57 ° 
THE TROPSCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[February 2, 1891. 
wonderful reform among the ryota of Southern 
India, among whom female children have long 
been very much at a discount. It will recom- 
mend itself to oriental ideas, which incline largely to 
the idea that “ women must work and men must 
sleep,” and not “ men must work and women must 
weep.” A good plucking girl has thus acquired a new 
value besides that of personal feminine charms, and 
the ugliest daughter amongst them, if she plucks well, 
will soon be adorned with jewelry and sought after 
by the lads. 
As there is such a small difference between the finest 
and commonest teas, it is found that fairly course 
plucking pays because the factory figures aro known, 
and when once the average is settled say at lOJ with 
coarse plucking, and a margin is left as profit — then 
the more leaf the more money. Now comes in manure. 
That horrible yet universal saying, “ If you once start 
manuring you must keep it up,” is really doing harm. 
With the past experience of our climate and its suscepti- 
bility to blights surely we should ” make hay while 
the sun shines,” and manure heavily and pluck heavily 
and bank the profits. The old gingerly finicking way, — 
aiming at appearance and tidiness and pretty teas, — 
that is nil going out. Low pruning and topping two 
leaves above the fish-leaf from any point in the bush, 
not merely from level but from any sprouting point, 
thus drawing the bush at all its sprouting points 
and not allowing side branches to grow up to satisfy 
the leaf requirements of the plant. No — there must 
be no satisfaction allowed ; the bush must be con- 
tinually worried and plucked, always leaving first round 
two whole leaves above fish leaf ; then one whole leaf 
above fish leaf — this to go on for six months. Then half 
a leaf above fish leaf for another six months. Then down 
to the fish leaf ; and if you have manure you can 
run a second year and have the labour free for re- 
munerative works. You must have manure, and it 
must be artificial manure. Cattle manure is all right 
for cacao or any fruit-bearing trees. We want to 
stimulate the leaf-producing powers, not the reproductive 
powers. 
The moment the difference between the best 
teas (commercial) and the common teas becomes 
sufficiently marked in price and thus sufficiently 
attractive, then it will pay to pluck fine, 
Gow, Wilson, & Stanton’s Sales Lists have en- 
couraged an unhealthy competition, misleading to 
proprietors at home and injurious to their interests 
Proprietors should say to their Managers : ‘‘ Give me 
a margin of profit, the higher it is, the greater per- 
centage you will get”; and if the man is worth his salt 
he will take the best method you may depend on it. 
That was a very milk-and-water production regarding 
Coast Advances emanating from the august As.so- 
ciation. It has a decided touch of the “Old Masters” 
about it, and should be respected on account of its 
venerable character. But it does not help us a cent. 
Proprietors and firms have to act and put pressure on 
their superintendents to secure themselves for the 
pressure of flushing months in the legitimate market 
in India. But as for myself, if I want labour and 
find labour to be had in the local market and am 
allowed to pay a good price for it, and am urgently 
in immediate need of it, I shall avail myself of sued 
labour being in the market and deal with such labour 
for my proprietors’ interests. But if I want to estab- 
lish a force which, as in the old days, I could in- 
crease and decrease without robbing, or being robbed 
by, my neighbours, but by internal arrangements, I 
gradually encourage a free circulation of my coolies 
between their scattered homes in the arid plains of 
India and the clustering well-packed “lines” of a 
Ceylon estate, and have my labour and advance ac- 
count so in hand that tundns need be neither given 
nor taken. It is for proprietors and firms to stop the 
competition in the local market of paid superintend- 
ents who aro pressed by irregular and unequal calls 
for labour and the flucluations of wetither and special 
flushing periods. Places where there is much carry- 
ing of tea chests or rico, or even leaf, will suffer 
greatly by reason of want of labour, as compared with 
places favourably situated. Places wh^ro other pro- 
ducts are cultivated, and heavy works such as holing 
for new clearings or for manure are carried out, these 
places suffer as compared with those where the only 
manual works are plucking, pruning and weeding. Are 
you then to lay down rules and issue them under the 
authority of the P. A. rules which cannot be applied 
universally P The more planters encourage tae local 
market the more they are damaging a valuable labour 
supply; .so the instinct of self-preservation will right the 
abuse so eloquently complained cf by Mr. Young, so 
long as the proprietors and agency firms are kept awake 
to t"o danger. 
It is high time the inventive genius which has 
develiiped in Ceylon so largely shou d apply itself to 
a cheap, light, effective Packing cover for our tea. 
The delicate ears bestowed on Ceylon packages is 
cruelly abused by dockers’ hobnails and iron shovels ; 
and the expensive dry air obtained by refiring and a 
carefully constructed factory is ruthlessly allowed to 
evapoiate amidst the damp aud smoke of a London 
warehouse. Then our teas are subjected to all the 
hurry and waste of a syftem of sale originally inten- 
ded for sleepy China, and a comparatively small Indian 
trade. I believe that if a really suitable package 
were invented admitting ready inspection and quick 
and effective re-closing, and a thorough re-organization 
of the system of public sales made, then our teas 
which are the most carefully prepared in the world 
will get more justice and be better appreciated by the 
trade and the public, and thus give us more margin 
of profit. Strange to siy the Ceylon system has 
elucidated the fact that an acreage over say 300 acres 
under tea is worked more profitably in private hands 
than through Companies. It used to be said that tea, 
with its outlay in machinery, suited the broader basis 
of a company with its greater division of risk, but 
the division of profit composed of fractional margins 
depends more on the excellence of the man in imme- 
diate charge than on any adopted system; and these 
divisions of profit are apt to be swallowed up by the 
various charges aud the numerous necessary officials 
of a company. 
It is admitted on all sides, that the fi'^rce energy 
displayed by Ceylon in advertizing herself has 
reuolubionized the tea trade and benefited India im- 
inense'y. We want reform in the handling of tea by 
the Customs, and we want reform in the public sale- 
rooms. Then if blights are averted the future of the 
island is now sure. We grow the drmk of the universe, 
the relish of the rich, the soiree of the poor, a drink 
wholesome and harmless, and within the reach of all 
SUCCESS TO CEYLON FOR 1891. 
“ 1873.” 
« 
COCONUT BUTTEE. 
In reply to an inquiry the following reply was sent 
on the subject of making butter from coconuts : — 
“ My experiments were on a very small scale. The 
coconuts were scraped out with a Kami in the usual 
way, a small quantity of water added and rubbed in 
a mortar. The milk-like fluid was then strained 
through cloth and churned in a bottle. The churn 
used was a disc of wood of about the same diameter 
as the bottle, cut with a wavy edge and with holes 
through it, this was forced up and down by means 
of an upright handle. The churning was over very 
quickly, aud the fat globules on being formed were 
skimmed oft’ aud washed in salt ami water. The 
kernel which had been strained off was put into a 
small cheese press, aud the fluid squeezed out added 
to tlie “ bu'ter-milk ” aud again churned, a, further 
small quantity of butter being obtaiued. The cake of 
scrapings still retained its flavour and would be fit for 
various purposes. The butter was almost tasteless while 
fresb, but after being kept a day (in the cold weather) 
had a strong taste of coconut. It had the appearance 
aud consistency of butter but was very white.” 
The writer continued by stating that the authorities 
at Kew had been asked by the Society if they could 
