April  i,  1897.]  THE  TROPICAf, 
AGRICULTQRIST. 
719 
A large  luuuber  uf  estates  all  over  tlie  islaiul 
ai  g.Kid  elevatioa  and  with  healthy  bushes  secure 
low  [irices.  Siiperiuieudeiits  and  Conductors  known 
to  Miake  good  ten,  are  put  on  these.  New  and 
expensive  machinery  are  put  on.  Tlie  price  stilt 
reniainid  low.  How  do  you  account  for  this?  — 
Yours,  ■ PLANTCU. 
COARSE  AND  FINE  LUCK  [NO  OF  TEA. 
Nawala))!tiya,  March  S. 
1)K.\R  Silt, — Now  that  the  iliseussiou  in  your 
columns  ye  coarse  plucking  and  rubbisliy  tea,  with 
over-production — the  inevitable  results  ot  such  a 
method  being  adopteil— is  being  freely  ventilated, 
will  not  the  ligures  given  below  be  a poser  to 
our  V. A.’s  ami  Directors  of  our  Ceylon  Tea 
Companies  as  to  this  suicidal  policy  which  here- 
after means  death  to  the  shareholders  and 
other  proprietors  of  tea  ! 
'fake  for  example  the  Celestial  Empire  : heavenly 
John’s  fate  was  sealed  when  Ceylon  stepi>eJ  in 
with  a tea  eipial  to  any  in  the  world  and  by 
miles  superior  to  that  being  heaped  on  the  mar- 
ket by  John  Chinaman  & Co.  What  followed 
we  all  know.  With  this  recent  knowledge  well 
before  ns,  if  we  are  to  go  on  glutting  our  al- 
ready overstocked  mai  ket  with  tea  that  John 
was  wont  to  suiiply  when  he  had  it  all  to  him- 
self, can  we  doubt  the  results  ? “ Cive  a dog  a 
bad  name,  Arc.  ” lias  been  veritaldy  proved  in  the 
case  of  John  Chinaman,  and  if  we  [lersist  in  onr 
mad  career  that  sncli  will  be  our  experience  in 
the  near  future  is  not  a mere  nightmare.  To 
obtain  a sound  reputation  takes  tons  of  gold,  but 
to  secure  a bad  one  jmu  need  hardly  spend  a brass 
farthing.  “ To  be  forewarnetl  is  to  be  forearmed.” 
Let  us  therefore  in  1807  rise  to  the  occasion  ere 
the  death-knell  is  sounded  over  Ceylon’s  spicy 
teas.  There  is  this  frivolous  excuse  which  some 
are  always  ready  to  advance. — “ If  we  dro])  in 
our  exports,  others  will  rise  up.  Let  them  ! 
All  I say  is  those  countries  which  will  flood  the 
markets  with  rubbishy  teas  will  soon  fiml  their 
doom  ; whilst  we  in  Ceylon,  if  we  noic  strike  the 
happy  medium  and  keep  to  it  steadily,  shall  and 
will  have  the  sweet  comfort  of  knowing  that  our 
teas  are  ?-n  established  staple  for  years  to  come. 
Now  for  my  table  produced  by  humble  eftbrts  : — 
“ Quality  w.  Quantity” — which  will  also  do  away 
with  the  clamour  for  laborers,  a grand  reduction 
of  the  labor  force  being  an  undoubted  outcome. 
Estate  supposed  to  yield,  say  100,000  lb.  tea 
annually  ; coarse  plucking. 
Average  6d.  alb.  = £2,500-0-0.  Same  estate 
80,000  lb. ; fair  plucking  ; average  7d.  = £2,,38.3-(3-8. 
Difference  £166-13-4. 
Cost  of  extra  20,000  lb.  tea  at,  say  4<1. 
Will  land  you  in  £333  6 8 
Profit  on  coarse  leaf  166  13  4 
Diflerence  in  expenditure  166  13  4 
80,000  lb.  tea  at  7d.  £2,333  6 8 
Diflerence  in  expenditure  166  13  4 
£2,5f  0 0 0 
Put  that  in  your  pipe  and  smoke  it,  ye  croakers 
of  “quantity  pays”  ! What  about  wear  and  tear 
of  machinery,  &c.,  &c.,  saved  ? ' C.  T. 
