yoo 



THE "TROPIC**. K&Rt CTJLTURIST. 



[June i, 1885. 



la 10|d. In February 24;estates sold 1,378 packages, | 

 and teas from two different estates come in fourth 

 on the list. In March 5S estates sold 2, S43 packages, : 

 and teas from the Challenge are second in the bst 

 with Is 10£d (next to Looleeondura with Is ll^d ; 

 average), and another estate's teas from same class of ■ 

 machine fetched an average of Is 5Jd. 



These facts, some planters think are rather in favur | 

 of the machine's " most peculiar principle." What do 

 you think ? — Yours faithfully, 



W. II. DAVIES & Co. 

 [We could only speak of the specimen we saw and 

 heard of on " Mariawattu," the one we suppose with 

 which the celebrated trials were made. We should 

 like to hear what Ceylon planters have to say from 

 experience about the "Challenge. " — Ed.] 



PREPARING TEA IN COLOMBO DENOUNCED 

 AND THE UTMOST ECONOMY ADVOCATED. 

 Colombo, 2nd May 1S85. 



Sir, — Middlemen are the bane of many in- 

 dustries, and tea is certainly one of them : the fewer" 

 we have of them the better, and you may rely upon 

 it that by far the cheapest way of dealing with tea 

 is to pack it on the estate and dispatch it direct to 

 the nearest point to the ship. Every cent per pound 

 added to the cost of tea is a nail in the coilin of 

 the industry. 



The only hope for Ceylon tea is, that planters 

 under the pressure of poverty will practise extreme 

 economy in every item of cost to enable them to 

 compete some four or live years hence with India 

 and Java. 



The day may come when the London average of 

 Ceylon tea will be 9d per lb. ; on that day, the un- 

 necessary expenditure of a cent or two per lb. will 

 be a grievous burthen on the industry. 



I write with some knowledge of the subject when 

 I say that tea cannot be re packed, garbled and retired 

 in Colombo, except at a considerable addition to the cost. 



Merchants will not work without remuneration, 

 and we know what that, moans. 



Can tea be put into boxes, or shooks, and naili d 

 up on the estate without any expense being incurred ? 

 Can thrse boxes be re-opened, re-weighed, re-packed, 

 re soldered, remarked, conveyed backwards and for 

 wards without cost? to say nothing of the cost of 

 re-firing and the interest on machinery. 



It may suit " C. W. II." who is a tea-mixer and 

 garbler to advocate additional manipulation in Colombo, 

 but, depend upon it, the fewer people who meddle 

 with the tea after it is made the better. "C. W. H." 

 leminds me of a certain Fenchman who went to war 

 with a light heart. 



Labor may he a little dearer on estates than in 

 Colombo, hut the difference would add very little to 

 the cost of picking out the red and unsightly leaves. 

 These will never be any scarcity of teahouse coolies, 

 however scarce field laborers may became. A 

 class of laborers cm be obtained for teahouse work 

 which cannot vro-k in the field. — Yours trulv, 



T. P. 



Sir Jo lis Lubbock has communicated to 2\ T afur" a 

 letti r, received through Mr. Grant Duff, the Gov- 

 ernor o' Midras, detailing observations in various 

 pn-t.s "f India, linrnii, aud Niam, which have shown 

 that the southern chestnut w >ndp cker, and also 

 allied species, u e ants' nests for breeding in. It 

 seemi to be doubtful whether the ants desert the 

 nests after they ar-i tak.n possession of by the birdr, 

 ants having been found in nests in which the birds' 

 eu'<s were partly inonbatad. Two species of king- 

 fishers haw alio 1cm observed to build it ante' 

 >" sii>,— Bombay tiazMi;, 



Black Bug in Rakwana appeared on Liberian 

 coffee and spread from it to the Ledger cinchonas 

 which are covered with it, but strange to say it 

 has not touched the succirubras in tne same iield, 

 nor the Arabian coffee ! To the vagaries of bug 

 there is uo end. 



Tuk Reported Sales of Ceylon Tea are, 

 sometimes a mystery. In the case of a recent sale 

 of Abbotsford the agents sent accounts showing 

 the sale of every chest of an invoice at good prices 

 rising to Is W\A for brokcu pekoe. In the Prices 

 Current, n. portion on'y of the rekoe is roprrted a; 

 sold at is 5d, but not a word about the Is lOj ! . 

 Pearl Oysteks — One tesult of the dry weather 

 has been, that the natives report large quantities of 

 seed pearl oysters forming in Labuk Kay ; these oysters 

 it would seem grow only on the mud deposits at the 

 mouth of rivers, but are destroyed by too great an 

 admixture of fresh water. Should there be but 

 moderate rains during the next two months a some- 

 what large crop is expected, if there are hellvy raius 

 however, these hopes may be disappointed. — British 

 North Borneo Herald. 



Brazil Coffee and the United States. — General inter- 

 est centres in the result of the present yield of coffee 

 in Rio, about which there is still doubt, but another im- 

 portant point npou which the future of the article is very 

 dependent is the position in the States. The feeling is 

 strong that the large deliveries of last year reflect pretty 

 accurately the true consumption, and a couple of months 

 ago the figures we printed, giving the returns for many 

 past seasons, rather confirm this view. It is held how- 

 ever in some quarters that the heavy- deliveries of the 

 past two months are beyond immediate requirements, and 

 that the trade are stocking up, the direct business between 

 Bio de Janeiro aud St. Louis, Chicago, and other import- 

 ant cities in the interior, having been stimulated by the 

 competition amongst dealers and importers, as well as 

 amongst the railway lines. It is instanced that in January 

 a steamer arrived at Baltimore with 30,000 bags Brazil, 

 and of this shipment 22,500 bags were dispatched direct 

 per Baltimore aud Ohio railroad to western points, the 

 largest quantity ever forwarded from that port. Sub- 

 sequently another steamer brought 15,000 bags on through 

 Bills of Lading to the west aud south-west, apparently a 

 large part of the supply is being absorbed in this manner. — 

 James Cook Sc Co.'s Weekly DUpatch, March 27th. 



The Indian Industry, says the Pioneer, which 

 ought more than any other to profit by the 

 London Exhibition is the tea-trade. Though the de- 

 mand for Indian tea in England is on the in- 

 crease, it is still comparatively little known, even in 

 London, among ordinary consumers. Yet to their 

 tastes, after all, every commodity must appeal as to 

 a final court of judgment. If, therefore, arrangements 

 such as were partially in force at the late Health 

 Exhibition are made on a vastly extended scale, and 

 to the exhibits of each variety of Indian tea, stalls 

 are attached, where at a low price any visitor can be 

 provided with ft cup of really good Indian tea, he 

 would in all probability during the next few days 

 speak constantly of having enjoyed at the Exhibition 

 the "best cup of tea I ever tasted in my life.'' Ar- 

 rangements should also be made for supplying unlimited 

 numbers of sample packets — not too large to be carried 

 in the hand or pocket without inconvenience, and 

 costing, if possible, only a few pence — of the very 

 best qualities of tea. Th°se may seem insignificant 

 details, but when the possible purchasers have to be 

 calculated at 50,000 daily, and in the aggregate by 

 millions, coming from every country in the world, 

 planters and traders will see that these details be- 

 come of vast importance. There is probably, and not- 

 withstanding the present depression in it, a great 

 future before the Indian tea trade , and tho London 

 Exhibition of 1886, if properly utilized io il i . 



should bring that future sensibly nearer, 



