681 



^MPidki A<}ii6bi¥mM. [APkn i, mi. 



■iiwiiwiiBMM I n a iir r ii i i fTi a if ii r^ijtif i n ijii M iipM 



B L.l'JJ , 1 Jiffl rg i<Mj! M Yji lii in i ii iiiiiiiil _ 



It was ill no way " expressly prepared" but manu- 

 factured in the ordinary way, rolling being done by 

 hand, and firing over ehoolas. 



The Directors of this Company have never 

 directly or indirectly, expressed a wish to have 

 produce " expressly prepared " for any of their 

 reports, and I cannot even guess your motive in 

 assuming that they should have done so in this 

 case. Kindly give this publicity in an early issue. 

 — I am, dear sir yours faithfully, 



JOHN KETTIE, Mamiger. 



[For the description " orange pekoe and pekoe " 

 — which led our paragraphist to suppose the par- 

 cel was specially prepared— not the Observer 

 but Messrs. Wilson, Smithett A Co., are responsi- 

 ble, as Mr. Rettie can see on referring to their 

 circular. We are very pleased to see unassorted 

 teas from Uva ranking so high. — Ed.] 



CEYLON JUNGLE-FOWL EEAEED IN CAP- 

 TIVITY AT NUWAKA ELIYA. 



Galle, 11th March 1887. 



Deak Sir,— Referring to your enquiry in the 

 Observer of the 8th March, I may mention that I 

 saw atNuwara Eliya years ago in an aviary or large 

 cage several jungle-fowl that had been hatched and 

 reared by Mr. George Hawkins from eggs found in a 

 nest in the jungle. 



I was struck by this, because ' at the time the 

 value in England was £50 per pair. I remember 

 this was the statement of Dr. Buckland in a contri- 

 bution to some periodical. 



I refer, of course, to Stanleyii. There is a more 

 beautiful species in South India, much more 

 difficult to tame, of which I secured a male specimen ; 

 but it hurt itself in its struggles in the small cage 

 in which I was obliged to put it whilst travelling, 

 and died. It strongly suggested that our domes- 

 tic fowls represent tiro species, one of which is 

 our Stanleyii, if we except also the Eumkin fowls, 

 of which a few years ago I had one specimen, and 

 which we do not now see in domestication, though 

 it originally existed in Ceylon, and appears to have 

 been carried to the Cape. I have seen a large cock 

 of this species near the Galle market, which was 

 said to have come from the Cape ; but this, perhaps, 

 is only a variety of one of the species.— Yours truly, 



N. 

 II. 



Dear Sir,— I am sorry that I cannot give 

 you very recent information ; but about a dozen 

 years since there were specimens of the jungle- 

 fowl of Ceylon living in the Zoological Gardens 

 of London, and were in capital health, quite ac- 

 climatized. It is probable that they were the same 

 taken home by Mr. Holdsworth, for he took 

 every care possible to get them home alive. At 

 that time living specimens were exceedingly rare 

 and valuable in England. 



I have kept them in an aviary with proper treat- 

 ment and plenty of room. They, no doubt, would 

 breed in confinement, aa other jungle-fovvl have 

 <l"ne so< 



'/■OO'lOO. 



To "notJisr coneuiondeni ■we are indebted for 

 the following ',— 



•' In the ' Life oi Vtank Bucklaiid' there in a 

 para, anent birds A'c, in the /^'oo in 1874, which 

 runs as follows; — 'Another very beautiful and 

 interesting bird, in excellent health, is Stanley's 

 jungle-fowl ; its home is Ceylon ; these birds are 

 worth JCoO per pair. A collector, who did not 

 know their value, procured seven of them alive 

 at Trincomalee, and had them cooked for dinner — 

 (■ather an expensive feed, three-and-a-half pairs of 

 fowl of the value of £175.' So, you see, one jungle 

 {ov,-l at least has gone ' bojre,' a fact which ought 

 i9 »niwei: your ^«9ry of the other day." 



