8 5 6 
fHfc TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1889. 
this huge amount. It might be argued that people 
are not to blame for this result, because, when 
coffee died, what else was there left for the land 
to be put under and what was there else to be 
done? To which the reply is, that there were 
plenty of other devices. Very little land when 
coffee died was worth RIO per acre, so that little 
or no sacrifice would have been made by abandon- 
ment. 
Tea does not exaotly cost nothing, and vast 
sums have been outlaid upon it : how much better 
it would now be, were these in safe English 
securities, instead of in their present great jeopardy. 
Or, if the money which tea has cost much needs 
have been invested abroad, why was not much of it 
taken to places offering more varied resources 
than only the one or two which Ceylon has re- 
duced to the cheapness of dirt. Had tea but been 
left, as it stood, about 4 years ago, it would have 
been a splendid thing for the country and a 
fortune to those who owned it. 
Even in Ceylon itself, large sums could have been 
diverted from the everlasting tea, by investments 
in the lowcountry for the cultivation of Liberian 
ooffee, which is becoming very valuable, owing to 
coffee Arabica failing throughout the world. The 
coffee crisis of 1848 was brought about by the high 
prices paid for the first few limited arrivals and 
when the article was a novelty: — it was then ex- 
tended and rushed, before it had properly estab- 
lished itself in the market, with this result : 
that estates were abandoned or parted with 
for sums which their store roofs had cost. 
A gentleman of great experiences, who recently 
visited the island, and who had gone through the 
1848 crisis, since having made his fortune from 
coffee and possessing also now a splendid tea 
property, declared that tea was following the same 
identical course, and that in its case the coffee crisis 
of 1848 would be shortly repeated. 
Wise and competent persons have made their 
preparations, based upon calculations ; and it is 
computed that tea giving 300 lb. per acre will 
weather the storm ; but that without other resources, 
anything giving less must be given over to the 
weeds. One thing, however, is that tea is only a 
jungle plant and unlike coffee takes no harm from 
abandonment; bo that it would still always be 
available for re-opening when the time for safely 
doing so came. 
The opinion is now very generally expressed by 
people who do not live upon the TJva side of 
Wilson's Bungalow, but who formerly thought 
differently, that under the altered conditions, the 
Government should be called upon to give com- 
pensation to the Haputale railway engineers and 
relieve them of their engagements leaving the line 
in abeyance, until it is seen what is going to 
happen. Because, were force of circumstances 
combined to stay the extension of tea throughout 
the Province of Uva, it would be a bad day and 
a bad business for the survivors attached to the 
fragments of a dilapidated enterprise to be called 
upon, in addition to their own necessities, to 
make good a huge debt standing to the account 
of a gigantic white elephant. The Government 
and the planting member should look this matter 
in the face without flinching ; because by and bye, 
if disaster follows, they will have neglected a 
great responsibility. H. P. X. 
WRINKLES FOR PLANTERS. 
Dear Sik, — Your remarks on your T. A. come 
very timely just now to merchants and planters ; 
the former (now that tea has run down so low) 
are often pestered with inquiries which could be deter- 
mined on the spot by the latter if they had as 
they ought to have your "Planting Encyclopaedia" 
(for such you well style your T. A. is) always ready 
for reference. The cost is absolutely infinitesimal 
and the value simply incalculable. At any rate 
such is my opinion and probably the opinion of very 
many others who have subscribed to it from its 
commencement.— Yours truly, PROPRIETOR. 
FINE, MEDIUM AND COARSE PLUCKING- 
May 13th, 1889. 
Dear Sir, — Will you kindly define " fine, medium, 
and coarse" plucking? Also say ihd probable 
increase in yield from " medium and coarse " 
plucking over fine plucking ? — Yours faithfully, H. 
[Has " H." been reading the answers to questions 
under the head of " Tea Culture and Preparation " 
He will find his present question very nearly 
answered by " S. A." — a well-known tea proprietor 
with experience — who offers the following illustra- 
tion : — 
Fine plucking 100 to 120 lb. per acre. 
Medium „ 400 to 500 lb. „ 
That is, we infer, on land capable of giving for 
coarse plucking (?) 700 to 800 lb. On old coffee 
land, perhaps the ratio should run (1) 70 to 80 
lb. (2) 150 to 2501b. ; (3) 300 to 350 lb.— Ed.] 
RE ACAGIA DECURRENS' BARK. 
Elephant Nook, Nuwara Eliya, 13th May 1889. 
Sir, — Enclosed may be worth publishing in your 
columns and especially in T. A. The bark sent 
home was from trees over 40 feet in height, and 
just about 3£ years from seed grown here. The 
irees were planted about 4 feet apart and the yield 
averaged about \ cwt. per tree. The balance of 
the bark I used tor the bungalow stoves ; the heat it 
gives out after it has ceased flaring and is in its 
red hot stage being intense. I shall be glad to 
give any further particulars. — Yours faithfully, 
WALTER TRINGHAM. 
Colombo Commercial Company, Limited, 
Colombo, 6th Aug. 1888. 
W. R. Tringham, Esq., Nuwara Eliya. 
Mimosa Bark. — (Acacia decurrens. [W. R. T.] 
Dear Sir, — Reierring to the sample of this we sent 
forward for you, our Secretary writes thus under date, 
London, 20th July 1888 :— 
" We tried all round the trade, to get a value 
on this without having it analyzed, but we were obliged 
to analyse it at a cost of £1 Is Od. It shows 34 - 35 per 
cent of taDnin, and is therefore worth from £10 to £11 
per ton. The old bark should be shipped, not the new. 
I have today posted to you a sample showing the size 
it must be sent home. This sample shows nothing, but 
size required." I now enclose the original certificate 
of analysis referred to in the above extract and under 
separate cover forward the sample our Secretary sent 
out for your guidance in harvesting. You will observe 
that we have incurred some expense in obtaining the 
above valuation &c. for you, and this we charge to your 
debit. — I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 
John G. Wardrop, Manager. 
BULKING OF TEA. 
Sir, — Tea planters are indebted to Mr. Street for 
his plan of obtaining a perfect bulk in the chests 
as they stand in the tea factories. But now comes 
a question, which deserves equal consideration and 
perhaps Mr, Street can further instruct tea planters 
what to do in the matter. 
When chests of tea are despatched even a short 
distance by cart (not to mention a twenty days' 
journey to Colombo from Haputale), what be- 
comes of all this trouble and cost in bulking? 
Some of the chests are packed perhaps one way and 
some another in the carts. Supposing however that 
