July 1, 1899.] THE TEOPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
53 
npon old coffee land, by no means virgin land. 
Tbe.coliee was grubbed ont to make room for it 
in some cases, and in other cases the tea wis so 
muchiu the nat:ire of a tentative effort that the plants 
were put down between the rowi of coffee, and only 
when the experiment wis found a decided success was 
the latter rooted oat. From the very first Ceylon tea 
was a s-access oa the market , and these teas, grown 
upon old, exhausted coffee land, in point of qaaWty, 
were equal to the best. In combating the acc^xjlaice 
of a dogmatic coucluiion of this kiud without exami- 
nation, we would not be hel l to f ill into the other 
extreme. The question requires very careful investi- 
gation all round, and valuable information is to be 
drawn therefrom. We con'sider, in view of the above 
considerations, that the absolute necessity of v'rjiH 
soil for the proilustion of the highest qualities of tea 
is not proved, if indeed tho facts do not go to disprove 
it, since we see that in eaiiy Ceylon days tea equal to 
the best was grown an old coffee land. We think, 
however, that an investigation of those early days 
will help Mr. Kelway-Bamber, who is reported to have 
devoted himself to the problem, towards the solution. 
Ceylon estates used to be remarkable for high 
cultivation and heavy manuring. We remember 
particularly the original 10() acres on the Maz iwatte 
tea estate (planted on old coffee land), which gave 
a phenomenal yield of l,200!b. to the acre of good 
class tea, use 1 to be described as a perfect manure 
heap. This would seem to show that well cultivated 
old land is equal to virgin soil for the production 
of tea, a conclusion, by the way, vv'hich is borne out 
on other agricultural crops, and would tend to cast a 
doubt on the statement for which our Ceylon contem- 
porary is responsible, th-\i '■ More has to be studied 
than renovating and renewrag the soil." In this con- 
nection it wouhi be advisable, perhaps indispensable, 
to collate intoruiition as to whether reduced prices for 
tea and the consequent necessity of cutting down 
working-expenses have not forced the Ceylon men to 
lower their standard of cultivation, before drawing a 
hard-and-fast conclupion that Ceylon tea has fallen off 
in quality, merely because the tea lands are no longer 
•'virgin." Our own planters would be able to throw 
more lisht on this question than we can hope from 
Ceylon, for the most ancient of the Island tea very 
youthful in comparison to thousands of acres in Assam 
and Darjeeling. 
We should be glad to receive opinions and informa- 
tion upcn this subject from our own planters, whose 
exper^erce. as wo say above, must be far greater 
than that of the managers in the comparatively 
young tea colony of ('eylou. We think this is not a 
question to dogmatise upon without a vast deal more 
information being brought together, and that the 
matter may fairly be regarded as a very open one. 
At any rate, we think it is far too early for Ceylon to 
complain of exhausted soil as a cause for the fall in 
their tea piices as compared with Indian. If the 
argument should be erroneous, it would be distinctly 
harmful to Ceylon interests, as leading them away 
from the true causes to which they should seek 
to apply a remedy. If true, Indian planters may be 
excused for looking on Ceylon as resembling Gil- 
bert's precocious infant, who died " a worn out de- 
bauchee of seven." — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
"BRITAIN OF THE SOUTH." 
[From a Ceylon Visitor s point of view.) 
PoNSONBY, New Zealand, May 11. 
I have not forgotten the request you made 
me jnst as I was leaving;- Ceylon that I would ilrop 
you a few lines giving my impressions of this 
Colony, and the matter has been in abeyance only 
because of pres.siire of woi k and because I wanted 
to allow time for a distinct impression of the 
general bearing of things over here to be made 
ou my own mind, 
CLIMATE IN THIS NORTH ISLAND 
is as near perfection as anything mundane can be 
During February and March we had most superb 
weather and iri April ic was deliglittul too 
liiougli with occasional showers. Now in May 
(an.swering to November in Britain) it is cold at 
niglit and in the early morning, but warm in tlie 
daytime when fine, V^ery few'people have started 
fires yet. Some fruils, such as pomegranates 
and peioimons, are still on the trees, guavas 
having just been gathered in ; of course, apples, 
pears, plums and peaches were earlier. The gardens 
are still abiaze with flowers, chiefly chrysanthe- 
mums, cosmos, and camellias, though geraniuni.s 
pelargoniums, Japatie;=e anemones' and fuseliias 
are in evidence, too. A Ceylon visitor soon finds 
acquaintances among the plants and shrubs here. 
The ordinary red hibiscus is in almost every 
garden, ratiier dwarf plantain-trees are cultivated 
here and there though I have never seen them 
fruiting, palms of various species are seen occa- 
sionally, the large wiiite trumpet flower (a double 
variety, though) grows on hashes as large as those 
in Ceylon. 
THE SOIL 
is volcanic. From the road near here, three 
distinct (but happily extinct) cones are' to be 
seen, and from one point near Auckland, I believe 
that fifteen are visible. There must ha\e lively 
doings here in " the braw days of old." 
THE RUADS 
^rl'"i;'y execrable. They sadly want a 
P.W.D. here. Ot course, they want "-ood 
metal too, scoria large volcanic cinder.s°the 
size of a gallon loaf, not lending itself at all 
kindly to road-malcing. Above all, they 
need the cooly, accustomed to task-work and 
willing to work for as many pence a day as the 
labourer here asks shillings. 
The scarcity and liigh-price of 
LABOUR 
is one of the serious drawbacks to this colony 
A charwoman asks four and six pence a day 
king from 7-30 to 3-30 and getting dinner 
and tea ; she also requires to have the kitchen 
copper tire lighted for her and the water boiling 
before she arrives and a pile of firewood suffi- 
cient for the day chopped up and heaped be.side 
the copper. As for housemaids, most ladies here 
seem to think that it is tar less trouble to do 
without them ; and certainly in those cases 
where they cannot be dispensed with, they are 
very expensive necessaries. 
The habit of drudging for themselves inio which 
most people seem to fall into here, thou<i-h it has 
Its pleasing side as fostering independenc'e, is not 
without undesirable results .is well. 
READING 
people are very few and far between, and I 
should .say that the intellectual average of the 
middle class (there is no higher class here) is 
very far below that of the same cla.ss in England 
Here and there you meet a man (generally a 
Scot from Glasgow) who keeps up Ins readin<>- 
but the majority of the people go no higher th^n 
an occasional novel hired for two-pence from 
trumpery "Circulating Libraries" kept by very 
small book-sellers. The fault is not so much with 
tiie people as witli the kind of life this country 
forces npon them. Where men and women get 
only an hour or so of respite from manual labour 
of the roughest sort daily, there is little time and 
less energy for the cultivation of the mind • if 
hooks are sought at all in such circumstances', it 
