a ton delivered on the estate, and the forking and 
application cost between K5 and R6 an acre, or say in 
all the three acres cost R90. The manuring was done 
during November and December 1866, and commenced 
to yield heavily in May last year, aud has continued to 
yield well ever since till the recent dry weather, and 
now promises to go ahead again. The trees looked so 
vigorous and well during the last pruning season, that 
the manager of the estate aud I both decided not to 
prune it till this season. I do not wish to get into a 
controversy about the matter, but I am thoroughly 
satisfied of the beneficial effects of careful manuring 
and thorough cultivation of tea. On the other hand, if 
the land is so bad as not to be able to produce more 
than 50 to 100 lb., it must be very uphill work indeed. 
" I have used fish manure during the last two sea- 
sons with advantage. I got it from R25 to R27'50 a 
ton delivered at Slatale, Gampola, and Nawalapitiya, 
and costing say about R33 a ton on the estates that I 
am concerned with, and by applying about 14 cwt. to 
an acre still kept within the K30 an acre for the two 
years. Tea does not want heavy applications of man- 
ure like coffee; we want leaf only from tea, while fruit 
required larger quantities of manure. Small doses of 
manure, well forked in, make a wonderful difference in 
the flush. 
" A weekly report, just in from another old district, 
says tea flushing badly, owing to the dreadfully dry 
weather, excepting where manured." 
Just as we are closing these remarks we receive 
a paper with an article by an Indian tea planter 
discussing the subject of tea on old coffee land 
with reference to what he considers the mistaken 
notion prevalent in Ceylon that tea draws nourish- 
ment by a long taproot rather than by surface 
feeders, He undertakes to prove that tea is a 
surface feeder, and we shall quote his remarks in 
an early issue. — We add here, for the present, some 
further remarks by an authority, who had pre- 
viously written, and what he says is of a reassuring 
character : — 
(By an Old Planter.) 
The note of warning, sounded by your correspond- 
ent on the yield of tea on old coffee lands, has done 
good, by directing attention to this very important 
branch of our new enterprize ; and by eliciting 
evidence from different quarters. The subject is 
one of vital interest to many old planters whose 
only remaining capital left after the wreck of their 
coffee is the land on which it was grown, with the 
buildings, roads, drains, and stock thereupon. There 
may be some who would do well to abandon the 
whole concern, but these are very few. The great 
majority of the old coffee estates will repay the 
cost and trouble of replanting them with tea, if 
ordinary care be used. The only cases of utter 
failure and disappointment will be those where bad 
work or a bad jat cause it. These may probably 
yield even less than your correspondent estimated ; 
but as regards others I entertain more hopeful 
views than he from the experience I have had. 
Nevertheless, his warning will do good. Few, if 
any, will be frightened by it. Our old planters 
are not of the kind to be easily soared or discour- 
aged. The energy and skill that made the coffee 
estates what they were will not be soon daunted. 
Some may perhaps persevere to their hurt, but 
none will abandon anything worth sticking to. 
So, whilst Alpha inspires caution, and Beta favoura 
manuring, Gamma will encourage hope in the 
potenoy of draining and working up the soil. 
Alpha's experience of forking is not in harmony 
with mine, which agrees with the universal prac- 
tice of agriculturists. Soils that have been cropped 
