P. 36 NEW PRODUCTS: .

have been the case. Consequently the extension of cultivation which was very rapid some years ago, has now almost entirely ceased. At the end of 1877 about 500 scree were known to lie planted. In 1881 the return was 4,000 acres. At the end of 1883, it was 4,650 acres ; and now two years later in December 1886, we can only in Lite 2,400 acres from our returns, the decrease being apparently through Liberian abandoned in the districts mainly of K al utara, Kelani Valley and Kuruneaala. In some eases, however, Liberian coffee is said "11Ws to he a failure : where the trees have been properly and judiciously planted, the return after 4 years, averaging. over 3 cwt. per acre [from about 700 trees planted 8u f= et by 7] has been satisfactory considering the short crops given L the Arabian variety in resent years; and the demand for the Liberian ti berry especially from A erica is more than equal to the supply, the produce ! selling in New ' t rates equal to ordinary coffee in London. It is 1! clear however, !hat Liberian coffee is not destined in Ceylon to be any but a very minor product.—The export according to the Customs accounts Ills been as follows :—Liberian coff-ie 1881 —242 cwt.; 1882 1,270 cwt. ; 1883 Ij cwt.; 1884-3,412 cwt. I I I Liberian coif e cultivation is said to be promising in some parts of the $.•raits Settlements, ziarawah and North B irueo. For full particulars as to tithe tiultivation of this species, see the "Liberian Coffee Manual" published 11 at the Ceylon Observer 0;fiee, nod the Tropical Apicallarist. III

V,1 TEA: THE TINA-PLANTING ENTERPRISE IN CEYLON.

(www.historyofceylontea.com)Tenuent mentions that the cultivation of tea in Ceylon was attempted by the Dutch, but without success. Bertolaeci contradicts a report current in his day (1813) that the tea plant grew wild in the forests of Ceylon, and yet Bennett thirty years later, gravely publishes a colored plate of a species of indigenetts Plant. Fits botanical blundering was speedily exposed.' The tea plant was first introduced iu the British era about the year 1841 or 1842, but it is doubtful whether the trees brought by Mr. Maurice Worms from and planted on Roth- sch Id estate, Pussellawa, or a selection of Asaam plants introduced by Mr. Llewellyn, of Calcutta, to Penylan estate, Dolosbage, were the earlier arrivals here. Some plants were transferred from Rothschild to Kotmale, the Itanibothi Pass, and Pundalueyo, but no systematic attempt was made at cultivation, though for a short time the Messrs. Worins manufactured a little tea in Pussellawa as an experiment, employing a Chinaman fir the purpnse, but the result was said to be an outlay of about £5 per lb. of the tea prepared ! This plants however, throtie exceedingly well, and when the Ceylon Company, Limited, in Mat took over the properties of Messrs. Worms, they found a small extent of tea on Kondegala on the Ramhorla Pass, to which they soon began to pay attention. A planter of experience in became their tea manager, and an importation of Ben- gali coolie s afterwards took place on their account, but did not turn out well ; this Company has row, however. a wide area under tea. Earlier in the field and lnnre StleCiptilld were the proprietors of latIkandura plantation, Hewalieta (then Messrs. (_. D. B. Harrison and W. M. Leake, now Messrs. A. C. Milue & Co.,) whose produce, under Mr. Jas. Taylor's careful management, has acquired the highest reputation among * So early af 1 '45 Mr. Taylor by Mr. Harrison's Orders began collecting tea seed front Peratieutya and planted it out along the roadsides in 1866. In that year Mr W. M. Lake being Secretary of the Planters' Association, he moved that body to get Sir Hercules Robinsun's Government to send Mr. Arthur Morrice, an experienced Ceylon coffee planter, on a mission to inaptet and report on the Assam tea districts. The result was a valuable Report published by tinverument and reproduced in the Tropical Agriculluri:t vol. for 1885-6. That Report induced Mr. Leake to order for his firm (Keir, Demise & Co.) a consignment of Assam hybrid tea seed (the first probably v vet- imported) in 1866, and this seed was handed over to the rare isf Mr. Ta for on Laolconiura Mr. Taylor's first clearing of 20 acres was felled in the end of 1867, a year before the Ceylon Company had felled

