34® 
THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTURIST [November 2, 1891. 
PlilCKS OF TEA. 
The one engroseing to[)io just now the market, and 
how long exteiiRlons will he curried on at the pr> Bent 
unremunerativo prices 1 AVIiat 1 We hear fomo 
people Bay, nnremunerativo ! hut, »o ehall fay, uii- 
remnnorative 1 for, if aome gardene with a big yield 
per acre can atnnd the present range of priors 
and give good reaulta, there are far more that tvunot 
possibly lire at them ! In the Annual Adininiatralion 
Keport on tea the outturn for the whole district is pnt 
down at 3(12 Ih., or say, fonrmauiids, and, in Lho llaheo- 
gunge Sub- Division, the outturn is estimated at 591 lb. 
per mature noro, so that, when the average only works 
out four maunds per acre, there must bo a number i f 
gardens only yielding between two and three ^ maunds 
per acre, and, at present prices, what does this mean ? 
Let us examine and wo will soon find out. ^ What is a 
moderate estimate for local expenditure? is naturally 
one of the first questions to be nnawered, and although 
there are slight variations fiom local causes, yet we 
hardly think any one will cousidtr R90 per acre a high 
estimate, in fact, oar idea is that it ia seldom, or ever, 
done at this figure. However, li t us take this figure 
as fairly approximate, and, wo find, that at six annas 
per lb., it takes a yield ol three maunds per acre to 
cover local expenditure, not to speak of Agents, Ilro- 
kers, and other oiiargoa in Culoutts, or L union At 
present rates oi exlmngo six amiaa represents Bd to 
Bid., and if one turns up the Homo sale lists there are 
not many Sylhet and Oaehsr gardens getting any- 
thing over this, and wo have the other charges 
alluded to above to add on ; so that a very large 
Dumber of gardens must, jnst now, be turning out 
their teas at a dead loss ! Were Ceylon dilfercntly 
situated as regards labour, tbe fight for supremacy, 
which is now' only bsgiuniug, would have been a mucb 
tonghcr one than it ia likely to be. 
Hitherto Ccyhn hoatofomo extent scored by having 
factories i%c., made to hand &c., hut now that auch 
atrides have been made further into the interior new 
factories mast be built, and labour imported, to meet 
the inoreaBtiig area being brought into cultivation and 
the shoe will pinch new, where it did not bslnte. 
True, Ceylon may score a little by cheaper freights, but 
it cannot gi t ita Isbonr cheaper, hoe cheaper, roll, or 
fire cheaper, or, as cheaply as Assam, Caohar, or Sylhet. 
And outturn, so far as one can jndge, is about 1 he same 
average soalu as in India. The chances then arc, view- 
ing the ma'ter from an unprejn'lioed light, that, in the 
long run India will beat Ceylon in growing ten as a 
paying indnstry, but, there will be a tough fight before 
thia is established.* The Ceyloo men have a great 
knack of advertising, and pulling together, which ad- 
versity will teach their Assam brelhroc, and the day is 
not far off, now ; but it is to be hoped, that the Assam 
planter will not be so sanguine as the Ceylon one ; and 
ruib any new industry to such an extent, as to reduce 
it in a few 5 ear 8 , from a safe iuveslmont, to a 
dangerous epcoulntion. Unfortunately, if any ono 
follows tho history of the spicy isle a record is found 
of either great anccoss or great disaster ; and the 
characteristic of tho Ceylon planter is not oiiginality, 
but a stubborn porsisteuco oil a road which experience 
has proved practical. In spite of all tho go, *c., dis- 
played by the Ceylon planter, there is no record to 
relate of any original industryt ■ in the island being a 
success. Coffee was known and cnltivatod in many 
other countries before it was iiitrodnoed into Ceylon. 
