252 
THE TROPICAL AaitlClTLTURlST. [Oct. 1, 1898. 
arrears of survey work remained in respect of 
large agricultural areas. Twenly-eif,'lit of the old 
agreements for leases weie cancelled, leavin;,' 
twenty only reniaininj,' to be dealt with, most of 
which will come in when the titles for the Ulii 
Langat village are issued. 
KiTALA Selangor— The starting at KniilaSelan- 
gor of the business of the Coconut Oil Mills 
Company ot which Mr. H. C. Holmes is manager 
has given a great impetus to coconut planting in 
the district ; so much so, indeed, that the number 
of nuts saved for seed has had an effect on the 
price, which has risen consideral)ly. Where ceflee 
lias proved a failure, as at BuUit Botan, the 
people are now puttiug in coconuts instead. This 
is a good work, for coconut planting is much 
more in the Malay's line than coffee cultivation. 
It is when planting ends and cultivation begins 
that the Malay fails- 
CEYLON TEA AND PROSPECTS. 
An interesting commentary on the opinions 
recently expressed that Ceylon tea, when justice 
is done to it in plucking and nianufaccure, lias 
not deteriorated in ((uality, is afforded in a com- 
munication received by us today from London. 
Our letter is from a tea expert and a f<entlem-in 
deeply interested in Ceylon, but it was written 
for our personal information rather than for pub- 
lication. We cannot refrain, however, from 
quoting one or two sentences with a special 
bearing on the current discussion. Writing on 
the 26th ultimo, our friend says :— " The 
market continues low in all conscience, and in 
spite of the stronger statistical jiositio.i there 
seems to be no indication of an upward move. 
L often and often hear from the trade that 
finer teas, or rather teas of distinct quality and 
character are wanted, such as your island used 
to send home, not so very long ago cither — but 
the mania for <iuantity is, in my opinion, in a 
great measure, at the bottom of the deterioration 
of your teas. Of course there are individual 
estates where the old characteristics are main- 
tained, but they are few in number. Quantitif 
invariably leads to less care in manufacture, anil 
quantiti/ also means working with coarser leaf, 
which it goes without saying, cannot possibly give 
the same flavour and quality as the younger and 
more succulent leaf." 
Now it will be observed here that our 
critic just saves himself from absolute oppo- 
sition to Messis. IJagot, Metcalfe and 
Koberts by admitting that there are individual 
estates where the old characteristics are main- 
tained ; but clearly he indicates they are in a 
decided minority- If so, the proprietors, who 
have to face deterioration, ought at once to en- 
quire as to their withering space, machinery and 
ratio of plucking ; lor, our present London 
critic is at one with local authorities in urging 
that the quantiti/ of leaf harvested (in proportion 
to means of preparing, including skilled supervi- 
sion) lies at the bottom of the mischief —that is 
fully explains any deterioration. Apparently 
therefore it is the Eactory-builder and Machinist, 
rather than Mr. Kelway-Bamber, who will have 
to cure the evils which have caused a falliiig-ofF in 
quality. At any rate no proprietor has a right 
to grumble until he makes sure that his 
skilled, adequately-paid Factory supervisor has 
space and machinery adequate to the leaf plucked. 
And what the Planters' Association Committee 
will have to find for Mr, Kelway-Bamber are 
estates on wlucli, in spile of all Factory require- 
ments being fully met. with moderate plm kinl', the 
teas h.we deteriorated ? We adhere to our htate- 
menf made on the authority of Mr. T. C Owen 
—Compiler of the "Ceylon Tea Planters' Manual ■ 
—that he founJ in the early days of the indus- 
try here, an aroma appertaining to the teas of 
the (irst three or four years fro,,, bu.<hes irowu 
on viix'in soil, which could not be i-ecured-do 
what he would in careful preparation— after that 
period. riiis. at any rate i« a iuatt«r Mr. 
Kelway-Bamber might look into; although even 
Mr. Owen may be challenged as to whether the 
difteience in flavour was not partly owine to the 
larger quantity of tea operated on? 
TEA LN CHINA 
Meantime, in another direction, here is disooin- 
forting news for Ceylon and Indian planters. We 
quote from The Econoiaist of July '23rd :— 
Improvements in the Production of Chinese Teae — 
In his report upon the trade of Sbanghai darinK Ig'j? 
Mr, ActiDg-ConauI Mansfield has something to gav in 
regard to efforts that are being made to improve the 
production of Chinese teas, which will be of special 
interest to the British investors who have embarked 
many on lions of capital in the competing tea iudua- 
tries of India and Ceylon. As an incident of the past 
season, he records " the experimental use at Wenchow 
of a machine roller, which proved beyond doubt that 
the most ordinary China tea is capable of astouishioK 
improvement if made by modern methods. Wenchow 
tea made by the old native process is of the most in- 
ferior description, but by being carefully made and 
machine rolled, a very fair driokable tea resulted " 
Ue adds that a company under the auspices of Mr A B 
Moorhead, the Commissioner of Customs at Hankow 
is being formed to experiment in this line in the 
Hupeh tea district, the safety of the men and machines 
being guaranteed by Imperial edict, and that "a some- 
what similar company is already working in Foochow 
and has, I understand, had some measures of success 
It 13 now enlarging its operations." There are signs" 
he further states, that the Chinese Government are at 
last awakening to the fact that the tea trade is rapidly 
slipping away from their country, and will be willing 
to make some concessions to encourage measures for 
the improvement of the tea produced. And to this end 
a very feasible and efficient way would, Mr. Mansfield 
suggests, be for the Government " to grant facilities 
to foreigners to take up land in the tea districts, so as to 
introduce more careful cultivation of the plant, and to 
offer a premium m the shape of a large reduction of duty 
on tea prepared by modern methods." 
KUBBER. 
Brazil.— Some peojde suppose that the supplv 
of Amazonian rubljer may become exhausted in 
the near future. The most competent authorities 
are not at all of this opinion, but maintain 
that the supply is inexhaustible, because the 
hevea is continually being reproduced bv 
nature. Certainly some areas become exhausted 
when overworked, but when left alone for some 
time they recover. The district of Cameta, on 
the Kiver locantins. gave an excellent quality 
of rubber. There was a special quotation for 
It m the foreign markets. This district, how- 
ever, is now exhausted, because, for about fortv 
years, thousands of men have tapped i<-s trees 
All new-comers flocked to Cameta to make their 
lortunes. There are many districts that have 
not been tapped. The area that is known to 
1,000,000 square miles. Further exploration will 
no doubt show that this area is under estimated. 
—British Consul at Para, 
