7I6 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[April r. 1898. 
TEA FACTORIES AND SITES. 
Sir, — W ill any of your experienced correspon- 
dents favour me with replies to the following 
questions : — 
1. What amounts have been spent on excavat- 
ing sites for tea factories ? 
2. Would the bottom of a valley prove an un- 
favourable site for a tea factory as respects the 
withering of the leaf ? 
3. Would it be wiser to incur extra expendi- 
ture on securing a site upon an open hill side 
rather than choose a site down in a valley ? 
— Yours faithfully, 
’ AN INDIAN PLANTER. 
[The first consideration, in regard to a factory 
site, is what power can be utilized — if “ water- 
power ” from a river and this can best be done 
by occupying a position near its banks, every- 
thing else gives way to this all-imiiortant con- 
suleration. We know of a first-class factory, 
turning out good teas, which has its factory at 
tlie bottom of a valley for the sake of the 
turbine driven from the river and which gets good 
‘withers’ and makes good tea. But then the 
.circumstances of Indian tea districts, in respect of 
climate and sunshine, [may ditl'er much from 
•Ceylon. — E d. T,A-'\ 
CEYLON TEA INDUSTRY, 
(By an ex-Ceylon Colonist.) 
London, March 4. 
What is coming ever our 
TEA INDUSTRY? 
Only 18 months ago tea was being boomed in 
the city ; and today men are shaking their heads, 
prophesying all manner of evil things and “re- 
fusing to be comforted.” Shares are practically 
unsaleable and the average price of tea goes 
steadily down. The reports of our different Com- 
panies are not pleasant reading. They all ac- 
count for reduced profits by referring to the rice 
famine and the high exchange. No doubt, these 
are important factors.; but I think they only 
partially explain the unfortunate position. The 
average price of tea is going down and those who 
are in the trade complain bitterly of the poor 
■tuff that is now being shipped to Mincing Lane. 
The fact is that Ceylan is losing its good name 
and I think there can be no .question that quality 
has been sacrificed for quantity. The tempta- 
tion to show big yields and so assist the flota- 
tion of Companies at fancy prices has been too 
great, and now that these Companies are floated 
they must keep up the oig yield to support the 
prospectus. What chance has quality in the 
competition ? But to my mind the most serious 
factor in the whole situation is the statement 
now being made vary freely in the city that 
tea has been “cornered,” and that the produce is 
now in the hands cf a few men who can practi- 
cally control in the market. I believe I am 
right in saying that Lipton, Mazzawaite Co., 
Brooke, Bond & Co., and the Wholesale Co- 
operative Co. are practically today able to re- 
gulate the price of tea. The unfortunate thing 
about this combination, from Ceylon’s point of 
of view, is that it exists not to keep up but to de- 
press the price of the article dealt in. When these 
Companies are buyers something like fair price 
may be realised, but if they agree at any sale 
to withdraw, the market collapses. The tea sale 
this week is the worst on record and men, 
usually sanguine, confess that the outlook is 
depressing. I do not wish to exaggerate the im- 
portance of Lipton, but my opinion is that he 
is primarily the cause of the present disturbed 
state of the tea market. The “ largest dealer in 
the Kingdom ” had to break all known prices ; 
others in the trade entered into competition to 
save themselves and the demand was for cheap 
tea. One of the Companies mentioned above is 
now selling packet tea at lOd per lb. to complete 
with Lipten’s at Is per lb. Sorry I cannot write 
more but the mail is just closing. 
[The aoove may explain the t'alcutta telegram 
contradicting any “corner.” Should such arise, 
planters will have to form Syndicates to get 
directly at consumers. — E d. T.A.] 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Tea Planting in Bogawantalawa-Balan- 
GOD.v Division. — A recent visitor passing from 
Dikoya to Balangoda remarks on the evidence 
of progress at the junction of the two dis- 
tricts “ I have found a groat change in this 
part of the country since last here. Before, 
Detenagalla was the first tea you saw after the 
gap ; now the whole head of the valley, which 
used to be ‘ chena,’ is planted up, and as the 
soil and the ‘jhat’ are both good, it seems likely 
to be a good investment,” 
Indian Tea. — The total shipments to all places, 
from 1st April 1897 to 31st January 1898, 
amounted to 141,678,418 lb., of which Great 
Britain alone took 130,419,051 lb., leaving less 
than 8 million pounds for consumption in India, 
which is a curious commentary on the exigencies 
of trade. The country producing the tea, with 
a population of 300 million souls, is unable to 
consume more than 8 million pounds of its own 
product. Not that the Aryan does not appreciate 
the value of tea, indeed he is fully alive to its 
merits, but it will require great efforts to pene- 
trate his conservatism. The question of pi ice is 
an important factor with him, and until he can 
get his chah by the pice, it is doubtful whether he 
will become an extensive censumer. — I.P. Cazette. 
In Central Africa.— A former coffee planter 
in Mysore writes to a friend in Ceylon describing 
his experience. A contemporary gives the letter, 
and from it we take the following extract ; — “Since 
leaving six months ago I have not met half dozen 
Europeans and the Government Collectors. I 
have been in places and whole districts where no 
white man has ever been, and only on one or 
two occasions I have been badly r. ceived. 
Generally the Chief has turned out and given 
me his house. Where I have been badly received I 
have left an everl-asting impression on the villagers. 
I have been buying ivory in exchange for calico, 
bub have not made much out of that, but now 
I have taken up 2,50 ) acres of some of the best 
land in the world for coffee planting and have stated 
work in earnest. As a byplay I have over 700 
men gathering Indiarubber, who bring me in over 
jalf a ton a week, and I hope to double that 
amount of men in a couple of months. I started 
with the idea of settling at least not witliin luO 
miles of another planter and so I have, for my 
nearest neighbours are 600 miles away and yet my 
transport is just as easy as theiis. 1 am about 
ten miles from the lake shore and can send down 
goods by the lake into the Shire river and thence 
down the Zambezi to the sea English coinage is of 
no value here.” 