Cinchona, had a rush for a time, but it has, more or 
less, boon abandoned of late years, althougli it still 
oontinnes to be sucoossfully cnltivated in India. Coca, 
has never done much. India-rubber is now almost un- 
heard of, and lately notliing hut tea haa been talked of 
and is likely to be for years to come, as many hundred 
acres planted out lately, unless tlio tea market improves 
or other outlets are found for tho produce, will never 
bo plucked, and Ceylon, will again bo to tho fore as it 
was a fo w years ago-l 
* No doubt of it, and we suspect Ceylon planters arc 
not prepared to concede the victory to lu'lia.— b^. y, ^ 4 , 
t What 13 an original industry, and liow is India 
superior to Ceylon in this respect ? — Ed. T. A. 
t 'Tho wish being father to the thought. The 
■uarliDgat Ceylon is dospivablc and unwoitby.~ED, X.A- 
It is absurd to think that hanks will go on finan- 
cing tea oonoeras against a certain dead loss, and thia 
is what it will come to with many concerns by the 
end of the sea-mi. Conoentralion and amalgamations 
may, in some instances, etsve off tho evil day <o a 
few concerns, hnt this will not be general, and 1892 
will sie many ooncorns in tbe market, without a 
buyer even at nominal rates. How many gardens 
can turn their teas out at four annas per lb. local, 
and Calcutta, exfenditiire included? Very few we 
say — and yet this minst ho done, if a fair profit is to 
bo reaped. Improved machinery haa done a great 
deal to cheapen the cost of lea per lb. but tboro is 
a limit in even this, and althongh economy has been 
effected in this way we are much afraid that as long 
OB tea exists, cultivation will cost tho same; for the 
coolies wage does not got cheaper ! In Cachnr and 
Syiliot, donbtless, were the railway a fait acrompli there 
would he a slight reduction in cost of importing a 
coolie, but it would be fractional pet acre ; and tho 
only hope in view is a limit to extensions, which is 
now we think looming in the near distance . — Indian 
Vlanters' Gazette. 
- 
NOTES BY “ WANDERER." 
October IStb. 
Our American oousins seem to bo keeping to 
the front sa manufacturers ol Bogus Thopical 
PnoDudie. Nutmegs formerly bad their attention, 
but coJIoo now seems to be favourite. It is oalou- 
lated that 90,000,000 Ib. of bogus coffee are sold 
in the United Statee. The Germans followed suit, 
but a cruel Imperial Government has nipped this 
industry in the bud, for an ImpErial deoreo has 
been issued in Germany forbidding the mannfaoture 
and sale of niachinos for producing artificial oeflte 
ber.ns, whiob certain German newspaper.! have of 
late been eieneively advertising. Would that the 
British Government took equally strong meosurea 
to protect the pure Ceylon tea industry against 
the unaorupuloua villain.'*, who so ouuningly hood- 
wink their customers, generally of tho poorer olass. 
Bice. — I note the following in the Indian Agri- 
culturht'e summary ol trade in Calcutta; 
“The quan'ity of rioe exported rose from 5,360,807 
owt. lo 7,060,413 owt., the inorease bf ing ohielly 
duo to larger supplies drawn by Ceylon." When 
are these wonderful irrigation works in Ceylon, 
on which so much money has been spent to the 
prejudice ol reproductive works, such as railways, 
roads, eduoation, to le of use in enabling Ceylon 
to keep tho money she sent lo India for her food 
Bupplie.s 7 Echo indeed answors where 7 
BoyAD Bo-tanioau Gahde.vs in Ceylon.— Is Dr. 
Trimen now in a position to give an iqually favor- 
able ao'ount of Ina gardens as is given of the 
lodian girdena in the following extraota. Dr, King 
is a praotioal as well as a Scientific Direct r. 
“In spile of the heavy rainfall, the number of ciu- 
obona plants, ilestriiyed by landslips in the Bengal 
Oovernments plnulatieiH was less hist year than in 
previous years of einnller raiuff.ll, and no damage 
was done by bad. The ontluni ol the factory, which 
is generally regulated by tho deuiand, wan four 
thousand pounds of cinchona febrifuge an i the stine 
number of pounds of Kuipbato of quinine, as against 
six thousand five hundred, and one thousand eight 
hundred poiinda rofpectivelj in the previous years. The 
revenue derived was a little under one lakh and 
twenty tbousaud rupees, aud the not profit showod 
sevontcen tlionsand rupees, * a result which may he 
oonsiderod ns satisfactory and quite sufficient.’ I’rofit 
is no object with Govuimuont, It desires to secure 
a cheap remedy for fever for use of the people. The 
Licutenant-Oovoruor has discovered hy perscnsl 
enquiry that many dispensaries instead of buying thu 
drug direct from Dr. King at on's rupee per 
ounce, puroliase from private stores at 111-2 and III-4 
per ounce whioh, as the resolution rightly says, ‘ is 
an obvious absurdity. 
