June  i,  1893.J  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  lS$ 
THE  TEA  PLANTING  ENTERPRISE  IN 
1892:  NO.  1. 
March  6th. 
Deab  Sib,— Your  leader  of  the  4th  inst.,  in  regard 
to  the  position  of  the  tea  industry  iB  calculated  to 
fill  one  with  grave  anxiety  supported  as  it  is  by 
figures  of  the  yield  of  tea  and  prices  realized  for  the 
last  eight  years.  The  area  under  tea  today  is 
about  250,000  acres  and  if  we  take  220,000  aores 
as  being  in  full  bearing  in  1892,  the  yield  of 
71,133,657  lb.  is  equal  to  323  or  say  325  lb.  per 
acre  all  over. 
Let  us  assume  that  exchange  haB  been  constant 
at  Is  4d  for  the  last  three  years  for  the  sake  of 
calculation,  and  that  it  costs  6Jd  sterling  to  land 
tea  in  London  or  say  5£d  nett  in  Ceylon  (=  31£ 
cents)  the  results  work  out  as  follows 
In  1890  the  Ceylon  crop  averaged.,  lid 
Less  cost  of  production  . . . . 6jd 
Balance  being  profit  ..  ..  4$d 
4£d  at  Is  4d  exchange  = 27  cents  x 325  lb. 
and  aore  = an  average  profit  per  acre  of 
B87-75  for  the  whole  island. 
But  for  1892  the  orop  averaged  . . 9£ 
Less  cost  of  production  ..  6J 
Balanoe  being  profit  ..  ..  3d. 
and  as  3d.  at  Is  4d.==exohange  18  cents  x 325  lb.  per 
acre=R58-50  per  acre  profit.  In  other  words  for  every 
£100  profit  netted  on  the  enterprise  in  1890  there 
has  only  been  £66  netted  in  1892, — a rather  start- 
ling result  1 Assuming  that  exchange  went  up  to 
par  where  Bhould  we  be  ? Of  the  6£d  cost  of  pro- 
duction at  least  5d.  is  spent  in  silver  payments  i e., 
gets  the  benefit  of  the  low  exohange— so  to  the  6§d, 
we  would  require  to  add  2|d  for  rise  in  exchange  ; 
which  would  mean  that  with  exohange  at  par  the 
whole  Ceylon  crop  for  1892  would  have  cost  9d. 
to  produoe  and  as  it  only  realized  9§d,  where  would 
the  interest  on  the  oapital  invested  oome  from  ? 
To  come  to  another  point  and  eliminate  possi- 
bilities; taking  only  what  actually  ocaured  in  1892, 
Estates.  Total  crop.  Average  price.  Profit  per 
aore  say 
gave  lb.  at  R 
36  ...  3,062,000  ...  7id  = 2437 
39  ...  3,070,500  ...  — 19  50 
26  ...  2,069,000  ...  71  = 14-62 
22  ...  1,083,500  ...  7 r=  975 
21  ...  799,500  ...  5f  to  6|  0 
144  lb.  10,084,500 
Note.— The  crop  is  calculated  at  325  lb.  per  acre 
being  the  Ceylon  average  yield. 
The  figures  are  taken  from  Wilson,  Smithett’s  Sale 
Lists  for  1892. 
No  doubt  the  low  prices  in  some  of  the  above 
instances  were  partly  counterbalanced  by  a larger 
yield,  but  this  would  not  affect  the  total  profit  for 
the  island  as  B58'50  per  acre. 
The  above  144  estates  produoed  about  l-7th  of 
the  total  orop  of  the  island  and  made  a nett  profit 
of  about  R16-75  per  aore  on  an  average  ; and  if 
during  1893  tea  drops  another  Jd  per  lb.,  on  an 
average  they  will  aotually  make  their  tea  at  a 
loss  1 
Does  not  this  indicate  a coming  crisis  in  the 
history  of  the  industry? 
The  oapital  invested  in  the  250,000  acres 
of  tea  is  probably  not  less  than  £8,000,000 
sterling  or  £32  per  acre  and  even  now  it  cannot 
on  an  average  be  paying  muoh  over  10  per  oent 
(if  it  is  doing  bo)  on  this  amount.  10  per 
oent  on  £32  would=R48  per  aore,  and  the  nett  profit 
in  1892  wae  R58-50  against  whioh  has  to  go  wear  and 
tear  of  machinery  and  of  bushes  and  buildings. 
