<A MONTHLY. 
XXI. 
COLOMBO, MA.RCH 1st, 190-2. 
No 9. 
LECTURE UPON CEYLON TEA. 
"FKOM THE TEA SEED TO THE TEA CUP." 
By Alfred Ameb, Late Plantek op Ceylon. 
Written for Sintzerland. 
Illustrated hj Lantern Vieios. 
N the year 1800 the United King, 
dom consumed i| lb. of tea 
per heal ot population. In 
' ■^ 1900 5i lb. of tea per head of 
population was consumed. 
In 1800 the consumption was 
20,358,827 lb, 
„ 1850 51,000,000 lb" 
„ 1900 303,867,149 lb. 
Up to the year 1862 nearly all the tea consumed 
came from China, The year 1879 registered the high- 
water mark of China teas, since which time the im- 
portation has gradually decreased, the teas from India 
and Ceylon having almost entirely overthrown the 
monopoly ot that country. 
Every day the two islands consume C00,00Clb. of 
tea which approximately represents 4,003,000 gallons 
or 120,000,000 cups of tea, or about 3 cups to each 
person. ludeed the United Kingdom consumes nearly 
as much tea annually as the whole Continent of Eu. 
rope, North and South America, Africa and Aus- 
tralia. The British Lation has every right, I think 
you will admit, to consider itself a connoisseur upon 
the subject of tea. It not only grows the best tea. 
but drink^ the greatest quantity of it. No better 
guarantee of quality could be given by any manu- 
facturer than the fact that he is the best customer for 
his own goods. 
To commence from the beginning, from the tea 
seed, arriving eventually at the tea-cup, will necessi- 
tate a description of the various processes employed 
to produce good tea to drink, and also gives one an 
opportunity to describe the country in which the best 
tea is made. I daresay you have all heard how tea 
became to be the chief product of the sweet-scented 
Ishxnd of Ceylon. Ooifee had for many years been 
the principal export, the others being cinnamon and 
other spices, coconut oil, etc, the minerals being 
represented by precious stones such as sapphire?, 
cat's-eyes, moonstones, and last but not least the 
very useful and humble plumbago of which there are 
many mines in many parts of the country. la the 
middle of the seventies a disease was discovered 
upon the coftee tree of a most virulent description, 
which gradually attained such ascendency, as in a 
few years to completely change the whole aspect 
of the coffee districts. 
Where fields had yielded 10 or even 15 cwt an 
acre, only a few dried sticks were left to mark th« 
place of former prosperity. This disease was callei 
" Hemeleia vastatrix," and was really a consump- 
tion of the lungs of the leaves which after being 
attacked fell to the ground in decayed heaps, and the 
fruit without nourishment from the atmosphere 
failed to mature and ripen. Although as I say the 
process was gradual, the result to proprietors of Eg- 
tates was appalling and sodden. It behoved all Ceylon 
>ilanters and those interested to use their best en- 
deavours to ficd a substitute that would enable them 
to maintain the prestige of the island. For thia 
purpose everything was done that human ingenuity 
could devise. Tropical Agriculturist books were 
eirnestly investigated. Kew Garden's experts were 
appealed to, and every conceivable plant likely to 
produce a paying crop was experimented with ; but 
as a satisfactory substitute for coffee, they all more 
or less failed ; representing a good illustration of the 
well-known fable of the fox who beasted of his nine 
tricks, whilst the success of the tea industry might 
be compared with the one trick possessed by the 
historical cat ; the sequel proving that the latter was 
worth all the other nine put together. 
Liberian coffee, cocoa, cinchona, cardamoms, pep- 
per, vanilla, cinnamon, coconut, eto., have by careful 
cultivation given a good profit to proprietors, although 