•Tennent on better authority mentions that the leaves of the " Raminwara" (0a0gin auric• wain) are infilsed iu the South of Ceylon as a substitute for tea, the Apt being called "die Mutant tea tree." + ma P. D. Millie says he had tea planted in Pundaluoya in 13tH. TOE BEGINNING OP TEA—PLANTING IN CEYLOIT,

any forest for tea.* .The Company imported Assam seed and began plant- ing the hybrid kind m 1869. t The pioneers on a considerable scale included, beiAaes, 1M 011814. Elphington0 ( Avt;alla, Windsor Forest and Oliphant), Markeuzie ( Kaudaloy a), Armstrong ( Rookwood), Bayley (Morawaka), Shand (R.,k wane), and Rossiter (Nuwara Eliya). Messrs. _Reid, Rutherford, Tod and Mackay—railway and road contractors—took up teaplmting first on the wouderful Muriawatte plantation (site of abandoned coffee laud) near Gam ula, where 1,100 lb. of made-tea per acre has been secured and gy pioneering in the Yakdessa and the new and special tea district of "Wain Valley. The Kalutara district opened originally for Liberiln coff3 and cacao, very soon was found to be betterisuited for tea. In the coflue district of Ambagainnwa, the Messrs. Mack wood (Cialboda) and Leeelonan (Kadawelle). following on the Ceylon Co., Limited, sp2ath4 demonstrated the success of tea, while lower down the Blackstone garden opened by spirited Ceylonese gentlemen of the Bar (Mr. Barber being managing direct- or) acquired the very highest reputation for its tea. Mr. Tom Gray, of 51 aekeliya, also deserves mention as the pioneer of that district, essentially, suited for tea, and he Was one of the first proprietors in the young coffee districts to turn his attention to tea The late Mr. de Boes in the Morawak Korale bugau early, as also the proprietors (.1 Anningkande. Planting in the young, ingit ' districts, however, only began systematically in 1883, and not much was done till 1884-5, Abbotsford being an exception. In Uva, the first clearings were ender the auspices of the Uva and Spring Valley Companies in the Badclla district, and tint much was done till 1885. During 1873 and 1874, a good many plants of both the Assam hybrid and Om China variety were distributed from the Peradeniya and Hakgala gardens ; later on, the chief means of supply was through the importation of large quantities of Assam seed from Calcutta, a very considerable business having sprung up iu this way ; but latterly a great deal of good seed has been made available on the older local plantations, the cost and the risk being less than from imported seed. Indeed one reason why cultivation did not more rapidly extend up to 1883, was the comparative scarcity and dearness of tea seed. There was then no money to spare with many of our planters to invest in maunds of such

* lit 1871.72 (see an interesting letter it T. 11,, page 153, Vol, 188541) 3lr. Lemke was able to sell the produce of the Loolcondura tea-garden in Kandy and samples • of the Ceylon Company's tea were also tested in 1371, and the result induced them at once to extend cultivation. Accordingly Mr. Jenkins, an Assam tea planter, took charge of the Clompany'a operations. Mr. .Tames Taylor had coin- ■ mincedthe Loolcuandura plantation some years before, and had made fairly good tea, but Mr. Jeukins gave valuable advice to, and inspired confidence in, Mr. Taylor, who, however, after a brief visit to It began to supply tea equal to Assam in preparation and quality. t la MG the Director of the Botanic Gardens reported that a sample of Ceylon tea papared irom China (Bohea) plants had been favourably reported on in London, and for several years Dr. Thwaitea continued pressing the advantage of cultivating this hardy plant on the attention of the Government and the public. Dr. Thwaites thought the waives might grow the Bohea kind with advantage, as it succeeds almost anywhere. In 'sea. there were 270 plants of Assam two feet high prospering well at the llakgala (airtime, Iola two years after, the distribution of seed commenced, the opinion being that the Assam kind would succeed best at an altitude above the limit of coffee. In 1872 Dr. Thwaites saw no reason why the sides of pur higher mountain-ranges should not be covered with flourishing tea plantations, whiltrhe strongly recommended the cultivatioq of the China Bohea kind on abandoned coffee land. Li 1175 the fact was fully recog- eized.that the cultivation of tea in Ceylon was an established' commercial success The fallowing reference to the prospect of extended Tea Cultivation iii Ceylon is from one of Tlawsites' Administration Reports:—"Nearly all the forest laud available for coffee cultivation in the above-named districts (Dimbula. and Dikoya) has tow become private property; and, although it has not all yet been planted, it is probable that after a very few years, when about ten thousand additional acres of forest will have been felled, the coffee estates will have reached their limit. hat there will still remain extensive tracts of land suitable for plantations of tea. and to this purpose they will undoubtedly be sooner or later devoted, if one may judge by the example of the tea estate at Kondegala. This property has been unskilfully handle& awl the trees have been exposed to various drawbacks. They are also planted it soil much inferior in depth and calamity to that which is to be found in many parts of ti v• vast expanse of prim:mail forest, the elevation of which is too high for the growth of .1.r• yet the. Kondngala tea is pro Jounced to be equal to the best production of Amain, 41:, i the livid for European enterprise is thus open for many years to come." 33 THE "RUSH" INTO TEA.

