' TROPICAL 
AGEIOtJLTURIST. [Sept. 1, 1902. 
London Spectator— and especially to the re- 
ference made to "the rainbow trout" which 
s expected to flourish in nearly all our 
Ceylon streams :— 
" Sir,— In the Spectator of^June 14tli you draw 
attention most usefully to the vast uncultivated 
waste of water, both fresh and salt, in these 
islands. In Germany today there is hardly a 
poo], however insignificant, but is stocked with 
the fish suited to it. The Goyernmenc popularises 
fish «Hlture by exhibitions of hatcheries in the 
Zoological Gardens at Dresden, Frankfort and 
elsewhere, and also by public lectures. At 
Wittengau, in Bohemia, Prince Schwartzenberg is 
■aid to spend annually a quarter of a million 
florins on food for his carp ponds. In the German 
system the carp pond is dried every third year, 
and the residual fertilisers result in an immense 
yield of vegetables. In the United States the 
Department of Fisheries conveyed both the shade 
and the striped bass from the Atlantic to the 
waters of the Pacific. The Report of the 
Department for 1896 (p. 141) scates that " the 
aggregate expense of introducing these fish to 
the Pacific Coast was under 5,000 dollars ; the 
market value to the fishermen of the Pacific Coast 
of these fish taken between 1888 and 1896 was 
about 192,000 dollars." When in Washington this 
year I called with a friend upon Profeisor Smith 
at the Department of Fisheries, and he informed 
u« that it cost the Department at their Pacific 
nurseries a dollar per thousand to " strip," hatch, 
and rear for six months young salmon ; that at 
Clackamas, on the Columbia, they had marked 
five thousand " fingei lings " by shaving off the 
adipose dorsal fin with a razor ; that the third 
and fourth year after four hundred and twenty- 
five of these marked smelts had returned from the 
ocean and had been captured of an aggregate 
weight of over ten thousand pounds. I am glad 
you draw attention to that splendid visitor from 
California, the rainbow trout ; there is no fish so 
easy to rear, so rapid in growth, and so adaptable. 
The rainbow, unlike any other of the Salmonidae, 
thrives in lakes and ponds where the summer 
temperature rises to even eighty degrees. — I am, 
Sir, &c., MoREToN Frewen. 
25, Chesham Place, S. W." 
We have been asked as to the climates of 
California and Florida : they are both on the 
whole semi-tropical, the mean temperature 
of San Francisco being 56°; but California 
extends over a vast range of latitude. In 
Florida, again, freezing-point is sometimes 
touched in winter, though in summer it is 
quite hot. Curiously enough in the account 
of both States in the Encyclopasdia there is 
no mention of the " rainbow trout," though 
many other fish in California are mentioned. 
I tin connection with local Pish culture, we 
may quote what a military officer formerly in 
Ceylon has to say, writing from Northern 
India on 10th July :— 
" Kumaon is a lovely district and Bhim Tal is 
in the middle of the lakes. There are three 
lakes within a few miles of each other — Bhim Tal, 
Hankuchia Tal and Sath Tal. All are pretty, bufc 
Nankuchia is my favourite. It is quite like Loch 
Lomond near Luss. Sath Tal is lovely too, but 
has not the breadth or feeling of freedom there 
is about Nankuchia. The hills (all fir-clad) rise 
abruptly from the water round Sath Tal which 
neitles in their shadow. The waters of all the 
|«ikee are clear as crystal and they are full qI 
Mahseer which take the fly or baste freely. I 
caught over 200 lb. of fisii while I was there, 
biggest 3^ lb. — 1 lb., ]J lb. and 2 lb. fish are very 
common and give excellent sport. I am not 
sure, if it would not have paid better, from a fisher- 
man's point of view, to stock the Nuwara Eliya 
waters with Mahseer instead of trout; they are 
quite as sporting a fish and much easier to establish 
properly. The lake at Nuwara Eliya would hare 
suited them perfectly." 
PRODUCTION OF TEA IN INDIA. 
Area, — The area under tea at the end of 1901 
exten led over 524,767 acres, nearly tn'o-thir«Is 
(65'4 per cent) being in the valleys of the Brahma- 
putra and Surma, wnicb contain as much as 
3.38,186 acres, naaiely, 205,?52 in Assam (the 
Brahmaputra valley) and iS2,g34- in Cachar and 
gylhet (the Surma valley)- In Bengal the area 
^juder tea is 13^0,129 acres, or 25''7 per cent of 
^j^jC whole. 
The number of acres added to the tea-growing 
area each year S7nce 1897 lias been : — 
1897 ... 36,838 1900 .. 6,329 
1898 .. 31,561 1901 .. 2,284 
1899 . . 13,97S 
Under the Jiscourageiuent of the low price? 
obtained for tea placed on the markets in excess 
of consuming capacity, erdeavourt hava been 
made to restrict cuUivaDion and production, and 
to supply Che cousrmer with tea of better quality 
in smaller quantity. The nett addition to the tea 
area made in the last two years was coLiparatively 
'small, considerable areas on which tea cannot be 
grown with profit at the present racge of pricss 
having been abandoned. 
In Asseni reports were received from 105 estates, 
with an area under tea of 338,lS5 acres, tUe 
ave.-age ai-ea of an estate being about 120 acres. 
In Becpal 300 acrss w as the average for 45^ estates, 
and in Travancore the average for 75 estates was 
3r<7 acres. In other localities the average area of 
an estate is much sn7al!er : 1S7 acies in Madras, 
110 acres iu the United Provinces, and only about 
three acres in the Panjab, where natives gr#w 
tea in a very small way. These figures refer only 
to tea-bearing areas. 
Production. — The quantity of tea produced has 
increased in about double the ratio of increase ia 
the area under cultivation ; for, while the area 
has increased since 1885 by 85 per cent, the in- 
crease in production has been 167 pei cent. Last 
year the restriction of the area under tea was 
accompanied by . endeavours to reduce the quantity 
of leaf taken from the plant and ir.iprove the 
quality. These endeavours were aided by climatic 
influences, and there was a rriaterial restriction. in 
the quantity produced. 
The actual production in 1901 is reported to 
have been about 191^ niiUion pounds, which is 57 
per cent larger than the reported production of 
122 million pounds ten years previously, in 1892. 
On the average of the last five years, the yield 
to the acre, dividing the total yield by the area of 
the land bearing mature plants, has been as follows 
in Assam and Bengal : — 
Assam — lb. 
Brahmaputra Valley .. 383 
Surma Valley .. 478 
Bengal — 
Duars' ... 488 
Darjeeliog „. 279 
