JuNfi 1, IS85. | 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



*95 



TEA MANURES. 



In my article (see pai_e 841) ou the above, I specially 

 referred to the high character which Ceylon tea 

 had hitherto maintained in the London market on 

 account of its line flavor and rich dark coloured 

 liquor, and I strongly recormmnded planters not to 

 sacrifice quality for quantity especially as the tea 

 industiy was comparatively new in Ceylon and great 

 attention s ould therefore be paid to keeping up 

 the good name already obtained. 



In the weekly circular received this morning from 

 Messrs. Klliot Lack & Porter I notice that this 

 question of quality is also alluded to in their re- 

 marks upon Ceylon tea, and I think you would do 

 well to bring the matter prominently before the 

 notice of planters. I undeistand that the writer was 

 formerly for several years piactically engaged in 

 Assam tea manufacture, tnd on his way home .'pent 

 tome time in Oylou, more particularly in Dimbula, 

 wheie he made the acquaintance of several planters, 

 so fliat you may consider his remaiks well entitled 

 to careful consideration. John Hughes, f.c s. 



(From Ettiot Lock $■ Porter's Indian Tea Memorandum.) 

 8, Great Tower St., E. 0., 2nd April 1885. 



Owing to the approaching Easter holidays public 

 auctions for the week terminated yesterday with the small 

 total of 12,020 packages of which 437 failed to find buyers 

 in the room. The market has continued firm and com- 

 petition good, grades below Is being in special demand 

 and pekoes Is Oil and upwards with attractive cup point 

 are eagerly competed, for, rates showing occasional im- 

 provement. Indications are strong of (he rapid closiug of 

 the season and consequent scarcity in the future of the more 

 desirable parcels. The following prices have been realized. 



Assams.— Moabuud, pekoe 2s, broken pekoe Is 9d, pekoe 

 souchong Is Id, broken 10jd. Jokai Co. Jameerah Derry 

 pekoe Is Ufd, pekoe souchong lHd to lOJd. 



Ceylon Teas.— 503 packages sold consisting of a varied 

 assortment ; offerings from some few estates showed very 

 desirable quality and were strongly competed for, prices 

 ruling high, whilst the moderate and poorer qualities 

 attracted less attention. 



We think, we perceive indications that some managers 

 are falling into the fatal mistake of attempting to pro- 

 duce excessive outturns, and as generally follows, sacrific- 

 ing, to some extent, quality. Hitherto Ceylon growths 

 have been e.-pecially attractive, as they supply a class of tea, 

 which has of late years been scarce, full dark liquors with 

 rich flavour suitable for drinking unmixed with other 

 kiuds : (avoiding the hard pungency of Assams and some- 

 what light puugent character which has been common 

 during the last few years amongst Darjeelings) Quality 

 must be maintained or prices will probabl soou fall to a 

 level of the ordinary Indian, China, or Java sorts. The 

 produce of estates being now generally small, we think 

 managers would do well to increase as far as possible the 

 size of the breaks, sacrificing the numerous assortments 

 for lots of less than 10 packages seldom if ever bring their 

 full value, and assortment, especially of the lower grades, 

 except the elimination of dust and red faunings is com- 

 paratively useless. 



The following prices have been obtained this Week : — 



Dewalnkande, pelt. Is 7d, bro. pek. 2s 3|d, pek. sou. Is 1 }d. 



Blackstone, pek. 2s ljd, bro. pek. 2s TJcl, sou. Is 5d, bro - 

 Is 2d, dust Is. 



Indurana, pek. Is 44d, bro. pek- 2s ojd to Is 10'd, bro. 

 pek. sou. lOJ.l, dust 7£d. 



Dunedin, pek. Is 4d, bro. pek. Is OJd, pek. sou. Is Ofd, 

 bro. 10|d, dust 7^d. 



Ceylou Company Meddccombra, pek. lO^d, bro. pek. ll|d. 

 „ Beckerton, pek. Is0jd,bro. pek. Is 2d. 



„ Hope, pek. Hid, bro. pek. Is Id to Is 5d. 



