464 
TttE TROPICAL 
AGMCtJLTUmST. [JTan. 1, 1904. 
IHE WAY TO MAKE GREEN TEA PAY. 
THE AMERICAN MARKET. 
In green tea we have practically but a single 
market to aim at. The Anserican trade has been 
long accustomed to being supplied with long lines 
of homogeneous tea, and also to have facilities 
presented for repeating their orders and procuring 
with ease the particular kinds of tea suitable for 
their business. The process for making green tea 
depending less upon natural changes in the leaf 
and more upon mechanical treatment than is the 
case with blacks, it is possible so to control the 
manufacture, as to turn out from gardens very far 
apart from one another and situate in very differ- 
ent districts, tea possessing almost identical 
character. We can instance three gardens whose 
teas we have seen, which are situated as far apart, 
respectively, as Darjeeling, Cachar and Chota 
Nagpore, and yet which produce teas varying so 
little in character as to be practically interchange- 
able, and from prices realised, these teas are shown 
to be the best on the market. There is everything 
to gain, therefore, by other gardens conforming 
to the style of manufacture which has thus 
produced teas admittedly superior to the rest. 
If there were any sacrifice of price in so doing 
it would be different, but as there is an 
actual advantage, no barrier exists. VVilh regard 
to our China type supply, the case is somewhat 
different, for the Kumaon and Kangra planters, 
in whose hands it lies, have their individual 
secrets, and do not work together as there is 
no advertised process to conform to at present. But 
even here it would be found to their advantage to 
adopt uniformity. We trust producers will consider 
the position seriously, and take steps to conform to 
a uniform standard of manufacture, combining for 
the purpose. Experience of late has shown that this 
branch of the American trade is ours if we choose 
, to attack it in a hod^.— Indian Planting and 
, Gardening. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
RUBBEK IN Malaya.— As an instance of the 
vaj in which planters here are now going in for 
rubber, we (Malay Mail) may cite the case of 
the West Coiintry and Belmont estates in the 
Kajang district. At the present moment there 
are nearly 16,000 trees o/er 6ft. high there, while 
smaller ones have been planted to the number 
of 65,000. By the end of the year it is expected 
that there will be fully 85,000, or, roughly, 100 
to the acre, the trees being planted 20ft. by 20ft. 
—Singapore Free Press, 
Rubber in the Malay States.— An im- 
portant letter appears on page 468 from the 
pen of a prominent Straits .planter, Mr 
W. W. Bailey, General Manager of the 
Selangor Plantation Syndicate, with reference 
to our October intervievp^ with Messrs 
Parry and Tunnicliffe. It is quit« plain 
that our visitors have under estimated the 
■fralue of upcountry Rubber land in the 
Straits and we believe that both upcountry 
and low-country properties in Malaya are 
assured of a rich and promising future. The 
references to Brazil are appropriate— though 
of course, differences of soil, latitude and 
local climate have to be carefully taken into 
accounti 
Indian and Ceylon Tea Planting.— 
Whatever Mr. Bamber may have urged as 
desirable, catch-pits for silt in drains do not 
obtain in Ceylon. Mi-. Claud Bald (who writes 
elsewhere) in his book s'Aysi—' l'he primary 
object of pruning is to change the form which 
the plant would naturally take and so turn it 
into a low bush instead of a tree. The 
next object is to encourage the bush to pro- 
duce leaves ra^Aer than wood, etc' The italics 
are ours. An expert has but to glance at 
these statements, to see how unscientific 
they are. It is a pity that the mystery why 
the wounds on topped tea should face the 
North, has been left unexplained. We are 
asked to believe that there are good reasons 
for it ; but in an age of the decadence of faith, 
we feel this to be unnecessarily hard treat- 
ment. Is there any need for the creation of 
a new ' Asian Mystery ?' 
Liberal Cttltivation and Practical 
Management for Ceylon Tea.— We direct 
attention to a very important letter on page 
469 from a planter of 21 years' experi- 
ence, of which 5 were in agriculture at home 
and 16 here in tea. There is a great deal 
of truth in his letter. But in spite of the 
points he makes, we do not think he quite 
grasps the situation. With the aid of 
Mr, Bamber, the cultivation of estates in 
Ceylon and even the manufacture of tea are 
gradually progressing into scientific cultiva- 
tion and manufacture. It is the combination 
of chemical knowledge and practical experi- 
ence which is leading to this very desirable 
result. Planters were comparatively working 
in the dark before. Now the light is break- 
ing, and we not think the disinclination to 
preserve old tearestates by liberal cultivation 
is as general as our correspondent makes 
out. We should be glad of other opinions 
on this important topic. 
UvA Tea Estates, 1900-3 : and Dry Mon- 
soons. — The following list of Uva estates 
averages in the last three years goes to 
show that this year's dry S.-W. monsoon aver- 
ages in Uva are not equal to those of the last 
two years. Demodera is a notable exception 
— accounted for by its splenJid factory and 
machinery and so much young tea, no doubt. 
The list runs :— 
Mark. Average, Average. Average. 
1901. 
1902. 
Badulla 
8J 
n 
Cocagalla 
10 
m 
Canuvarella 
10^ 
Cullen 
m 
Demodera 
9 
■ 8* 
El Teb 
8 
9 
Glen Alpin 
7^ 
lOj 
Gouakelle 
8 
Gowerakelle 
9 
llj 
Ledgerwaite 
lOi 
lOi 
14 
Mahadovva 
9 
Spring Valley 
10 
1* 
Telbedde 
8 
Ury 
8 
Uva 
8 
1903. 
(Up-to-date J. 
8i 
9 
9i 
'I' 
9 
8| 
4 
94 
8| 
9 
H 
8k 
7i 
