524 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUEIST. 
[Feb, 2, 1903. 
Tobacco has been cultivated in the district aronnd 
the Sbd Ui city for many decades It is stated that 
dnriog recent years, however, the average under ciilii- 
vation has considertibly ijicreastd. The assigned 
reason is that the farmer can command a iaiger 
financial retuun than from any other crop, and, as 
Tonquin rice is now impoited, 1-e can venture to 
df'purt from the time-honoured custom of growing, on 
hip iiitioplo', pufiPcif.n'i rice to enppni t his own family. 
The young t'bacco shoot is tranfplanied frcru its seed- 
bed in January, and rnpidly springs into a strony pla'it 
provided the poil is suitable and the manure liberal. 
It is planted ou ridges, and, in the ditches between 
these, water flows plentifully. In April or May the 
lower leaves, being dark and juicy, are carefully 
plucked, for the Chinese gather them as they gather 
their mulberry leaves, as they mature, whilst the 
immatured leaves are left to ripen. About three 
thona«nd plants are planted in a plot equivalent to an 
Englit-h acre. When the leaves are picked the imper- 
fect ones are discaided — theoretically— and the drying 
process begins. A piece of bamboo wicker-woik, about 
six feet by five, is laid upon the ground, p.nd covered 
with leaves carefully flattened out. Another layer of 
bamboo is placed upon them, and tliP two are fastened 
together. By this simple method, the leaves cannot 
curl up, and they can easily be moved from place to 
place. After a week « exposure to the hot sun, the 
leaves are quite dry, and ready for export. Those who 
have charge of the drying have a very responsible 
task, for as we know, at this season rain often falls, 
and very little vsa'er will spoil the leaves. When they 
h*ve been diied, they are ) acked in bales of 80 lb. 
weight, and shipped to Canton and Hongkong- It is 
reported that a large qu-.intity is sent to Zunnan. 
Some, too is exported to foreign countries. 
One Chinese acre will prodoco about 830 worth of 
leaf. Tobacco demands a lich soil and plenty of 
manure, and even then is not satisfied, for it leaves 
the soil poorer than it found it, and constquently the 
farmer cannot cultivute it in the same plot two 
successive seasons without courting failure 
"Wha" the leaf would be if prepaied for Europeans, 
according to Western methods, is perhaps difficnlt to 
Bay, for though a little of it is now made into che^p 
cigars in Canton, for native use, the bulk of it is pre- 
pared to suit the Chinese taste, and is so steeped and 
saturated with native oils that no foreisner. however 
seasoned by Manilas, can attempt to smoke it, and few 
can endure the smell of the smoke without an internal 
revolt. 
One has often wondered why some enterprising 
capitalist has not attempted a cigar factory in Hong- 
kong. One would think that, good tobacco being 
Bvai able over the way, such an industry would have 
been tempting and remunerative. 
When we stand and admire the palms that decorate 
the verandahs and gardens of onr Hongkong houses, 
we do not perhaps consider the important pnrt the^e 
plants play in the economic life of the Chinese. ^ or 
can we adfquBtely imagine the fine natural scene tbat 
a plantation of these palms prepent. They grow so 
thickly that the tufted tops meet each other, end when 
the wind passeth over them there is, baiween earth 
and J eaven, a glorious nadalation of ' living green.' 
A Chinese acre, I ne-third of its En lish equivslent, 
will support about four hundred of these plants. If the 
reader can imngine twelve hundre-* of Iheee growing 
in an English acre, each encircled with a beauiiful 
green cn wn, his picture is correct. These palm 
plania'ions «re, like the tobacco gardens, planttdin 
the very lichest and deepest alluvial soil of these 
depof itH, for it is found that in the lorg run this pHvs 
best. The yung plant begins to bear ninikeiiible 
leaves about five ye ais cf'er pUiniing. end will con'inue 
to do so under fevourable conditions, for thirty or 
forty years. As a mi t er of fnct, however, these 
plantatiiins never fail, for young plants are set among 
the older ones long before age renders these latter 
Qseless, and when these fall, they lie and die and so 
form nonrishment for the young life snrrotinding them. 
The leaves of a h^al hy tree in !he full vigour of life 
may be cut ihree limes a year, bat the rule is two 
harvests, and yearly growth about twenty leaves. The 
labour iuvolveu in prepiiring these leaves for their 
respective uses is very cODsiderub e. and thousands of 
hands nre employed at ihe industry. The labour 
of cutting these leaves and bringing them 
into the city is* not very difficul', for canals moke 
transit easy. They are then dried in the sun, and 
afterwards st eked as corn is stacked at home, and will 
then retain their fieshne s for years. 
Alarge number of these leaves are manufactured into 
fans. First their ragged frings are clipped off, then 
they are passed over a flaming fire in order that the 
crooked ones may be straightened ; after this, they are 
passed into the homes of the people, where women and 
girls hem their edges, and so they make a cheap and 
effective fan, the stem, of course, being the handle. 
The trade in these palm-leaf fans is very great, and 
Chinese merchants are constantly shipping large 
quantities of them to then confni'es abroatl, ei-pecially 
to those who have made their home in the Stiaita 
Settlements. And, verily, they are a great boon to 
the poor, for the coolie — even though he be an 
opium smoker — is not too poor 'o obtain one, and not 
forgetful of ihe comfort he gets from one. They are 
strong; they are cheap ; they are as effective as the 
must costly in the hands of the rich. There are many 
other uses to which these leaves are put, and the 
Chinese could almost as well spare theii bamboo, as 
their palm, but enough has been snid lo give a general 
outline of this industry. — Overland China Mail, 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
IMPOETANT ALLEGATION REOARDINa EE-COLOUBED 
CEYLON TLA3, 
(By T. Gossupp, of New York.) 
It may be of interest to many of the planters of 
India and Ceylon to ktiow a certain amount of actual 
facts about the American tea trade without being 
puzzled bv a lot of figures. 
In the first place, Ceylon teas are coming raridly 
into favour here, and without doubt Ceylon green 
teas are slowly replacing .Japan teas. TJMfortnnatelv, 
however, the Ceylon green teas are off>:ring at rather 
higher p' ices than the buyers of pnn-dried Japan are 
accustomed to pay, except for Japan sun-dried teas of 
really fine liquors. 
"Your writers may not be aware that there are 
three classes of Japan teas sold here, the " sun-dried" 
being similar to om-.uncolonred Ceylon greens but of 
mueh better make, having a darker colour and of 
rather more delicate flav -ur in the cup. Then there 
is the ■ pa,n-fired " J^pan which is similar to a 
coloured Ceylo gre( n, but the basket-fired Japan, to 
my mind as a tea expert, is far superior to anything 
I have seen with the exception of perhpp= one in- 
voice of Ceylon greens which came, I believe, from 
Bloomfield estate, but which was only a very small 
parcel. 
I advocated some time ago that the f^eylon planters, 
in order lo cope with the over-production of tea 
(from which they have been suffering) should en- 
deavour to make an " Oolong " tea similar in flavour 
and sijle to the Formosa Oolongs which are in 
general n^e here. It would be very easy for any of 
your planters to write to Foimosaor to Japau and 
get samples from these two conmriea in order that 
they may t-ee from an aciual s«mple the kind of tea 
which is Wiinted in America.. The piice of OoloDga 
to-day ia lOd. per lb. c-i-f. N. Y. 
To take Ihe United S ates first, it is necessa^'y to 
ifrntmberthat it is about 73 limes as large as Great 
Biitbin and has a population of 76,000,01)0 people as 
against Great Britain's 40,000 000 so that yon see i 
we can once induce the AmericanB to become tea 