at from R,'0 to RSO per maund. * The cost of planting up an acre for seed alone is much more for tea than for coffee or cinchona. There is now, however, sea iteely a planting district in the island, in which tea is not found, either in a sued! garden patch, a few acres here and there, or in clearings of from 50 to Ilk) and even 200 acres iu extent. There can be no doubt that the prevalence of coffee leaf-disease was the prin- .):11 cause of special attention being paid to the planting of tea in Ceylon, and in-

Med "the rush into tea" would have begun earlier among our planters, were it nut feared that we had not what was wanted to ve the produce a commercial reput- tiou, niehiely knowledge or skill for the due eparation for the home markets, a Maideratiim Mr. Robertson of Madras thus reivred to when reporting ou the Nil.

gheries :• — "The manipulation and curing of the ..-afis the most difficult part of the tea planter's worlbsagell'he value of the manufaufet sad tea altogether depends upon the skill and edit with which this is performed. siiknatters not that the leaf may have been produced under the most favourable isainditiona of climate, soil and %manure if the curing is defective. The great drawback to the general con. of Neilgherry is their varying character, each plantation and °garden producing different samples and qualities they are thus to a great extent elkept out of the wholesale market. If the tea planters, _instead of each attempting I, to gore the leaf he produces, would raise the capital amongst themselves for establishing in each centre of tea cultivation, large, well equipped factories in which the leaf of the district could be properly cured under skilled direction, they would be able to produce a tea of an uniform sample and quality, which could be gent in quantity into the wholesale market where it would take a definite position. Due sucli factory could be worked at far less expense than the ten or a dozen small tea-ctiritu houses which it would displace ; and under good management there would seldom be any more difficulty in conveying the feesh leaf to the Tactery than is now experienced in carrying it to the present curing houses. " Central factories have been proposed in Ceylon too, but so far planters pre- fer each to have his own even with the drawbacks pointed out by Mr. Robertson. Notwithstanding Mr. Taylor's F ucceas however, there was not much encouragemeut to cultivate tea in .Ceylon, until tin Indian tea elanter, Mr. " W. Cameron, " improved the system of pruning and plucking and so secured a wonderful difference in the crop returns. This was in 1882.3. Seeing that the tea plant flourishes in Ceylon on gardens very little above sea-level on the Western Coast and at all altitudes inland up to plantations under the shadow of Pidaratalagala at about 6,800 feet, it is hard to say what limit can be placed on the area to he planted with tea eluriug the next few years : already over 100.000 acres are covered with the shrub, and although much has been planted on existing estates, there are still expanses of cultivate i land which have yielded very poor returns in crops of late years, which offer facilities (and encouragement) to the planting with tea. There are also reserves bettor suited for tea than any other product. Nowhere in our planting districts have we heard of tea bushes failing : every. where this product seems to be flourishing luxuriantly.t Leafage rather than blossom and fruit distinguishes our natural vegetation ; and if the old Indian tea planters iu our Midst are to be believed, nowhere on the opposite con- tinent is so much encouragement offered to go into " tea" as in the Central • * The imports of tea seed into Ceylon from cannot unfortunately be given from the Customs accounts, as there is no separate account kept, all seeds being classed together. But there is no otheieeseed imported of any planting import:time, • asst it is significant that the imports have risen as follows:—" Seeds and plants " imported in kW= R24,000 ; in 1880 —1118,000 ; 1866 =R3,696 ; 1807—R6,413; 1868 113,482; 1869-115,880 ; 1870-85,716; 1871-113,0e0; 1872-11,5,014; 1873-1(6,374; 1874-11,12J,11 ; 1876-831,467 ; 1870-1129,423 ; 1877—R04,072 • 1878—R116,805; 187'J • —1(191,122 • 1s8e-1140,072; 1t481—R47,712; l882—R44,617; 1883— R176,3:1; 1884- 8213,00e (of which 11203,000 from India, tea seed of course). Tea seed was got in 1866 and 1889-70 but not again till 1875-9. Meantime Cinchona, Cacao and Liberian Coffee seed were freely imported between 1675-81. Tea seed in quantity has come in chiefly since 1882. t As we have mentioned before, the Katidvan natives who have watched in some districts the beginning and abaudenment of coffee declare that, tea is quite a different thing, that it is 4• a jungle pleat," meaning that it has found a permanent home in Ceylon. Nevertheless, we do not for a moment shut our eyes to the fact of tea in Ceylon as in Iudia, being accessible to the attacks of many enemies: white ants in one or two eases have done much damage to yottgg plants here ; red spider is not unknown, anal various other insecis,•tione miter iinkiertftuee, have been found ell the trees. The " black bug " of coffee hue also been found on tea.

