Sept.  2,  1895.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
177 
THE  NATIVE  TEA  (JHOWTNH  INDrSTRV 
IN  CKYLON. 
It  is  quite  clear  tliat  we  must  l.ay  to  account 
in  discussin<(  tlie  future  of  tea  in  Ceylon,  a sery 
large  and  growing  area  planted  in  gardens 
owned  by  members  of  the  native  community. 
In  the  height  of  its  prosperity,  the  Native  Coffee 
Enterprise  was  a very  imi)ortant  one  iii  the 
island  ; for,  in  1868  as  nuich  as  218,584  cwt. 
of  “native”  coffee  were  exported  against  789,090 
of  “ plantation  ” coffee,  or  about  a fifth  of  our 
total  exports  had  to  be  crediteil  to  the  native 
gardens.  It  will  l)e  a long  time,  before  we 
can  say  the  same  of  tea  ; for  ai>art  from  the 
peiiod  ret[uired  to  bring  the  exports  from  native 
gardens  up  to  18  or  20  million  lb.  of  te.a,  there 
is  the  fact  that  simultaneously  with  an  extended 
cultivation  umicr  native  auspices,  will  come  an 
extended  local  consumption,  so  that  probably 
from  one-half  upwards  of  all  the  tea  produced 
by  Ceylonese-owned  gardens  will  be  sold  in  the 
towns,  villages  and  wayside  boutiques  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Ceylonese  themselves.  There  is 
every  reason  why  this  extended  use  of  tea 
among  the  Sinhalese  and  Tamils  should  be 
s|jecially  encouraged.  To  keep  the  people  away 
from  the  arrack-shops  will  be  one  notable  ad- 
vantage, derived  from  tea-drinking,  and  also 
to  conserve  the  health  of  a people  who,  from 
their  carelessness  in  respect  of  the  water  they 
drink,  frequently  get  fever  and  dysentery,  where 
a little  care,  or  the  drinking  of  tea  instead,  might 
save  them  from  .such  attacks.  Then  to  get  a 
market  at  our  doors  for  the  common  kinds  of  our 
teas,  is  of  course  so  much  of  a relief  to  the  markets 
served  by  exports.  The  Indian  tea  planters  have 
long  seen  the  advantage  of  getting  the  people  of 
India  to  become  tea  drinkers,  and  the  Government 
has  taken  special  stejis  and  much  trouble  in 
the  endeavour  to  encourage  a taste  by  the 
establishment  of  wayside  tea  boutiques  and  re- 
freshment stalls.  In  Ceylon,  this  part  of  the 
work  may  be  left  to  the  enterprise  and  intel- 
ligence of  the  n.ative  bouti(pie- keepers  them- 
seh’es  ; just  as  the  garden  owners  in  the  Gam- 
pola,  Nawalapitiya,  Kotmalie,  Pu.ssellawa,  Kadu- 
gannawa,  ‘Matale  and  many  more  valleys  re- 
quired no  oflicial  nor  foreign  pron>pting  to  take 
to  the  cultivation  of  a plant  which  they  saw 
was  to  be  as  profitable  to  them  as  ever  coffee 
was.  In  .some  cases  they  liave  gone  so  far  as 
to  turn  their  paddy  fields  into  tea  gar  iens  and 
splendid  tea  is  grown  on  such  alluvial  Hats. 
The  progress  upcountry  may  be  judged 
from  the  information  made  av.ailalde  to  us 
for  the  Ganqmla-Nawalapitij'a  valleys.  In 
native  tea  gardens  around  Gampola  extending 
from  1 to  125  acres  each  and  aggregating  938 
acres,  the  Manager  of  Mariawatte  writes  : — 
“ I buy  leaf  from  these  estates  and  gardens,  but 
there  are  a great  many  more  that  sell  to  other  fac- 
tories. Messrs.  Walker  of  Shamrock,  Anderson  of 
New  Peradeniya,  S.  Agar  of  Kandy,  C.  E.  Rowlands 
of  Attabagie,  F.  H.  Wiggin  of  Sogama,  A.  L.  French 
of  Ascot  and  G.  C.  Bliss  of  Atgalla  could  probably 
assist  you  with  information  as  to  other  native  hold- 
ings in  tea.  The  acreages  given  are  supplied  by 
the  owners,  but  how  far  they  are  correct  I cannot 
say.  Most  of  the  gar'dens  are  only  partly  in  bearing.” 
We  are  also  indebted  to  Mr,  T.  R.  Walker  for 
a list  of  44  native  tea  gardens  extending  from  A 
acre  to  110  acres  giving  a total  of  5331  acres; 
and  of  another  list  counting  up  33  places  from 
I to  30  acres  each  or  a total  of  119J  acres. 
Both  these  lists  will  be  given  in  our  Directory. 
