466 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan.  2,  1893. 
eminence  above,  we  passed  through  Mr.  Maokie's 
modern  Tea  Factory  with  its  series  of  Jackson’s  and 
Brown’s  Rollers,  a grand  Britannia  Dryer, 
Sirocoos,  and  (still  more  interesting)  the  separate 
building  with  Jackson’s  Patent  Witherer,  the 
suooess  of  whioh  we  can  well  believe  from  what  we 
saw— all  being  readily  driven  by  steam  engine  or 
supplementary  waterwheel.  Verily,  we  are  in  the 
era  of  Buildings  and  Machinery  as  well  as  of  Tea. 
But  there  is  one  special  feature  of  the  change 
in  Dimbula  and  adjacent  districts,  to  whioh  we 
must  give  prominence  for  the  benefit  of  home 
oritios  and  for  the  advantage  of  planters  in 
other  districts  who  have  yet  to  go  and  do  like- 
wise. “ If  Dimbula,  Dikoya  and  Maskeliya  are 
“ all  in  tea — under  one  unbroken  produot,  oontrary 
“ to  nature’s  plan,  what  more  likely  than  another 
“ visitation  of  widespread  disease” — will  no  doubt, 
be,— 
the  common  if  the  hidden  thought  of  all, — 
already  alluded  to  by  us,  after  noting  the  ohange.  We 
shall  say  nothing  now  of  our  ability  to  fight  such  a 
visitation  in  fungus  or  insect  blight  in  tea,  with  ad 
vantages  that  were  never  possessed  in  dealing  with 
coffee  leaf  disease.  Prevention  is  better  than  oure  ; 
and  though  the  best  means  of  prevention — a diver- 
sity of  cultivated  produots — is  beyond  our  command, 
the  next  best  means,  the  growth  of  trees  as  shelter 
belts,  on  boundaries,  on  path-sides,  in  isolated 
olearings  as  timber  or  fuel  reserves,  or  in  some 
oases  all  over  the  plantation,  has  taken  a won- 
derful hold  on  Dimbula  in  this  tea  era.  The  dis- 
trict is  no  longer  a bare  expanse  of  one  lowlying 
produot.  It  is  diversified  and  beautified  by  the 
great  show  of  ornamental  and  useful  trees,  not 
simply  growing  round  eaoh  bungalow  or  aloDg  the 
main  avenue,  hut  along  each  boundary  and  at 
vantage  points  all  over  the  estates  in  many  cases. 
Now  apart  altogether  from  the  important  ques- 
tion of  adequate  timber  and  fuel  reserves— a most 
vital  matter  to  upeountry  planters  in  old  districts, — 
herein  lies  the  future  salvation  of  our  tea.  Shel- 
ter and  boundary  belts  and  ravine  plantings  of 
treeB  must  beoome  an  indispensable  adjunot  of 
every  tea  plantation  in  Ceylon.  No  local  tea 
planter  oan  be  regarded  as  fulfilling  his  duty 
either  towards  himself,  or  the  community,  unless 
he  attends  to  this  matter,  exoept  indeed  he 
oan  point  to  suoh  natural  forest  reserves 
around  his  tea  as  precludes  the  necessity  for 
speoial  cultivation.  Tree-planting  is  therefore, 
more  than  ever,  the  immediate  duty  before  plan- 
ters who,  having  finished  their  tea  clearings,  want 
some  work  to  do.  We  feel  so  strongly  on  the 
matter  that  our  next  Manual  compilation  for  the 
benefit  of  the  planters  will  be  “ All  about  the 
Trees  suitable  to  plant  on  Tea  Plantations."  The 
subjeot  has  been  already  most  adequately  dealt 
with  in  the  oolumns  of  the  Observer  and  Tropical 
Agriculturist  by  our  veteran  senior,  and  all  we 
have  to  do  is  to  go  over  suoh  writings  and  oollate 
the  practical  portions.  And  may  we  not  say  that 
no  one  has  set  a better  example  in  tree- 
planting than  the  proprietors  of  Abbotsford,  while 
their  present  manager,  Mr.  John  Fraser,  has 
unequalled  knowledge  and  experience  in  the 
growth  of  timber  and  ornamental  trees  in  planta- 
tions. No  doubt  there  is  much  <0  be  learned 
from  the  Forest  Department;  but  no  one  is  bet- 
ter qualified  than  Mr.  Fraser  to  draw  up  a series 
of  practical  hints  and  instructions  for  the  benefit 
of  his  brother  planters,  in  thiB  branch.  In 
one  olearing  of  some  aores — now  grown  up  into  a 
grand  forest  plantation— Mr.  Fraser  has  no  fewer 
than  twenty  different  varieties  of  introduced  trees 