• .11 VALUE OF allow TEAS,

Provinces of Ceylon. Capitalists interested in coffee property 8>ad new require to be told of the advantage of adding tea as well as do notbona to the estate products. Few plantations arc without patches, if cinchona 1s, Which have never done and never will do much good in wife° andnot where it is equally useless to try the bark-tree, but for which tea seems well adapted. On badly grubbed coffee land, where cinchona cannot be got to grow, the tea-bush seems to luxuriate. We believe one of the most omising fields of tea in the country was, some years ago, the scene of a`eraedoned, because completely grubbed out, coffee. On the other baud, thg (Jaeger now (1885) almost is that proprietors may be iu too great a hurry to transform their coftbe into tea plantations : our advice has been fgr many months back. Pet;act fettle : wherever there is coffee in good heart, to 'he veril loath to supersede it while putting. tea in alongside or in reserves. W5 should be sorry to see the old mistake repeated and the whole of our planting region covered, practically, with one plant; tlfrel although tea. crtheless,Nev it will be difficult to hold back disappointed coffee planters with the prospect of a steady profit of from 1180 to I1150 per acre to be mado from tea, counting the crop at 350 lb, and upwards per acre. It will DS seen on reference to the practical essays on Tea Cultivation in Ceylon published •. at the Ceylon Olmerver Office that Messrs. Armstrong, Rutherford, Owen and Hay concur in the opinion that tea cultivation pays well in Ceylon. Ass much as 1,100 lb. of tea per acre has already been gathered as a maximum! at a medium elevation, while an average of 350 to 400 lb. is considered safe fur high estates where the flavour of the leaf sill be superior. The cost of production with a goad crop is eatinuited as low us 30c. per lb. in Colombo, or say 45e. delivered in England or about (allowing for exchange) 9d per lb., while average prices realized for Ceylon teas range from Is 3d I o Is I ld per lb. It is now said that tea can be piste. d in Colombo at 25 cents per lb. to sell at from 70 cents upwards. The London Brokers who at first paid little attention to Ceyhrs tea, chiefly because there was not a sufficiency to make a market, have, for some years, been load in praise of its fine quality and Messrs. W. J. & 11. Thompson (a leading Mincing Lane house) devote a special circular to Ceylon teas.* The prices commanded at this early stage of the enterprise have been equal to those given for the best Assam teas, and experts pronounce the finest of our teas to have merits which will make a markt, for itself with a high value. It should net be a matter for surprise that this result has been attained, for at the Melbourne Exhibition the analyses of Ceylon and Indian teas by official experts proved the superiority of the Ceylon leaf as • reported by the Commissioner (Mr. A. M. Ferguson) as follows ;- Extract. Soluble Salts, Theinc. Darjeeling pekoe ... 38'97 3.16 1•96 • Ceylon 43 -80 3.32 1•82 In total extrset the Ceylon leaf is superior by very nearly 4 .per cent ; it is also superior by •16 per cent in soluble salts, while only in theme (constituent in which the Ceylon orange pekoe specially excelled) is our pekoe •14 per cent below the . In the case of pekoe sonchong, which will be the description of the great bulk of the teas which Ceylon will send into the markets of Australia and other parts of the world, a comparison can be in- stituted with similar teas from the hot Dooare, from lofty Darjeeling, front the fat alluvials of Assam, and from Cachar, foremost of Indian districts for high quality teas—(if the claims of the high-grown leaf filbm Darjeeling, Kumaon, the Kangra valley and the Nilgiris are reserved). Here are the figures :— 4Extract. Soluble Salts. Theiue. Dooars pekoe souchong 40.97 3.08 2'86

