July 2, 1894.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
3 
the price of quinine fell to a rate that left 
no margin for the Ceylon planters ; nor yet 
again of the rapid way in which " tea " be- 
came our staple, and its cultivation, an indus- 
try of importance as overshadowing as ever 
coffee was in the history of the island. 
Suffice it to say, that the first instalment 
of cinchona bark harvested on a Ceylon 
plantation was prepared by Mr. Taylor on 
Loole Condera in July 1867, and reached the 
London market early in 1868, when Mr. 
John Eliot Howard, the Quinologist, gave a 
favourable report upon it.* Both Snccirabra 
(red) and Officinalis (crown) barks were repre- 
sented in this first consignment, and so satis- 
factory were the report and prices realized, 
that all the officinalis plants available in the 
Hakgala Government Gardens were at once 
got for Loole Condera, and early in 1870 a 
ton of bark was peeled and sent to London 
and sold well as also further shipments in 
J 871 and succeeding years. 
But simultaneously with, his attention to cin- 
chona, did Mr. Taylor engage in cultivating a far 
more important product, Tea. So far back as 
1865, by Mr. Harrison's orders, the Superintendent 
of Loole Condera began to get tea seed from 
Peradeniya Government Gardens, and early in 
1866 he was able to put out tea plants along 
the sides of the roads or . paths through the 
coffee plantation. At the instance of Mr. 
Leake, a special Inspection of and Beport on 
the Assam Tea Districts by Mr. Arthur 
Morrice was got in that year, and this led 
to an importation of Assam-hybrid tea seed 
for the benefit of Loole Condera. Mr. Taylor's 
first tea clearing of 20 acres was felled in 
the end of 1867, and this may be considered 
as about the oldest regularly cultivated and 
cropped field of tea in Ceylon, and as such 
it has been the subject of report, year by 
year, the account being still that the tea 
(•26 years old) is full of vigour and yields 
crop at the rate of from 450 to 500 lbs. per 
acre. We need say nothing as to the 
progress of the industry under Mr. Taylor's 
care from the early days when upwards 
of 2s. per lb. was readily got for the new Ceylon 
(Loole Condera) tea, and when Governor Sir 
William Gregory did so much to make its merits 
known, and to encourage the extension of the culti- 
vation. Mr. James Taylor's experience and 
other incidental references are very fully recorded 
in the letter in which, in September 1891, 
he acknowledged a letter from the Plant srs' 
Association forwarding a testimonial that had 
* Mr Howard wrote :—" There must be something 
in the soil or climate of Ceylon peculiarly adapted 
to the perfect growth of this plant." 
been subscribed for in his honour. The Secre- 
tary's letter was as follows : — 
" Secretary's Office, No. 42, King Street, 
Kandy, August 31st, 1891. 
To James Taylor, Esq., Loole Condera. 
" Dear Sir, — 1 have to perform the pleasing duly of 
handing you on behalf of the subscribers the accom- 
pany ing tea and coffee service, On the diver salver 
is engraved the following inscription : — 
' To James Taylor, Loolecondera, in grateful ap- 
preciation of his successful efforts which laid the 
foundation of the Tea and Cinchona Industries of 
(^eylon 1891,' — and no words are needed to express the 
hearty and representative nature of the teEtimonial. 
" You are doubtless aware that a portion only of the 
' Fund' subscribed has been devoted to the silver 
tea set ; a cheque for the balance will be sent to 
you so soon as the accounts have been received and 
closed. — I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 
(■-igned) A Philip. 
Secretary to the Planters' Association of Ceylon." 
From Mr. Taylor's reply, we quote as follows : — 
" In acknowledging receipt of the Testimonial I feel 
that I do not know how to express my thanks for 
the honour and reward it gives me for my original 
successes in Tea-making and Cinchona cultivation. 
It had been publicly mentioned on several occasions 
that I was the first successful tea-maker in Ceylon 
or in the beginning the most successful. I was fully 
satisfied with that, and it was a startling surprise to 
me when I saw mention made in the newspapers 
of this testimonial. 
" The credit for the starting of the tea industry as 
well as cinchona planting m Ceylon belongs to 
Messrs. Harrison and Leake as Keir, Dundas & Co. 
who were my employers and proprietors of Loole 
Condera. It was they who allowed me to plant 
cinchona and ordered me to plant tea, and it was 
they who paid for these things and stood the risk of 
failure. I took much interest in these cultivations, 
for I had before thought myself that surely some- 
thing else besides coffee could be profitably grown 
on our estates. 
" With regard to the manufacture of tea I learned 
that mainly from others and from reading, but it 
took a lot of experimenting before I was very suc- 
cessful. About the time we began planting China 
tea from seed got from Peradeniya Garden a 
Mr. Noble, an Indian tea planter from Cachar, 
passed through to see a neighbouring coffee estate 
that some of his friends were interested in, and I got 
him to show me the way to pluck and wither and 
roll tea with a little leaf growing on some old tea 
bushes in my bungalow garden. It was all rolled 
by hand then. He told me about fermenting and 
panning and the rest of the process as then in vogue, 
showing me the fermenting and panning as far as 
circumstances permitted. After that I frequently- 
made experimental lots as I got leaf to pluck. 
" Afterwards when Mr. Jenkins of the Ceylon Com- 
pany, an old Assam tea planter, came to the country- 
he called on me and I made a batch of tea under 
his direction. A sample of this and samples of seven 
lots that I had made before were then sent up to 
Calcutta together to re reported upon and valued. 
Mr. Jenkins' sample was valued a littie higher than 
any of mine, but mine were also pronounced good 
except one indiffeent and one spoiled. With these 
exceptions both Jenkins' sample and the rest of 
mine were said to be better than most of the 
Indian teas that were being sqld in Calcutta at 
the time. Prom this I saw that I had been making 
tea rijhtly enough, but as I could nut get it to 
taste like the China tea of the shops, I had been 
always varying my process and spoiling batches of 
itjjn various ways, sometimes purposely to see the 
nature of the results and throwing away lots that 
were no doubt really good tea, some of which >> as 
used by other people and pronounced good. Never- 
theless I benefited largely by Mr. Jenkius in various 
ways, and that sample of his being better than 
mine settled me aa to the degree to go to in the 
