534 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb.  I,  1897. 
many  others  besides.  Extension  now  is  nearly  con- 
fined to  the  low  country  and  Uva,  and  the  total 
amount  is  not,  we  think,  increasing,  but  decreasing 
5’early.” 
There  is  a good  deal  more  than  Mr.  Ilyan’s 
“fact”  here,  especially  in  the  words  we  have 
italicized. 
In  justifying  our  censure  we  need  only  quote 
two  sentences  from  our  article 
“ Let  it  be  granted  that  the  available  reserves  in 
certain  of  our  districts  are  nearly  all  planted,  what 
about  manui-iny?  Not  one  word  of  reference  does 
our  contemporary  make  to  a departure  which  is 
now  every  year  more  followed  in  Ceylon  and  which, 
of  itself,  with  the  results  before  us,  otight  to  render 
Indian  Tea  Company  Directors  and  other  planters 
of  tea,  more  and  more  careful  how  they  rush 
on  large  new  clearings  without  any  proper  consi- 
deration of  how  the  over-production  already  threat- 
ened, is  to  be  cleared  off.” 
What  our  contempoiary  means  by  the  “total 
amount  decreasing”  it  is  hard  to  say — surely 
not  that  Ceylon  is  to  give  a lower  tea  export 
in  1897-8  or  9 than  in  1896  and  yet  where  is 
the  “truth”! 
THE  CEYLON  TEA  OUTPUT— AND 
MANURING. 
With  reference  to  our  evening  contemporary’s 
statement  that  besides  Dimbula,  Uikoya  and 
Maskeliya,  “ many  other  districts”  had  nearly 
reached  the  limit  of  their  production,  an  ex- 
perienced planter  very  pertinently  asks  : — “ Is 
not  manuring  equal  to  opening  up  new  land, 
thereby  increasing  tbe  output  of  tea  ?”— and  in 
illustration  we  are  told  of  a case  where  castor- 
cake  and  bones  doubled  the  yield  nine  months 
after  application  and  this  on  land  that  had  been 
in  continuous  cultivation  for  forty  years  with 
collee,  cinchona  and  tea.  “If  any  bulky  manure 
has  been  applied  to  this  estate,  it  would  only 
have  been  in  small  quantities,  such  as  a little 
stable  manure  or  from  a few  milch  cows  and 
scarcely  worth  alluding  to.” 
We  may  well  ask  whether  it  was  consistent 
with  “ telling  the  truth,”  to  .say  nothing  about 
what  “ manuring”  is  doing  and  is  likely  to  do 
for  the  “ many  districts”  that  have  no  more  land 
to  plant. 
We  are,  however,  more  and  more  struck  with 
the  agreement  in  opinion  among  planters,  that 
unless  the  Labour  Supply  is  reinforced,  it  will 
be  impossible  to  keep  up  or  extend  manuring, 
to  do  justice  in  plucking  leaf,  or  in  cultivation,  and 
even  to  ensure  due  care  in  preparation  of  the  tea. 
TOBACCO  PRODUCTION  AND  CIGAR- 
MAKING IN  CEYLON. 
At  a time  when  tea  production,  if  not  pi  lin- 
ing, is  supposed  to  be  overdone  and  when  we  are 
receiving  such  discouraging  news  of  cacao  (as 
comes  today  from  one  district  “ most  distre.ss- 
ing  how  old  cacao  is  dying”),— it  is  .almost  re- 
freshing to  receive  such  a paper  from  a Tobacco 
Expert  as  we  publish  below.  He  alleges 
that  tobacco,  even  in  Ceylon,  should  be 
made  to  pay  better  than  tea  and  that  a fair  trial 
has  never  been  given  to  this  product, — that  there 
is  a great  market  at  our  very  doors  and  that 
Ceylon  cigars  should  beat  tho.se  of  India  and 
North  Borneo;  while  never  before  was  there 
sucb  a chance  for  profitable  investment  with 
Cuba  and  tlie  Philip[)ines  in  trouble. 