Darjeeling 7> 41'80 3•20 1.96 Assam „ 40-12 3.04 166 Cachar „ ... 40'66 3.24 1.44 Ceylon ... 42.80 3.12 1-86 In this case, as in both' the others, Ceylon takes the lead in the imiiertant item of total extract : chews fair figures for soluble salts, and but for the extraordinary figures for theism in the case of the Dooara tea would compare well in respect to the property which, specially present in tea, is also a principle in coffee. There is little doubt that of all the properties of the * There are also at number of other brokers, Messrs. Wilson, Smithett & Co.; Gee. White & Co.; Goer & Stanton ; Lloyd, Carter & Co.; Fairy & Pasteur, &c., who pay special alitentien to Ce/lon teas. 40 AND EXPORTS *Li? 'PA,

tea leaf, tieiuti is the meet variable in proportion to care or the revcr,,,, OIL preparation. Here is how,tho Indian end Ceylon atmehongs compare :— Extract. Soluble Salt. Menlo. a Darjeeling souchong 36-99 3.02 1.66

Assam 1; 39.27 3.00 1'46

Cachar ■■ 40-29 3.12 116 Ceylon 40.40 3'20 1'84 In the ease of this, the lowest class of tea which Ceylon is likely to inaka., aril send in quanlity into the markets of the world, our produce ranks highest, not only in total extracts but in soluble salts and theine : in all which makes tea ?a Ine4le in fart." • 44 After the Melbourne and. ralcutte. Exhibitions and the high reputation as well as many first. class prises tibtained, it was hoped that all the tea we could export from Ceylei4ofor some. years to come would find a ready market in the Australian Cantles, and that by-and-bye Ceylon would provide the major portion of the 20 to 30 millions of lb. consumed in that quarter. But it is found inopractiee that the Australians are content with a cheaper tea—Foochow 'teas, or a mixture of China and Indian or Ceylon—than the prices required for Val- tine produce,. and that better returns are obtained for Ceylon teas in the London market. A very 1,rge local consntrptieu of tea (accompanied in some a asq, by adulteration with other leaves) is springing up renoma the natives of Ceylon—tea in this respect taking the plies of coffee to a great extent, so that already probably over 200,000 lb. of tea are locally used iu Ceylon and this may mount up to 2 or 3 millions of lb. eventually. The tea plant being sn well adapted for cultivation through the Weetern, and great part of the Southern as v&11 as Central and North-western provinces of Ceylon, we quite anticipate Oat erelong the Sinhalese and Tamils %lin take to groniog and preparing tea leaf on their own account. Dr. Thwaites, as we have already mentioned ift 1867 considered that the native might grow the China variety freely. Strangely enough the Ceylon Government even up to 1885 has put obstacles rather than encouragement in the way, of this industry among the Sinhalese ; but the failure of their coffee, the example of their European nei:hhoiire and the ease with which the plant is grown, and a market fumed for the f as plucked (though unprepared) at the nearest eetale factory will soon work It the natural result ant we already hear of tea st. d and plants being stolen from the stores or eurseries of ',lantern, by native who are anxious to plant on their own account. The fact that the unprepared, newly plucked leaf 2,1 readily bought by the owners of factories—now freely scattered over their • low and hilt planting country—is a great advantage to the would-be native grower ; but apart from this, there is really no mystery about tea preparation, the cm iJ illuatiation being that of an ordinary Tamil cooly who after a fortnight's visit to a cousin, a teamaker, came back to his master in the loweematry and with the aid of a native chatty twittery vessel), a little lard furnace of his own make, turned out some lb. of tea from the garden plants which were pronounced by experts to be worth over 28 the lb. " though rather coarsely prepared " ! The progress of Tea Cultivation in Ceylon is indicated by our Directory- record as follows :— Area of tea planted out :- 1867. 1868. 1869. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. Acres 10 200 50 10 2J 350 1,060 1,750 2,720 acres. vt N 1878. 1879. 1880, 18S1. 1582. 1883. 1884. 1895. Acres 4,700 6,500 9,274 13,500 22,000 32,000 67,000 102,000 acres. It will be seen, on reference to our tables, that apart from the grand Kelani Valley lietrict with well-nigh 7,000 acres mulct tea, Dimbula, Dikoya. and Maskeliya have within the last two years run ahead of all the rest with tea, having bete tb• m nearly 32,000 acres under this product ; Dolosbaee comes next with 6,800 acres ; while Ambagamuwa, Dikoya Lower. Kalutara, Kelehokka, Kottnale, Matale Haat, Nilainlie end Pee- sellawa make a g sod show, and Within the Uva Principality there ;i■re now about 5,000 acres under tea. As regards Ambagamuwa and bolosbage several intlepeuttent autherities have declared that the stiff soil of many regions, inimical to coffee, produces a leaf which yields the beat liqtler of any Ceylon tea, es yet tried,