P.i3. — Whether  I produce  100,000  or  80,000  I can 
safely  do  both  at  4d.  a lb.  Diflerence  in  pluck- 
ing won’t  affect  it  : it  may  the  first  2 months  or 
so  till  Menatchiegets  up  to  the  new  style  of  plucking; 
and  ever  after  your  averages  are  precisely  the 
same  as  if  you  were  plucking  an  extra  leaf  or 
even  4 A 
[Has  “ C.  T.”  observed  that  a great  many  of 
(he  letiers  in  answer  to  our  circular,  deny  that 
(he  plucking  is  any  coarser  than  it  has  been 
all  along?— Ed.  T.k.] 
HOW  TO  DEAL  WITH  UNPROFITABLE 
LOWCOUNITIY  TEA. 
Matalij  West,  March  11. 
Dkar  Su!, — T was  looking  over  the  jirospec- 
tus  of  the  Talgaswella  Tea  Company  and  the 
Kstimate  (made  if  I am  not  mistaken  by  Mr. 
T.  C.  Owen)  for  opening  500  acres  in  tea.  It 
showed  at  the  end  of  .3)  years,  a profit  of  22^ 
])er  cent.  How  has  this  been  fulfilled? 
Water  holing  should  be  tried  in  dry  district.s, 
where  the  laml  has  been  drained  pro[>erly,  and 
wliere  it  is  not  too  steep. 
I had  a very  poor  piece  of  tea  udiere  I tried 
this.  The  cost  was  about  R7  to  R8  per  acie  arid 
the  yield  was  iloubled,  and  the  fiehl  lias  continueil 
to  give  double  for  the  last  5 years.  Might  not 
this  be  tried  on  Talgaswella  wliere  the  climate 
is  hot  and  the  evaporation  consequently  great ; 
especially  as  some  of  the  land  is  said  to  be  sandy. 
All  the  rainfall,  or  nearly  all,  will  be  absorbed  arid 
the  tea  will  flush  well  during  the  drought.  Again 
should  shade  not  bo  tried  ? I do  not  know  if 
(Irevilleas  grow  well  in  the  low'-conntry,  but 
Dadap  and  Albizzia  Mollucana  ilo.  They  might) 
be  planted  oiiLdnally  Kj' x 10'  and  after  2 yeaia 
or  so  when  the  trees  grow,  they  should  be 
tliinned  out  and  the  distance  might  be  2o'x2o' 
or  more.  Leguminous  plants  enrich  the  soil 
and  the  experiment  if  tried  will  not  cost  much, 
and  cannot  in  any  case  do  damage.— Youis 
PLANTER. 
ENEMIES  OF  TEA. 
Maligatenne  Estate,  Veyangoda,  March  15. 
Dear  Sir, — Enclosed  in  a match  bo.x  you  will 
receive  by  post  a worm  or  a grub  which  attacks 
tea  tiee.s.  It  was  found  uniler  the  followim** 
circumstances.  Observing  a small  collection  o*f 
what  appeared  as  a heap  of  saw  dnst  at  the 
foot  of  a tea  tree  of  two  years’  growth,  I ex- 
amined tic  tree  and  found  a small  hole  at  the 
foot  of  the  tree  about  l-8th  of  an  inch  from  the 
ground.  I ]irobed  it  and  found  the  hole  to  take 
an  upwaril  direction.  1 cut  down  the  tree  and 
laid  it  open,  and  found  the  grub  about  8 inches 
from  the  hole  up  the  tree.  As  the  above  in- 
formation inay  be  of  some  use  to  tea  planters, 
I thought  it  right  to  send  it  to  you.— Yours  truly, 
C.  L.  H.  DIAS  BA^JDARANAYAKA. 
[The  “ grub  ” is  the  larva  of  the  Borer 
zeuzera  cojf'va-,  described  in  Mr.  E.  E.  Green’s 
Insect  pests,’  page  8.  It  is  an  old  enemy  of 
coffee,  though  never  a widespread  one  in  Ceylon. 
It  is  also  found  in  tea,  but  not  in  such  numbers 
as  to  need  any  special  efforts  to  check  tliem  — 
Ed.  T.A.] 
APPOINTxMENT  OF  A SPECIALIST  TO 
investklyte  cacao  disease. 
Sir,— Cacao  growers  will  be  gratified  to  hear 
that  the  Government  intends  to  have  the  cau.se 
and  nature  of  the  pest  which  has  in  some  places 
done  so  mnch  damage  to  the  red  variety  ot  cacao 
investigated,  and  I believe,  the  services  of  a com- 
jietent  specialist  will  be  secured.  Our  thanks  are 
due  to  H.  E.  the  (.^oveinor  for  having  promptly 
interested  himself  in  the  matter.— Yours  faith- 
THOS.  NORTH  CHRISTIE. 
St.  Andrews,  Maskeliya,  March  22qt[. 
