May 1, 1901.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
769 
THE CONDITIOJi AND PROSPECTS 
OP TEA: 
NEED OF GOOD MANAGEMENT AND OF 
ABANDONING UNFKOFITAHLE FIELDS. 
[By a Specialist.) 
During the first quarter of the year, the ten- 
dency throiig-hout thecountry has been towards 
more careful plucking. On many estates j^ne 
phickini; has been resorted to ; but it cannot 
be said tiiut this is in general favour, the 
feeling being that, if cave is exercised in the 
selection of the leaf gathered, and no hard 
or coarse leaf is allowed to enter the Factory, 
things would soon right themselves. My own 
conviction is that careful ijlucking, as dis- 
tinguished from jinc plucking, is all that is 
necessary, and if it is continued, it will very 
soon have an apprecial)ie effect on the output. 
It may add to the cost of plucking a little, 
but a better class of tea will be produced ; 
and if India does not look out, we shall V)e 
running her very clo-e as regards quality. 
I do not, of course, mean to say that we 
shall be able to compete with the better 
run of places in Darjiling and Assam ; but 
the bulk of Indian teas consists of invoices 
such as we should have little difficulty in 
equalling, while cost of production would be 
in our favour. Ii is more than ever im- 
portant, however, tiiat the very best possible 
attention should be directed towards making 
the most of all the advantages that Ceylon 
possesses for the succeisful working of estates, 
and we may be sure that 
" managkment" 
will be a very important factor in the near 
future, more so than it has been in the 
past. It is quite possible to concede this 
without saying anything disparaging about 
planters as a body. It is simply this, that 
circumstances have arisen which call for 
special efforts on the part of our managers, 
and unless I am m\ich mistaken, it will be 
found before long that individuals will be 
achieving reputatioiis for themselves, and 
passing over the heads of those who are 
inactive and do not move with the times. 
There has probably never been a better 
opportunity for men with the capacity for 
dealing with difficulties to come to the 
front and show us what they can do. 
Carefully conducted experiments both in 
plucking and manufacture may bring to 
light much that is now hidden and obscure, 
and there is ample prospective reward for 
those who are able to distinguish themselves 
on these and other lines. 
Referring to the general question of 
" OUTPUT," 
I have all along (as you know) regarded 
it as a mistake to " rest " tea in the manner 
indicated by Messrs. Rosling and Rutlierford, 
nor am I in favour of curtailing the yield 
from estates on the lines laid down by the 
London Association. Neither of these 
schemes, even if generally adopted, would 
be likely to ensure anything more than 
temporary relief. A better plan would be 
for estates to abandon outright their un- 
remunerative fields and not allow them to 
be a^burden on areas which can be profitably 
cultivated, as they frequently are. No doubt 
there are many estates where all the land 
that is kept up gives good paying returns ; 
but there are, on the other hand, a number 
of places where the plucking area might well 
be restricted without lowering profits or 
adding in any way to the cost of pro- 
duction. 
The relief to the market, if some such 
plan as this were adopted, would be very 
appreciable and it would rest on a thoroughly 
sovmd basis. " Abandoning " is obviously 
better than "resting." The latter would 
constitute a iDermanent menace to the enter- 
prise, making it difficult to sell estates, or 
shares in Companies ; for who would invest 
in tea property if it were known ihat a 
large acreage of land was resting, waiting 
in fact in readiness for an improved range 
of prices to place its produce on the 
market ? 
The London people were evidently misled 
to some extent by the telegram sent home 
by the Planters' Association after the meeting 
of the 17th of February. No doubt they re- 
garded the message as indicating that the 
"resting" scheme had been generally ap- 
proved, whereas, as a matter of fact, it 
had merely received the benediction of a 
very unimportant majority of planters re- 
presenting not much more than a fraction 
of the capital of the country. Telegrams such 
as these should not be lightly sent, but 
fortunately in this instance no great harm 
has been done, and absent proprietors will 
have learned long before now from other 
sources that the " resting " scheme has 
never received any widesupport in this country. 
Nevertheless, the agitation will have done 
good and a distinct clieck has been given to 
extensions as well as to the liberal use of 
manure. With the lesson of last November 
before them, men will think twice before 
they again flood the market with poor 
liquoring teas. Prospects for April and May 
do not, so far as I can judge, point to any- 
thing very exceptional in the way of yield \ 
but there will be a good lot of st>iff going 
forward all the same, 
(By another Specialist.) 
The exports in the first quarter give little 
clue ; for in January, at any rate, the bulk 
of tea exported was made from leaf plucked 
in November and December, 1900, before the 
edict had gone forth to make better tea. 
Where very close plucking was the order of 
the day up to January 1901, I believe the 
altered style reduced the tea made 20 per 
cent ; where men had not gone t» such 
violent extremes as 7001b per acre, I fancy the 
reduction brought about came to 10 per cent, 
falling down even by very careful managers 
to 5 per cent, had weather, style of over- 
taking pruning, etc. been the same. 
In many districts weather has, in the first 
quarter of 1901, been decidedly showery, which 
has made the tea flush better than it would 
have done had the weather been very dry 
in February and March ; but the knowing 
ones are of opinion that there will be no 
lai-ge rushes of leaf in April and May, as 
would have been the case if we had a 
drought in February and Mcxrch. I believe, 
therefore, even allowing for a natural in* 