s TEA IMPORTS; PROBABLE EXPORTS TO 1888-9. 41 , 'ate ExroR'r of Tea from Ceylou so far, according to the Customs accounts

'been as follows :- 11 . 'calm:. Value. r, Pkgs. Ili, R. Year. Pkgs. lb. R. 3_ 2 .. 23 58 1679... - 95,909 86.229 4.- 4 492 1,900 1880... - 162,575 150,641 $..... 4 1,438 2,402 1881.. - 348, i 57 522,993 s- ,. 7 757 1,11111 1382... - 697;268 591,805 - 2.105 3,-157 1883... - 1,665,766 916 172 - 19,607i 20,990 1884... - 2,392,973 1,4;15,784 i3.) Chain bee of Commerce report for th ) commercial seasons Irian I st :30th• September, the exports of tea are given as,f(,)10.-r9 :- -21821b. 1876 7 ------1,77511x. 1877-8 = 3515 lb. 187619 ---= 81,595 lb; 03,624; 1880-81-277,590 ; 1881.82=623,292; 1882-63=1,822,882 lb. ; 4=2,262.519; 1884•153,790,584 1b. ..; T. be bieerers of Tea into Ceylon for some years back are thus recorded by ; Customs :- Total I m7;erts. Value. Consumption. Duty ;raid. ,. 1b.69,494 :.. 11192,802 ...lb. 69 194 ... R17,373 59,469 137,027 69,469 14,867 8.5,025 201,078 85,025 o1,2:.6 58,497 151,478 58,497 14,617 S6,430 2141,4175 87,220 21.806 56,4'5 141,211 53,485 13,371 78,472 196,182 :33,330 8,133 134,523 336,310 29,345 7,161 31,777 79,440 31,586 : 6 782,473 18.0 7,473 1,866 9,149 21,873 2,371146 3,120 7,500 2,856 he intpori is now retitle d to this small quautity chiefly of China tea, is no deubt required to meet the taste of a few consumers, or more bly for mixing purprse-,

eurring to the present eincli.;on of ell~ planting industry, 'ml our tables oduel cultivated (an pages 22-25), the most interesting and important t clea•ly is fount in the fact of 102,000 acres being now under ma of Ages from the plants (or seed at stake) just put into the ground, up to fields twelve to tbirtesu years in age. Is may lie said intim+ that 116,000 are already covered it ith tea, for .wiiere coffee and citichoua are inter. it is evident that tea will soon le be sole product. This shows that 80,000 acres have been planted with this product, since Decembur 1881, With the present proqi-et of progress ire may expect a good fled more 16 or 214 th,usaud acres per annum, a' nether of coffee or forest land, to ,t into tea for some years to come, uotil perhaps 200,01.47 acres are d altogether with this staple in Ceylon. Let it be noted, however, that area now covered ought to be sufficient to guarantee an export of tea in .1888-S9 of, very nearly, 30,000.000 IC of tea, (aput from '• local con. on probably exceeding half-a million lb.) and we do not think we can out in estimating the outturn of the intermediate seasons as follows :-

