THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  i,  1892. 
342 
ern  Peru,  where  they  found  a wide  expanse  of  rich, 
well-watered  forest  land,  admirably  suited  for  the 
cultivation  of  coffee  and  cacao,  and  already  steps 
have  been  taken  to  send  out  small  colonies  of  culti- 
vating settlers — Italians  chiefly — under  the  charge 
and  direction  of  Scotchmen,  planters  and  gardeners, 
to  make  a beginning  in  the  Perene  valley.  Of  course 
the  lack  of  a good  and  cheap  labour  supply  is  the 
difficulty  in  opening  up  new  land  for  tropical  products 
in  most  countries. 
The  preparation  of  coffee,  through  steadily  improved 
processes  and  much  ingenious  machinery,  was  brought 
nearly  to  perfection  in  Ceylon  during  the  palmy  days 
of  the  enterprise ; and  by  degrees  the  improved 
machinery  found  its  way — in  many  cases  from  Colombo 
— to  the  Indian  districts,  to  Java,  Guatemala,  and 
Brazil.  Now,  of  course,  we  in  Ceylon  can  only  stand 
aside  and  watch  the  progress  of  our  neighbours, 
there  being  no  prospect  of  our  exceeding,  even  if 
we  reach,  an  export  of  100,000  cwt.  of  coffee,  for 
many  years  to  come. 
My  remarks,  so  far,  however,  chiefly  apply  to  the 
best-known  coffee,  the  Arabian,  or  rather  Abyssinian 
shrub.  Among  the  efforts  made  by  Ceylon  planters 
to  fight  the  fungus  were  several  for  the  introduction 
of  new  coffee  seed  from  regions  unaffected  by  disease. 
In  this  way  selected  seed  from  isolated  plantations 
in  Mysore,  from  Mocha  and  more  especially  seed  of 
a new  species  of  coffee  from  Liberia,  West  Africa, 
were  procured.  But  none  showed  immunity  from 
the  fungus  ; on  the  contrary,  in  some  cases  the  disease 
seemed  to  revel  more  abundantly  in  the  new  clear 
ings.  But  in  the  case  of  Liberian  coffee,  though 
fungus-stricken,  the  bush  or  tree  was  a much  bigger 
and  more  vigorous  one  than  that  of  the  Arabian 
species,  requiring,  however,  a longer  time  for  the  tree 
to  bear  crops  and  for  the  berries  to  mature.  These 
facts,  coupled  with  the  abundant  appearance  of  the 
disease,  discouraged  the  promotion  of  the  enterprise- 
begun  very  freely  in  different  districts — with  Liberian 
coffee,  and  tea  proving  a success  just  at  that  time, 
the  new  coffee  was  discarded,  abandoned,  and  in 
some  Oases  the  plants  were  pulled  out  to  make  way 
for  tea.  It  is  now  generally  felt  in  Ceylon  that 
those  concerned  were  too  hasty  in  giving  up  their 
trial  of  Liberian  coffee.  This  is  shown  not  only  by 
the  experience  gained  over  the  area  (1,500  acres  of 
all  ages)  still  left  to  us,  from  which  nearly  3,000  cwt. 
were  exported  in  1890;  but  still  more  by  what  has 
been  done  in  Johore,  North  Borneo,  and  especially 
Java.  Dr.  Trimen,  our  very  observant,  shrewd 
Botanical  director,  as  the  result  of  a visit  to  Java 
last  year,  has  written  in  his  Official  Report  to  the 
Cevlon  Government,  a few  months  ago : — “ I am 
more  than  ever  of  opinion  that  the  cultivation  of 
Liberian  coffee  in  Ceylon  was  too  hastily  abandoned, 
and  would  be  still  a profitable  one.”  It  is  in  this 
direction,  then,  that  we-  may  hope  for  some  further 
coffee-growing  in  Ceylon.  Native  villagers  are  al- 
ready being  encouraged  to  grow  the  Liberian  plant, 
Which,  like,  cacao,  is  admirably  adapted  to  many  of 
their  gardens,  while  tbe  crops  are  easily  gathered 
and  are  readily  sold  in  a good  market.  In  the  valleys 
of  Uva  again  we  may  soon  find  the  robust  Liberian 
coffee  freely  planted  along  with  cacao  even  under 
European  auspices.  Still  it  can  only  be  the  day  of 
small  things  with  Coffee,  though  we  may  have  a 
revival  of  cultivation,  for  a long  time  in  Ceylon ; and 
therefore,  apart  from  Brazil,  Central  American  States 
and  Java,  so  far  as  British  enterprise  is  concerned, 
the  hope  of  fresh  supplies  must  be  directed  chiefly 
for  the  present  to  the  Straits  Settlements,  North 
Borneo,  and  the  ranges  of  Zambesia  and  Nyassaland 
in  East  Africa,  together  with  what  may  be  added 
from  plantations  in  Jamaica  or  adjacent  territory 
where,  however,  labour  is  by  no  means  certain  or 
cheap  enough  to  enable  much  to  be  done.  In  Ap- 
endices,  will  be  found  the  statistics  of  export  and 
istribution,  and  also  an  estimate  of  the  world’s 
production  and  consumption  of  coffee. 
