Jan. 1, 1903.] THE TROPICAL 
AGHICULTURIST. 
447 
REDUCED OUTPUT OF TEA IN 
CEYLON AND INDIA : 
UNANIMITY AMOW PLANTERS AT 
LAST : 
NATURE'S UOTNU ? 
For a long time now, the air ol' Ceylon 
has been filled with the advice to " reduce 
the output of tea," if the situation was to 
be saved at all ; but the plans, which were 
proposed to effect this, were more numerous 
thau practical. There was a number of 
ingenious brains at work both here and at 
home on the subject, and when a happy 
idea flashed across one of them, there arose 
the cry of "Eureka"; but in spite of the 
enthusiasm nothing was done. Now and 
again the idea formulated was taken up by 
the minds of the many, turned over, talked 
about, discussed, even voted on ; but while 
some men swore by it as a sure remedy 
for the plague of over-plenty, others swore 
at it as certain to make matters worse, and 
aggravate the already intolerable situation. 
So we have seen the proposal to have a 
certain acreage of each estate lie fallow, 
grow in distinctness and favour till it all 
but touched the point wlisn it should pass 
into an embodietl fact, and then betake 
itself to the liiiibo of the might-have-been ; 
the bold policy of closing down thefaftories 
of the island for a month, which savoured 
more of the practice in a cotton manufacturing 
district than the usual methods which obtain 
in tropical agriculture, rose for a short time 
to tlie surface, but soon sank again ; and 
even " finer plucking " which caused least 
disturbance to every day rules and methods 
was by no means universally supported, 
although it had the suffrages of very many 
and left its mark on the year's figures of 
the total output of tea. it seemed impos- 
sible to attain unanimity, or to devise a plan 
which would be universally adopted, or even 
approved. Every planter is so much ac- 
customed to think and act for himself that 
it is hard for him to take a broad general 
view of any line of policy ; and when he 
is called on for the sake of the many to 
march to the music of others' selection, and 
which has no eciho of the lilt with which 
he has hitherto kept step, he is apt to 
decline, and so weaken the force of the 
desired general demonstration. All are, how- 
ever, agreed that less tea would result in 
better prices and the re appearing of the 
gilt on the ginger-bread. Only the question 
as to ivhose tea is to be lessened has never 
l)een settled 1 What, however, planter^) have 
been vinable to do for themselves, nature 
is now doing for them, and the wet sponge 
whose persistent drip has been in such 
evidence for the last two months or more, 
is bringing about a nolens volens unanimity 
of short crops all over the country. This 
sponge has wiped oat many fair figures in 
estate estimates —has done more to reiluce the 
57 
tea outturn, than could ever have been 
attained by any scheme that api)ealed to the 
willing suffrages of the planters of Ceylon, 
and it h is alike affected all manner of estates 
under whatever classification they may elect 
to be ranked. The figures for recent local sales 
are telling this story ekxiuently enough, 
while the total sum of the tea siiipped Cully 
corroborates. Planters tell us that the 
diminished returns do not mean that the tea 
bush is in a less healthy condition than for- 
merly ; for estates look well. But, even 
maniu'ed fields which they were wont to 
assert were independent of weather, and 
could be reckoned on as certain, have this 
season been niggardly in their response to 
the liberal treatment they have received, 
tnough they look equal to anything. As to 
tea which is far from pruning, it amounts to 
almost a despair, there being a struggle 
even to produce " banji," and a poor tale at 
the end of the day. 
From what we can learn we do not think 
tliat this going back means that if the 
conditions had been favourable the results 
would have been the same, and that the 
shortage represents— what some have asserted 
— that high water is past and that the ebb 
has set in. It is simply the effect of 
the weather, and given less cloud and more 
sunshine the tea bush would have asserted 
its right to grow, and the coolies instead 
of easily keeping up with its march 
would have been at the "double" long ere 
this, and considerably pressed to keep up the 
pace. 
With the better reports from home of 
stocks and prospects, the probability that 
the island's tea estimates will be short, added 
to the early closing of the Indian gardens, has 
begun to have a hardening effecton the course 
of prices, and so we anticipate to some extent 
the incoming of those better times, which are 
so sadly needed, and whose advent has been 
heralded alike by those immediately in- 
terested, as well as by the observant on, 
looker. London private advices have for 
some time now spoken of a general existing 
feeling anticipatory of a rise in the near 
future, which will tend to consolidate itself 
in time and replenish the empty coffers of 
the much-tried tea planter ; and His Excel- 
lency in his opening Addi'sss to Council 
agrees with this : "I hope," he said, "that 
I am not over-sanguine when I seem to see 
a silver lining in the dark cloud which has 
liovered so long over the tea industry, and 
in believing that in a year hence this brighter 
era will have fully dawned." Ceylon planters 
are often so very energetic, that what their 
hands find to do, is too frequently over- 
done, and when their zeal has turned out 
to their disadvantage and undoing, they are 
unable to agree among themselves as to a 
remedial plan of action. 
To successfully lay down the lines for a 
general reduction of the tea crop has been 
proved impossible. Nature, however, Las 
this season taken up this work for them ; 
■and by means of cloudy ilays and weeks 
of constant rain has solved the problem 
of how to bring about a generally reduced 
output. 
