388 
THE TROTH OPR. A13r?r0^1.TOmsT. 
[December i, 1891, 
" I should like to take this opportunity of saying, 
what I supposed was well -known, that the Government 
Herbaricuin and Library at Peradeuiya are ahsoliiteh/ 
public in the only sen«e in wh oh valuable soient fic 
colleotions can be ; that is, they ere freely open for 
consultation by a'l who wish to use them for purposes 
of etudy, and ask permission to do so. It has always 
been my effort and "my desire to make them more and 
more useful in this way, and I should indeed be sorry 
to think that any imaginary obstacles were hindering 
my progress. 
"You are quite at liberty to publish any or all of 
this letter ; indeed if 3 on think it well to give it 
publicity to Mr. 's complaint, I hope you 
will, by giving also my answer, help to convince him 
that his " real hardship" exists only in his own 
imagination." 
We hope this statement will not only bo satis- 
factory to our correspondent but encouraging to 
others who may wish to oonault the books in the 
Library and specimens in the Museum at Peradeniyei 
YIELD PEE ACRE OF TEA IN CEYLON 
AND COST OF PEODUCTION, 
The followicg letter has reached us : — 
Tunisgalla, Eangala, Oct. 28tb. 
^ Dear Sir, — I have just read over in Observer 
of Sept; 10th 1883, Mr. Armstrong's lecture on tea. 
If you will compare bis forecast, and the preeent, 
actual output and results of working, an interesting 
artiole might be edited. 
The yield of tea per acre is obtained, but at a far 
lower cost, say 26 ct. per lb. f. 0. b. — Yours faithfully 
H. W. Hornby. 
There can be no question that the yield of tea, 
in the hot, damp and forcing climate of Ceylon 
has exceeded the most sanguine expectations, some 
exceptional and specially rich alluvials in Boga- 
wantalawa and the Kelani Valley, shewing returns 
up to 1,700 per acre, while all the world knows 
the wonderful averages obtained from appreciable 
areas of manured land on Mariawatte, considerably 
in excess of 1,000 lb. per acre. Indeed it is owing 
to a spurt of what we suppose we may call over- 
hearing in the larger portion of our tea regions in 
the latter portion of last year, that prices for some time 
back have been at so low a level. Our correspon- 
dent, in noticing the lower cost at which tea is now 
placed f. 0. b., ought not to have forgotten the 
steady, and recently the very material fall in the 
prices of our staple product since Mr. Armstrong 
delivered bis valuable and interesting lecture. 
That lecture was delivered in August 1883, and it 
was revised and supplemented in October 1884, 
seven years ago. The advance since iben in the 
successive crops and in the supercession of hand 
labour by machinery; has been rapid beyond the 
precedent in any tea growing country. Befor 
coming to the figures for cost of production w 
cannot help quoting some of Mr. Armstrong's shrewd 
and well-informed remarks on other subjects: — 
I consider our knowledge ot coffee cultivation goes 
very far to aid us in that of tea, and, with our trained 
labor, most apt at picking up anything new, to aid us, 
we can place our tea in the market cheaper thsm any 
other tea producing country in the world. 
My remarks today have more especial reference to 
the cultivation of tea in what may bo termed our coffee 
zone, in fact, to the practicability of tea taking the 
place, in some instances, of eolfeo, or of its being 
planted in forest land adjoining our coffee estate, and 
which we have thought too high tor coffee. 
Throughout tbis paper I refer to Assam-Hybrid tea 
Qoly. 
At what elevations will tea grow at, in Ceylon, to 
pay V From almost sea-level to over 6,0U0 ft. provided 
Boil and aspect are suitable. 
Biol.— Should be (airly good—tho richer the belter— 
deep ouil irible, lo»pa wtH mixed with Band ; a shallow 
quartzy soil is good. Tea will not flush readily iu 
this although it may grow to a fair sized bush, A sab- 
soil, well mixed with sand, or grit, without showing a very 
good surface soil, will, although giving a slower growth 
at tirst, turn out a better paying Boil than one with a 
rich surface and clearly defined clayey eabsoil without 
an admixture of sand; the more we pluck, the deeper 
the roots must go, and we must have room for them. 
