f HE T ROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [March r, 1889. 
CEYLON FOK THE YOUNGEE SON ? 
PROSPECTS OF INVESTMENT : 
" Good-bye John, good-byo ; mak' money — honestly 
if ye can — but mak' it." Such is the advice attributed 
to the typical Northerner on sending his hopeful out 
to seek his fortune. Ideas of investing money vary 
considerably ; but there can be no question that many 
men prefer investing other people's money, and calling 
property their own. 
Enormous mischief has been done in Ceylon by work- 
ing on borrowed money, and there is little or no doubt 
that many a man was sucked down by interest on 
mortgages during the coffee crisis, who, had he confined 
his operations to his own capital, might, and in many 
cases would, have pulled through, notwithstanding leaf 
disease, bug and low prices. Twelve years ago a pro- 
prietor told me that he was confident of the security 
of his position, because he based all his calculations 
on crops of 3 cwt. per acre, and the price of coffee at 
70s per cwt. OofEee was then at 100s and 3 cwt. per 
acre was considered a low estimate. Leaf disease got 
stronger, coffee got weaker, seasons were unfavourable; 
3 ewt. was never obtained, prices fell, and you might 
whistle for 70s. Meantime interest on mortgages 
was accumulating, and the end was grief ! This case 
is only one of a thousand. But, you say, may not the 
same thing happen in tea ? No, sir, no ! but before 
giving reasons for the difference between the two culti- 
vations, let me give an example or two which have come 
within my own experience, showing what was con- 
sidered c< prosperity " in the old coffee days. I was 
condoling with a man on being " sold up," i. e., his 
mortgagees had foreclosed on him, and were taking 
over his places. "Yes," he said, " confound them ! I 
did not owe them enough money. 1 only owed £30 an 
acre, so they can afford to sell me up ; but look at my 
neighbour, h9 owes between £70 and £80 an acre, 
and they daren't take his place over. Ah ! I was too 
easy with them when I could borrow money." Here 
was a man whose, idea was to " carry on " on other 
people's money, no matter how big the amount of his 
indebtedness. As to ever paying off his mortgages 
and having his property clear, how many old-fashioned 
coffee proprietors ever dreamt of such a consummation? 
I trow not many. Yet another case. In company 
with another planter, I was discussing a man who had 
toiled for many years, and was now living quietly on a 
nice little property which was absolutely his own, his 
dreams never disturbed by " interest on mortgages." 
" Well," said my friend, " I never could understand 
that man ; what would I have given for his opportuni- 
ties 1 Credit, sir ? He might have had the largest 
credit of any man in Ceylon, if he had only chosen, 
but he never would borrow." This last was said quite 
mournfully. Now nous avons change torit cela. Money 
is still lent and borrowed, but not in the same happy- 
go-lucky style, and your agent generally looks askance 
when asked for a block loan, though willing enough to 
advance money against crops. 
Now, before going further, let me state why I so con- 
fidently affirmed that tea would not suffer as coffee 
has done. The cultivation of the two plants is en- 
tirely different. Coffee was dependent for a crop on 
two, or at most three, months in the year. If, during 
the blossoming season, the weather was unpropitious 3 , 
the labour of a whole year was thrown away, the crop 
was bound to be a short one, and the only thing to be 
done was to keep your estate in good order, and hope 
for a better season " next year "; and how often has 
"next year" proved delusive 1 The tea crop, on the 
contrary, goes the whole year round ; and from the 
yield of one month a near estimate can be formed for 
the next, and so on from month to month throughout 
the year, the expenditure being checked or extended 
according to circumstances. It will, then, be seen that 
a great proportion of the year's expenditure on a coffee 
estate was laid out in hope, whereas in tea we have 
visible monthly returns to guide us, and money can be 
drawn against a^Winstead of prospective crop. Kisk 
of indebtedness is thus avoided, and a man can tell his 
position any day in the year, instead of having to wait 
in fear and trembling for his agent's aocount which, in 
coffee, was never rendered until long after crop was 
over. Again, in coffee there were so many charges to 
be paid between the time the produce left the estate 
and the time it was put on the market, and no means 
existing for telling within a reasonable margin how 
much these charges might amount to. In tea, the con- 
trol of all expenditure is in the hands of the resident 
proprietor, or manager, as the case may be, aud he 
can foretell to a cent what the charges will be between 
the estate and the market. But, after all, the main 
security is that it is a leaf and not a fruit crop. 
