March 1, 1901. J 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTllRIST. 
637 
To the Editor. 
TEA OVERl'KODUCTION :-JUDICIOUS 
VERSUS INJUDICIOUS (AND "WILD") 
MANUUING OF TKA-AND THE 
" RESTING " PROBLEM. 
Dear Sir,— Your leading article of 21st iiist- 
gives startling figures. I will not repe^it tlieiii 
tliongli they look simple enough, but IslioulJ think 
India will pause before agreeing with Cey'on to 
rest any part of her cultivated are.i. 
17, "717 tons manure means 5.3,151 acres of tea 
manured. The friend you suppoi t - on his style of 
working— would expect quite 200 lb. per acre as 
the legitimate extra quantity of tea to be pro- 
duced by the application of this manure that 
equals 10,ti30,200 lb. extra tea. With the present 
labor supply in the country there is nothing to 
prevent a still larger increase in manuring opera- 
tions for 19J1. What is the usa then of resting 
one portion while we go on increasing our pio- 
duclion in this way from the remaining aiea. 
Docs not above go to prove that it is not the 
resting of 10 per cent o: our tea that is needed 
(any benefit from that is douoiful) but an actual 
reduction in output of say 10 per cent. This 
could be leased on the actual crop of the last 
two years ; thus an estate averagit)g 10 ',000 ll>. for 
the twoyears should undertake to put only 90,000lb. 
on the market leaving it to the proprietor to 
decide whether he would pluck finer, rest a por- 
tion, destroy his low grades, or sell to the natives 
of Jaffna, 'rrincomalee or India ; just reduce as 
it best suits Ids own taste or individual estate. 
In some such way only shall we get any re- 
duction in output that will be of any help tons. 
Still we uiust support the best scheme that is 
brought forward so as to make a beginning and do 
our best to make it workable in such a way as 
shall benefit us all. I do not think your friend 
was unjustly eriiicized. We do not object to 
jnannring, it is fair legitimate cultivation ; but 
we do object to everything being tal<en that 
the bu-!li will produce, and this at ihe lowest 
possible cost of plucking so making 
and throwing on the market all unnecessarily 
inereastd quantity of low class teas that are 
spoiling our good name and ruining our industry. 
In olden days we made tea so as to get the 
best price obtainable, the question was not— How 
cheap are you plucking? or— What is your yield 
per acre? but — What price did you get for your 
last break ? 
If men would work now on these lines, and 
nianuie so as to keep their bushes healthy, we 
should not hear so much about over-iuoduction; 
high and low estates would each in their own line 
get better prices than even your h'ghly manured 
old coffee land has given during the last year or two. 
Here are figures from a typical old coffee estate 
averaging over 40 years'cultivation in that product. 
Not a single acre of new land has been opened 
for tea and it is not in a favr,urite distiict. Area 
in tea, 3.56 acres, carefully plucked and manured 
just sufficient to keep up the fertility of the soil. 
Season 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 
Total 
crop 181,539 182,13.S 173,000 109,000 17.5,000 185,000 
Spent ou 
jnanure Rl,982 2,521 2,800 2,149 1,705 2,712 
Yours truly, MANAGER. 
THE "OVER-PRODUCTION" DIFFI- 
CULTY-AND HOW TO MEET IT : 
[A copy of the following letter lias been 
placed at our disposal from London.] 
Brookfleld, Carnoustie, N. B., 
January 21, 1901. 
To the Chairman, Planters' Association of 
Ceyion, Kandy. 
Dear Sir; — I have received copy of Mr, 
Rutherford's letter to yourself for which I 
am much obliged. I'he proposals for re- 
ducing our over-iiroduction of Tea are very- 
well worthy of consideration, but are quite 
impracticable, unless it is absolutely certain 
that India joins with us, and not only joins, 
but does so exactly to the .same extent as we 
do, and either by tire same system as Mr. 
Rutherford proposes, or in such a way as 
will in its working show us that a bona fide 
10 per cent reduction is being carried out by 
them as well as ourselves. I note tiiat Mr. 
Riitherford says he has reason to believe 
that Indian Planters will co-operate with us; 
this of comse must be made a certainty, 
otherwise they will! walk away with the 
enhanced price which we hope our reductions 
will create. I doubt very much however 
whether our Indian confreres will care to 
tall in with our proposals. We nmst call 
to remembrance that Indian men were growj 
ing Tea long before us, and that it is we 
who have done Indian planters much harm, 
(even though we have opened up new 
markets, and done such splendid advertising) 
by gi owing these enormous quantities of Tea, 
and not only great (juantities of Tea, but 
poor cheap stuff, that has still more added 
to the harm, and to the present lamentable 
state of the Industry. 
The greatest injiuy that has been done to 
our Industry has been caused by sacrificing 
quality to cheap production, and this has 
been done almost without exception by 
every individual and Company in Ceylon, 
and I ventm-e to say Mr. Rutherford's own 
Company is in this respect as great a trans- 
gressor as any. My cure for the present 
pool- prices is first— to improve the quality 
of our Tea, in every jiossible way, and to do 
so let us firstly cease to cut our trees to 
pieces immediately the poor coolie finds it 
impossible to drag 10 to 12 lb. of green leaf 
per day out of them : secondly, instead of 
asking superintendents to pluck for 7 or 8 
cents give them 12 or 14 cents per lb. for this 
work ; thirdly, never prune oftener than 
once in 18 months in the very worst climatic 
districts, and 2 to 2j years in more favoured 
districts. If, as many of my friends tell 
me, their fields will have ceased to yield 
before these months have expired, then I say 
all the better for themselves, their trees, 
and the general prosperity of the Tea 
Industry. 
Why do fields go so quickly out of yield ? 
Simply by the bad treatment the ( rces get, 
caused by this wicked and accr.i > il cheap 
working, i e., cheap plucking and i)runing. 
My plucking used to cost 18, and often 14, 
cents per lb. of Tea, when many of my 
friends were doing it for 8 or 9 cents or 
even cheaper, but my pimfit per acre equalled 
