Sept. 1, 1898.1 THE TROi-^IOaL AGRICULTURIST. 
155 
TE,\ AND COFFEE IN ISDIA : 
LATEST RETURNS OF AREl UNDBO, 
CULII/ATION; 
TEA IN INDIA COVERS 103,033 ACRES 
MORE TEAN IN CEYLON. 
Just ais we are closing oar work far the pre- 
s;.i5 oliLioij 01 ihi "'Ceylo.i ILmd-book and 
Diieetory" we receive (as E litor of the Tropical 
Ajneulturist) the latest voliiiui of " A;;'ri- 
cii:lt;uM.l St.itistios i.i IJi'itish Li i't i for the years 
1S32-3 to lSJj-7." It is o:ie sefies of tibiilated 
returns coveiin;^- wtll-nigh 4);j pages ami of 
cj.ii-S'3 — -.vith aa aliiio t univcrsil etiljctioa of 
revena} fi-oiii caltivafcail lauil,— th; li,'iii-e.s for t!ie 
(Udeieab <lt^^yi are far iini'e reliable thin aay^ 
t'liii^ of tlie kin I in the Cjyioi Blue-book?; 
t'rou;^!! they cannot a'pproicli our still more ac- 
e irate rev',0L\l for the tea, caoio, coffee, carda- 
m):n^, cinc'ioaa, rii'iboi', & plantation sfc iti.stics 
of this Colony. To give an idea of the enor- 
m area-> with which the Indian Director- 
General of Statistics has to deal, we give a few 
of the results, leavinj"; out odd figures. First, there 
is the total net area of territory by professional 
survey, de lucting feudatoi y and tributary States 
and areas foi which no return; exist, and wc get 
5)7 niillions ofacres ! Un ler forest-^, Gi niiilioas ; 
not av.iilable for cultivation 1-31 rniliions; cul- 
turable waste 93 miUions; falloiv land 47 niil- 
llo is ; area from which crops were taken 177} 
millions ; area irrigated 2:) millious acres. Next 
we have the difVereit crop-!: ilice covers (33| 
millions acres ; wheat over 16 millions ; and the 
total under food-c.'rains was no !e« than 16J 
millions acres! Under oil-seeds lOV millions; 
cotton Of, ; jute 21:; other (ibres GjCoJO acres; 
s;xj;ar 2'{: rniliions; indigo 1^ million; tob icco 
1 million ; fo liler crops 2 million ; opium 691,000 
acres ; Coii";e 147,158 acres; Tea 423,7.32 acres. 
It is v/ith reference to Coll'ee and Tea that we 
wish to ortjr remarks and cirrections o;i the 
ottiiial stiitistics just pu'tlished. In the caee of 
cott'ee there is not much to correct, because the 
volume before us credits Mysore as an indepen- 
dent State with nearly as much coll'ee as all 
India,' bat ignores Travancore. Adding in 
for the last the ligures compiled f)r our own 
Hmd-book, we get tlie following: — 
Coffje ciiltivitsd in " IiiJia " 147,158 acres 
,, ,1 1. M/sore ,, 115,5.'iO ,, 
,, ,, „ Tr.ivancore ., 4,283 „ 
Turning to TK\, the 
Calcutta has eviilently 
from Travancore wh'.cli, 
being opened up by 
Director-General ,ia 
failed to get returns 
with the large area 
Sir John ' Muir's 
Totil .. 20:5,991 „ 
But inasmuch as we feel sure the otiicial 
return is toj higli for the Wynaad and Nilgiris 
districts, we are inclined to reduce the ligures and 
estimate to 230,000 acres as the approximate area 
now under coll'-'e in all India against not more 
than 18,00) acres in tJeylon for plantations, 
Libarian and native gardens. Much of the area in 
India mas', be bearing very little ; for the total ex- 
pjrtiu lS97-ii was o;ily 2ij,tjOS cwt. It is surmised, 
h)\vever, that there is a far larger lojal con- 
sumption oi coll'ee iii India than has hitherto 
been credited. We are inclined to pub it down 
at 130,000 cwt, ; but even then we should not get 
an average yield over all the coll'oe area of l.jj cwt. 