„ Kolndenia, pek. lOjd, bro. pek. IsOjd, 



pek. sou. lOJd. 



K A W.pek. Is 4^d, bro. pek. la 10'd. pek. sou. Is. bro. 7.M. 



Blackwater, pek. Is 2d, bro. pek. Is 7d, pek, sou, ll.'.d. Inn. 

 tea 9:d, congou '.' jd, and red leaf t>id. 



"THE PKINCE OF PALMS."* 

 We have too long delayed to notice this little 

 compilation, a specimen of elegantly printed, bound and 

 even illustrated volumes which are becoming common 

 in this age of trade, enterpiize and ingenuity. No 

 doubt many of our readers know the establishment of 

 Messrs. Treloar & Sons in Ludgate Hill, and have, 

 like the writer, stood in admiration, before the display 

 of mats, and other coir manufactures with their artistic 

 workings and mottoes. We obtain in the pages before 

 us a good deal of information respecting Messrs. Treloar's 

 manufacture of coconut fibre with illustrations of 

 their Pompeiian mats— "Salve," "Cavecanem," &c. — 

 and an engraving of their " Mat and Matting Factory 

 in South wark." Our readers will guess from this 

 that the "Prince of Palms" is a trade productions 

 but injustice will be done to Mr. W. P. Treloar 

 if it is supposed to be nothing more. In fact this 

 gentleman's family have some right to take an inter- 

 est in the aforesaid •• Prince "-the Coconut-since 

 the first introduction of coir as a material for manu- 

 factures in England was, we are told, "about §0 years 

 ago when Capt. Wildey who had loug resided in 

 C.ylon, brought it under the notice of Mr. Thomas 

 Treloar, the father of the firm of Treloar & Sons 

 In compiling a notice of the "Prince of Palms" Mr 

 W. P. Treloar would therefore serm to have been 

 undertaking a labour of love and he has certainly spared 

 no expense to make his brochure attractive the 

 coloured frontispiece, entitled '• inflorescence of the 

 Coconut Palm [eocos nneifera) and Kipe Nuts," from 

 au oil painting in the possession of Messrs. Treloar 

 & Sons, being very well executed so far as the rich 

 flower and joung nuts are concerned, though the 

 green leaves in the background are more like those 

 of the areca than the coco palm. It seems that the 

 preseut work is based upon a pamphlet on the same 

 subject published by Mr. Treloir, senior, some forty 

 years ago, and engravings from several works in- 

 eluding Tennent's Ceylon, have been made use of 

 These engravmgs are on the whole very well executed 



Tahiti and Fiji,' and the fine avenue of palms in the 

 E10 Gardens ; 'a Coc.nut Plantation in Ceylon, ' is, we 

 think taken from our own volume "Ceylon in 18S4.' 

 There is not much information iu the 40 pages of 

 letterpress that would be novel or interesting to Ceylon 

 readers, savo what we have already referred to about 

 the beginnings of English manufactures of coir ami 

 the enormous consumption of late years in Europe, and 

 especially in England, of the coconut itself. We may 



well quote what is said on this point: 



Coconuts have become an ordiuary article of commerce 

 in markets and many fruiterers' shops, but still the outer 

 husks and shells are comparatively out of sight I'rob« 

 ably mauy people may still fancy that they are not 

 brought here with the nuts in any considerable quantity 

 nor would the majority even of Londoners ea.-il y estimate 

 the enormous consumption of the nut itself A reference 



I t° the " '°Y" c i" s '»PPmg lists, or a visit to Monument 

 lard on Fish (street Hill, where the catalogues of the 

 foreign fruit auctions may be seen, would disclose the fact 

 that hundreds and thousands of tons of these nuts en- 

 veloped in the outer shell, have for some years past been 



; brought here as '• dunnage " by homeward bound shins 

 They are sold m big lots, and the buyers have to clear 

 them from the docks. For sometime the outer shell was 

 of little value, and was often split from the nut to !>' 



By W. P. Treloar: London, Sampson Low & Co, 



