THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[O-T ] 1898 
books); but 1 am able (o ofl-^r certain correc- 
tions, more es]iecially as regards rraviincore, 
■wliicli is last becoming an iinijortaiit tea i,'rowing 
division and which ii;is always maintained a dose 
connexion wiih Ceylon, being occiijiicd cliieliy 
by |ilanteia trained here. Evidcnily, returns for 
Travancore had not reached Calcutta, and alto- 
getlier I arrive at a total extent, ot tea tlirongli- 
out India, inchuliiig iiewiy-jdanle<l lields, of 408,751 
acres, or 45,UJ0 acres in advance of the Director- 
General's return. It is only fair, however, to add 
that the latter does not conie beyond 1897, 
wdiereas niy reckoning is, a^ far as possible, to 
the middle of the present year. Here are the 
conibinetl tea f-tatistics for India and Ceylon : — 
TE.V 
la Bearing Youne; 
Acres Acres 
Assam .. .. 203,213 4<■,3.^7 
Bengal (I) u-jilinjj, ChittagKig (fee) 9o,000 14,OiO 
Kumaon.DehraUan, &G ., 8,(KJ(J 
Kmgra Valley .. U>,OuO 
Uurina .. .. 1,200 
Bombay Presidency ., 1 
Nilgiria, Wynaxd, &j ... 1,000 5,000 
Travancoro .. .. 10,000 13,000 
Total foi- India 
Acid Oeylga 
Grand total 
.389,414 
278,000 
79,337 
93,000 
607,414 172,337 
Total of tea planted in India = 
Tot;il of tea planted in Geylou= 
Grand total, aorea 
Acres 
403,751 
37 1,0 JO 
8.39,751 
Lb. 
1SD8— Estimated crop— India 158,<iOi),000 
Ditto Ceylon 120,000,000 
Total . . 27,8000,000 
Allowing local consumption in 
both countries .. 6,000,000 
272 000,000 
For export 
Say 233,000,0001b. to United Kingdom and 31,000,0001b. 
to other countries. 
In my calculations of area for Ceylon I include 
7,000 acres native tea gardens — 2,000 young and 
6,000 in bearing, and I take between four and 
live years as the limit between young and mature 
tea. Let it be further noted that the Assam tea 
planters have a reserve of land not yet planted 
equal to nearly 700,000 acres, while the reserve 
in private hands on Ceylon plantations equals 
367,000 acres, of which 120,000 acres may befit 
for planting. 
In round figures we may now say that in all 
India there are 470,(00 acres planted with tea, and 
in Ceylon 370,000 acres, so that our big neighbour 
is only 100,000 acres in advance of us. The time 
has, however, come for suspending further planting 
operations until it is seen what is to become or 
the additional crop (say, 50,000,000 lb. at lea.st) 
which the young tea is capable of producing. If 
crops aggregating 272 million lb. can, with difii- 
culty this year, be dispo.sed of at a profitable 
rate," how, within the next four yeais or so, 
can 50 milliou more lb. be taken off? That is the 
problem ; and one tiiat can only be solved, probably 
through a reduction of the I;ni)erial duty on tea 
and couseqirently increased consunip'^ion in the 
Vaited Kin<idoiu,aacl also with the aid of Kussia ami 
the United States. It is the carne-t I.. . pt ..t Ceylon 
planters that tiie^e latter couniiiis m.\y incieas-e 
I heir ilcinands f<,r J>i ilisli gtown Lcuh, by Ic.-ips 
and bounds, year by year. 
Turning to cidee, the record is a very fxxjr one 
comparatively : — 
fifee cultivated in " India " . . H7,\oi icret 
n , Mysore .. Ilii,.'')j0 „ 
>i !.■ M Travancore .. 4 283 ,, 
Total .. 296,991 ., 
But, inasmuch as I fn?! sure the <dliciiil returu is 
too high tor the Wynaad and Nilgiris tli6iiict», I 
am inclined to leduce the ligurf s and e-timaie 
290,000 acres as the approximate area now under 
coflee i>: all India, /igainst not more than 18,U<X» 
acres in Ceylon for plantations, LiUerian and 
native gardens. Much of the aiea iu India miii-t 
lie bearing very little ; for the total export in 
18;»7 98 was only 22j,l>08 cwt. It is surniii^ed 
however, that tliere is a far lar-er local con-nmp 
tion of cofFec iu India than has iiitherlo been 
cre-lited perhaps as much as ).') I.OOO cwt. ; but 
even then we slrjuld notgft an aver.ige yield over 
all the Coffee area of IJ cwt. per acre. 
I am, .Sir, yours obediently, 
J. FRIUJqSON, Kditorof tlic Tropiml A<jri. 
citltiii ist and Cci/luii Handbook and Directory, 
Colombo, Ceylon, July 21. 
TEA IN f^IClLY. 
Fiom the Diplomatic and Consular leports 
issued hy the ilalim Covernment we take the 
following iu reg.ard to Sicily: — 
The total amount of tea imported dnring tbe 
year wa?, according to the cnstoma rttuius, under 
1,000 lb. 
The taste for tea among the upper clusses in 
Palermo is increasing, and tliero is no doubt that 
with a little judicious education the demund would 
increase rai^idly. At preseut tea can only ha ob- 
tained at one or two places, and this is of on inferior 
quality, and very expensive, abjut 8 lire (6 1 per lb. 
The duty on tea is about Is per lb. if in bulk 
the cases being included iu this rate. High clait 
Ceylon and Indian teas could be sold at a fair 
profit at fioiu 3 lire 50 c. to 4 Jire 50 c, per lb. 
ARTIFICIAL INDIA-KUBUEU. 
The demand for India-rnbber has led to an at- 
tempt being made, with partial success, to manu- 
facture artilicial india-rubber in France and 
Germany. The frcnch products is a very ecm* 
plex composition ; the German preparation con« 
sists mainly of oxidised linseed oil and jute rc« 
fuse. The fiist h;is for its foundation a sub- 
stance called resinoline which itself is made up 
of oil treated with three or four times ot its 
bluk of metallie carbonates, and then with nitric 
aciil. After nndergciii<< numerous chemical pro. 
cesses, this compunu^.l is mixed with oxide of 
manganese, xinc,and methylated sprit, the whole 
raa';s. when kneaded and compressed, being found 
to possess some of the properties of fine india- 
rubber.— ff. lOC. Mail. 
Royal Gardkxs, Kkw.— We have received 
from the Secretariat a copy of the "Bulletin of 
Miscellaneous In'ormation for July, the contents 
are : Diagnoses, Africans?, Xf: Fiji lndia Rubber; 
San Jose Scale ; Chillies; Miscellaneous notes, 