Probable Export of Tea from Ceylon :- 1885-13 = 6,750.000 lb. 1886-7 = 12,000,000 lb. 1887-S 20,000,000 lb. 1888-0 ------ 30,000,000 lb. 11 (if prices keep fairly up, and the quality. of Ceylon tens is maintained) as many rupees, TIS a. crop of 500,000 cwt. of coffee 13nt the pro- ott beyond that point ought to he as rapid year by year ; for we believe, 1886-7 will also see a very large extent covered with tea, and' Ceylon • 6 •

42 1T81 CROPS AN PROBABLE EXPORTS,

ought, tell to I well. e years house, io ..xport m 60 millions Ib nu11 is Of tet. Mr. IL itutherf..rd's cstini7or. is 7-, fo CEYLON ,1110%hor yield per acre from the year 1882. Exporie,l. prey inisi Ill r SO 5A.Facrx7d. 12516. per n, n• i.18.7.7011 „ during ,30 2,774 Ni. ill bearing 1,110.1 S,‘,1

A elefi 11 of M1.1 9.274 [AKA 1'oLlumptiun say 81,21ei a 1853. 823,292 Planted previotpai :81 8.274 1.12;111, r acre 1,:etG,S.s2 duriog ;81 Not in Bearing 1,500 Seed si Acres it mid of . ,81 13,500 Leal consumption my 71,4..1 4) - 1581. 1,522.662 Planted previous to ... .5212,1)01 4 107 It. per acre 2,.30 I ,000 ,, during ... .82 7.000 Nut in bearing 2,000 Seed .1.,:rea at end of .., /82 21,000 Local eonaumplion any 101.401 1884. 3e2 • Flawed previous to . 3.1,1.000 et 210 Iii. per acre 3,931,0uo „ during .. ;82 11,0100 Nut in braring 2,000 Seed ▪ Acres at slid of .. /83 22,00. Local eutiautilpt ion sly I141_10, - - Probable Export 3,840m■0 PROD A BLE Y11 MM. 1885-1886. Yield per Expori. Acres acre. II,. Tea I yearn old and upnarde ... 12,000 at 310 3,720,000 310 4 years ...... 7,000 220 1,51u,Oial 2 to 3 ...... 11.000 160 1,101%00 Not in bearing( planted lEtla 39.000 Seed 3,000 72,000 (;,31311.1141.1 1.ecale0115UMIY1ion, my 130,001 n.11303100 148-1887. 5 yearn old and upward.. 12,00e al 320 :;,0111.1am 4 to 5 year. 7.000 280 1.980600 3 to 4 .. 11 0100 2:11 S-430.000 9 to 9,. .. .. 314000 1131 3,900,004 Not in bearing, plaided 1865 30,000 - Seed ... 2.000 102,00.1 12,1:V.1100 *real eonsumplioa. ay 1(10.000 11,950:00 le87-1stse. ii years old and aro. ards • 12,000 at 1.0 3.1850.000 ao 5 to0 years 7,01x1 310 2.170.000 4 to 5 11,00U 230 3.06000 310 4 „ 38.000 920 8.54 000 2 to 3 ., •• 30,000 100 3,000,0451 20,&.a).0.0 Local consumption, say 200.000 20,600,000 In respect i f local consumption Mr. Rutherford is decidedly below the ma. I: . considering that slue tea aflo-ding a most refreshing beverage, (an ho i.m(;..:1,1 by the natives at 25 cents per lb. we feel sure (yen now that not lens th. 200,000 lb. of tea a-u consumed while by 1887-8 the local contumpti„11 Nil probably Le apploach.ne thre• duos there figures. It quite certain now that planters, with care, can produce tea more uhual in Ceylon than in Northern linlia 30 cents per lb, fit o. h. (les, than awns or about tixpence) is the rate at which tea cail be 'hipped at Colombo, and ill CEYLON TO BE A GREAT TEA-CIROWINO COUNTh. 43