Two  other  points  that  definitely  settle  the  fact 
thfkt  a number  of  gardens  have  reaohed  tlje  »*'gQ 
93 
where  they  have  ceased  to  yield  profit,  are  (1) 
several  gardens  have  been  abandoned  within  the 
last  few  months;  (2)  a number  of  gardens  have 
given  very  heavy  yields  and  profits  as  for  instance 
one  garden  in  Dimbula  gave  £18  sterling  per  aore 
last  year  of  profit,  and  two  gardens  in  Kalutara 
and  Kelani  Valley  gave  about  R180  an  acre  and 
as  these  gardens  far  more  than  made  their  share  of 
profit,  so  others  less  fortunate  must  have  been 
w or  king  with  a fractional  pi  0 fit  or  even  at  a loss  as 
the  total  amount  of  profit  was  only  B58'50  per  acre 
all  over  the  island — Yours  truly  PLANTER. 
No.  II. 
UPCOUNTRY  VS.  LOW-OOUNTBY  PLANTATIONS. 
Dear  Sib, — I have  trespassed  far  more  on  your 
space  than  I intended  and  it  is  with  the  hope 
that  you,  and  other  abler  pens  than  mine,  will  ori- 
ticise  my  figures  and  plaoe  their  views  before  your 
readers  as  the  importance  of  the  subject  warrants 
its  full  discussion. 
There  is  only  one  point  I want  to  touch  on  and 
I’ve  done,  and  that  is,  why  are  hill  gardens  valued 
at  so  muoh  more  than  lowoountry  gardens  by 
the  majority  of  people  ? Led  by  Mr.  Rutherford 
several  years  ago,  a school  of  men  arose  who  oon. 
demned  the  lowcountry  and  at  that  time  judg- 
ing  by  Mr.  Rutherford’s  ability,  there  must  have  been 
faots  and  figures  to  support  their  views;  but  I venture 
to  opine  that  not  only  do  the  low  country  gardens 
on  an  average  today  give  a profit  aore  lor  aore 
much  greater  than  the  hill  gardens  do,  but  as 
their  capital  aooount  is  muoh  lower  on  the 
invested  oapital,  their  profits  per  oent  are  far  more 
than  on  hill  gardens. 
To  begin  with,  orop  is  far  heavier,  say  500  lb.  pel? 
aore  all  round,  compared  with  350  or  less  per  acre 
upcountry.  Then  the  cost  of  production  is  muoh 
less,  averaging  say  22  cents  oompared  with  32 
upcountry. 
Take  a lowoountry  garden  giving  600  lb  per  acre  ; 
costing  to  produce  22  cents  plus  8 oents  for  shipping 
and  sale  charges  = 30  eentB  in  London  and  selling 
for  8d  exohange  at  Is  4d  — 50  cents  showing  profit  20 
oents  per  lb  on  500  lb  = R100  per  aore.  Now  take  a 
hill  garden  giving  350  lb  per  aore  and  cost  of  pro- 
duction 32  cents  plus  8 oents  shipping  and  sale 
charges  = 40  ots  in  London  selling  for  9£d,  exohange 
Is  4i  =-  58  oents  = profit  per  lb  18  oents  on  350  lb 
per  acre  = R63  per  acre.  The  above  I believe  to 
be  rather  in  favour  of  the  hill  garde  i than  other- 
wise. Take  last  week’s  sale  list  and  you  find 
Yataderiya  and  Castlereagh  side  by  side,  both  one 
agency  : work  out  the  orops  and  whioh  is  better  ? 
Or  take  Clyde  (Kalutara)  broken  pekoe  61,  pekoe  41 
pekoe  souchong  38,  against  broken  pekoe  59,  pekoe 
51  pekoe  souchong  42  for  Court  Lodge,  Nuwara  Eliya. 
I mention  this  last  place  as  it  is  one  of  the 
crack  upcountry  estates  in  the  best  district  of  Ceylon. 
Will  any  sane  man  on  the  face  of 
those  aotual  figures  deny  that  lowoountry 
tea  is  paying  far  better  than  upcountry 
tea  on  an  average^—  And  the  last  figures  I adduce 
in  support  of  my  statement  are  again  from  Wilson 
Smithett’s  liBt : — 
Kalutara  (whioh  sold  a large  quantity  of  its  best 
teas  in  Colombo  in  the  last  six  months  of  1892 
whioh  were  bought  for  Australia  and  Russia  largely) 
averaged  in  London  in  1892  8£d  per  IE,  aotually 
as  muoh  or  more  than  Dolosbage  and  Yakdeesa, 
Nilambe  and  Hantane,  Matale  and  Hunasgeriya,' 
Kadugannawa,  and  Alagalla,  Sabaragamuwa, 
Knuckles,  Kelebokka  and  Rangala,  whioh  are 
all  hill  districts  and  produoed  14  million  or 
l-5th  o(  thp  Ceylon  crop.  Nobody  will  deny 
were  “ out  of  it  ” in  the  matter  of 
1 oomparative  profits  per  &er«), 
