Jan.  r,  1897.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  487 
TEA  CULTIVATION  IN  CEYLON, 
INDIA  AND  CHINA. 
MANUKINO  AND  RESULTS; 
CRITICISM  AND  WARNINOS. 
An  up  country  correspondent  sends  us  an 
exti'act  from  tl)C  letter  of  a friend  in  the  North 
of  Ireland  which  oii'^ht  to  .amuse  if  not  interest 
Ceylon  tea  planters,  it  runs  as  follows  ; — 
“ I hope  your  tea  iu'0[)crty  is  coming  on  well.  1 
met  a Mr.  S a tea  huyer  of  Shanghai  when 
over  in  Scotland  lately;  he  goes  out  every  year 
for  four  months  during  the  season  and  s[>ends  the 
end  of  the  year  at  home,  in  Russia,  and  in  America; 
he  buys  principally  for  Russians  and  Americans, — 
and  he  is  greatly  in  f.avour  of  China  Tea  which 
he  asserts  is  more  wholesome  tlian  Indian  Tea, 
as  it  is  free  ot  tannin, — and  he  says  no  other 
eounti’y  can  beat  it.  They  have  splendid  soil 
and  unlimited  extent— and  when  one  garden  is 
exh.austeil,  the  Chinese  abandon  it  and  take  in 
fresh  soil.  He  told  me  he  load  heard  of  many  Ceylon 
tea  planters  who  were  beginning  to  invest  in 
coconut  estates  as  they  were  afraid  of  tea  dying 
out  like  eollee.  1 told  him  tea  was  quite  different 
from  coffee  as  the  Ceylon  climate  favoured  the 
production  of  leaf  which  was  not  so  exhausting  on 
the  soil  as  the  coffee  berry,  but  be  did  not  agree 
with  me  ; he  said  tea  was  also  very  exhausting 
and  that  Ceylon  tea  plantations  were  yearly 
becoming  poorer  in  the  quality  of  the  tea 
produced.” 
Our  friend,  with  his  local  experience,  criticizes 
this  after  the  following-  pungent  fashion: — 
“There  are  S ’s  S ’s  apparently; 
but  the  best  comment  on  tliis  bogey  of  dying  trees 
and  deteriorating  quality  of  the  leaf,  is  perhaps 
the  presence  in  our  midst  of  a keenly  intelli- 
gent young  Chinese  creeper  to  whom  nothing  is 
a greater  surprise  than  the  expan.se  of  young 
vigorous  bushes,  he  sees  in  Uimbula.  In  the 
district  from  w-hich  he  comes  he  says,  the  tea 
averag.es  about  20U  years  old  and  without  yearly 
doses  of  manure  the  leaf  is  absolutely  flavour- 
less. The  most  effective  manure  is  niylit  soil, 
which  is  very  highly  prized  and  diligently  col- 
lected from  all  the  nearest  towms.  To  this  the 
‘ superior  flavour  ’ seems  in  a great  measure 
due  andif  this  is  the  only  means  of  imparting  it, 
I fear  we  cannot  compete  w’ith  the  Chinaman  ; for, 
no  money,  no  threats  w'ill  induce  our  squeamish 
coolies  to  handle  the  stuff.  A smart  fellow  is 
this  Ling  and  will  learn  mote  in  four  weeks 
than  some  sporting  creepers  in  as  many  years. 
He  leaves  Middleton,  wliere  he  h,as  been  under 
the  tuition  of  Mr.  MacLachlan,  at  the  end 
of  this  month.  The  tannin  fad  is  rub- 
bish, the  result  of  over  infusing  the  leaf. 
Moreover  tannin  is  not  poison.  Have  we  not 
seen  Australians  boiling  the  leaf  for  houis 
drinking  the  decoction  and  issuing  out  to 
cricket!  And  let  the  fellows  have  their  due; 
such  tea  and  such  cricket  ! ! ” 
Now'  it  is  a very  old  story  this'of  Ceylon  tea  fail- 
ing. Some  ten  years  ago,  tw’o  Indian  tea  planters 
P'assing  through  Colombo  and  who  went  up  as  far 
as  Hatton,  returned  “ perfectly  satisfied  ” that  the 
limit  of  production  would  be  reached  in  Jicc  years 
and  that  thereafter  the  exports  from  Ceylon  would 
be  certain  to  recede.  We  have  always  pointed 
with  satisfaction  to  the  oldest  held  on  Loolecondura, 
now’  in  its  28th  .year,  and  w’hich  well  m.aint.ains  its 
vigour,  and  to  xMariawatte  with  its  wonderful 
croiis  showing  little  or  no  abatement,  ilie  oldest 
field  on  which  of  104  acres  was  planted  in  1879. 