Coffee ran luxuriantly to leaf long after it had given 
up yielding fruit. The Indian tea need crop failed 
almost entirely a short time ago, but their leaf crop 
was not affected ! and — best hope of all — we are in- 
formed that the best China brands come from their 
oldest gardens, some of which are reported to be over 
100 years old. And in Ceylon, who can foretell our 
future 1 What are our seasons ? Two springs and two 
summers 1 Who, then, can wonder at the yields we 
have obtained, and shall continue to obtain ? 
I will now quote from the best authority on Ceylon, 
viz., Mr. John Ferguson's book, " Ceylon in the Jubilee 
Year." Mr. Ferguson says ; — " For well-inclined young 
men of the right stamp, not afraid of hard work, Cey- 
lon still presents an opening as planters of tea, cin- 
chona, cacao, etc., provided the indispensable capital 
is available." Again, " Nowhere in the whole 
wide world can young men learn so thoroughly the 
mysteries of coffee, tea, cinchona planting, etc., or be 
so well equipped as tropical agriculturists as in Cey- 
lon "; and, further on, " There is a wide extent of 
forest land well suited for tea, and, when sold by Go- 
vernment, it may be had for £2 or £3, and sometimes 
for £1 per acre, crown title freehold." Here, I think, 
Mr. Ferguson prices the land too low. The upset 
price is R10 (nominally £1) per acre ; but the enormous 
increase of our teas, both in quantity and quality, has 
so stimulated the demand for land that for good blocks 
at Government land sales the competition is severe, 
and capitalists ought to be prepared to pay at least £5 
per acre. 
The land having been bought, I will quote from 
another authority, Mr. Rutherford's " Ceylon Tea- 
planters' Note-book." His estimate is that paying R50 
per acre for jungle land, after six years' careful work 
there should be " capital R300 per acre, giving a profit, 
when in bearing, of 20 cents per pound, at 600 lb. per 
acre=R120 per acre profit, or 40 per cent on capital ac- 
count, without interest."* 
This, although it has been beaten, is in my opinion too 
sanguine to be laid down as a return to be generally 
looked for throughout Ceylon. In the case of well- 
worked low-country properties, there is no reason 
why the above result should not be attained; but up- 
country land cannot be expected to give such large 
returns, though a residence in the almost, perfect 
climate of the hills of the Central Province of Ceylon 
more than compensates for the smaller yield. And 
now a warning. Do not be in too great a hurry to 
invest. Take your time and look about you- Heaps of 
young fellows in the coffee days were so anxious to be 
proprietors, that they jumped at whatever was in the 
market, and regretted their bargain ever after. Learn 
your work thoroughly, and do it well. I have often 
heard a youngster grumble because his chief has sent 
him slaving after the coolies up and down the hills 
all day, while the chief himself spends a good portion 
of the day in the bungalow. Doubtless my own as- 
sistants have said the same of me. The youngster 
pictures his chief reclining in a long arm-chair, smok- 
ing a pipe, and enjoying a novel. Foolish youth 1 
Have you ever seen your boss's tappal book ? Eight, 
and sometimes twelve or more letters a-day. All these 
must be answered ; your own stupid blunders in the 
accounts muBt be corrected ; aud, worst of all, the 
expenditure must not exceed the estimate. You know 
nothing of all this, and day after day your chief is in his 
office going into figures — a far more wearying thing 
than working the coolies — and trying how this or 
that item of expenditure can be reduced so as to 
* We have changed £ to R for rupees in this para- 
graph. The use of the £ made land on which £300 
an acre was expended yield £120 per acre p. a. !— 
Ed, T. A, 