The higher our elevation the richer should our soil be, 
to make up for climate, 
Climati!'. — That which is best for coffee will I 
believe, for a perrnanency, be found to bo the best for 
tea. The beau ideal of a tea climate is Awisawella. 
Yatiyautota and lower portions of Morawakorale, also 
portions of Ambagaoiuwa ; but they have not our 
coffee zone subsoil, as a whole ; and our zone will I 
tbink, make up, iu its deeper soil, for the want of 
extreme heat with moisture, which prevails in these 
districts, where, however, tea will lapidly make a 
fortune for its lucky proprietors. 
The higher the elevation, the less rainfall is required, 
and vice versa, light showers alternating with sun, if 
we could order them so would give us 1,0001b. per acre 
at 5,000 ft. elevation. At the higher eleavation, con- 
tinued rain at the height ef the mimsoon has the samo 
effect in checking the flush, for the time being, as a 
I'jDge continuance of suu has in the lowcouutry. Per- 
haps a good thing ; for, with us the bush has no 
wintering, and the only rest that of a 101b. plucking, 
instead of a 241b. 
Atter quoting very encouraging yields of tea at 
different elevations, Mr. Armstrong thus summed 
up on the question ot yield : — 
Young as we are, and iu the face of these yields at 
6 years of age and upwards I feel perfectly safe in es- 
timating an average yield of 400 lb. per acre from tea 
in the cotfee zone and above it, say from 2,500 to 5,700 
ft. in sheltered situations, and in saying 5,700 ft. I do 
not wish it to be understood I draw the limit even here, 
but the figures I have had given me above this elevation 
viz. at 6,300 ft, are only from a very small area uuder 
tea, which however gave at 6 years old 400 lb. per acre 
at 4 X 4, For low country teas, that is teas at from 
2,500 down to eea level, at 6 years old and upwards, I 
shiil be very much surprist-d indeed if they do not 
show an average yield of COO lb. par acre. These es- 
timates gentlemen, may seem excessive, looking at tho 
average yields from Assam and India generally, but 
compare our yield iu this our very infancy with that in 
India and you will find we can even now show an 
average, from estates at 3| years old up to 6 which will 
morelihan double theirs. [SOth October 1884, — N. B. 
The yields of this season have proved this estimate 
to be under the mark, as we have to chronicle 
yields of from 600 up to 900 lb. per acre all round 
at high losv, and medium elevations, and in the 
face of a bad season, from insufiioient rain, through 
out the island.] Inclemency of weather does not 
affect us in the same way iu which it does our Indian 
fathers, as we have 11 oionths in which we pluck. 
If one month is too wet we benefit all the more when 
the suu shines ugain as we have lots ot time ; if we 
have a spell of dry weather, on the other hand, this 
again is sure to be followed by rain, when we at once 
mske up auy loss. 
He then came to the question of 
Cost pbk lb. f. o. b. — I have to thank many friends 
for furnishing me with cost P. O. B. at Co ombo and 
choose the following which are representative of all 
and may be relied on. In all cases, the tea was manu- 
factured without the aid of machinery of any kind. 
450 lb. per acre cost 360.I'. o. B. t i i- 4. c 
700 do do 30c. do (_ Incladingcost o£ 
400 do do 40c. do >upkeep of young tea 
430 do do 29c. do 3'^°' bearmg. 
If we take the average of the above 4 estates we have, 
say 495 lb. per acre hand-madoj costing 34 cents f. o. 
at Colombo ; London charges including freight are 
under 2id ; but for all practical purposes let us say 
2id, the above teas at an average price of Is 2Jd, and 
this is not a high average, Itaves us Is nett, or at Is 8d | 
per rupee, CO cents ; a profit of 26 cents per lb, at 495 1 
lb- per acre, say Iil28'70 profit per acre. 