Mariaw'atte  is,  of  course,  about  the  most  liberally 
cultivated  garden  in  Ceylon,  and  the  advantage 
of  continuous  sujxplies  of  bulky  manure  is 
seen  in  ibe  enormous  crops  reaching  in  one 
ye.ar  to  1,.S47  Ih.  (1(5  maunds)  of  made  tea  per 
acre  ! Loolcondura  has  a very  different  soil  and 
situation  ; but  it  has  kei>t  up  its  average  well  and 
the  only  manure  applied,  we  believe,  has  been 
castor-cake.  We  are  aw'are  that  a good  deal  has 
been  done  in  other  districts  with  bulky  manure  ; 
but  the  records  of  oui-  railway  traflic  alone  show 
th,at  there  is  also  an  increasing  qu.antity  of  arti- 
ficial manure  finding  its  way  into  the  tea 
districts,  and  on  this  head  we  have  recently 
hear(l^  w'ords  of  vvarning.  “ Nitrates  and  bone 
dust” — not  so  much  uncru.shed  bones — “are 
likely  to  play  the  very  mischief  with  the  tea 
plant  ” is  the  summing-up  of  an  experienced 
cultivator  who  says  that  very  little  “artificial” 
is  used  iuAssam,  because  there,  every  cooly  hut 
having  a cow  or  cows  attached,  they  "have  ahvays 
a suthciency  of  bulky  manure  available.  Now 
the  time  has  certainly  come  in  the  history  of 
our  tea  enterprise  for  enquiry  as  to  what  is  done 
in  the  way  of  manuring,  and  certain  cautions 
may  well  be  necessary  to  those  who  are  inclined 
to  force  their  bushes  to  the  utmosC  possible 
yield  on  the  principle  of  “ making  hay  while 
the  sun  .shines  ’’—making  tea  while  the 
price  is  fairly  remunerative,  regardless  of 
what  may  happen  to  their  fields  (or  those  of 
their  neighbours)  some  years  hence.  Possibly, 
the  expectation  may  be  “to  sell  to  a Company” 
after  the  cream  is  taken  off  and  before  the  trees 
lose  their  vigour,  tlie  extra  return  of  profits 
through  forcing  manures  telling  .all  in  favour  of 
the  price  to  be  paid  ! If  that  has  become  the 
piactice  even  in  isolated  c.ases,  it  is  time  that 
special  mention  was  made  in  all  estate  reports 
and  valuations  as  well  as  in  Company  prospec- 
tuses, of  the  extent  to  which  manurino-  has  been 
carried  on,  the  manures  used,  and  the  iieriods  of 
application. 
in  tins  connection  we  call  attention  to  the  letter 
Mr.  James  Westland  sends  to  us  with  reference 
^ a lesson  taught  in  the  manuring  of  turnips 
He  thinks  it  may  have  been  applicable  in  our 
coffee  experience;  and  certainly  wherever  there 
IS  disease  in  a plant  or  tree,  it  must  be  very 
foolish  to  use  any  of  the  diseased  portions  as 
manure.  Dr.  Thwaites  advocated  at  one  time 
the  gathering  and  burning  of  the  fungus-covered 
leaves  of  our  coffee.  But  where  there  is  no 
disease,  we  cannot  see  objection  to  the  manurin'^' 
of  turnips,  or  coffee,  cacao  or  tea,  any  more 
than  coconuts  and  plantains,  with  the  surplus 
refuse  of  the  plant  or  tree  itself.  Still  there  is 
room  for  experiments  after  the  fashion  set  by 
Mr  Sim,  and  we  should  also  at  this  time  like 
to  hear  froni  some  of  our  leading  jdanters  on 
the  subiect  of  the  manures  used  with  most  ad- 
vantage  at  different  elevations  on  oiir  Ceylon 
tea.  The  occasion,  too.  is  one  on  ivliich  our  old 
adviser.  Mi-  'John  Hughes,  may  have  something 
to  say  lyortli  listening  to;  for,  now  that  the  mystery 
about  “third-class  manures  on  the  railway  has 
been  removed,  the  way  is  clear  for  considering 
low  far  the  application  to  tea  of  imported  or 
Colombo  manures  h.as  extended  duriim  the  nast 
few  years  and  how  far  it  is  likely  ?o  be  per- 
waneiitly  beneficial  or  the  reverse."^  ^ * 
