270 
THE TEOPICA]. 
AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. 1, 1903. 
INDIAN GKEEN TEA AND THE CESS 
" B." writing to the Englishman from 
Assam on September 5th, says : — 
Wlien the price of Indian blades went up early 
in the year it was plainly shown that bringing 
more China tea to London brought the price down. 
Ceylon greens have affected the price of Japanese 
greens in America to such an extent, that the Japs 
deputed a Mr. Otaui there to enquire. His sug- 
gestions are : — " Let our manufacturers use only 
the tea leaves "of the first- period picking in the 
manufacture of green tea, and use the leaves of the 
latter picking for the production of black tea. I 
lliink that the future before the latter kind of tea 
is great and I expect that England and other 
countries in Europe may in time become our cus- 
tomers." No one would be surprised if some of the 
energy here shown, were diverted to ascertain Low 
India and Ceylon manufacture their blacks. But 
the enquiry makes it doubtful whether this item 
of the ' stemming outturn ' policy of the Associa- 
tions, adopted by the Cess Committee, will be more 
successful than the previous two items — abandon- 
ing area, or having lay days in the height of the 
plucking season. In conversatiou the other day, 
it was remarked that the Cess Committee very 
wisely goes against the ordinary British methods of 
which consuls complain, and wishes to give the 
customer what he likes, and not what he ought to 
like. This may be the correct way of stating 
the case, but there is the fact that they pay for 
using good material in produciog an article that 
sells for less money than if the material was 
used in the ordinary way with the object of 
clearing away two and a half per cent of the 
first named, so as to raise the price of ninety- 
seven and a half per cent of the tea as ordinarily 
made. The idea may be sound and perhaps is a 
question of figures. But if the " corner" has no 
control over those who had comparatively un- 
limited quantities of a similar article to 
the ninety-seven and a half per cent, the success of 
the crop is very problematical. The real contri- 
butors to the cess — tea shareholders — must look 
dolefully at the first effort of the Cess Committee 
,.pu their behalf. The St Louis contribution is an 
international courtesy business and could not be 
avoided. But even here if the amount had been spent 
in 500 American towns, giving each a two day.s' 
demonstration in the same way as will be done to 
the d'ite of America at Louis, this would 
have been to the greater benefiG of the industry. 
The flavour and knowledge of the goodness of 
Indian growths would have been made known to 
hundreds and thousand of teetotallers, and those 
who partake but sparsely of intoxicating drinks, 
instead of to the units and tens who can afford to 
travel to St. Louis. 
PLANTING NOTES, 
Coconuts in the Solomon Islands — 
Mr. Svensen's letter appears on another 
page, and we have no doubt that Geylon 
planters, especially those in the Low-conntry 
Districts who have coconut plantations on 
their estates, will be interested in this note 
from the far away Solomon Islands. Prom 
Mr. Svensen's account coconut palms must 
do exceedingly well in the islands, for the 
limit number of trees to the acre is con- 
siderably below what is considered the 
average in Ceylon, and they come to maturity 
at an early age. The Solomon Island planters 
are not of great experience, as stated, and 
our Tropical Agriculturist columns are open 
to articles on coconut cultivation as carried 
on in Ceylon and which will prove of in- 
terest and use to our brother planters across 
the ocean. Continually we are hearing of 
fresh places in far distant parts of the globe 
where the Tropical Agriculturist is read 
and appreciated, and we are pleased to have 
this letter from Mr Sveasen, as well as othr-rs 
from readers in all parts of the wide world. 
How Ceylon Affected Cachar.— Mr Harol^ 
Mann's pamphlet on the Cachar soils is reviewo*^ 
in Indian Planting and Oardoninq and we 
quote as follows: — .. .... . 
The chief feature which stru'cik 'Mf 'Mdtlti in 
Cachar, apart from the technical details of his 
subject, was the great amount of tea land that has 
been allowect to lapse into jungle. He attributes 
this to the more rapid deterioration of tea in the 
Surma than in the Brahmaputra Valley. He 
says : — "In Cachar the most striking feature of 
the whole district is the enormous proportion of 
abandoned tea land now only used for cattle 
grazing — or used for nothing. In one case which 
came under notice not a single acre of tea lan.-l in a 
garden of nearly ."iOO acres remains under cultiva- 
tion which was in hand twenty ypars ago — all has 
been abandoned and the land left useless except 
for grazing and growing sunn g^as^5 — and this is 
by no means an isolated case." Mr Mann attri- 
butes this necessity for abandonment to two causes. 
First, faulty system of cultivation. Secondly he 
lays the blame on certain meehanical character- 
istics of the soil unsuitable for the sustained 
growth of tea. He furthermore adds that " the 
quality of the tea obtained from the valley, except 
from some of the properties in the lower part of 
Sylhet, is distinctly below the Indian average, and 
very much below that of Assam and has deterio- 
rated, relatively as tiiaft produced in the Brahma- 
putra Valley, enormously in recent years." While 
admitting that Mr Mann's remarks may not be 
totally without justice, the subject, as it appears 
to a practical tea man better versed in the economic 
aspects of the case, is considerably cleared up by 
the last fact adduced. There was undoubtedly 
some planting done in Cachar wrong in principle, 
and much cultivation wrong in practice. The 
same applies to Assam proper and other districts, 
but these cousiderations do not contain the key to 
the reasons for abandonment on such a large scale. 
The cause is to be found as far afield as Ceylon. 
Cachar was never fitted to produce tea of the 
special quality that has made As.sam famous. But 
in the old days Cachar tea did well enough. 
When Ceylon opened out tea, the island planters 
were able, without matching Assam, to pour 
forth a large output of cheaply grown tea, wliich 
compared favourably with Cachar, and brought 
down the price of these qualicies with a run. So 
much for the greater relative fall of Cachars 
compared with Assams. The consequences of the 
development upon Oachar were urgent. It bec-mie 
necessary to cheapen production or increase 
output for same expenditure. The old hinds could 
not be pu.slied. It was necessary to open out the 
lower rich .soils and gradually abandon the less 
productive average. Ceylon brought pressure on 
Cachar which she has never been able to exercise 
on Assam. 
