io8 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[August  x,  1892. 
storms.  How  often  has  it  been  noticed  that  estates 
after  getting  strength  and  a little  flavour  go 
off  into  medium  and  “common”  teas,  directly  the 
bushes  approach  the  “ full  bearing  ” stage.  Brokers 
at  once  compare  the  quality  with  the  earlier  shipments, 
and  the  proprietors  and  others  assume  it  is  the  fault 
of  the  manager,  who  does  not  give  the  close  attention 
with  which  he  was  credited  at  first ; the  novelty  of 
manufacture  has  evidently  worn  off  ! Then  follows 
trouble,  because  the  brokers  and  the  proprietors  have 
steadily  opposed  his  plea  for  quantity.  How  suppose 
a manager  has  strict  orders  to  produce  quality  from 
old  coffee  land  at  say  3,000  feet  elevation — only  the 
finest  plucking  can  possibly  give  him  the  desired  re- 
sult, but  the  quantity  per  aero  is  eo  woeiully  small 
and  the  cost  of  production  so  much  increased,  it  does 
not  pay.  I could  name  one  estate,  which  headed  the 
list  of  averages  and  was  the  pride  and  glory  of  the 
proprietors  at  borne  and  the  envy  of  others  not  getting 
half  the  price  for  their  teas  in  Mincing  Lane,  but, 
what,  happened  ? This  estate,  which  got  an  average  of 
Is.  10Jd.,  has  had  to  drop  its  pride  of  place  and  come 
clown  to  the  bard  facts  of  profit  and  loss,  i.  e.  Quan- 
tity versus  Quality.  As  a matter  of  faot,  the  estate 
was  being  strained  to  compete  with  those  at  a high 
elevation,  whose  soil  was  never  exhausted  by  coffee, 
estate  too,  which  have  aii  the  natural  advantages  of 
rich  soil  and  great  elevation,  a combination  only  which 
can  produce  the  class  of  tea  with  fine  flavour  and  for 
which  a high  price  will  always  be  paid  in  England. 
Snob  also  has  been  the  case  with  other  estates  more 
or  less.  It  is  also  found  with  more  ripened  experience 
that  the  yield  from  estates  at  a high  altitude  and  in 
good  Boil  is  muoh  greater  than  was  anticipated  in  the 
earlier  days  of  tea  planting. 
Finally  to  show  what  in  my  opinion  is  the  com- 
mon mistake  at  home,  viz.,  The  quality  and  quantity 
thereof,  presuming  the  desired  end  is  to  make  an 
estate  yield  a good  dividend,  and  that  estates  favor- 
ably situated  as  regards  elevation  and  soil  only 
can  produce  high  class  teas  to  pay,  those  old  (coff-e 
land)  estates  at  lower  elevation  should  not  be  forced 
by  proprietors  to  compete  for  bigh  prices  ; they 
should  be  satisfied  with  prices  even  lower  than  the 
average  for  all  Coylon  ” and  rest  assured  that  with 
cheap  working  and  high  yields  per  acre,  it  is  the 
only  way  to  make  estates  so  situated  remunerative 
the  opposite  result  will  inevitably  occur  if  fine 
p ticking  is  adopted.  I do  not  go  into  the  question 
of  “the  survival  of  the  fittest.”  When  the  struggle 
comes,  we  shall  naturally  know  more  than  we  do 
now  ; but,  so  far  as  Ceylon  Tea  lasting  and  its  stability 
being  in  danger,  I have  no  fear.  There  are,  of  course, 
a number  of  estates  with  poor  soil,  aud  heavy  rainfall 
and  which  were  cheaply  converted  from  coffee  into 
tea,  whithout  any  consideration  as  to  jat,  which  will 
sooner  or  later  ceasa  to  pay  but  these  estates  in  no 
way  affect  the  general  permanence  of  tea  in  Ceylon. 
The  instances  quoted  by  Mr.  John  Ferguson  of  Loole 
Condera  and  Mariawatte  estates  are,  however,  some- 
what exceptional;  as  the  old  field  of  the  latter  and  all  the 
former  were  not  at  any  time  in  coffee,  but  were  planted 
in  virgin  land  aud,  eo  far,  have  had  every  advantage, 
especially  Mariawatte  which  has  been  freely  manured. 
The  late  Mr.  James  Taylor  informed  me,  that 
the  old  tea  on  Loole  Condera  yielded  over  380  lb  per 
acre  for  many  years  ; this  was  with  fine  plucking, 
without  which,  he  said,  he  oould  not  produce  teas 
of  the  quality  for  which  that  estate  was  renowned 
before  the  present  cempetion  prevailed. 
The  letters  you  have  recently  published  from  Mr. 
Hawes,  Messrs.  William  James  and  Henry  Thompson, 
contain  interesting  information,  but  I am  imp-eased 
with  the  fact  that  the  area  iu  Ceylon  at  present 
in  bearing,  which  can  produce  the  finest  tens,  is  limited 
in  proportion  to  the  area  yielding  “ good  medium,” 
“medium  ’ and  common  teas,  and  that  it  is  a fallacy  to 
try  and  force  the  latter  to  compete  with  the  estates 
at  high  altitude. 