Finally,  I have  to  direct  your  attention— and  that 
Very  briefly — to  what  is  undoubtedly  the  most  im- 
portant division  of  Ceylon  planting  enterprise  at 
the  present  tjime,  namely,  Tea— our  staple  product 
now  par  excellence.  There  is  little  need  for  me 
here  to  recapitulate  facts  within  the  cognizance  of 
most  of  you,  and  which  have  recently  formed  the 
subject  of  correspondence  in  'lie  public  press;  but 
I may  say  that  although  there  is  a tradition  that 
the  Dutch  tried  tea  cultivation  in  Ceylon  and  failed, 
it  is  more  likely  that  the  first  tea  plants  introduced 
into  Ceylon  were  from  Assam,  in  tbe  time  of 
Governor  Stewart-Mackenzie,  in  1839-49.  Soon  after, 
tea  plants  were  brought  from  China  by  the  Messrs. 
Worms,  uncles  of  the  present  Under-Secretary  of 
State  for  the  Colonies,  and  planted  by  them  on 
“Rothschild”  and  neighbouring  properties.  The 
plants  grew  fairly  well,  and  the  owners  imported 
a Chinaman  to  show  how  tea  should  be  made; 
but  he  proved  a rogue,  each  lb.  of  tea  costing  about 
51.  sterling  to  produce ! This  experience  and  the 
success  of  coffee  deterred  any  farther  tea  experi- 
ments till  1866,  when  a gentleman,  now  in  this 
room  (Mr.  Leake)  made  a first  importation  of 
Assam-hybrid  tea  seed,  but  notwithstanding  the 
cultivation  that  followed,  and  some  successful 
attempts  at  tea-making,  the  planting  industry  cannot 
be  said  to  have  been  fairly  commenced  before  1875, 
by  which  year  about  1,000  acres  were  planted,  and 
indeed  only  10,000  acres  were  cultivated  with  tea 
by  1880  ; but  by  1885  the  extent  had  risen  to  100,000 
acres,  while  1890  saw  this  area  more  than  doubled, 
and  now  we  count  about  255,000  acres  planted  with 
tea,  or  very  nearly  tbe  maximum  extent  ever 
reached  by  coffee.  In  the  same  way  our  exports,  begin- 
ning with  3,000  lb.  fifteen  years  ago,  got  to  be  over  3 
millions  by  18S5 ; 47  million  lb.  five  years  later,  in 
1890;  6'Sj  million  lb.  in  1891;  a d this  year  they 
are  to  be  nearer  80  than  70  million  lb.,  I suppose. 
Ceylon  has  therefore  in  less  than  seven  years, 
sprung  up  from  quite  an  insignificant  position,  to 
rank  alongside  of  India  and  China— the  two  greatest 
tea-producing  countries  of  the  world.  The  wonder 
now  is,  of  course,  that  the  admirable  fitness  of  the 
south-west  moist  zone  of  Ceylon  to  grow  tea  was 
not  seen  thirty  or  twenty  years  ago.  No  country 
in  the  world  is  more  capable  of  producing  leaf 
crops : we  have  a constantly  high  temperature, 
w th  rains  (rich  in  ammonia)  every  month  of  the 
year,  and  we  find  in  tea  a plant  so  hardy  and 
adaptable  that  it  flourishes  from  the  sea-borde  to 
the  tops  of  our  highest  plateaux  or  mountains.  Tea 
is  indeed  so  hardy  that  it  can  be  grown  with  some 
care  in  temperate  regions,  as  may  be  seen  at  Earl's 
Court  Gardens  at  present,  and  I saw  it  flourishing 
in  the  open  air  at  Washington  in  1884;  but  not, 
of  course,  so  as  to  produce  proper  and  plentiful 
flushes.  But  still  it  is  not  alone  soil  nor  climate 
so  much  as  an  abundance  of  suitable  cheap  labour 
that  is  necessary  to  the  success  of  a tea-growing 
country,  and  here  Ceylon,  like  India  and  China, 
has  the  advantage. 
The  cleanly  and  better  mode  of  preparation 
adopted  for  Ceylon,  as  for  Indian  tea,  give  it  a 
great  advantage  over  that  of  China,  and  should 
cause  tea  grown  in  British  Dependencies  to  be 
preferred  throughout  Europe  and  America. 
Much  has  also  been  done  by  improved  machinery 
and  factory  arrangements  to  ensure  the  better  and 
more  economical  preparation  of  tea  in  Ceylon.  But 
I consider  that  there  is  still  plenty  of  room  for 
the  application  of  the  skill  of  the  agriculturist  in 
the  field,  of  the  planter  and  his  assistant  in  the 
factory,  as  well  as  of  the  chemist,  the  machinist 
and  the  tea  expert,  in  order  to  secure  even  greater 
improvements  in  cultivation  and  preparation. 
As  regards  the  future  of  tea  in  Ceylon,  there 
is  no  reason  why  we  should  not  see  the  planted 
area  still  farther  extended,  and  tbe  export  thereby 
increased,  provided  remunerative  prices  are  main- 
tained. Although  the  greater  portion  of  the  land 
best  fitted  for  tea’  is  no  doubt  already  planted, 
still  out  of  300,000  acres  reserve  in  the  hands  of 
owners  of  plantations,  there  must  bo  a good  deal 
that  could  be  put  into  tea  if  only  the  “ will  it 
pay”  condition  is  satisfactorily  answered.  It  is 
possible  too  that  the  Sinhalese  may  take  to  grow- 
ing tea  freely  in  their  village  gardens,  and  so  add 
largely  to  production,  selling  the  leaf  perhaps  tq 
