Feb. 1, 1899.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUPJST. 
579 
TEA PKOSPECTS : -THE ''CURRENCY" 
QUESTION AND "ABANDONMENT 
OF POOR TEA FIELDS." 
Wk have tlie greatest respect for the opinions 
of Mr. Robert H. Elliot, whom we know to be 
an enterprising capitalist and planter and a 
charming as well as instructive writer on his 
experiences in Mysore. But when he returns 
for the second time— in the letter we publish 
on page 5S0 — to "the only policy left for the 
tea planters of Ceylon and India" and to urge on 
the former especially to lose no time in 
abandoning every acre tb.ey can, we suspect 
not a few of our readers will begin to say or 
think, — 
Methhiks he doth protest too much ! 
The fact is that it is the most difficult thing 
in the world to apply a policy of abandonment. 
In theory, — in the abstract, — what can be easier 
than to say that it is judicious, wise and politic 
t9 abandon tea fields that do not pay, that 
are cultivated at a positive loss ; and on paper 
it is not easy to controvert the arguments adduced 
by our respected correspondents "W.D.B." and 
Mr, Elliot himself and in our editorial columns ; 
but when we come to apply these arguments 
and theories to coticrete cases, whether of 
districts or plantations, we are met by opposing 
views and difficulties which show that there 
is another siile to the question. For instance, 
we take an old coffee estate— and never a very 
profuable one— that has been turned into tea, 
with perhaps a certain number of acres in 
addition on virgin land. The place has not 
yet left any margin of profit from tea, nor 
will it do so tliis year; but those owning 
it, or interested in the estate, declare 
that with time the tea is bound to improve- 
in fact it has been improving year by year 
— and they are as confident now as any time 
during the past thirty years of makins' a financial 
success out ©f the old wattie ! In contrast with 
this position, we may place that of the impulsive 
proprietor or manager all in a hurry for returns 
and who will have nothing to do with a 
manure or any treatment that does not show 
an appreciable return in a few months ! Of 
course, in some cases where unprofitable, or barely 
profitable, estates are kept on, it may be a 
case of no choice, since the mortgagee who 
at least gets iiis interest, will permit of no change, 
and refuses to think of taking over the property, 
while the Agents are content to carry on with 
hand-to-moutli returns. On the other hand, in 
regard to the unprofitable outlying field of an 
otherwise jiaying estate, we have heard weigiity 
arguments used against " abandonment " or the 
lopping oil of the weakly non-paying member. 
In tiie first iilace, the actual saving— unless 
the Superintendent's salary is docked in pro- 
portion to reduced acreage — is a comparative 
trifle; and in the second, there is the great ad- 
advantage of securing work for a full number of 
coolies, equal to a time of juessure in plucking 
over the specially profitable fields. In other words, 
it pays to have a poor outlying field to give 
occupation to extra coolies — whose wages are at 
least cov"ered — if on emergencies, whi^^h pei iodically 
recur, these coolies can, most usefully and 
profitably, be added to the plucking force over the 
rest of the estate. These then aie some of the 
argnments which indicate " anotiier side" to 
this question of abandonment. 
Then there is abvays the question, — " Who Ls 
^oing to begin?" Can Mr. Elliot tell ua 
of deliberate abandonment taking place in any 
jiart of India; or any one else of a Company, 
Agents or individual proprietor ordering such 
abandonment in Ceylon? Some time ago we did 
hear of the policy being applied in a Northern 
district; but the remark was made 'let tea 
prices only begin ta take a turn upwards again 
and there will be a speedy atiempfc to recover 
and repluek the lost fields !' It is most difficult 
to lay down a rule in such a case, \A'e have 
been accustomed to hear, for instance, that 3G0 
lb. of made tea per acre, save at a high eleva- 
tion, could scarcely be made to' pay; but we 
liave heard of a case of a poor estate with jjoor jat, 
apparently poor soil and medium elevation, being 
made to pay handsomely at that rate of bearing 
or plucking, simply through the indefatigable 
attention of its Manager both in field and fac- 
tory, to getting his subordinates to understand 
how really fine teas were to be secured in the 
leaf plucked, and in careful manufacture. 
The moral seems to be that extra attention to 
plucking, withering and manufacture generally, 
especially firing, niay possibly make a profit 
out of what has hitherto been considered unpro- 
fitable returns ot leaf. Individual planters can 
alone decide on a point of this kind, each for him- 
self. For, who has not heard of fine, even " beauti- 
fully made,'' teas being turned out; but so 
miserably poor in the cup, as to indicate there 
was nothing in the soil that would make a . good, 
tea! What can any planter or teamaker do in 
such a case? Either to manure judiciously ac- 
cording to analytical results, or to "abandon,'' 
would seem to be the alternatives. 
As regards Mr. Elliot's view, that the pre- 
sent condition of our Tea and Labour Markets puts 
a new complexion on the Currency Question, we 
must point out that the superabundance ot 
coolies this season is due to perfectly natural 
causes. The year of a short supply— 1897 — was 
a year of much briskness in planting, exten- 
sions in every district, many thousands of acres in 
some cases had been felled and had to be planted. 
Coolies had a splendid full-time-working year. 
They naturally appreciated it and at the end of 
1897, a surplus of 10,000 coolies remained with us 
as co-npared \\ ith 1896. The good news, moreover, 
spread to Southern India and so an unusual intlu.'c 
took place during 1898 just as depression had set 
in and all further extensions were stopped and 
orders issued for the strictest economy in all de- 
partments. The result was not an actual reduc- 
tion in the rates of wages — so far as we have 
heard— but a diminution in the number of 
days of work per week, which could be given to 
coolies on estates. We fear Mr. Elliot cannot 
make much out of these circumstances in refer- 
ence to the Pajier which he has to send in to 
the Currency Commission. He was exjiected to 
appear jiersonally ; but this will be impossible in 
view of his stay in Egypt during the Spring 
nionths. 
It may be hinted that we have written today 
in discouragement of the "abandonment"' of 
unprofitable fields of tea. No such thing. In 
fact, we do not consider that writing has much 
influence one way or the other in such a case. 
Each planter has his own peculiar circumstances 
and decides for liimself. We merely desire to 
say facts as given to us before our readers nud 
one useful purpose to be served is to disjiel tho 
notion either here or in India, that an era of tea 
"abandonment" has set in, and tliat ;herofoi"e. 
" it will \)esafe to go on with that clearing after all 
j vu kmjw, iu pluiOQ of leaving it uupluuted !'' 