Mr.  Walker  in  his  letter  adds;  — 
“ Many  factories  take  leaf  now  and  if  you  could 
get  them  all  to  give  you  a somewhat  correct  list 
you  will  be  astonished  at  the  acreage.  Barnagalla, 
jyiqssville,  Craighead,  St.  Clive,  Carolina,  Imbool- 
pitiya,  Goorookoya,  Atgalla—  all  take  in  native  leaf 
and  from  Polgahawella,  Matale,  Peradeniya,  Pussel- 
lawa  and  Gampola  you  would  get  many  acres.  In 
the  lowcountry — -in  Galle,  Morawaka,  Balangoda, 
Ratnapura,  Kalutara,  Kelani  Valley  there  must  IJe 
many  native  gardens  and  from  what  I see  travel- 
ling about  here,  the  native  produce  will  bo  vefy 
great  in  a very  few  years.” 
The  Manager  of  New'  Peradeniya  estimates  that  he 
buys  leaf  from  .about  450  acres  of  native  tea  gardens. 
We  shall,  ot  course,  be  very  glad  to  receive 
further  lists  of  any  gardens  not  likely  to  l)e  in 
the  above,  if  .sent  at  once.  But  'meantime, 
we  may  mention  that  our  returns  for  the  low- 
country  of  the  Western  .and  Southern  provinces, 
indic,ate  wonderful  .activity  on  the  part  of  a 
number  of  Sinhale.se  in  planting  tea  ; and  it 
is  quite  clear  to  us  that  in  a very  few'  ye.ars, 
we  shall  h.ave  to  m.ake  a liber.al  .allow'anee  for  the 
native  crop  of  tea  in  Ceylon. 
♦ 
THE  INDIAN  TEA  ASSOCIATION  IN 
LONDON. 
REPORT  OF  THE  GENERAL  COMMITTEE 
FOR  THE  YEAR  1894-5. 
The  following  is  from  the  fifteenth  Annual  Report  of 
the  Association : — 
The  General  Committee  of  the  Indian  Tea  Associa- 
tion (London)  have  the  pleasure  to  submit  to  the  mem- 
bers the  following  statement,  on  the  conclusion  of  the 
fifteenth  year  of  its  operations. 
Re-organisatiox. 
At  a general  meeting  held  on  July  9th  last,  at 
which  Mr.  S.  K.  J.  Claire,  Secretary  of  the  Calcutta 
Branch  of  the  Association,  and  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  that  city,  was  present  ; an  interchange 
of  views  took  pLace  oil  this  subject,  and,  as  a result,  a 
small  Committee  was  appointed,  under  whoso  gui- 
dance arrangements  were  made  with  a view  to 
keeping  members  more  fully  informed  of  the  meetings, 
and  of  the  work  done  by  the  Association,  and  its 
several  Committees,  and  especially  of  maintaining 
closer  touch  with  the  Calcutta  Committee.  A set 
of  suggested  new  rules  was  prep.ared  by  S.  E.  J. 
Clarke,  while  in  England,  and  these  have  been  placed 
in  the  hands  of  a special  Committee  for  consideration 
and  report,  but  up  to  the  present  no  definite  conclu- 
sion has  been  arrived  at. 
New  Market.s. 
1.  Mil.  Bleciiyndkn’s  Woiik  .^nd  Aspect  op  Opeua- 
TioNs  IN  Ameiuca.— This  subject  has  received 
continued  attention  from  the  American  and  Foreig  i 
Tea  Committee,  which  met  sixteen  times  during  the 
year  to  consider  Mr.  Blechynden’s  operations  and 
reports.  These  operations  mainly  consisted  of  “ de- 
monstrations ” with  native  servants  at  four  food  shows 
at  New  York,  Brooldyn.  Cliicago,  and  Washington, 
and  in  eighty-five  “ stores.''  But  in  the  last  few 
mouths  these  “ demonstrations”  have  been  streii"-th- 
ened  by  the  addition  of  “ sales-ladies,”  who,  tho*^igh 
affording  a less  striking  and  exceptional  adver- 
tisement than  the  natives  of  India,  speak 
no  unknown  tongue,  and  are  thus  able  to  explain 
•ftectively  the  merits  of  the  tea.  Mr.  Blechyuden  has 
also  included  in  his  operations  lectures,  interview's 
with  memhers  of  the  Press,  and  notices  in  the  news- 
papers. 
There  are  no  figures  or  ascort  iined  results  by  which 
to  gauge  the  measure  of  su  ;cess  resulting  from  these 
operations  ; but  this,  at  least,  m.iy  be  safely  .accepted, 
that  they  have  helped  to  stimulate  curiosity  and" 
awaken  interest  .about  Indian  teas  in  the  States,  and 
though  the  committee  cannot  prove  that  the  operations 
have  increased  the  consumption  of  Indian  teas  in 
America,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they  have 
served  as  good  advertisements  to  start  with.  The 
mere  fact  that  Mr.  Blechynden  has  been  able  to  send 
a list  of  one  thousand  grocers  in  the  States,  who 
profess  to  stock  Indian  teas,  is  good  evidence  of  the 
ncreased  attention  given  to  those  teas;  and  it 
