546 
THE TROPtCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb. ], 190l. 
THE TEA CEIPIS : 
OVERPRODUCTION AND THE REMEDY. 
From one of the most experienced Inspectors 
of Estates in the island, wa have the followina: — 
"Mr. Rosliug's proposal to 'rest' ten per cent, 
of tlie bearing tea on every estate for a couple 
of years should be dismissed for the reason that 
it would be impossible to get it carried out in 
practice. In many instances the poorest fields on 
the estate would be selected for such treatment, 
and probably any loss of crop that might thus 
be sustained would be made up the better cul- 
tivation and manuring of the balance. Others 
might select young tea just coming into bearing, 
and in both cases subsequent returns would l.e 
all the heavier. Another and very serious ob- 
jection to 'resting' teas is that the further the 
bushes get away from pr-uning, the more liable 
they are to blight, and we should see this made 
the excuse for cutting down the tea before due 
date 
"My view of things is that both here and in 
India it will resolve itself into a question of 
the 'survival of the fittest,' and rightly so too. 
It is not the smallest use taking any general 
steps for the purjwse of bolstering up rotten 
., concerns. The sooner they go, the better for 
; the enterprise though not perhaps for the indi- 
vidual. Philanthropy is all very well in its way, 
but it is not business. Why should a propri- 
etor of a good estate sacrifice his yield because 
■' his neighbour has got hold of the dirty end of 
the stick and planted tea on unsuitable land ? 
It is contrary to nature to expect him to do 
anything of the kind, and does away at once 
'•' with all the principles of competition. If my 
neighbour is fortunate enough to be on the back 
of a winning horse in a race, would he pull up 
ill order to give a broken-down old crock on 
three legs a change ? Tea estates which do not 
pay, and cannot be made to pay, must in time 
drop out of cultivatiou ; it will be a tedious 
process, but the sooner it commences, the better 
0 for those who are associated with sound con- 
:,. cerns. 
t,: "When coffee went down in price many years 
ago to figures whfch made it impossible to work 
a number of estates to a profit, the acreage 
under cultivation was lessened, and production 
increased again with more prosperous times. So 
it will be with tea, and any attempt to interfere 
with the laws which govern supply and demand 
will, in my humble judgment, result in failure." 
The above letter and that of Mr. Melville 
White, elvsewhere, following up that of the Chair- 
man, C. P. A., provide much food for thought 
and — action t Further correspondence and our 
comment on the same must be held over for 
l^he present. 
« 
j-f PEAUL OYSTERS AND PEARL FISHERIES 
" OF CEYLON. 
We direct attention to the following useful 
, contribution to the subject of a development 
.,,;,of our Pearl Fisheries, with remarks on 
. pearl and pearl-shell oysters. Coming as it 
does from a Cambridge scientist, Mr. J. 
.Stanley Gardiner, whose recent valuable in- 
3il vestigations at the Maldives have aroused 
,much interest and whose work upon the re- 
jSUlts of these will occupy a space of four 
or five years, we need hardly express the 
hope that his words will receive due notice, 
Mr. Gardiner commences with reference to 
the three species of pearl oyster fished for 
in the tropics. Two of these, pearl-shell 
oysters, have a steady market, but fetch poor 
prices as compared with the third, the true 
pearl oyster— valueless for its shell, but fished 
for its pearls. \\ ith regard to Ceylon Mr. 
Gardiner agrees with Captain Dounan as to 
the importance of currents and would sup- 
port the plea for selection of sheltered i-eefs, 
if actual experiments are to be undertaken 
here ; if these are found, Mr. Gardiner is of 
opinion that the cultivation of the pearl 
oyster could be successfully pursued The 
conditions attaching to the formation of 
pearls in the oyster around the coast of 
Ceylon require to be somewhat more care- 
fully considered than off Westralia, for 
instance ; and we have little doubt that the 
risk of unsatisfactory results can be re- 
duced to a minimum. Meanwhile we urge 
upon Government that there should be the 
least possible delay in securins' the services 
of some duly qualified scientist -Professor 
Herdman's name was uppermost at the end 
of October last— to undertake the organisa- 
tion of the work, in order that local experi- 
ence may be availed of to the full, as Mr. 
Gardiner points out. This should be pre- 
ceded, we are told, by one, two or three 
years' survey of the coastline by a compe- 
tent marine zoologist. Whether hy them- 
selves or in conjunction with South Indian 
and Westralian experiments, we hope that 
the Ceylon pearl fisheries which have proved 
so remunerative to the Ceylon Government 
in the past, are not to undergo a very 
much more extended period of unjustifiable 
neglect. 
PEARL OYSTERS AND PEARL FISHERIES 
OF CEYLON. 
Dear Sir, — A report of a meeting of the Ceylon 
branch of the Royal Asiatic Society held on Oct. 
27., reprinted from the Ceylon Observer, has 
recently been placed in my hands. The paper of 
the evening was by Mr. Collett on " Pearl Oysters 
and Pearl Fisheries," a subject in which I in 
common with all marine zoologists am nmch 
interested, fndeed the economic importance of 
the pearl industry in the eyes of man adds a great 
dignity and anthropological interest to the subject, 
which will always preserve it from the sneers of 
true men of science, 
In view of my work rotmd the coasts of Ceylon, 
the Maldives, Australia and various island groups 
in the Pacific Ocean, I have been asked to send 
to you any comments I may have to make on the 
subject of general interest. So far as I am aware 
there are three species of pearl oysters largely 
fished in the tropics : — ■ 
1. The true pearl-shell oyster of Torres Straits, 
characterised by its large size, edge or lip of shell, 
colourless inside or slightly yellow. 
2. The black-lipped pearl-shell oyster of almost 
universal distribution in the tropics ; size same as 
the last,, bub differing from it as its name implies 
by having a markedly black edge or lip to tba 
shell, * 
