tfov. i, t8 9 4.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
33* 
PLANTING NOTES FROM KELE- 
BOKKAj CEYLON. 
Ootober 6. 
The weather for the last two months has been 
very wet here and nearly all the eitates in the 
district is, I believe, much shorter in their tea 
than in the corresponding months of last year. The 
flush seemed to collapse altogether and three or four 
days' plucking a week was sufficient to keep it 
in hand. An improvement has now set id, in 
both flush and weather, and there is every indica- 
tion of the beginning of the N. E. monsoon setting 
in. Tea below 2,000 feet elevation haa flushed well 
I hear during August and September. In only the 
higher elevations has there been a serious diminu- 
tion. There is one thing I am struck with in this 
distrxSand that is thatooolies are settled and we have 
not that continual restlessness and moving about 
bo common in mo3t other districts. There are bead 
kanganis who have been on estates here for 20 and 
30 years and on this particular one for over 40 
years ! Labour is reoruited direct from the Coast as 
it should be and there ia very little here of that 
vile and pernicious system of granting " tundus." 
Advances too are very low, in short the distriot is an 
example and shining light to all others. 
Mr. H. Bressey of Nilloomally ia expeotei to arrive 
from home in the dittriot with his br.de on 1st pros. 
and will be welcomed by a large circle of friends. 
On handing over then to Mr. Bressey, Mr. H. L. 
Blacklaw will take charge of Dangkande, Ratotta, 
the former Superintendent, Mr. J. S. Nicolls, having 
left to take up an appointment in Wynaad. 
BLENDING AND ESTATE MARKS. 
The question raised with reference to the use of 
the names of estates in our London Letter is a 
singular one. We do not know how it may ba 
viewed by our planting and mercantile oommumty. 
For ourselves we oan only discuss it in the light 
that outsiders must regard it. Put into few 
words the point at issue thus resolves itself. Is 
it legitimate that teas grown on other estates 
should be sohedulei by their purchaser by the 
name of some particular garden of which he may 
be the owner? We are told that the praotioe 
of doing this is not an unoommon one, and that it 
has been acknowledged to have prevailed from the 
days when coffee was king. It must be evident 
that, presuming teas so scheduled to come again 
into the market, their repurchaser must buy under 
a false impression as to the locality of their 
growth. This faot should, we think, satisfy us 
that tbe praotioe oannot be morally defended. 
The argument on the other Bide is that the pur- 
chaser of suoh outside tea, being himself an 
estate owner, is warranted in labelling such teas 
as beiDg shipped from his estate. But ia 
reply to this it must be apparent that Buoh 
labelling would oonvey to ninety-nine out of 
every bandied buyers, the belief that the tea 
was the production of the estate, the name 
of whioh had been so employed. Can this oon- 
cluBion be contested?* We should say that it 
oannot. And if it cannot be, the praoiioe, as it 
Beems to us, must stand oondemned. For, mani- 
festly the repurchaser does not get the artiole he 
imagines himself to be buying. 
We do not know how far this alleged praotioe 
prevails among estate proprietors ; hut if it be at 
all common, it must follow as of course that a 
ooueiderable amount of Oeylon tea ia being made to 
"nail (through the markots) under falso colours," 
We oannot think that this oan be deeuablo ; nor 
Oan we bring ourselves to believe that the praotica 
is any but a most exceptional one. Purchasers no 
doubt Bometimes plaoe considerable relianoe as 
to tbe quality of the teis they buy, upon the 
name of the estate under whioh they are sold We 
might inrtanoe many of suoh estates, the names of 
which at the present moment, would probably add a 
penny of value to their produoe. It ia to be believed 
that this addition would not be paid were it known 
that the tea was not absolutely grown upon the 
estate itself. It might be the case, of course, as 
it probably in most instanoes is, that the teas so 
vended are fully up to the standard of quality 
grown upon the sponsor estate. It would scarcely 
serve the purpose of any proprietor to godfather teas 
of inferior quality to those by which he had made 
and sought to retain his reputation. It is upon 
such a basis, no doubt, that the praotice we have 
referred to would be defended. But on the other 
hand, it must be apparent that it may be possible 
by such a course to build up a false reputation. 
It can ba conceived that by purchasing teas of a 
high class and paoking them under the name of 
an as yet unknown garden, the production of this 
may be given a repute whioh, if it stood on its 
own merits alone, would not be deserved. Henee 
it must be manifest that the course indicated 
may be made to serve an improper if not ab- 
solutely dishonest purpose. It would have seemed 
to us, therefore, that it must be impossible of 
defence. And yet we are told that it has been 
both (soused and defended by at least some men 
of standing among our estate p roprietors. We are 
surprited to learn that such is the case. Morally, 
in our view, the praotice is not to be defended, 
Further, we doubt muoh if it could be demon- 
strated to be commercially wise or advantageous. It 
has been shown that a fictitious reputation might 
be built upon it. Now, although for a time 
this might prove commercially valuable, it must 
be certain that it could not be permanently main 
tained, and that tha inequality of shipments that 
must ensue, must end ia pulling down the repu- 
tation as fast as, or faster than, it had been achieved; 
However exceptional the practice may be, therefore, 
we trust it will be discontinued altogether, 
COCOJvUT PROPERTY IN THE WESTERN 
PROVINCE, CEYLON. 
Notwithstanding the present protracted drought 
and ita consequences in referenoe to next year's 
orop, there oan be no doubt of the very high 
estimation in which ooconut property is held in 
the Western Province and the adjaoent divisions of 
the North- Western Province. We hear it stated on 
good authority that Mr. Oliveira has made a very 
speoial bargain in his purohase of Waljapala 0000- 
nut estate of 204 aores at a good deat less than 
Mr. Rickards had paid Mr. Cooke. A year ago it 
realized R77,500 '• the reoent sale was at R62,500. 
In the interval Mr. Rickards had negleoted the 
place and at last he had to make a sale. 
Hence the difference in prioe. But a ooconut 
garden does not take any permanent harm from 
the neglect of a year or so, if ju^tioe is then dona 
to it, and so the present proprietor oan be con- 
gratulated on a really very good bargain. Then 
the Morapolla coconut garden near Henaratgoda pur- 
ob asess from Mr, Andrew de Silva by Mr, F. Phillips, 
oovering 80 acres, has realiaed R30.000. Finally, 
Perth estate in the Panadure district, of 900 acres 
— 575 of oonouute, 40 aores oinuanion and the rest 
forest-reserve — has been sold by representatives 
of K. Hurmusjee to a Syudioate for Ul 10,000 
which ought (0 be a bargain, orily tb$ 