te (6i minas) 4 regarded as the maximum. ('heap transport, plenty of labour d greater Convenience generally are reasons why Ceylon in its small way sleould t; Assam [For further informatioe on this head, seethe Mateaa4 and pribIie- tionS issued front the Cetdoe. Observer press, notably " Tea and other Planting Ie.leetries in Ceylon in 1885" and Lectures and Letters On Tea by deserve rmstrong. Rutherford, Lice.] Again, Ceylon planters who may still be cultiv- coffee and citichme eau, with special economy, attend to, and crop, 4,9 O acres of t es on the same plantation. The flushes on the latter can be t, much regulated eu as out to interfere with the busy cane season, and hbouring factories can always be availed of te buy the leaf and so %aye thl * the trouble of preparation. During the veld few years more attention' holy to be given to the planting of Tea in Ceylon, than of any other new liege, and in this We see liars prumiee of a great and peria./nept industry of h importailee to the island and its people. The total value of the tea- md area, including nurseries and such preparing and curing material as been provided, eanitot now be taken it less than two-and-a-half to thret , inn pounds sterling. AfFrom whatever direction it may be approached,"—w rites Emerson Tennent,— iitlen infields a scene of loveliness unsurpassed, if it be rivalled, by any *, e in the universe ; the island rises from the sea, its lofty mountains edv- iby luxuriant fie:dela, and its chores, till they meet the ripple of the in, bright with the foliage of perpetual spring." The luxuriant vegetation 07 all other objects fills the visitor to Ceylon with surprise and admiration. sifstl in the pato of the two monsoons—the South-we-t from the Indian • b lied t te North east from the Bay of Bengal. there can scarcely be said ;-n is:teeth of the year without some rain in Ceylon : there is certainly period such as ie experienced itt tutus. As a consequence te4etatiou • ye green find leafriee luxuriant. Here, therefore, if any ehere we ought ;the very pared:se for to 1, or any similar leaf crop so far as climate is !hiedV ; 'awl t tore taut he no donbt that the south-west division of the Vespeoielly. from Gene and Colomho to the farthest eastern verge of the Dial zone (with probably 5 or 6 million acres of uucultivatei land), we 4noistare awl heat, with large areas of flirty good soil, admirably adapted to I 'knit, plant, Reference to our Meteorological returns and tables of rainfall thew how wellelistrihnted is the rain thretegliont the year, zed this, with Ohre, accounts for the continuous crops of cucouuts and other fruit, of rice Optimum for hunilrele of years, runny of the Heide never hawing manure. if, Ear more than fruit, is the peculiarity of shrubs and trees in this it&.!: With the Sinhaleee a gun I fruit season for mangoes or other fruit t• Went fin blossom is by no mewls the rule; and we all know how re- dly the coffee planters' hopes have been dashed to the ground, and a year's re Ugh 'through unfavourable weather being experienced in the crisis of Pesomiug season. No such risk can attend the inaturiug of crops of tea it, and the marvel now is that t etylon planters did not twenty or thirty earlier realize the geent ad wautagee the island possessed for the systematic talon of lea. Th-re is a kery largo area of suitable Nod in the lee coutitry or tea, in the Grille, Kalutara, euhara_arietwa end especially the Western hale districts, while even in the old eaten districts there is room • er expansion, more particularly if tea will continue tollettrieh !tad *lying; returns where coffee has ceased to produce. Iiitliiirto the ques- bee not been, at what, altitude qui situation will tea grow well in In , but ish•re will it not do, at least so far as the south-west and • • and more pepulons division of the ielaud is eence. nod ; (or some of the crops (and highest pricey) have been got from tea growing within the I i I - O. of the Bea breeze and only •20U to 309 lent above sea-level, nail agaie 5,000 and even d,000 feet above the sets in the neighboarlimel of ghest'. mountains. There is every reason therefore to anticipate that on will become as great a producer of tea, as ever she was of coffee in 0 na l mind days of the enterprise : in other words that we may look forward 'lrotu '-!00,000 to 250,000 acres of tea, producing from 60 to 70 millious lb. t. The time for inaourink tea in Ceylon has not yet arrived, but there doubt that tire bush will respond very readily to the application of curs and experiments male in Assam go to show that in white cantoreake, dy obtainable (roan India, end sunerphosphates (steamed hones) there is 'best joint applicatien for the tea plant in order to obtain inereassd flashes of leaves a:Kist:et:ern the Vigour of the plant. [On the subject of rnamermg Tea, see the Tropical .1griculeurise, 1885.6, for reports of experiments Nunn by Mr. Carter .ltd criticism by Mr John Hughes.] 'L..st_