A superior waterproof paper, transparent and 

 impervious to grease, is made by saturating good 

 paper with a liquid prepared by dissolving shellac 

 at a moderate heat in a saturated solution of 

 borax. Such a mixture may be colored by the 

 addition of various aniline Ayes.— American 

 GiUtlcator. 



The Cultivation of the tea plant is being rapidly 

 prosecuted in the Transcaspian Province. The chief 

 experiments have been made on the estates of 

 Messrs. Tchelokaieff, near Douchak, of the Brothers 

 Barkalaieff, at New Sarakhs, and of M. Metodieff, 

 near Zugdigi. So far those of Messrs. Barkalaieff 

 have succeeded best. There are also tea plant- 

 ations near Lake W&n.— British Trade Journal. 



An Example to Ceylon.— Cannot the Ceylon 

 Director of Public Instruction follow the example 

 set iu South Australia ? : — 



Tree Plu^nting by School Children.— The Hon, 

 Dr. Cockburn, having become impressed with the 

 beneficial results likely to follow the planting of 

 trees in the grounds of State schools, has caused 

 to be issued a circular to Boards of Advice, which 

 contains the following: — "The Minister wishes to 

 bring under the notice of Boards of Advice the 

 advantage of tree-planting in school grounds. 

 The Minister has, with much satisfaction noted 

 the efforts made by some of the Boards in this 

 direction, and feels sure that the portion of their 

 funds so expended could not have been better applied. 

 With a view to promote a general interest in this 

 subject, and as a means of imparting many useful 

 lessons to the children, the Minister proposes to set 

 apart a suitable day during the winter months 

 to be devoted to the planting of trees around those 

 schools where the ground has been properly pre- 

 pared. No ordinary lessons would be given on 

 this day, but the attention of the pupils would 

 be directed to be benefits of forestry, and, when 

 practicable, the trees would be planted by them 

 under the superintendence of the teachers. The 

 operations preliminary to planting, the process of 

 planting, and the after growth of the trees so 

 planted would afford an opportunity to those teach- 

 ers able and willing to avail themselves of it to 

 give a series of object lessons on forestry, which 

 would be of liff^long value to the children and of 

 ultimate benefit to the Slate." — S. A. Register. 



Suoae. — The Berlin Beutsciie Zucker Industrie of the 

 4th instant recommends to the special attention of 

 its readers a letter, which it publishes from a Java 

 Sugar Planter. The writer urges that the German 

 Goverument ahould invite representatives of all Sugar- 

 producing countries to n Conference, for iliscussiug a 

 method for a general restriction of production. The 

 Java Sugar planter is sanguine enough to believe that 

 some practical plan would bo the outcome of such a 

 Conference, aud he thinks that if the German Beet 

 Sugar Association would take the matter iu hand, 

 the fall in prices would be arrested. Perhaps the best 

 demonstraiiau of the Utopjau nature of such a scheme 

 is to take a map of the world, and note in what 

 diverse places and under what diverse conditions and 

 interests ."^ugar ia grown aud manufactured. The false 

 economical steps which have lauded the Industry in 

 she present crisis can iie\ er be remedied by the equally 

 false economy of creating an artificial Mcarcity. There 

 arc mouths enough in the principal Bett Sugar 

 countries to consume far more than all the so-called 

 overproduction which now weighs down the Sugar 

 market. But. the people who are willing and ready to 

 eat it are prevented from doing so by the price being 

 artificially raised by their govennuents. In this direc- 

 tion lies the remedy. Continental uations might enjoy 

 the abundance which is at tluir doors by freeing Sugar 

 from restrictive and prohibitory taxes; aud there would 

 then be no more talk of over-production or of impractic- 

 able and unnatural schemes for creating, iu the midst 

 of plenty, an artificial scarcity, for the- fancied benefit oi 

 a few, while the oiaoy fu&n.-^rroducc Jlluket'a Biview, 



