THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1882. TEA, SILK, AND TOBACCO. CULTURE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2595, 1 August 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1882. TEA, SILK, AND TOBACCO. CULTURE.

CoNSiDEKABiE interest has been taken of late in the question whether the northern portions of these islands are fitted for raising tea, silk, and tobacco. The desirability of starting new industries is seli-evident, bnt the real question is whether the enterprise would pay or not. The climate of New Zealand varies so much that it is plain that we shall in the long run export products of great variety; and New Zealand,, of all countries, is the one least forced to " put all its eggs into one basket." In this connection a very interesting paper was read not long since before the Society of Arts, London, by a Mr. Cochran, upon the " Physical and Social Capabilities of New Zealand for Tea and Silk Cultivation/' and the paper, which is a lengthy one, has been published in the journal of the Society of Arts. Mr. Cochran begins his paper by quoting the Eastern apothegm, that " Wherever the mulberry grows luxuriantly, there Nature indicates a suitable spot for tea," and he proceeds to give statistics showing the. tort of

climate in which the culture* of the l mulberry and tea is most successfully conducted in China, The rearing of tb© silkworm is confined mostly to the four months, March, ApriL May, and June, and at the same time the tea season commences. The following table wiH give an idea of the range of heat near Shanghai during these months : Mean Max. Mean Min. Highest D*g. Fan. De*. Fah. Deg. Fah, March ... 43 31 65 April ... 54 42 63 May ... 70 69 88 June ... 80 6* 97 The mulberry comes into foliage very soon, and the leaf harvest does not extend much over six weeks, so that business connected with that industry is begun, and ended before the " serious business of the tea season is far advanced." Mr. Cochran declares that the climate of the tea and eilk growing districts in China is very salubrious, and that all the natives there look uncommonly healthy. So that he argues that a profitable tea climate need not involve extremes of heat and wet, accompanied with all the evils to European planters, consequent on such a state of things. He says, " The dismal rematks of some writers on tea planting in India, however applicable they may ba to parts of Assam and Cachar, would bo altogether fallacious and misleading in reference to China, Ceylon or New Zealand.

Mr. Cochran presents the more rosy Bide of the question, and as against his opinion we have that of Colonel Money, a high authority'on tea culture in India. In his work on the- cultivation and manufacture of tea he says—" Another allimportant point in fixing on a climate for tea is the fact that, apart from the strength, the yield is double in hot, moist climates what it is in comparatively dry and temperate ones, A really pleasant climate cannot be a good one for tea." It is difficult to reconcile these so diverse views, both taken by men of mark in their own line, but, however true Colonel Money's remarks may be with regard to India, there is no reason to doubt Mr. Cochran's experiences in China. The tea plant apparently is hardier than is generally supposed, Several shrubs of the true Assam and Chinese varieties, together with hybrids between these varieties, are now growing and doing well in the Auckland Acclimatisation Gardens, and a Mr. Reid, who has had considerable experience in some of the Indian tea gardens, has manufactured some of the leaves with the moat satisfactory results. This certainly seems a practical proof that Mr. Cochran is correct in his conjecture that the climate of Auckland is suited for tea culture. The shrub certainly flourishes at Nainee Tal, 6700 ft.. above the sea, and the celebrated Darjeeling Gardens are 50&0ft. above the sea-level.

Bat when ire come to the question of labor the affair assumes a different aspect. Cheap labor is a sine qua- non in tea culture, and it is difficult to see how it is to be obtained. Mr. Cochran, in suggesting the starting of a company for the cultivation of the mulberry and the tea plant, states that there are five sources from which labor may be drawn namely, the European, Chinese, Indian, Polynesian, and Maori. Now, to start the above industries on [European labor is evidently out of the question, and equally so would it be with Maori labor. All Coolie labor too is tabooed by the voice of the people who object to having wages lowered by cheap imported labor. It is hard to see how this difficulty can be overcome. The climate of Auckland may be well suited for both the mulberry and the tea plant, but there the matter rests. Until public opinion accommodates itself to the introduction of Chinese, Indian, or Polynesian labor, for the purpose of starting such industries in the more tropical portions of oar islands, it will apparently be hopeless to imagine that New Zealand can become either a silk growing or a tea growing country.

With regard to tobacco, the outlook is considerably more bright. An old American tobacco planter states, in a communication to the " Auckland Herald," that " the district of Auckland and part of the surrounding area is especially fitted for the growing of the finest qualities of tobacco, which of necessity would fetch the highest price in the market, by reason of its equable climate and, in my opinion, wonderfully suited volcanic soU.** That tobacco growing is most profitable is very clear by the fact that on ordinary lands from 1000 to loOGlks. per acre is considered an average crop. On lands of a superior quality from 1500 to 2500 (with exceptional cases of 3000) lbs. weight may be realised. The average price of Connecticut and Havana leaf, which is the best to grow in New Zea-

laud, may be put down at from Is to 2s

per pound. The once prevalent idea that a crop of tobacco exhausted the soil, and that the production of the crop rendered the land unfit for a second, has now vanished. The evil effect

caused by the plant taking certain pro-

perties out of the soil has been found to be easily averted by either rotation of crops, or better still, and as is most commonly done, by keeping the land up to its original standard by the necessary fertilisers. There seems, then, no doubt, as the question of labor is not such an insurmountable objection as in the silk and tea industries, that before many years are out we may find that tobacco growing is a regularly established industry in the North Island. The dividends accruing to any company undertaking tobacco planting would most probably be found to be handsome.