84o 
damm 
AGRICULTURIST. TJune i, 1889. 
high altitudes, thus giving promise of a longer ex- 
istence than low country estates, and they are giv- 
ing a fair promise of producing teas of higher value, 
and yields equal to low country estates. They are 
all fully equipped with good factories and the 
latest type of tea machinery, and they are in posses- 
sion of a large and profitable business in the purchase 
f green leaf ; and the shareholders in this country 
ave the testimony of the Oeylon shareholders and 
others, who know the estates thoroughly that the 
company has made an exceedingly good bargain in 
purchasing these properties. I shall be very pleased 
to answer any questions the shareholders may wish 
to put to me regarding the condition or working of 
the estates. I would desire, before resuming my seat, 
to thank the board, in the name of my Ceylon staff 
and my own, for the great consideration it has always 
shown to their views and wishes, and I trust the har- 
monious feeling which has obtained in the past between 
employes and employed will continue in the future, as 
such a feeling always conduces to efficient service. 
(Applause.) 
Mr; Martin Leake said he was sure all the share- 
holders must be satisfied with the management of the 
Company, and still more with the extremely clear way 
in which the information had been put before them 
by the chairman. They were all gratified to hear the 
personal explanation of Mr. Rutherford. 
Mr. Rutherford was subsequently elected a director 
of the Company. — H. and Q. Mail, April 19fch. 
OEYLON UPCOUNTRY PLANTING REPORT. 
THE DEPLORABLE STATE OF THE TEA MARKET AND 
HIGH PRESSURE OF COMPETITION — THE CHINA TEA 
BUYERS JUBILANT OVER THE DROP IN THE VALUE 
OF CEYLON TEAS — ANSWERS TO ENQUIRIES ON TEA 
CULTURE AND PREPARATION — THE CULTIVATION OF 
NUTMEGS — WEATHER AND COOLIES. 
7th May 1889. 
The present deplorable state of the tea market 
is certainly providing us with food for thought, 
and does not give us much room for fancying 
that we are special favourites of Providence. It is 
rather rough on Ceylon, that it has had hardly 
time to gird up its loins after the disastrous days 
of coffee, before it is plunged into a struggle, 
with a powerful interest like that of the China tea 
merchants, not to speak of India and other pro- 
ducing countries. But everywhere and in everything 
there is this high pressure of competition I fancy, 
and perhaps, after all it is the China folks who 
have most cause to complain, as it is their domain 
we have invaded, and have sat down in, determined 
not to be ousted. 
We hear that the China tea buyers have gone 
out this season rather jubilant than otherwise ; 
the drop in the value of Ceylon teas has given 
great satisfaction in that quarter, pretty much 
like what the shrinkage in the deliveries of Chinas 
have given to us, and it is said they are prepared 
for a tussle in tea, such as has not yet been seen. 
India and ourselves are to have our fill of it, and 
China is to be triumphant. It is well to know 
what is before us, but it is not safe to prophesy 
until yeu do know. Had anyone told us, say five 
years ago, that the consumption of British-grown 
teas, was to increase as it has done within the 
last few years we would have regarded it, somewhat 
in the light of a flattering tale ; indeed the head- 
way we have made against the established interests 
of China, is bo encouraging, that although our way 
is becoming somewhat rough, and rougher may be 
in store, still we will persevere. China may flood 
the market, and prices may be ruinous, but the 
energy which developed the tea interest here, when the 
country was all but a wreck, will doubtless sustain it. 
In fact, this is our first real check,— a serious 
enough one no doubt, — but very likely we incline 
to think more of it than we would have done, had 
we been lagging in the race like Java and fighting 
an uphill battle instead of taking a first place, 
almost from the beginning. Our pride is offended 
almost as much as our pocket. 
The practical enquiries on Tea Culture and Prepa- 
ration, which a practical man has sent you, and 
to which you invite my attention, are for men 
with a wider experience of tea than I have. Still 
I am not so modest that I cannot reply to the 
extent of my knowledge. I agree with your practical 
man that the best tea is not made when the bushes 
flush most freely. The tea made from the rush 
of flush which appears after the early rains, never 
has seemed to me anything like so good as what 
was manufactured from the scantier pluckings of 
the drier weather. 
As to the effect of manure on tea, that it in- 
creases the quantity there is no dispute; but although 
I had heard it stated that it also improved its 
flavour and strength, I cannot say from my own 
experience that this is so. Manure, I think takes 
longer to tell on tea than it does on coffee, unless 
it be that the regular plucking only makes us 
fancy this. 
Everything that the manure added to the coffee 
tree remained and could be seen, whereas much 
that is added to the tea busb, is gathered and lost 
sight of, and a wrong conclusion may be deduced 
in consequence. 
As to the last subject of your practical enquirer, 
no doubt, the man who can combine quantity 
with quality is the man we have to follow, but who 
is he ? I know of estates that have been at the top 
of the market through fine plucking, and have 
dropped down immediately when the plucking was 
changed. To increase quantity, you have to take a 
leaf or half a leaf more, and every remove is a 
step further away from quality. The man who 
can produce as good a tea from two and a half 
leaves as he can from one and a half, is a man 
whose acquaintance I should like to make, and to 
learn his secret. I don't think he has arisen yet ; 
but he may be coming, and when he does come 
there will be a big run on him. 
The cultivation of Nutmegs goes on increasing 
in a small way. I hear of a place in the low- 
country where the matter has been tackled with 
energy and intelligence, and the proprietor is far 
from unsatisfied with the results. He has had to 
feel his way pretty much from the beginning, and 
has already gone dead in the face of established 
opinion, in so far that he manures his young plants 
with the happiest results. " Manure and 'Im * 
did much in the days of coffee ; but manure and 
nutmegs are a combination which we have been 
taught, all along, would produce nothing but dis- 
astrous results. It has been found too, that with- 
out sufficient shade the young nutmeg plants suffer 
very considerably, but with it the failures aire less, 
the growth is quicker, the prospects of a return 
are good, and the time about seven years. After 
that the cost of upkeep is next to nothing and 
except keeping the trees from parasites — to which 
they are very liable — hardly anything has to be 
done. On the hills the nutmeg grows more slowly 
than it does in the steamy plains of the low- 
country, but then I think the fruit is very much 
finer and larger in size, and there is compensa- 
tion in that way. 
We are still having very favourable weather for 
all kinds of vegetation from weeds upwards, and 
if close, hot, steamy days would make things grow, 
we have that now. Coolies, although not perhaps 
abundant, are still sufficient for our wants. The 
recruits from the Coast don't turn up yet, but it is 
said they may be expeoted this month. 
Peppekoobn. 
