568 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Ff.b.  I,  1896. 
tea  cultivation  in  MAURITIUS. 
{Translated  for  the  “‘Ccjilon  Observer'^  from  the 
“ Itcv^ie  Agricole  ” for  Dec.  1895.) 
The  cultivation  of  tea  in  Mauritius  has  during  the 
years  extended  somewhat ; and  in  view 
ot  the  results  already  obtained  and  the  promises 
11  ^ future  it  deserves  in  spite  of  the 
small  acreage  actually  devoted  to  it,  to  engage  at- 
tention. The  quality  of  the  product  obtained  and 
the  yield  of  marketable  tea  from  the  whole  of  the 
surface  planted  are  of  such  a nature,  so  far,  as  to 
encourage  the  creole  to  devote  himself  thereto  more 
thoroughly,  especially  if  he  considers  that  there  are 
vast  tracts  of  land  which  on  account  of  their  situa- 
tion and  climate,  are  little  suited  for  sugarcane,  as 
experience  teaches  daily.  On  the  other  hand,  accord- 
ing to  a very  just  theory,  the  danger  is  constantly 
being  accentuated  of  having  only  one  string  to  our 
how,  of  cultivating  only  one  product;  and  we  dangle 
before  our  own  eyes  the  spectre  of  bankruptcy,  ask- 
ing ourselves  with  anguish  what  would  become  of 
ns  if,  at  the  end  of  a crisis  which  we  dread  more 
and  more,  which  every  year  increasingly  preoccupies 
the  mind,  and  which  will  issue  from  that  for- 
midable coalition  in  which  all  the  nations  of  the 
world  have  united  to  play  at  the  game  of  who  shall 
produce  the  most  sugar  and  at  the  cheapest  rate, 
we  were  obliged  to  abandon  our  single  industry  and 
our  single  culture. 
The  agriculture,  industry  and  commerce  of  a country 
are  not  transformed  in  one  day : time  is  needed, 
and  a gradual  change  ; so  that,  if  such  an  eventu- 
ality ever  presented  itself,  we  should  without  doubt 
he  close  on  ruin.  “The  Mauritians,”  a stranger  has 
said  in  writing  of  us,  “ have  put  all  their  eggs  in 
one  basket.”  We  may  add  that  we  live  in  constant 
fear  of  seeing  the  basket  on  the  ground.  Now  if, 
under  these  conditions,  we  have  localities  that 
easily  lend  themselves  to  another  cultivation  beside 
and  even  on  the  toj)  of  that  of  sugarcane,  and  if, 
passing  from  theory  to  practice,  we  have  found  it 
i(unnnerative,  let  us  engage  in  it  seriously  and  do 
not  let  us  allow  such  a splendid  opportucity  of  aug- 
menting our  resources  to  pass. 
This  has  been  the  case  very  fortunately  ; and  since 
the  impulse  was  given,  since  the  first  plantation  was 
made,  we  have  seen  others  spring  up  in  various 
places.  But,  after  all,  what  does  it  amount  to  ! By  a 
careful  computation  we  shall  arrive  at  the  very 
utmost  at  three  hundred  acres  of  tea  in  the  whole 
colony.  This  is  little  indeed ; only  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  it  is  a cultivation  which  is  only  in  its 
early  days,  dating  from  a few  years  back,  and  that 
many  of  the  existing  plantations  are  not  even  in 
full  production,  so  that  it  has  not  yet  been  found 
possible  to  establish  in  a very  rigorous  fashion  the 
average  yield  per  acre,  although  it  is  very  good,  as 
we  said  at  the  commencement.  The  example  set  by 
the  first  is  being  increasingly  followed  by  others,  so 
that  the  future  in  store  for  tea  in  Mauritius  seems 
brilliant  and  allows  of  great  hopes  being  entertained. 
In  1894  the  imports  of  tea  into  Mauritius  amounted 
to : — 
.344  kilos  from  England 
8,824  ,,  from  Ceylon 
21,697  ,,  from  India 
8,490  ,,  from  Hongkong 
5,616  „ from  Singapore 
10,290  ,,  from  China 
1 ,,  from  France 
making  a total  of  53,262  kilos  of  a value  of  R47,2.32. 
On  examining  the  figures  it  will  be  seen  at  once 
that  if  the  local  plantations  do  not  yet  suffice  to 
supply  the  consumption  of  the  country  they  will  not 
long  delay.  At  present  they  are  all  young,  and  often 
enough  one  finds  in  the  same  plantation  trees  of 
different  ages,  so  that,  not  only  is  the  return  not  yet 
what  it  should  be,  but  there  reigns  a certain  uncer- 
tainty even  witli  regard  to  what  it  actually  may  be. 
Nevertheless,  on  the  Experimental  Farm  of  Curepipe, 
where  Government  has  had  about  a scoi-e  of  acres 
planted,  five  or  six  of  which  are  of  older  date  and  extend 
back  to  eight  years,  tlioro  has  this  year  been  produced 
6,000  pounds  of  tea,  which  makes  the  average  yield 
per  acre  work  out  at  .300  pounds,— average  yield,  we 
say,  because  those  plants  that,  being  older  than  the 
others,  are  now  in  full  bearing  produced,  per  acre  of 
cultivated  surface,  a quantity  of  marketable  tea  very 
much  greater,  and  close  on  600  pounds  per  acre. 
