n6 THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Aug. i, i8 94 . 
produoer, and consequently to the consumer. When 
tea ib judged by its liquor only it will be cheaper to 
make and to buy. Eaoh Factory oould not com- 
press its tea; this would have to be done by the 
dealers who would buy up largo quantities, and be 
able to supply the same tea at all times, of ono 
quality, in fact of one brand. The establishment of 
a new Mincing Lane in Colombo would probably 
begin a new era in Tea, in which we oould abandon 
our old course of making unsuitable tea for the 
benefit of our rivals. And to those who point to 
the glorious progress of Indian tea, and from 
that argue that our course must have been 
right, I would point to the fearful oost, 
the orores of rupees sunk and lost, which we 
have paid to oust China. No nation but England 
oould have afforded to rival China in Tea planting, 
or have faoed suoh heavy losses ; and besides the 
losses, many of us have supplied tea year after 
year at oost price. 
How is it that China oan make such very 
oheap tea? The answer is that it is made by 
individuals in their spare time, off waste land, 
with no expenditure for fuel, establishment, build- 
ings, &o., &c. It is probably simply pioked, rolled 
and dried in the sun. This economical method 
of manufacture must produce bad tea, but it is 
very cheap; it would probably fhow a profit at a 
penny a pound ; and it can le sold because India 
supplies the means. 1874. 
[Three oheera for the anoient TarshiehMl 
(whether it tish or tishnt 1] 
ARABIAN AND LIBERIAN COFFEE. 
June 29 it. 
Sib,— An advertisement for Arabian coffee plants 
for New Peradeniya estate seems to have caused 
some surprise. It will be interesting to know how 
many acres of Arabian coffee have been opeoed out 
for the last two years. In one of the oldest district j 
— Kegalla— about 25 acres have been planted on 
Andella, a 20 years' abandoned coffee estate, and 
the coffee seems thriving fairly. An upoountry 
notice appeared eight or ten months ago offering 
coffee stumps for sale. On the proprietor of 
Andella writing for them to fill in vacancies, 
he received a reply that these were not for 
planting but for firewood ! The re-planting of 
Arabian ooffee has been going on quietly on a 
small Eoale, those doing so basing their reasons 
chiefly on the fact that 51b. at 2s equals 10 lb. at 1?. 
Liberian coffee as a hardier plant is, however, 
receiving more attention than Arabian coffe?, and 
the cultivation is looked upon now as a sure and 
paying matter. On Mr. Strachan's property — 
Mousa— 30 aores have in 3 years cleared expenses, 
and the field is in magnifioent condition. When 
exploring for land I saw near Polgahawella a bit 
of Liberian coffee on a place I believe called 
Edella, equally good but needed a coffee planter's 
treatment. Many old ooffee planters there are 
not. and the few available are the men to secure for 
coffee planting. Tea planters will gain experi- 
ence in four years at some cost. It will take 
more time to write and give more reasons than I 
oould spare now. For an example, it is not all who 
know what soil will grow ooffee, and though L b.rian 
ooffee thrives in low warm districts it will not 
give ample returns in cabook and certain soils 
with deficient supply or no lime in it, &o. It will 
take a long time before the world's markets are 
over-supplied with any kind of ooffee, and with 
the supply on the decrease for the last eleven 
years, good prices will prevail for years to come 
yet. For Liberiao coffee the American market 
has been open for the last six years, and another 
exhibition at Chicago or anywhere is not net did 
to create a taste for it there or even in Europe. 
It 0. 
COCONUT SUGAR 
Deab Sie.— Iu "Young Ceylon" (>ol. i.. page 20) I 
see a quotation made as follows :— «' Ceylon, (ays the 
Colombo Observer, is par exeeUenc*, a coconut country 
and every good man we irust wmld rejoice to see- 
the sweet juice of tbis palm converted into wholesome 
sugar, instead of being as at preseut fermented and 
distilled int) the most poruicKm of liqu'de, reread- 
ing oa it does mora! rain a'id physical degradation 
over the land.— and L. N. (tbe initials beicg well- 
known in Ceylon) proceeded in tbe same piper to say: 
"heuce, if the manufacture of sugar from 'hecocooia 
tree promises even to diminish that of arrack the 
new experiment must be hailed as a blessing to the 
land, while it will men-ate its wealth and com mere a I 
prosperity." 
It also appears that according to Dr. Marshall's 
little work on the coconut tr.e, 309,955 1b. of jaggery 
estimated at £4,94G, was exported from Ceylon in 
the yoar 1825 and r, n export dnty of 10 per cent, 
ad-valorem levkd by the ngolations of 1813. 
Wonld some readers of your valuable journal tell ua 
about jaggery now and the figarea of tbe exportation 
of late years would enlighten the public whether the 
manufacture of jaggery pays or not t Now that 
Ceylon is well-known all throughout the world for 
tbe finest tea why should we not also turn out tbe 
sugar to be used along with the tea? If this done 
and tbe arrack distilleries diminished what a grand 
tuiug it will be!— Yours truly, CEYLON K8K. 
Oast year, the export of " Sugarcaudy, p»lm and 
jaggery" from Ceylou was 7,510 cwt. valued at 
K27.731.— En. T.A.} 
COCONUT PALM JAGGERY. 
Deab Bib,— Wi;h reference to the above letter, I do 
not think it will pay to turn out jaggery in place of 
arrack I At page 120 of that most useful compilation 
" All about the Coconut Palm " there is reproduced 
copy of a letter addressed to Messrs. Lemarchand <Sc 
Co., Jaffna, by Mr. J. Glanville Taylor, Batticaloa, 
dated November 27th 1849, relative to the experimen- 
tal production of sugar from both coconut and palmyra 
toddy. The paper mentioned in the letter as having 
been forwarded, together with samples of the sugar, to 
the Asiatic Society for report, no doubt contained 
useful information on the subject and if it could 
be reproduced in the columns of the T.A. it 
would probably be of interest to your readers 
Yours truly, PLANTEB. 
A CEYLON PLANTER WISHES TO KNOW 
WHETHER HE SHOULD INVEST £5,000 
HERE OR CARRY IT TO CENTRAL 
AFRICA. 
Dear Sib, — Referring to your various notioes about 
coffee planting at Blantyre in British East Africa, 
will you or any of your correspondents kindly 
give me the following information, viz , what line 
of stcumerd run from Colombo end how long does 
the voyage take*— the distance to Blantyre from 
the Coast and how reached; the area if land at 
present undpr ct ffee cul nation; cost of lalor 
whether jdentiful or otherwise ; general elevation ; 
Eeasoa and so on — upon what teims land can fce 
obtained— is big game thcoiing to be had acd 
would it iu your opinion be more profitable to 
invest there rather than in Ceylon. £5,0e0. 
* There are two routes :— via Aden or 5; auritius 
to Zanzibar : to get to Blantyre from Colombo would, 
we suspect, occupy the better part of three months. 
—Ed. T.A. 
