June .1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
839 
CEYLON TEAS IN HKIH DISTRICTS. 
ARE THEY FALI-ING OFF IN QUALITY? 
THE TEA PROSPECT. 
The following extracts from the letter of a 
practical and experienced tea planter in a 
comparatively high district, are well worth 
careful consideration at the hands of all 
interested. Writing on April 26th, our 
friend says : — 
We are getting plenty of rain now, and the tea in 
flushing heavily, so much so that I am afraid the 
quality will be much poorer, and prices will drop. 
Crops for the first quarter of tlie year have, in this 
quarter, been very disappointing, I am afraid. 
We had the long and severe drought, and very bad 
attacks of red rust on some fields, and then on the 
nights of the 7th and 8th March, the frost des- 
troyed the flush on hundreds of acres in the District 
affected, The worst portions are only now beginning 
to I'ecover from the effects, and I should be afraid 
to say how much tea has been lost from this cause 
alone- I only hope prices will continue good to make 
up for short yields. Some time ago I had a letter from 
Mr. 7 , in which he says: — "In London I 
had a talk with the manager of a tea-de-.ling 
firm who have confined themselves all along to pure 
Ceylon tea, and he told me that Ceylou tea had 
fallen oif so much from its strength of past years, that 
he thought, it they were to keep their customers, they 
must resort, as he said many firms have done, 
to fortifying the Ceylon with the stronger teas from 
India. 'L'his is very serious news, coming from a 
man of long experience in dealing with Ceylon teas, 
and who has no object to serve except to keep 
up the quality of his teas and so retain his 
customers, I was assured that all the large dealers 
in Ceylon teas had taken to mixing them with 
Indian, that there are hardly any now that deal 
out pure Ceylon teas. I should like ti hear what 
you have got to say as to the quality of the tea 
of 1898, as compared with the teas of some years 
back. Have they in your experience fallen off as 
much as what I heard would lead one to suppose '!" 
Now, what do you think ? I don't think teas, 
well and carefully made, have fallen off in strength, 
though I have often thought the liquors are not so 
rich and thick as they used to be in the earlier 
days of Ceylon tea. Until the last year or two, it 
was the feshion to ferment lightly or not at all, 
and probably teas made in that way " went off" 
very quickly, and had little good left in them by 
the time they got to the teapot, but I think there 
is not much of the light fermentation now. I 
know that I improved my teas considerably, with 
satisfactory results in London prices, by taking the 
advice of Colombo Brokers to ferment much longer 
than I was doing. 
TluMe can he lu) douht of the superior teas 
which vii'gin soil gave (and gives) for a few 
yeai's in Ceylon : the (question now is, can 
planters by maiuu'ing or cultivation, or 
ini])r<)vemciit in niaiutfacturc, make up for a 
certain falling-oif in strength and flavour as 
estates get older ? This is part of the 
problem now being tackled by Mr. Kelway- 
1-Jamber. It is also being partially investi- 
gated ( at least so far as manuring is con- 
cerned) I)y in;ii\y practical managers who 
arc using tiic manures of Messrs. l''rrudenberg 
{<, Co., the Coloml)o Connnercial Company, 
Limited, iNlr. \. Baur and others. But, as our 
coiTCs]iondent shows, moi'e has to be studied 
than renovating or renewing the .soil. 
Theii- run be no doubt of the widespread 
injury done by frost in certain parts of the 
liigliei- districts dining the prcscnl nimsual 
season ; and we l)cli(>ve some Visiting 
Agents have been misled into attributing to 
'* blight ■' what is solely due to au excep- 
tional snap of frost— an attack, however, 
which does no harm to the bush, save to 
give it a rest and to send it to work with 
fresh vigour in flushing. The consolation 
for Ceylon planters affected in this or other 
ways and behind with crop as compared 
Avith last year, or with their estimates, is tliat 
short supplies must mean a continuance 
of good or better prices ; for we cannot 
believe in a revival of the China tea trade 
with the United Kingdom. 
SALE OF THE LATE Mil. TOM GRAYS' 
ESTATES IN LONDON. 
BUNY-^AN AND OVOCA SOLD TO 
SIR T. J. LIPTON C'LIPTON 
LIMITED) FOR £2.5,000. 
We heartily congratulate Sir T. J. Lip- 
ton, or as we suppose, "Lipton Limited" 
on the bargain now made. From the adver- 
tisement of the estates wliich appeared in our 
issue of the 20th March we quote as follows 
"The estates contain about 5(5^ acres of excellent 
tea soil of which 533 acres are under cultivation, 
the remainder bei' g planted with fuel trees or waste 
land. There are two charming bungalows with flower 
and fruit gardens, stabling and all acoessoiies. The 
builduigs are in good repair, ample for present and 
future purposes and comprise: Two large factories, 
tea-makers' houses and other premises v/ith valuable 
plant and machinery, having capital water power 
for driving purposes. There are also live and dead 
stock and a very efficient labour force. The planta- 
tions are in excellent order, well worked in every 
aspect. The bushes being in good condition, of a 
very useful working Hybrid and the tea fiuds a ready 
market, both in London and Colombo, at ratea 
considerably above the average. The estates could 
be most advantageously worked as one property 
which would considerably reduce (he cost in every 
respect, thus tending to greatly increase the profits 
and they will be sold together as a going concern with 
possession upon completion of the purchase." 
We are aware that the late Mr. 'I'om Gray 
derived as much as £2,.500 a year profit for 
many years from the estates, and occasionally 
as in 1895-6, as nmch as £8,.jOO: and both 
Bunyan and Ovoca are still flourishing 
estates, and the {nice paid — under £15 per 
acre — is very moderate. 
DR. JOHNSON AND TEA-DRIMCING. 
Mr. Thomas Aukl, a recognised writer in 
" Notes and Qneries," recently contributed the 
following note to that paper : — 
The theory regarding the size of the te.acups wliicli 
Dr. Johnson so frequently evacuated is to me new 
and very intere.sting ; but I incline to think tliat 
tiie doctor's twenty-four (or twenty-live cups, ac- 
coriling to Mr. MarchaU's interesting reference) 
would have ainounlcil to much more than a pint 
and a half of li(iuiil, of which anj- one might 
dis|.ose ia the course of an eveninu without nuicli 
ellbrt. It is, I believe, evident that Dr. Johnson 
rather prided himself on his feasts as a tca-ilrinker. 
We all renieinber the famous passage in which 
(in answer to Jonas ILinway's attack on lea) he 
ilesciibes himself as a "hardened and shaniele-SK 
tea drinkcr."' Then we have the evidence regard- 
ing the capacious teajiot which lieM two i|u.-iit^ 
(WiV-s it '.'). Then, again, we have the verses whicli 
be playfully adiUesscd to Miss ilcyuolds wbcu 