))er acre. 
20 
Companies in North Travancore, has now 
becouii quite an impoitant te,a-growing divi- 
sion. O ir re;urns in licate no less than 23,00 J 
acre? in tea in Travaneoie, more than half of 
whica is young or iuiuiature. Altogether 
we arrive at a totil extent for tea througli- 
out the opposite Cjutinent, ol 4j3,7jl 
a:.re5 or 43,0 JO in advance of the Dlrejtor- 
G-'ueral's return. H,;re is how we make up our 
returns. In ASSAM :— ('acliar 61,193 ; Sylheb 
7i),2JJ ; Sibsaghar 70,61!:; Lakhimpur 53,5)0: 
D.urong 33,9U ; Nowgong 12,039; Ivunrup 
5,873; Gi ilpore 410; and K!iasi, etc. .3 )— 
tot.il 310,530 acres phuited — but divided as fol- 
lows : — 
Assam 
Bengil (U.u-jooliiig, Chitta 
Koag etc.) 
K'l n 10'.;, Djlu-aD.ia, etc, 
K lo^r.i Vj,llay 
liunua . . 
BiiiibAy Presilonoy 
Nilgiris, Wyna.iJ, etc. 
Trav-wicore 
Tjtal for ladi.i 
Aid Ojyloa 
Griul tDfcil 
Thi,' of Tji pUiitsi ill I ili\, 
Dj. da. d-). Cjyiji 
G.wil tot il, a'.n-33 
1333 — ^ iti n I'ie 1 crop — T idia 
Dj, dj. d'J. Gi^loi 
ToUl 
Alio .V dig lo3 il 0 J isaiuptioa 
Bi.uing. 
Yoimg. 
Ajriis. 
Acres. 
233,213 
47,337 
93,0j0 
11,003 
8,000 
10,03.) 
1,230 
1 ,030 
5,000 
10,03) 
13,000 
333.1.4 
79,3:^7 
273,0 33 
9 3,00 J 
037, U4 
172 337 
Ajr^s. 
4 53, 751 
3 71,033 
833,751 
273,033,03) 
6,0)3,0:0 
For Evpjrt .. 272,003,033 
Siy 233 mdlioa lb. fcj Uuitel Ktu^ bm anl 3i nid- 
lioa lb. to otli 3r coantries. 
In our calculations of area for Cjylon, we in- 
clude 7,0)0 acres in native tea girdens — 2,00) 
young and 5,000 acres in bjaring. We tikj be- 
twee:! 4 and 5 years as the limio betwee.i young 
and mature te.i. ]jjt it be further note.l that 
the Assam tea planters have a reserve of land not yet 
planted e^jual to nearly 703,00) acres ; while 
the reserve in private hands on Ceylon plantations 
eciuals 367,000 acres, of which 12),030 acres may 
be lit for planting. 
In round ligures we may now say that in all 
India, there are 470,0)0 acres p anted with tea ; and 
in Ceylon 370,003 acres ; so that our big neighbour 
is only 10),000 acres in advance of us. Tiie time 
has, however, come for suspending further plant- 
ing oi)erations until it is seen what is tj be- 
come of the additional croi) (say 50 million lo. 
at least) which the young tea is capable of 
producing, If crops agureg-iting 272 million lb. 
can with difli>.iulty be disposed of at a pro!itab!e 
rate, h )w, within the ne.xt four years or so, cau 
50 m llious more lb. be taketi oil"? Tiiat is the 
probleui ; and one tint can only to be solved 
with the aid of liassia and the United Spates. 
May these countries resi)jnd by dem luds ia- 
cre.isiag by leaps and bjun.ls, year by year. 
