i8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1886. 



any finer specimens to be seen elsewhere : 



1st tree measured : — Feet inches. 



Height .. ..lis S 



Circumfereuce . . 27 G 

 2ud tree : — 



Height . . . . 15 G 



Circumfereuce . . 28 G 



;ird tree topped at . . 10 



Circumference , . 33 



— i'ours truly, VISITOR. 



NEW TEA MARKETS. 



Colombo, 20th May 1880. 



,SiR, — Mr. Scovell lias the interests of Ceylon 

 Toa thoroughly at heart when he advocates ex- 

 tended markets for this product. 



Mr. Scovt'll's scheme of a combination to ship 

 at a loss, so as to establisli a market in America, 

 in the hope of ultimate K'ain, is not so easy of 

 realization in its dual aspect, as it is in its first 

 stage, viz., that of shipping at a loss. 



From the experience gained by the Syndicate 

 formed for pushing the sale of Indian teas in 

 America it would seem t!iey were perfectly success- 

 ful in shipping at a loss, but lamentably failed 

 in their endeavours to establish a market. Our 

 American cousins in the tea trade formed a " Ring," 

 bought up all the Syndicate shipments as they 

 arrived, and quietly re-shipped tliem to London, 

 thus preventing their being sold in America, , 

 and frustrating the designs of the Syndicate. 

 It is not the prejudice of the people in favor of 

 China and Japan teas that we have to over- 

 come so much as the determined struggle the 

 m.erehants interested in China and Japan teas make 

 to keep us out of their field. 



Now, this will not be overcome simply by placing 

 large quantities of tea in the open market for sale, 

 as it will be bought up by those opposed to its 

 introduction, but it is more likely to be so by 

 sending small consignments well distributed, thus 

 getting in the thin end of the wedge. It will be 

 well to recall the method by which our teas were 

 introduced so successfully into Great Britain, which 

 was by the distribution by Ceylon planters among 

 their friends, of small packages of Ceylon teas. 

 Their friends soon learned to appreciate the 

 gooit qualities of the tea and demanded Ceylon tea 

 !rom liieir grocers, who in self-defence were bound 

 to keep the article. From family to family the 

 knowledge of the excellence of the tea spread, and 

 the trade generally (after a good deal of prejudice) 

 wa'; compelled to satisfy the demands of consumers. 

 It is thus seen that the public first discovered the 

 good quality of Ceylon tea, and that the grower 

 is not indebted for its introduction either to 

 the London sale room or to the London broker. 

 The sale of Ceylon tea must be introduced in 

 a somewhat similar manner into America, but it 

 is obvious that exactly the same lines cannot be 

 followed as the grower is not so intimately con- 

 nected with that country. 



Although I hold that it is more within the 

 province of the trader or merchant than of the 

 grower to introduce and c:;tablish himself in a 

 new field, still, under the special circumstances 

 of our i^roduct, the (question arises whether it 

 is not rather a subject for combined action 

 than individual effort and one which the Ceylon 

 Planters' Association might well take up in the 

 interests of what will undoubtedly become in a 

 year or two the staple product of Ceylon. 



I am, therefore, strongly of opinion that at one 

 of the early Committee-meetings of the Association 

 this question should be prominently brought for- 

 ward for discussion, so that by unity of action 

 some defined plan may be formulated which would 



ensure the introduction of our teas into America, 

 where, althou«h the development of consumption 

 might be clover than it was in England, 

 still when di.-e established, it should go on 

 increasing and eventually assume very large pro- 

 portions. — Yours faithlully, 



H. K. RUTHERFORD. 



NEW MARKETS FOR CEYLON TEAS. 



Kandaloya, Nawalapitiya, 28th May 1886. 



Sir,— With regard to the opening up ot fresh 

 markets for Ceylon tea, Messrs. Scovell and Ruther- 

 ford are at one on the point of comhinntiou, although 

 the latter gentleman is not sanguine of America 

 absorbing much of our produce. There is an old 

 saying that we should " look at home afore looking 

 out o' window " ; and, looking at home, I maintain 

 that we have not tapped the home market. With 

 tlie exception of families who have friends in 

 Ceylon, and are supplied by them direct, the 

 proportion of people at home who knew the taste 

 o£ Ceylon tea is infinitesimal. 



Whenever I send tea home, my friends invariably 

 write " We would always drink Ceylon tea if we could 

 get it." When the Ceylon Tea and Coffee Agency 

 first started, I sent them a list of addresses of 

 friends at home. These rehgiously dealt with the 

 Agency so long as they could : but latterly the tea 

 supplied has lieen so inferior in quality that my 

 friends have been obliged to provide themselves 

 elsewhere. 



No doubt there is scope for the Planters' Associ- 

 ation to move in the matter : but in the meantijne 

 I would venture to suggest that private enterprize 

 might do a great deal on the lines laid down in 

 some letters which I wrote, and which appeared 

 in your columns, so far back as 1881.* 



Let proprietors of estates combine and form a 

 Company to start a " Ceylon Tea Refreshment Room 

 and Retail Agency " in some central part of London. 

 I believe that many coffee-houses pay satisfactory 

 dividends. Why should not a Tea House do so 

 also ? While, in addition to paying on its own 

 merits, it would serve as a depot for the retail 

 sale of produce sltq)2>i'd to it direct from the gardens of 

 the shareholders, and would introduce Pure Ceylon 

 Tea to multitudes to whom it was only a name 

 before. — Y'ours faithfully, 



W. TURING MACKENZIE. 



^' We (Ed. T.J.) append a few extracts from the 

 letters referred to : — 

 (Addressed to Indiiui Tea Gazette, 2Srd Oct. 1S80.J 



Your address to Euglish housewives in your issue 

 of 1st September has suggested to me a plan 

 by which our Indian and Ceylon teas might be 

 brought more prominently before ■ the tea-drinking 

 public. I don't know if the plan is at all feasible, 

 but here it is, in a very crude form to establish in 

 some central part of London, an Indian and Ceylon 

 Tea Refreshmeut Room (on the same principle as 

 the teatoilers' coffee-houses) at which a cup of Indian 

 or Ceylon tea and a sandwich or bit of bread and 

 butter could be always obtained. We all know what 

 a refeshing thing a cup of tea is, to men whose brains 

 or eyes are tired with much reading or \vritiiig ; and I 

 doubt not that many a jaded clerk would often turn in 

 for a cup of tea, not to mention ladies out .shopping 

 who frequently don't caru to go to regular oatiiig- 

 liouses. The same pluce could beadei:)i)t for the sale 

 t if tea, and if only people .it home who ave interested 

 in tea, would combii j to carry out such an idea, I 

 have little ftar thit in time ii would paj- well, both 

 directly as a Tea Refreshment Ro»m, and indirectly, 

 by introducing to the public pure Indian tea. If 

 found to pay well in Lond>iu, similar establishments 

 could be started in other large towns. The sijie qua 

 non of succos.s is that tea must bo sold on the 

 spot, so that if a man iiked a cup of tea, he could 



