5?8 THP TRb!>ICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February i, 1892. 
m illions of pounds of tea is harvested in Ceylon, in 
^893, the result wi'.l, we believe, be unexamplpd even 
in the annals of tropical agriculture. In 1872, not 
a pound of tea entered into the exports of Ceylon. 
In the twenty years succeeding 1872 and ending 
with 1893 the enterprise will have made yearly 
increasing additions to the commerce of the colony 
rising from a few pounds valued at a few rupees to 
100 millions of pounds, of a local value, we trust, of 
not much under 50 millions of rupees. That will 
not be much behind the culmiDating period in the 
history of the coffee enterprise. While that enter- 
prise may revive, we have every reason to hope, frcm 
the experience already gained, in the comparative 
permanency of the tea enterprise. In almost 
complete exemption from blights, tea culture in 
Ceylon has an advantage of great magnitude over 
the similar pursuit in northern India. In quality 
too, judging from demand, our tea stands high. 
/Stood high, at any rate, until the overwhelming 
production of last year ; and we must not close 
without adding to our arguments in favour of 
opening new markets for our obief product an 
earnest appeal to planters to pay such attention to 
quality as will not only retrieve the reputation of 
Ceylon tea but place it on a higher level in public 
favour than ever, so that it may hold existing 
markets and capture new by its superiority to all 
competitors. 
CEYLON TEA OULTUEE, &c. 
On this subject Mr. J. 0. White** vsrrites as fol" 
lows : — When it is known that the tea plant is 
indigenous to Ceylon, it cannot be a matter of 
wonder that the cultivated plant should produce 
such a splendid article of domestic consumption as 
the tea now imported from that island, some rare 
samples of which are said to have realised lately 
in London seventy guineas a pound. The natives 
had small plantations of coffee in the early days 
when the Portuguese took possession of the island 
in A.D. 1505. The Dutch, who subsequently ex- 
pelled the Portuguese, landed there A.D. 1602, taking 
possession of the coast country, the Candians retain- 
ing the interior under the rule of a native king 
residing at Candy, the capital. The British turned 
the iSutch out in 1796, and soon after, in 1802, the 
Candians were subdued, and the whole island became a 
British colony, the chief exports of which were cinna- 
mon and other spices, coffee, coir, copra, pearls, and 
precious stones. The tea plant was unknown to the 
Portuguese or Dutch. Neither the Portuguese nor 
the Dutch had coffee plantations ; it was grown 
by the Cingalese, who cultivated it as boun- 
dary fences to their properties, as may be seen 
to this day in the pretty homesteads hid away 
in the grove of coconut trees between Colombo 
and Point de Galle, a distance of about 70 
miles. Ceylon being for a long time under 
military government, there were but few capitalists, 
and they belonged to the military and Civil Service, 
and it was upwards of 20 years after British occupancy 
that coffee planting was started as a commercial en- 
terprise, for in 1825 there were only two plantations on 
the island — one at Paradynia, on the Maha Villa 
Ganga River, near Kandy, the property of the Governor 
Sir Edward Barnes ; and the other at Gampola, 
about eight miles south, the property of Colonel 
Bird, where I first acquired my colonial experience 
in coffee growing. The business was carried on very 
" Thin is the old gentleman, contemporary and 
playmate of Sir Charles Poter Layard, who, some 
time ago, sent us an interesting account of himself 
and hirt experiences in Ceylon and Now Zealand. 
Wc need Kcarcely say that tea is not indigenous to 
Ceylon, and that coffee was unknown in the island 
until introduced and cultivated by the Dutch. 
Kandy, loo, did not become Britinh until 181,— En. 
extensively for about half a century after that, and 
the product being equal to the best Mocha coffee, 
that article became one of the principal exports 
of Ceylon. The leaf disease (so called made its appear- 
ance on the island, and decimated all the large plan- 
tations, and the attention of planters was directed 
to the cultivation of the tea plant, which it appears 
had been growing wild in the jungles of Ceylon, and 
for a period of nearly 300 years after European 
occupancy had, like the modest violet, been shed- 
ding its fragrance unnoticed in the desert air. 
I have now before me a very interesting history 
of the island of Ceylon, pablished in 1805, by Captain 
Robert Percival, of the 18th Royal Irish Regiment, 
who was present at the capture of the island from 
the Dutch in 1796, giving an account of the natural 
productions. I herewith quote his words : — " But it 
is not sugar alone that Ceylon seems destined to 
afford to the general use of the Western world ; the 
tea plant has also been discovered native in the 
forests of the island. It grows spontaneouly in the 
neighbourhood of Trincomalee and other northern 
parts of Ceylon. General Champagne informed me 
that the soliders of the garrison frequently use it. 
They cut the branches and twigs and hang them 
in the sun to dry ; they then take off the leaves 
and put them into a vessel or kettle to boil to extract 
the juice, which has all the properties of that 
of the China tea leaf. Several of my friends 
have assured me that the tea was looked upon as 
far from being bad, considering the little prepara- 
tion it underwent. The soldiers of the 80tii Regi- 
ment made use of it in this manner on being in- 
formed of its virtues and quality by the 72nd 
Regiment, whom they relieved. Many preferred this 
tea to coffee. ' 
Neither the Government nor the public seem to 
have taken notice of this fact until after the coffee 
exportation became a partial failm-e. I believe it is 
generally admitted that the Ceylon tea is likely to 
supersede the use of the China article, as also of 
the Indian or Assam. The qualities are not suffi- 
cientiy known to be appreciated. A much smaller 
quantity is requisite for a decoction, and the great 
secret of making it is not to let the teapot stand too 
long before use. Making tea in the usual way by infu- 
sing the leaves too long, the extract of the leaf is too 
strong and the flavoiu' disagreeable to some tea-drinkers. 
I have heard it as a fact that made as I have 
described the leaves can be drained or laid aside and 
made into a second brew. I know the Chinese are 
in the habit of saving and drying the leaves of the 
tea they use to increase the quantity of the article 
they sell, and it is not at aU unlikely that they will 
do the same with the Ceylon tea, thus adding flavour 
as well. 
I do not advocate the use of Ceylon tea because 
it is the product of my native cotmtry, but I like it 
much better when properly made than the other im- 
ported articles, and I know it will go further, and 
consequently much cheaper ; and I presume economy 
is, or should be, the order of the day in domestic 
cixoles.—Auc/dand Weekly Nexvs, Nov. 21st. 
« 
WASHING CACAO. 
SiNTA Cnuz, 10th February, 1891. 
Dear Sir, — At the last meeting of the Central Agri- 
cultural Board, I had the honor to lay before the Board, 
riva voice, the result of my experiments with regard 
to the advisability or not of washing cacao Ceylon fash- 
ion and to the loss in weight which such operation in- 
volves. I have been requested by the membors then 
present to put my remarks in writing so that they 
may be published in the A'jriculturai Becord, and I 
accordingly send you the following notes which, if 
having no other merit, have the advantage of being 
based on facts and figures indisputable. 
My attention has been called, in 1889, to the 
Ceylon method of preparing cacao by a letter from 
Mr. Pi-cHtpo pultflished ia the Trinidad (Jhivnide somg 