Now  how  is  it  that  only  an  Indian  Expert 
knows  all  this?  And  why  does  he  reveal  the  secret 
to  provoke  competition,  and  not  rather  make  hay 
in  his  own  gardens  while  the  sun  shines?  Ceylon 
planters  are  supposed  to  be  pretty  sharp  and 
yet  .some  of  the  shrewdest  of  them,  of  late  years 
even,  have  tried  tobacco  and  burnt  their  lingers. 
Let  “Pixpert”  raise  the  capital  in  India  and 
come  and  show  us  “how  to  do  it”  with  tob.acco 
in  Ceylon. 
Our  Expert  friend  sent  us  a previous  paper 
on  the  same  subject  which  can  be  referred  to  at 
page  378  (December’s)  Trojncal  Agriculturist. 
THE  CIGAR  TRADE  AND  CEYLON 
TOBACCO. 
No.  II. 
(Cornmnnicatcd  by  an  Expert.) 
When  comparing  the  success  that  Borneo 
tobacco  and  Borneo  cigars  have  obtained  at  home 
with  the  efforts  of  this  Island  in  this  direction, 
the  cmiparison  is  indeed  an  unsatisfactory  one, 
the  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  PI  very  up  to-date 
Tobacconist  at  home  stocks  Borneo  cigars  while 
a Ceylon  cigar  is  not  in  it  and  never  has  been. 
The  general  excellence  of  Borneo  leaf  coupled 
with  the  enterprising  manner  in  which  this  leaf 
has  been  forced  upon  the  public  notice,  has  done 
everything  to  make  a Borneo  cigar  a popular 
one  and  the  dem.and  for  the  same  a great  one. 
To  Hood  the  markets  at  home  with  any  hope 
of  permanent  success  requires  a good  thing  to 
begin  with.  Borneo  has  this  in  its  tobacco  ; 
the  rest  is  mere  push  and  enterprise.  To  be 
able  to  put  a lirst-class  cigar  upon  the  markets 
to  retail  at  2d  and  3d  each,  means  .an  enor- 
mous demand.  About  nine-tenths  of  the  cigars 
consumed  at  home  are  those  that  sell  at  3d  each 
and  under,  mostly  under  and  this  is  the  class  of 
trade  to  cater  for. 
So  f.ar  Ceylon  has  not  h.ad  a chance  to 
look  in.  The  experiments  that  have  been 
made  have  moved  beyond  question,  that 
a very  fine  and  high  class  leaf  is  produceable  in 
the  Island  and  the  fact  that  these  experiments 
were  not  continued  or  enlarged  upon  is  certainly 
not  due  to  any  f.ailure  to  produce  <a  requisite 
le.af.  There  is  nothing  that  pays  like  “ Baccy  ” — 
not  even  “ tea  ’’ — given  a fair  start  and  fair  condi- 
tions. 
The  Havanna  tiade,  owing  to  the  Cuban  in- 
surrection is  in  a state  of  collapse  and  now  is 
the  time  for  (’eylon  to  make  a fresh  start.  De.a- 
lers  at  home  are  being  forced  to  look  about  for 
new  fields  to  fill  up  the  g.ap  made  by  the  failure 
of  the  Havanna  trade.  Anything  in  the  shape 
of  a good  ami  pure  cigar  that  is  placed  before 
the  public,  is  bound  to  do  well  always  provided 
that  it  is  well  and  sufficiently  forced  upon  the 
markets.  The  Havanna  trade  is  not  at  all  likely 
to  recover  itself  for  .a  year  or  two  yet,  even  sup- 
posing that  the  Cuban  troubles  .are  now  coming 
to  an  eml  and  this  is  by  no  means  the  case. 
Borneo  Cigars  are  now  being  pushed  .at  an 
opportune  moment  and  Indian  manufacturers 
have  also  awakened  to  the  situation  and  are 
doing  all  they  know  to  take  .advantage  of  it. 
India  would  have  no  chance  against  Ceylon, 
were  Ceylon  to  properly  contest  the  tratle. 
Indian  tob.acco  is  not  and  never  can  beany  thing 
e<|ual  to  th.at  produced  by  Ceylon;  the  climate  and 
soil  are  against  this. 
What  Ceylon  should  do,  is  not  only  to  produce 
leaf,  l)ut  also  to  manufacture  it  and  export  only 
