S32 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Nov. I, 1886, 



To the Editor of the " Geyloyi Observer" 



QUERY AS TO ALLOWING SEVERAL STEMS 



OF CINCHONA TREES TO GROW. 



Dear Sir, — Cau you or any of your numerous 

 readers give me practical information on the ad- 

 vantages of allowing two or three stems to each 

 cinchona tree? What will be the probable in- 

 crease in weight of bark by following the system, 

 and are there any known or probable drawbacks ? 

 ^I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, SUBSCRIBER. 



THE PACKING OF TEA IN CEYLON AND 

 THE WEIGHING AT THE LONDON CUS- 

 TOMS ; RROSPECTS OF CINCHONA. 



• 12. Great Tower St., London, E. C. 



Deae Sir,— Although doubtless many in Ceylon 

 are quite familiar with the peculiarities, of the 

 " London Customs " in weighing tea, the following 

 particulars may be of use to those who are on the 

 point of sending their tirst breaks into the London 

 market. In order to save loss in weight in making 

 up packages, care should be taken not to exceed 

 the round figure in lb. by too many oz. For 

 instance, say a package weighing gross weight 

 90 lb. \\ oz. would be called by the Customs 

 90 lb., and a package weighing gross weight 90 lb. 

 4 oz. would also be called by the Customs 90 lb. 

 the difference between these would therefore mean 

 a loss per package of 10 oz. The same with the 

 tare. A tare weighing 21 lb. 2 oz. would be called 

 25 lb., yet a tare weighing 2-4 lb. 14 oz. would 

 also be called 25 lb., meaning a further loss to the 

 shi^jper of 12 oz. (being the difference between 2 oz. 

 and 14 oz). Therefore, to avoid loss in weight, 

 let the gross weight be say 90 lb, (or any other unit 

 of lb.) plus 4 oz. = 90 lb., and the tare of the 

 package 23 lb., 14 oz. = 24 lb., which would be 

 90 lb. gross and the tare 24 lb. 



Boxes should aot exceed 28 lb. Customs gross 

 and should be made up as under— gross 28 lbs. 

 2 oz., and the tare 6 lb. 14 oz. which would be 

 called 28 lb. gross and 7 lb. tare. If the weight of 

 a box is declared by the " Customs " to weigh 29 lb. 

 gross, an allowance of one lb. draft has to be made 

 to the trade. To give proper efi'ect to this, great care 

 must be taken in weighing up the tea before leaving 

 the island, and the scales should be frequently 

 balanced. The teas in London are weighed by a beam 

 scale ; and it is said weighing machines are frequently 

 out of order, and not easily detected and should not 

 j)roperly be used in weighing tea for the London 

 market. If packages run irregularly, they have to be 

 bulked in London, which of course leads to loss in 

 weight in addition to the trade allowance of 1 lb. 

 Small lots of 5 packages and under are always 

 weighed each separately. 



It has been suggested to me that we should 

 endeavour to do away with the trade al- 

 lowance of 1 lb. Such an alteration would 

 of course be of decided benefit to all the growers, 

 but to bring about such an important change is a 

 matter of such enormous magnitude, that in the 

 present state of affairs it is quite hopeless. As I 

 said in a former letter, the whole working of the 

 lea business in London is conducted on a system 

 laborious, expensive, and unsatisfactory to the new 

 order of things now prevailing. The cumbersome 

 "weight note"' arrangement must be swept away, 

 together with other obsolete forms and customs only 



suited to the old working of the China tea'trade and 

 its merchant princes. As I pointed out before, the 

 Ceylon and Indian Tea Planters' Associations must 

 unite against them and when sufficiently powerful 

 to make their wishes felt, then and then only will 

 this important article be dealt with on the inexpen- 

 sive and easy system that all other articles of pro- 

 duce are bought and sold at in the London market. 

 It is supposed that it would be no greater difficulty 

 to sweep away these trade allowances in the tea 

 trade, than it was in the bark trade, which is quite 

 a mistake. In the bark trade a few wealthy buyers 

 only had to be urged to acquiescence, and even in 

 that trade, it took some years to bring about so 

 important a change. 



What was the result of the Ceylon Chamber of Com- 

 merce's cogitations on this matter? I have never 

 seen the subject mooted since in your columns. 

 Ceylon as a rising factor in the tea trade of the 

 world cannot too soon take the matter up. 



Regarding Cinchona, I fully , endorse what you 

 stated in one of your recent leaders, that the 

 Ceylon growers have more to fear from themselves 

 than from any other countries. Some of us are 

 afraid of Java, whilst .Java is afraid of what Bolivia 

 can do. I don't think Ceylon has anything to 

 fear from the cinchona productions either of Java, 

 India or Bolivia. There is room enough for us 

 all with proper care ; and by proper care I mean 

 estates should not send forward their very low 

 class bark and twigs which can bring but little 

 profit, if any, in the present unsatisfactory state 

 of the market. Let all combine only to send for- 

 ward fair 1^ per cent, barks and upwards for the 

 next six months, and planters will benefit quite 

 as much with far less cost to themselves, as if 

 they threw in all their common barks to swell 

 their shipments, — common barks can easily 

 be stored on the ' estates, until they are wanted. 

 Mr. Von Gorkom in a recent letter to me men- 

 tioned that the Java export is not likely to exceed 

 1| to 3* million lb. per annum even by 1890. 

 Nor does he think the acreage under bark now 

 exceeds 20,000 acres. The heavy shipments 

 lately received from Ceylon have by now been 

 tolerably well discounted, and it will be a pity 

 when the market does revive, as it promises shortly 

 to do, to again crush it hopelessly with too 

 eager shipments of twigs and low class barks which 

 are only valuable with a steady unit considerably 

 above late and present rates. Apologizing for tres- 

 passing so much on your valuable space, I am, 

 yours faithfully. JOHN HAMILTON. 



SHORT WEIGHTS IN TEA. 



18th Oct. 1886. 

 Dear Sir, — Mr. Hamilton's letter in your issue 

 of the l()th inst. affords a means of gauging the 

 difficulties which underlie a satisfactory settlement 

 of the short-weight controversy; and hia explan- 

 ation of the manner in which the weights are 

 taken in London goes far to exonerate planters 

 from the unworthy suspicion of systematically 

 putting less tea into their packages than they are 

 invoiced to contain — nay more than this; for it 

 seems to suggest, that if they managed diji'ercntly 

 there would be no complaints of short weight 

 at the other end. 



It may be that there is a clerical error in Mr. 

 Hamilton's letter, but as I read it, it seems that 

 whilst in taking the gross weight, fractions of ^ lb. 

 and under are disregarded, and fractions of over 

 A lb. are counted a full pound, it is not so with 

 the tares; in the latter case «// fractions, however 



