Kov. I, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
317 
reserve of foregt be maintBined, or grovea of 
exotic frees planted. But ap»rt from this, there is 
the otilizatiou of much of the country we epeak of 
for live-stock and grazing purposes, under a system 
of leaf es, which could provide for none of the larger 
timber trees being interfered with. 
As we close (on the 13th) the mist and rain of 
the pxst f^w dayH have given place to a cloudlcs?, 
blue sky and delightful sunshine over the Plains, 
with • cool brisk brezee — 
" A livelier emerald twinkles in the grass, 
A purer sapphire melts into the lake," — 
the day broke in fact as if the "clerk of the 
weather " were determined to make it all right for the 
oriebe'lng visitors and their planking opponents at 
Radella. So may it be. 
The sub] ined report from Hakga'a is dated the 
12th and shows that yesteidav's rain extended so far 
althoiizh today all from the " Jaw Mountain " to 
Naminscooly is doubtless " bathed in sunshine " : — 
" The wind is pretty strorg here this morning 
and between 5-30 and 8 a.m. "16 parts of on inch of 
rain fell. Since then it has been dull ana drizzling, but 
it appear' tn be still fine on the U^'a side. It is quite 
likely that there will be a break of nice weather 
in Nuwara Eliya before the N.-E. fets in, but I 
am afraid it will not be a long spell this year." 
Our ho'iday ii at an end ; but we trust for others 
who follow and for hill residents generally that the 
intervening spell of fine weather may be an appre- 
• able one. 
TEA PLAJCTING IN INDIA AMD CEYLON; 
From time to time, Ceylon plantera have been 
alarmtd by accounts of the far-extending and 
rich reserves of land at the back of the Indian 
tea planters. " In the future development of tea 
planting, Ceylou ig not in it " has been the 
assurance oft-times advanced and that not alto- 
gether by interested parties. We recall the fact 
that a well-known machiniet and inventor, as 
much interested in the welfare of Ceylon as of 
Indian planters, after his laat visit to the North, 
had a wonderful account to give of the thousands 
upon thousands of aorea of rich, deep bliok soil 
in the Dooars waiting to be turned into tea- 
gardens, and whiah, from the results obtained in 
the area already open, must yield additions to 
the tea supply of the world far beyond any to be 
experienced in Ceylon. But year after year goes 
by, and so far there is no special si^n of a great 
advance in cultivation or production ; while there 
is the significant faot that somehow neither in the 
Dooars nor anywhere else can Indian Tea Plant- 
ing Companies jiel.i the dividends which appertain 
to not a few Oeylon Oompanies. It is no doubt 
this monetary result and the continued prosperity 
of the Ceylon tea industry, in epite of all the 
prophecies of our critical visitors for the past ten 
years, that have at leng'h induced lealing capitalists 
interested in North lodian tea concerns to turn their 
attention for investments to ihie colony. Toe mer- 
cantile houses and tea companies with which Sir 
John Muir and Mr. P. R. Buchanan — who are on 
their way to visit the island — are identified are emong 
-the most importint of Anglo-Indian firms, and 
they control Fome of the largest tea plonlationa or 
gardens in Northern India. With unlimited re- 
serves to fall back on in the Uooars and other 
districts, the quis'.ion may wtU be asked why the 
chief oapitalis 8 in large Assam and Sylhet Com- 
paoii B should want to invest in forestland in 
Comparatively poor Ceylon ? The answer must no 
doutit be that whether it be climate, reader means 
01 transport, belter or more manageable labour, 
or niot'o skill d and syattmatio maaagement, tea 
plantiitiout* in 0'yl"n yield larger profits as a rule 
than those iu Inoii. Hence we have tbe pros- 
pecting on the Balangoda aide for suitable land 
among the few large forest reserves in private 
bands in this island and the news that some 5,000 
acres have been as good as secured on behalf of tha 
capitalists who are nearing our shores. No doubt 
Sir John Muir and Mr, Buchanan are wise in their 
generation in arranging for a considerable planting 
interest in this colony, before it is too late ; and 
besides it will be specially interesting to them to 
visit some of our planting districts and leading 
gardens and factories and then to contrast their 
experience with that on their own North Indian 
properties whither they will doubtless proceed a little 
later on. 
We have already fully analyzed by group.s of 
districts, the Ceylon tea industry aggregating 
273,000 acres, with a possible total crop for the 
current year of 80 million lb. Let us sum up 
the figures which, after collation from ofifieial and 
other sources, sesm to us to represent the Indian 
Tea Industry at the present time. We have 
first the enterprise in Assam, including Cachar 
and Sylhet ; next in Bengal (Darjiling, Chittagong, 
Chota-N-)gpur. &'i.*;inthe Norih-West Provinces 
(Kumaon, Dehra Dun, &c.); in the Punjab (Kangra 
Valley) ; and then in Southern India, the Nilgiris 
— where although a beginning was made so far 
as 183i, it is still the day of small things — in 
the Wynaad, Travancore, &o.; and fi"ally in 
Burma and the Andamans. The result in area 
planted works out, approximately, as fcl'ows : — 
Districts, Properties. Area Total planted 
acre«. scrrs. 
Assam, Sylhet, &c. 918 1,050,605 241,586* 
Ddrjiliug, Chitti- 
gong, &c. — — 75,000 
Kurtaon, Dehra 
Dqi',&c. — — 10,000 
Kangra Valley, &o. — — 10,000 
Ni'giris and Wynaid — — 19 000 
Truvancore — (52,000 reserve) 9,.'')C0 
Burma & the Andamans — — 1,500 
7 otal acre- : 366,586 
Or with extensions since the official returns were 
sent in, we may say 379,000 acres of tea, and 
making allowance for the loaal coneumption of 
South India as well as Northern teas, the total 
crop, for a year at this time may be given at 
130,000,000 lb. Indeed as the Calcutta Tea Asso- 
ciation make out a crop of nearly 127 millions for 
North Indian gardens alone, our total must be below 
the mark. In the Association's return (given below) 
the Nilgiris, Wynaad — tea chiefly youcg— and 
the Ttavanoore districts, are ignored: — 
Estimate of Crop op 1893. 
A^sam 
Cachar 
Sjl: et 
Darjeeling ... ■ ... 
Terai ... ... ... 
D joars 
C littagong... 
Clioti-iS'agpore 
Dehra Dun, Kumaon and Kangra 
Private and Native Gardens 
Revised, 
lb. 
68,298.839 
17,870,839 
18,948,414 
7,328,314 
3,587 009 
15,935,066 
879 380 
431,862 
4,.50O,00(i 
4,000,000 
126,779,773 
The area represented for the above crop is about 
336,000 acres or about 22 per cent more than wa 
have planted in Oeylon, while the crop is more 
than 50 per cent, in excess of our Ceylon estimsU 
• Of this 247,249 acres all " mature tea ftnd 
4^37 acres " young " te«. 