Mr.  John  Ferguson  has  so  clearly  recorded  the 
facts  and  figures  connected  with  Ceylon  tea, 
there  is  nothing  much  to  say  without  repetition,  but 
I may  add  that  some  misconception  of  tho  tea 
enterprise  exists  in  India  as  well  as  at  home.  I 
have  recently  had  the  pleasure  of  showing  an 
Indian  tea  planter  of  experience  some  of  the 
estates  here,  and  he  writes  informing  me  that 
he  was  much  surprised  at  the  exceedingly  fine 
growth  of  the  tea  and  the  forward  sLte  everything 
was  iu — the  cultivation  is  the  best  he  has  ever  seen, 
and  he  regretted  to  find  that  the  soil,  climate  and 
circumstances  generally,  were  much  more  favourable 
than  he  had  been  led  to  expect. 
From  a long  experience  of  both  coffee  and  tea 
planting,  I find  that  the  practical  planter  is  the  man, 
who  is  most  diffident,  the  longer  he  works  the  more 
he  fin  is  there  is  to  learn,  but  home  theories  are  full 
of  fallacies — the  result  of  pure  imagination  aDd 
conceit. 
The  chemical  constituents  of  the  tea  leaf  improves 
according  to  the  length  of  time  it  has  run  from  pruning. 
Some  of  the  lower  districts  have  to  be  pruned  once 
a year,  while  estates  at  6.000  to  6,500  feet  will  run 
as  long  as  three  years.  The  weather  loo  is  of  the 
greatest  importance,  solar  influence  causes  a rapid 
elaboration  of  the  sap  which  improves  the  quality 
of  Ihe  green  leH  and  also  causes  a good  wither  in 
the  factory.  The  manager’s  work  is  thus  made  easy, 
for  with  ordiuary  care  he  is  bound  to  turn  out  his 
best  teas.  No  doubt,  the  last  two  abnormal  seasons 
and  especially  1891,  which  v as  an  exceedingly  wet 
one,  caused  an  eDormous  rush  of  leaf,  which,  being 
filled  with  crude  sap,  resulted  in  a preponderance 
of  common  teas  but,  to  be  told  by  our  Lmdon  friends 
we  are  making  a mistake  in  losing  sight  of  quality 
is  ludicrous.  Practical  men  know  it  is  much  easier  tc 
turn  cut  good  tea  under  favourable  circumstances 
than  “medium”  or  even  “common”  in  protracted 
and  abnormal  wet  weather.  Dryers  and  fans  are 
now  being  erected  in  most  factories,  and  nothing  is 
neglected,  which  conduces  to  the  good  quality  of  our 
teas. — Yours  faithfuily,  Tropical  Rustic. 
Cultivation  vs.  Drainage. — In  the  rainy  season 
the  surface  crusts  every  day  : “ scalding  ” is  largely 
the  result  of  want  of  air,  the  failure  of  the  roots 
to  seoure  the  supply  of  oxygen  which  they  re- 
quire, and  which  they  can  seoure  only  through  the 
breaking  of  the  orust.  We  have  seen  tomatoes 
kept  healthy  and  fruiting  right  through  the  rainy 
season,  and  that  in  the  flat  woods,  by  having  the 
crust  well  broken  after  every  rain  with  a garden 
rake.  But  this  rule  is  imperative,  it  must  be  done 
after  every  rain,  and,  better  still,  everyday,  rain  or 
no  rain. — Florida  Dispatch,  May  5. 
The  Supply  of  Palm  Oil. — The  total  import  of 
palm  oil  into  England  is  about  50,000  tons,  valued 
at  over  1,000,0001  but  this  is  an  exceedingly  small 
quantity  compared  to  what  might  be  the  oase  were 
the  enormous  resources  even  moderately  utilised. 
For  miles  along  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  extend- 
ing between  Cape  Blanco  and  St.  Paul  de  Loaudo, 
there  are  vast  forests  of  palms,  the  oleaginous 
fruit  of  whioh  has  for  oenturies  rotted  unused  on 
the  ground.  The  oil  palm  forest  at  the  baok  of 
the  coast  line  of  Cape  Palmas  and  Elmina  are  said 
to  be  practically  inexhaustible,  and  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Fernando  Po  immense  tracts  are  covered 
with  the  trees.  Lagos  furnishes  the  purest  oil. 
If  the  water  and  impurities  in  the  oil  exceed  2 
per  cent  an  allowance  is  made,  for  often  these 
oils  oontain  10  to  15  per  oent  of  water  and  im- 
purities. Palm-oil  is  used  in  this  oountry  in  the 
manufacture  of  soap  and  candles,  and  in  the  pre- 
paration of  tinplates.  Its  non-drying  qualities 
render  it  valuable  as  a preservative  of  the  surfaces 
of  the  heated  iron  sheet  from  oxidation  until  the 
moment  of  dipping  into  the  bath  of  melted  tin, 
the  sheets  being  rapidly  transferred  to  that  from 
the  liot-oil  bath,  whioh  consists  almost  entirely 
of  palm  oil, — Chemist  and  Druggist. 
