August i, i888,J THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
9? 
WHEN ARE OUR WORST TEAS MADE? 
(From a Maslceliya Correspondent .) 
With regard to the interesting discussion now taking 
place in jour columns as to when our worst teas 
are made, I feel I cannot do better than send you 
figures taken from my books shewing date of manufac- 
ture, despatch, and sale of this estate teas for the 
past two years. You can rely on them as being ac- 
curate : — 
1880. 
Month of 
Mauufac- Date of No. of lb. Date of sale. Aver- 
ture. 
1885 
Despatch. 
1886 
lb. 
4,048 
December 12 January 
1886 
January ... 12 February 6,505 
February... 1 March 7,100 
March ... 8 April 10,290 
April ... 6 May 8,520 
May ... 9 June 10,605 
June ... 4 July 7,213 
July ") 
& [ 8 Sept. 2,620 
August ) 
September . 30 Sept. 1,120 
31 March 
age. 
IAS 
10 May 1/0 J 
15 May 1/0^ 
30 May 1/ 
24 June /11| 
5 August l/0i 
24 August 1/1£ 
W 
1/4J 
23 Novr. 
1887 
October ... 20 Novr. 2,185 19 January 1/4* 
November.. 7 Deer. 3,881 19 February l/3£ 
December... 8 January 5,155 21 March 1/ 
* Sold in September in Colombo, at an average of 66 
cts., and then sold in Loudon under estate mark 
at 1/4*. 
1887. 
lb. 
January ... 12 February 7,280 25 April /llf 
February ... 7 March 9,207 12 May l/0f 
.March ... 8 April 3,144 6 June C /11J- 
do ...28 do 839 May in Uol. \ 39 cts. 
April ... 16 May 9,355 5 July /ll 
May ... 20 June 11,283 3 August /Hi 
June ... 7 July 9,783 24 do 1/1 
. I uly ... 15 August 6,445 19 Sept. 
August ... 9 Sept. 12,075 19 October 1/1 i 
September. 8 October 12,985 18 Nov. 1/0J 
October ... 20 do 4,880 7 Deer. /Hi 
November ... 21 Novr. 7,800 11 January /llj 
December... 6 Deer. 5,463 26 do /10£ 
"You will notice that, our wettest months when 
withering is almost impossible have, two yeurs' running, 
had the best salos, and, curiously enough, the months 
in which the largest bulk of tea in these districts is 
pruned down, viz., Juno to September, have done the 
best. That the tea is mitcli better in these months I 
doubt, as it stands to reason thai, in fine weather, when 
ft good wither is obtainable, it is much easier for the 
manufacturer than in the wet months. You will notice 
also that the tea sold in Oolombo — September, 1886 
(my Brat and last break) — fetched only 66 cents, the 
same tea selling in London in October lor Is. 4Jd. The 
buyers at that period evidently bad not spotted the 
rise about to take place in the market, as 1 was told 
at the time of sale it was a capital price. 1 still believe 
that Our bad prices aro due to speculation in tbe Lauo 
pn \ urns to a certain knowledge of Chinese exports, 
and almost, if not all, London brokers being interested 
in the Chinese trade accounts lot the absurd yearly 
cry o( deterioration of Coylou Teas. 1 would only 
add that it LB not likely that with increase of machinery, 
and space and gem ral knowledge, we should u/f inako 
inferior tea . at u certain fixed period of the year, viz., 
from January to May, no matter at what time we 
prune, iir what our elevation or climate may be. 
" X . It. — 1 buy leaf from three or four pluces, mid 
have done so regularly, and the sales recorded include 
cvi rytlimg, oven Dust and Congou. Red leaf only is 
sold locally, and a few thousand pounds of be.->L teas 
have been sold in packets at good prices. — l'KO BONO 
Publico."— Local "Times." 
13 
A STRAITS TOBACCO PLANTER ON 
OEYLOX. 
Sir, — The news contained in a late copy of your 
Overland issue, which I have just received, is likely to 
create cpjite a sensation amongst tobacco planters in 
this vicinity! — !in Java, Sumatra and elsewhere. So 
far the industry is a paying one. Given good soil, a 
suitable climate and the knowledge of curing, which 
is indispensable, there is a good profit such as one 
has only a right to expect when the distauco one has 
to come from home and the malarious nature of the 
climate is taken into consideration. Now, I see thai, 
tobacco planting has attracted the attention of Ceylon 
planters, and that there is every probability of the 
cultivation being largely undertaken in your spicy 
island. This is simply disastrous. We, tobacco plant- 
ers, have hitherto congratulated ourselves upon tbe fact 
that tobacco was not grown in Ceylon, and, therefore, 
though prices might gradually fall, tobacco would 
always command a price. I fear we must now aban- 
don this idea, for it is not safe for anyone to be 
planting anything grown in Ceylon. Your planters 
seem no sooner to have discovered something that 
will grow in, the island than hundreds of them rush 
in and plant thousands of acres of it, each one calcu- 
lating that he is to make a fortune on the so-much- 
an-acre so-much-a-lb. principle. Millions of pounds 
are produced, but alas the prices fall to zero. Look at 
cinchona, and I suppose we shall soon see the same 
thing with tea. It will be like dirt, and as cheap. 
When I was on the Nilgiris a few years ago an old 
planter there, discussing my prospects of success as 
a tobacco planter in Java, gave me the following 
advice: — "Never cultivate anything that can be grown 
successfully in Ceylon. Sooner or later you will be 
ruined." Acting on that advice I took to tobacco, 
but, now that your planters are going in for that 
cultivation, I shall have to abandon it, and take to 
growing potatoes. It will be more profitable. — M. 
Schmidt, Singapore, June ISth. — Local " Times," 
AGRICULTURE ON THE CONTINENT OF 
EUROPE. 
{Special Letter.) 
Dr. Schulze, of the Agricultural Statiou of Breslau, 
warns farmers against purchasing oil cake "meal. ' 
In the latter form, Continental farmers prefer to give 
the oil cako to milch and fattening stock. But the 
market is Hooded with the cake meal, and which sells 
cheuper than the cake itself, although the expense of 
grinding cannot be counted for nothing. The miracle 
is explained, not so much by adulteriug with other 
and inferior oleaginous seeds, as by the employment 
of mlphuret of carbon, instead of pressure being em- 
ployed to extract tho oil. Now sulphuret of carbon, 
is toxical, and the only agent chemistry has indicated 
as capable of struggling against the phylloxera, so far 
Dr. Schulze recommends farmers to grind the oil cake 
themselves. 
The Academy of Sciences of Paris has been since a 
long time occupiod with the role of nitrogen in vegeta- 
tion. In what shape do plants receive it; if from the 
soil, by what combination : if from the air, through 
what agency. The difficult question has been treated 
by Berthelot, Gauutier, Drouiu, and bchlcssing. It does 
not appear that the solution has advanced much further 
than the famous experiments of Bousginganlt. All 
agree upon one point : that a soil destitut e of humus, 
and devoid of vegetation, can neither produce nitrogen 
nor absorb it from the atmosphere. Less clear is the 
hypothesis, that microbes, in other words, the agents 
of fermentation, play a fixed r6!e in uniting the 
elements, or bringing about tbe chauges, to produce 
nitrogenous couipouuds. Another fact acquired is, that 
the plaut neither by its roots, nor by its leaves, absorbs 
free nitrogen. But tho latter can indirectly minister 
to vegetable nutrition; by tho air, as when electricity 
forms nitric ncid and ammonia, and both compound! 
can bo washed by rain into the soil : or, the circum- 
ambient air can, entering tho porosities of tbe coil 