flourishing  on  Abbotsford.  He  has  several  splendid 
epeoimenB  of  the  true  Jarrah  {Eucalyptus  marginaat) 
so  often  confounded  with  E.  robusta,  the  latter 
tree  above  all  others  suitable  to  grow  around 
swamps  or  in  ravines,  What  a delightfully 
ornamental  as  well  as  useful  tree,  the  Grevillea 
can  beoome  in  a short  period,  can  be  seen  along- 
side the  Dessford  and  Lome  properties  with 
their  fine  tea  ; while  equally  noteworthy  are 
the  splendid  Cinchonas  on  the  Inverness  and 
Edinburgh  roadsides,  only  beaten  in  oircumferenoe 
perhaps  by  some  on  Abbotsford.  What  again  oan 
be  more  attractive,  than  the  rows  of  light  green 
sapu  trees  which  break  the  monotony  along  the 
slopes  of  Galkandawatta  and  Soalpa  ? Surely  then 
we  are  right  in  urging  proprietors  in  the  old 
planting  districts,  to  see  to  it  that  they  do 
their  duty  in  planting  useful  trees — useful  for 
fuel  or  timber  as  well  as  ornament.  Only  today  in 
casually  questioning  a planter  from  an  old  coffee 
district  of  medium  altitude,  he  gavs  shelter  as  in 
his  opinion  a speoial  condition  for  the  successful 
permanent  growth  of  tea.  We  trust  therefore  that 
the  next  few  years  in  the  older  distriots  partioularl  y, 
will  be  distinguished  by  even  greater  attention 
than  hitherto,  being  given  to  the  planting  and 
cultivation  of  useful  timber  and  fuel  trees  on  the 
tea  plantations. 
It  may  be  asked  how  far  it  oan  be  the  duty 
of  Government  to  restrict  sales  of  forest  land  in 
order  to  disoourage  the  further  extension  of  tea- 
planting. Until  the  markets  already  referred  to, 
are  seoured  for  Ceylon  teas,  it  would  oertainly 
not  be  wise  of  Governmnet  to  arrange  for  the 
opening  of  any  now  district — say  on  the  Western 
slopes  of  Adam’s  Peak — but  the  sale  of  blooks  of 
land  in  existing  distriots  and  more  especially  when 
suoh  are  required  mainly  for  timber  and  fuel  purposes 
stands  on  a different  footing.  It  may  be  argued,  too, 
that  the  rule  about  no  sale  whateyer  of  Crown  land 
above  5,000  feet  should  be  relaxed.  Is  all  the 
country  between  Dimbula  and  Haputale,  with  a rail- 
way running  through  it,  to  be  left  unutilized — is  it 
to  yield  not  a ten  of  freight  to  this  expensive  looo- 
motive  line?  Surely  not:  a system  of  leases, 
under  which  all  valuable  trees  in  the  jungle  should 
be  conserved,  can  at  least  be  arranged  for,  while 
small  blooks  of  patana,  scrub  or  poor  jungle  might 
well  be  sold  to  purchasers  who  would  bind  them- 
selves to  plant,  a proportion  of  the  area,  with  useful 
trees. 
^ 
NEWS  FROM  THE  CENTRAL  PROVINCE  : 
PLANTING  AND  OTHERWISE. 
The  Wattegama  oobrespondent  in  the  Observer's 
issue  of  Nov.  26th,  has  hit  on  a very  ingenious  way 
of  improving  Ceylon  tea,  which  he  should  patent 
“ as  a method  of  improving  the  manufacture 
and  flavour  of  Ceylon  tea.”  This  method  appears 
to  be  the  utilization  of  the  brains  of  newly  im- 
ported Englishmen.  There  now  appears  to  be 
some  liklihood  of  a use  being  found  for  the  many 
creepers  now  finding  their  way  to  Ceylon. 
Indian  Tea  Companies  are  oertainly  not  doing  so 
well  by  their  shareholders  as  the  Ceylon.  An  aver- 
age dividend  of  4£  per  cent  over  the  whole  of  them 
is  not  startling,  and  you  feel  still  less  inolined  to 
venture  money  in  them,  when  you  are  told  that  40 
Companies  are  paying  no  dividends  at  all.  The 
Oastlereagh  directors  groan  that  they  are  only 
able  to  pay  8 per  cent. 
Pbice  of  Ceylon  Tea. — Tbe  quotations  for 
forward  delivery  on  the  London  Clearing-house 
point  to  fair  average  prioes  for  some  time  to  oome. 
So  late  back  as  8th  September  forward  delivery 
for  the  next  twelve  months  was  quoted  6lfd 
for  whole  Indian  leaf.  On  November  10th,  the 
quotation  for  same  leaf  is  for  next  twelve  months 