Now,  at  300  pounds  the  acre’  300  acres  would  pro- 
duce 90,000  pounds  of  tea  per  annum:  that  is  to  say, 
a quantity  about  equal  to  our  consumption.  Thus 
we  may  legitimately  hope  that  we  shall  soon  no  longer 
be  indebted  to  India  and  China  for  this  article  of 
consumption.  But,  much  better,  the  Colony  night 
even  export  some;  and  the  really  superior  quality  of 
the  product  would  seem  to  assure  for  it  an  easy 
sale ; for  we  have  not  forgotten  the  news,  communi- 
cated to  the  public  at  the  time  and  published  by 
ourselves,  that  the  tea  from  Chamarel,  tasted  in  London 
by  experts,  had  been  properly  appreciated. 
The  yield  of  300  pounds  per  acre  is  a normal  one  ; 
and  from  what  we  have  said  above  of  the  almost 
double  yield  from  a fraction  of  the  plantation  of  the 
Experimental  Farm  (the  only  plantation,  we  think, 
of  all  that  exist  in  the  Colony,  which  has  reached 
the  age  of  7 or  8 years),  the  planter  may  reasonably 
reckon  upon  it  as  an  average ; and  it  is  certain  that 
with  an  average  revenue  of  at  least  R300  the  acre  he 
can  cover  expenses  which  are  not  more,  after  the 
cost  of  the  first  opening  has  been  met,  than  expenses 
of  upkeep. 
In  India  a plantation  is  in  full  bearing  at  the  age 
of  six  years.  The  first  plucking  is  made  after  the 
third  year,  and  then  produces  from  75  to  100  pounds 
of  made  tea  the  acre ; but  the  production  increases 
rapidly  from  year  to  year,  and  remains  at  about  2.50 
pounds  when  cultivation  has  become  regular  and 
has  attained  its  apogee.  This  yield  is  exceeded  in 
Natal,  and  even  considerably  in  certain  cases,  as  it 
may  amount  to  600  or  700  pounds  the  acre ; but 
these  last  figures  are  exceptional,  and  the  quantity 
of  made  tea  oscillates  around  300  pounds — general 
average  of  the  2,000  acres  of  land  planted  in  that 
colony.  This  is  likewise  the  average  yield  of  the 
finest  “gardens”  in  Ceylon. 
The  variety  mostly  cultivated  in  Mauritius  is  the 
Assam  Hybrid,  which  combines  the  qualities  of  the 
“China  tea”  and  the  “Assam  tea,”  and  for  which 
the  humid  climate  of  Curepipe  and  of  the  high- 
lands of  the  Savanne  and  Chamarel  is  specially  suit- 
able. At  the  Experimental  Farm  there  has  also  been 
planted  the  “ China  tea,”  but  in  small  quantity,  and 
it  is  intended  to  abandon  it  entirely.  The  plants 
are  separated  by  from  3J  to  4 feet  every  way.  The 
pruning  is  done  in  July-August,  and  the  | lucking 
commences  in  September-October  to  terminate  in 
June.  The  care  exercised  in  plucking  and  the  pre- 
caution of  putting  on  one  side  the  “ tips”  and  more 
or  less  tender  leaves  allow,  as  is  known,  of  the 
preparation  of  teas  of  various  qualities,  which  are  in 
order  ot  merit  and  of  fineness  l^ekoe,  Pekoe  Sonchoiiff, 
Souehong  and  Congou.  The  yield  in  made  tea  is 
shout  25  per  cent  in  weight  of  the  freshly  gathered 
leaves.  With  regard  to  the  preparation  it  lasts  two 
days  and  comprises  the  following  phases : — 1st,  the 
partial  desiccation  of  the  leaves  ; 2nd,  the  rolling  ; 
3rd,  the  fermentation ; and  4th,  the  tiring.  The 
length  of  the  fermentation,  varying  according  to  cir- 
comstances,  is  about  an  hour  and  a half  to  two 
hours,  which  only  experience  teaches  to  fix.  It  is 
during  this  phase  of  the  preparation  that  the  per- 
fume, due  probably  to  a kind  of  oxidation,  is  de- 
veloped and  accentuated.  Finally  the  “ tired”  tea 
is  tasted  and  classed  according  to  quality. 
Such  is  as  nearly  as  possible  the  actual  state  of 
the  new  industry  in  our  midst.  We  shall  try  to 
procure  more  complete  and  circumstantial  informa- 
tion, which  we  shall  in  turn  communicate  to  our 
readers. 
MARKET  FOR  TEA  SHARES. 
Tuesday  Evening,  .Ian.  16,  1896. 
Since  the  reopening  of  business  after  Christinas 
there  has  been  a resumption  of  investment  buying, 
and  prices  keep  steady. 
The  Financial  Times,  in  its  last  Frida’s  issue, 
published  a leading  article  on  Indian  Tea  Companies 
