December r, i888.j TH1 TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
3*3 
PLANTING REl'ORTS FROM T1JE HILL- 
COUNTRY OF CEYLON : 
THIR YEARS' ABNORMAL WEATHER AND ITS EFFECTS ON 
TEA — CINCHONA FLOURISHING NOW THAT THE PBICE OF 
HARK IS SO LOW — HKilt-OROWN TEA — DELICATE ELAVOR 
V. PUNGENCY AND STRENGTH — HARD ROLLING — EEEECT 
OF LOW PRUNING — THE RAINFALL ON ABBOTSFORD. 
Colombo, 5th Nov. 1888. 
During my recent short visit to the hills I was 
too busily engaged arranging what Mr. Oliver of 
the railway stall affectionately termed "co-operation" 
as to the severance ol the estate in which I am 
interested by the Nanuoya-Hapulale extension and 
the passage through the land of a 0-feet bridlepath, 
and in other ways, to be able to deal in any detail 
with " the weather and the crops." My telegrams, 
however, embodied the great fact that better w< ather 
for both Hushing and planting there couid Lot be 
So far, tea has never had such a season in our 
region of high altitudes in tire neighbourhood of 
Nanuoya. The drought which in the present year 
followed the abnormal rainfall of the closing quarter 
of 1887, and which had effects so disastrous to 
human health and vegetable growth in part3 of 
the lowcountry, affected us only favourably. Our 
porous soil, which had been thoroughly soaked by 
the heavy rains in the last quarter of 1887, gave 
back the moisture by evaporation only at the slow 
ratu demanded by the temperature of the air at 
our high altitude, and the results have been "plant- 
ing out " seedlings and taking in leaf, at a rate 
which has taxed all the powers of a large labour 
force. While last year was a year of disappoint- 
ment, 75,000 lb. of tea only being made against an 
estimate of 100,000 lb., tho present year promises 
to givo fully double the result of 1887: or 150,000 lb. 
of mado tea against an estimate of 130,000 lb. 
In October alone green leaf equivalent to 18.5U0 lb. 
of mado tea was gathered, say 7-1,000 lb. of green 
leaf. In ono duy, October 23rd, the leaf taken in 
was 3,525 lb. the equivalent of 001 lb. of made tea, 
and it is probable that before now the round 
1,000 lb of made tea, or 4,000 of green leaf, have 
been gathered in a day. Of course some portion of tho 
increase this' year on last is due to an increased 
area of tea coming into bearing, in our caso, but 
tho fact remains that we and our neighbours growing 
tea at and above 1,000 feet altitude have had one 
of the most favourable seasons ever experienced. 
What a contrast to that dreadful your, 1882, when 
wind-driven moisture (the moisture largely saline) 
threatened to destroy not merely Australian 
eucalypts and cinchonas but even that plant, 
most tenacious of life of all I know, — tea. I need 
not point tho moral: it is that one, or even two 
bad seasons ought not to lead agriculturists to 
abate a jot of heart and hope. All will come right 
to him who can wait. Alas for those who 
could not wait. And that reminds me of the 
irony of fato in regard to that most disappoint- 
ing "uew product " cinchona. When we were 
getting 7s 7d per lb. for our officinalis bark, the 
trees wore cankering off in thousands. Now that 
7d per lb. is probably the price likely 
to bo realized by any we should send into 
tho market, not a tree is siok or dying,— all, evon 
thou which wuro pruned until a couple of .twigs at the 
summit only wero left, are flourishing after a fashion 
which compels tho renolvo to thin them out for the 
sake of the tea, even in the faoe of prices so absurdly 
low as thoso now prevalent. It is not that 
tho severely denuded cinchona troes havo survived 
treatment which was intondod to check their growth, 
but that they have put on umbrageous and hori- 
zontal growth of bnuiclii'. and moot luxuriant Ral- 
ago, which ehadea tho more valuable toa bushed 
after too dense a fashion. A considerable number, 
therefore, of our really fine troes of U. officinalU 
are doomed, in the interests of the great staple tea. Jn 
regard to that product, what we desiderate are higher 
prices for leaf which, being high-grown, must be 
line-flavoured, — is so, wo know. But the mixers 
and •blonders value pungency and strength, and the 
latter we hope to impart by harder rolling, when 
our second waterwheel is up, as it will bo (tan- 
dem fashion) before this month is out. Without 
any admiration for Mr. Gepp's extravagant theo- 
ries, we feel that more power for harder rolling is 
demandod, and perhaps more restricted withering. 
Meantime our 500 lb. per acre, the result of medium 
(not coarse) plucking, probably pay us better than if 
we plucked only half or one-third the quantity 
and realized considerably enhanced average prices 
per lb. We may be able some day to compare notes 
with estates in our immediate neighbourhood which 
pluck line for tea making, and are compelled to add 
the plucking of banjy (hard) leaves. I may add to 
my notes that the effect of low pruning (to G and 
even -1 inches from tho ground) on a small field 
of Oarjiling-China jat we have, has been marvellous 
in producing close expanses of plentiful flush. We 
havo come to the conclusion that this jat of tea 
requires pruning once in twelve months, while the 
higher jats, which largely preponderate, may be 
plucked for 18 months, and in some cases, 
(dependent largely on season,) for two years. 
The weather of last month and of the ten 
months whijh closed on 31st Oct., and which 
all through have been so favourable for tea flush- 
ing and, in the proper seasons, for planting, is 
indicated, as far as rainfall is concerned, by the 
figures in the following memorandum with which 
I was supplied : — 
October Rainfall 18S8— Upper Abbotsford. 
Date. Rainfall. Date. Rainfall. 
October 1888 7-25 
Brought forward 
3rd 
•04 
23rd 
•15 
8th 
.03 
24th 
•10 
loth 
•04 
25th 
•44 
14 th 
•10 
26th 
1-33 
15th 
10'J 
27 th 
•03 
16tb 
•07 
28th 
•70 
17th 
•07 
29 th 
1-21 
18th 
1-04 
30th 
•12 
10ih 
■37 
31st 
•20 
22ud 
•12 
Total 
7-25 
Total 
71-17 
784; 
Avr. for5yr.s. Oct. 10' 14 
Do 10 months 75"38 
Rainy dayt. in Oct. 19 
Brought forward 138 
Total 157 
Average rainy days for October (5 years) 25 2-5ths 
Average total rainy days for 10 mouths \~rl 3-5tbs 
Jan. '88 -18 May 9 58 Septomber 7-35 
February "12 June 3188 October 725 
Mauh 3'13 July 5 - 75 
Ap.il 6 07 August 711 Total 78'42 
It will bo seen from the figures that the rainfall 
for October was boautifully distributed, there beiug 
intervals of warm, calm and genial weather, rainless 
or only misty. All through tho expired portion 
of the yoar the wind gave little oauso of complaint, 
and, as was telegraphed, the mild wind, which has 
so far aocorapanied tho north east rains, lias been 
hitherto from the south-west. The 7i inches of 
rain in October wero nearly 3 inohes below tho 
average, but a moderate fall in the north-east 
monsoon is, by all tho laws of meteorology, to bo 
anticipated in view of the enormous rainfall of close 
on 32 inches of rain in Juno, that excess being 
itself a reaction from the drought of January and 
February, wheu less than one-third o( an inch fell 
in the two months, tho lirst quarter of the year 
getting only 3--13 inohus. July showed a roaction 
from tho rainstorms of June, when 17 inohes fel 
in throe days, but a little over 7 inohus for each of th 
