Mav I, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



Scj! 



^orrospnndoncc. 



To the Edi/or of the " Cetjlm Obsa-ca:" 



THE STOCK OF CINCHONA BARK IX 



LONDON. 



London, 12tl) March 1880. 

 1)e»b Sir, — In a iiavagippli of your Oveilarul issue 

 dated Kith Feb. I notice soiiio reiuaiks iTgarding 

 the stocks of bark in London at the end of .Jan. 

 which are undoubtedly erroneous. A very large pro- 

 portion of the stock of liT.OOO packages mentioned 

 is composed of the old importations of Cuprean 

 bark, which liave not yet entered into con.sumption, 

 and for which at present there is no demand. This 

 bark is packed in serous, each weit;hing about l.")0 

 lb.— some packages are even smaller. If an aver- 

 age of 200 lb. per package is allowed, in my opinion, 

 the whole stock of bark in London at that date 

 would be easily included; so that, instead of •2ri,000,000 

 lb., we have 18,400,000 lb. Several of the packages 

 too are cases of druggist ijuills, which do not aver- 

 age as a rule so much as 100 lb. The .Java bark 

 that sold yesterday (some of its Ledger root by the 

 way at 2s 7d) arrived in bales of various weights 

 from 110 to 150 lb. I should be inclined to estim- 

 ate the stock of bark in Loudon at ratlier under 

 l.S.OOO.OOO lb. than over, and much of it of poor 

 quality. Ajjologizing for trespassing on your space, 

 I am, yours faithfully, .JOHN HAMILTON. 



I China tea at 7^d or yd per lb. put a dash o ' 

 I Ceylon with it to give character, and. labelling it 

 pure Ceylon ten, in oiifiiiuil packets as impurliil, 

 sell it as such, and rniii our trade, for that, I 

 am sure, will be the result in a few years. It is 

 not of course, impossible to get genuine Ceylon 

 tea, but you must get recommended to the right 

 quarter for it, otherwise you are bound to be 

 imposed upon, especially in the 2s tea. I enclose 

 a sample from some I bought at 2s 4d per lb. 

 I recommend my friends to do the same, it is very 

 nice. Apologising for the length of this letter. — I 

 am dear sir, yours truly, 



GEORGE ALEXANDER. 



CEYLON TEA IN LONDON. 



2i:i, Havelock Street, Mayfair, London, W. 

 1st April 188(j. 



De.vb Sir, — I read with considerable interest the 

 letter which you printed a short time since upon 

 the subject of Ceylon Tea (so-called) as sold in 

 England : and would ask you to allow me to add 

 my voice to the complaint by giving a few facts, 

 wliich are within my own personal knowledge. 



1 prefer to drink pur, Ceiilmi tea, but have 

 great ditticnlty in getting it, even from the most 

 respectable sliops in London, not, mark you, be- 

 cause tliey do not profess to sell the article ; but 

 Irom the undoubted fact, that a great many tea 

 merchants and grocers sell a mixture of cheap China 

 and Ceylon, as genuine Ceylon tea. 



Why we naturally ask, should they do so? I 

 will endeavour to show why, at least, some of 

 them find it pays to practice this deception, (I 

 might say " fraud") upon the public. The principal 

 part of the tea sold by these packet dealers is at 

 2s per lb., and for that price, the public expect 

 a very good tea, both in liqour and leaf. 



The dealer buys his tea on the Mincing Lane 

 market, say at Is per lb. (you can't buy any 

 Ceylon tea worth drinking under) which, with duty 

 makes Is (id per lb. prime cost. He then puts 

 the tea info packets, (lead), which with labels, 

 time, etc., cost at least 2d per lb. more, thus Is 8d 

 per lb : the dealer wants Hd per lb. profit, his 

 agent, who retails it to the consumer another Id, 

 and adding .{d per lb. for rail carriage to agent, 

 we get a grand total of 2s 3Jd per lb., in other 

 words Ojd per lb. more than it co.st the dealers. 

 From whence comes then the 2s pure Ceyluu tea, 

 which a dozen different branijn are selling in the 

 manner I have described ? It is perfectly plain 

 to us that it pays the dealers better to buy cheap 

 lUti 



CEYLON HIDES IN THE EASTERN PROVINCE. 



Batticaloa, .Si'd April 188li. 



Pmn Sir,— In your editorial of the (itli March, 

 under the head, '• Ceylon Leather," you allude to 

 the ditJiculty which a London correspondent linds 

 satisfactorily to account for the low prices obtained 

 for Ceylon '• buffalo hides," and ask if " any of 

 your readers can give you information on the sub. 

 ject ■? " I think some reason may be found for 

 the inferiority of the hides exported from the 

 Eastern I'rovince of Ceylon. Bufi'aloes being reared 

 here solely for purposes of cultivation, they are 

 not slaughtered for food. Wild ones are occasion- 

 ally shot by some of the M<jors who eat beef, 

 but the hides thus obtained having bullet holes in 

 them are valued less ; and such hides form about 

 one-ninth of the quantity exported. Nine-tenths are 

 from animals which die of murrain or from over- 

 work, and the skinning process of these carcases 

 seldom begins before decomposition sets in. These, 

 I think, are the causes of depreciation in the value 

 of buffalo hides exported from this province. 



I cannot speak positively about hides from other 

 provinces in the island. I know that a large num- 

 ber of buffaloes are slaughtered for food in the 

 other provinces, but I have reason to think that 

 the skins of di-^easnd animals form no small por- 

 tion of the quantity exported from those pro^inces. 

 The trade in skins and bones has been taken up 

 by some Moorish traders and Sinhalese settlers. In 

 former times one could hardly see a Sinhalese ex- 

 cept in those parts inhabited by them, but now 

 almost every village has two or three lowcountry 

 Sinhalese settled for good. Several of these, I be- 

 lieve, are much wanted by the poUce of the Western 

 and Southern Provinces. The villagers either know- 

 nothing about them or are unwilling to give in- 

 formation against them as they have come here 

 as to a " city of refuge." I think if the rewards 

 for the apprehension of these gentry be raised, 

 and the period extended to a year, and some de- 

 tectives be sent from time to time, we may hope 

 to get rid of them. S. 



TEA LEAF PLUCKIN(t GALORE! 



Kandaloya, Nawalapitiya, Ith April 188ti. 



Dk.vu Siu, — As Kandaloya expected crop for 

 March has been brought before the public, it may 

 possibly interest some of your readeis to know that 

 the amount actually secured was 22, -lO.'! 'I. ia March. 



The tiiree highest daily deliveries of leaf were 

 4,720 lb., .'■>,200 lb. and 0,.'56o. lb 



The largest " cannack " " of leaf brought in by 

 any single plucker on one day was 0.1 lb.— Yours 

 faithfully, W. TURING MACKENZIE. 



' Oiumack." task or (juantity.— Ed. 



