P. 36 NEW PRODUCTS: TEA.
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 coffee 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 China 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 Assam 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 Ceylon tea* 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 teas 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 teahouse 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 India 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,