fm, I, 1901 .J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
548 
of irrigation ; while in the case of other lands 
that have developed, irrigation, after three or four 
crops, was discontinued. As I mentioned in 
my previous letter, it is the position of tlie 
channel and tlse soil that it luns through, 
that has j^reat influence in producing this 
condition. I believe I can accurately say 
whether, after a channel has been cut, the 
land below it would be affected or not. Besides, 
irrigaMon is not necessary for the production of 
reh, as I will point out. There are many sheets of 
water in this district called " wilas"' and "kalapus" 
and in every case the banks of these sheets of 
water have reh. I shall send you by next post 
the only plant that grows on lands aflfected^ and 
which the Sinhalese call " Lunu-pala " or fait 
herb. The leaves are made into a curry, but 
they have to be well boiled and the juice expressed 
Dr it would be too saltish for the palate. 1 have 
eaten the boiled article and even then found tiiuch 
salt in it. This plant also grows on the edges of 
salt pans, and, I believe, nowhere else. It would 
be beneKcial indeed to tne goiyas of this district 
if Mr. E liott had a few of his numerous acres 
affected by reh, as in that case, you may be 
sure he will not be long in consulting a scientist 
and finding out its cause and cure. — Yours 
faithfully, A, D. 
I 
THE TEA PLANTING INDUSTRY AND 
OVERPRODUCTION : SUGGESTION 
TO GIVE A TWO YEARS' REST 
TO 10 PER CENT. OP THE 
PLANTED ACREAGE. 
^' DKAR Sir,— It is generally admitted that the 
.^(■present position of the Tea Planting Industry is, 
^ 'owirg to overproduction, very unsatisfactory ; and 
J, unless some action is taken to curtail supplies, 
,, we ranst see the painful and prolonged process, 
."■"The survival ot the fittest," gradually force 
/some of the poorer properties out of cultivation. 
This process must necessarily be a prolonged 
one as there are many estates which can just 
pay their way and which will continue to pro- 
duce so long as there is no actual loss. 
Ic has been suggested by certain gentlemen, 
amongst others Mr. A. Thomson, ot Messrrs. 
"Whittall & Co., that, in view of the enormous 
quantities of tea being produced, Ave should en- 
deavour to from a combination by which the re- 
quirements of the various markets may be met, 
v/, without making any one of them the dumping 
viground for our surplus crops, 
s It is necessary that any steps taken by Ceylon 
d should receive the full support of India otherwise 
• curtailment of shipments from here would merely 
allow of increased exports from Calcutta. 
The three possible methods suggested for re- 
ducing our crops are : — 
(1) Finer plucking which would tend to re- 
duce the output -whilst giving a better quality 
of tea. 
(2) Making a certain percentage into green 
teas. 
(3) Resting a certain percentage of the acreage 
in bearing. 
The objection to No. 1 is that we should 
probably have too much Hue tea produced witli 
p, cotiesponding fall iq its value ; and directly the 
better and poorer classes of tea approximated 
in vahie, there would be a tendency to pluck 
coarse again. 
The objections to No. 2 .ire (a) the green tea 
market is not as yet sufficiently developed to afford 
material relief, and (b) the diflicultj of making 
both black ...nd green teas in the same factory. 
The advantages of No. 3 are that if you do 
not pluck a field for a certain number of months, 
you rest yo'ir bushes and you can hardly bring 
them iuto plucking again without pruning, thus 
doing away to a certain extent with a possible 
temptation to break out of the combination. 
The net result would be a reduced yield and 
improved bushes. 
I propose that all estate proprietors or their 
agents in Ceylon and india be asked co rest 
10 per cent of their acreage in bearing for two 
years from the 1st April, 1901, to 3 1st March, 
1903. This arrangement to be subject to at 
least 80 per cent of the acreage in both countries, 
agreeing to it in writing. 
An arrangement such as this should ensure a 
reduction of from 15 to 20 million lb. and I feel 
convinced that with this quaniity taken off the 
market the rise in price would more than com- 
pensate for the amount of leaf lost. 
At the end of two years the green tea market 
should he largely developed, and in the black 
tea market consumijtion may have once more 
overtaken production, —Yours faithfnlly, 
EDWARD ROSLING. 
TEA OVER-PRODUCTION: 
RE MR. B. ROSLING'S LETTER OF THE 
29th DECEMBER 
Sib, — The success of Mr. Rosling's proposi- 
tion to curtail supply is entirely dependent 
upon the "full support of India." A very 
large order! 
Few Ceylon men nowadays belong to " the 
fugitive, flying community " and members, 
as we all are of one central, integral Plant- 
ers' Association, and resident in a small 
island, it is perhaps a little hard for some 
of us to understand the extreme difficulties 
ot united action among tea proprietors in 
India. The vast distances, extending from 
the extreme north of one Indian Presidency 
to the south of another, separating even one 
tea district from another; and the varying 
conditions and capacities of each district, have 
only to be realised to be appi-eciated. The 
apparent supine lack of combination amongst 
Indian Tea Planters, in such matters as 
voluntary assessment, exploitation of new 
markets, &c., must, in my mind, be attribu- 
sable to geographical disability. It would 
be hard to comprehend that a body of British 
colonists could otherwise be satisfied with so 
suicidal a policy as that of inaction during 
the past and the present. What Indian men 
have failed to accomplish for themselves, 
would, I imagine, be an \dtra vires task for 
Ceylon, On the above premises, the success 
of an appeal from Ceylon to disunited India, 
would, I fear, be very dubious. Combination 
with India is in mv opinion chimerical. 
The present "very \msatisfactory " con- 
dition of the tea industi'v, taken as a wJiol€, 
demands however tl^at "any agitation, the 
