JiiKi, I, i8S6..J 



THE ^TROPICAL AGRICULTtfKIST. 



6yt 



fan'tispniutenj^c. 



'I'o l/ie Edilor of the " Ctijlon Obsirvtr. 



C013EA BRAND TEA : ENGLISH AND FOKEIGN 

 BUSINESS— A DISTINCTION ? 



London". April i'lk. 



Siii, — My attention has beeii diawu to a imru- 

 graph against " Cobra Brand " tea in the Cci/Ivh 

 Observer. Although it is not stated in plain langu- 

 age, yet it is hinted that Cobra Brand Tea is not 

 pure Ceylon. With the English business, since 

 November l-ird of last year 1 have no connection, 

 and therefore am in no way responsible for the 

 way in which that business is conducted. But 

 prior to November 3rd a guarantee under a penalty 

 of £100 was affixed to every parcel and packet, 

 vouohiny for the contents being pure Ceylon Ten 

 and notliing else. That guarantee I continue to use 

 (though I understand the Ceylon Tea and Coffee 

 Company Limited have dropped its use) upon my 

 packets which go to America, South America, the 

 West Indies, Sweden, France, Italy and many other 

 countries. I affirm that I send nothing but pure 

 Ceylon Tea unmixed with any other, neither have 

 X ever, since I commenced to sell Ceylon Tea, sold 

 any other. 



I question whether many of the retailers of Ceylon 

 lea in London could truthfully make a similar state- 

 ment. On the other hand deception is rife. Tea is 

 sold everywhere under the name of Ceylon and I 

 intend, on the arrival of Mr. J. L. Shand, to make 

 certain ropreeontatioui to him which may induce 

 action to be taken. 



In the face of present prices this loyalty to your 

 article has been very hard upon me, but I hope 

 for easier terms in the future. I am continuing to 

 do good work for Ceylon in pushing her tea into 

 fresh countries where, until my consignments enter, 

 Ceylon tea is often unknown. I pack a good lifjuor- 

 ing, good leaf Ceylon, looking ahead for my reward. 

 My bond packed teas could never be described as 

 rubbish and it is very painful to me. after all the 

 good work that has been done under the ■' Cobra 

 Brand, '' that it should thus be dragged in the 

 mire. I euelose my circular with testimonials, which 

 prove that my tea is appreciated abroad. Yours 

 faithfully A. HUTCHISON. 



P. S. — Although the last Ceylon Observer has been 

 in some days, it is only now, just at post time, 

 that my attention has been called to the editorial 

 and foot-note. I shall treat of this later. 



. Who then is responsible for the English bnaincss 

 in Cobra Brand Tea, we ask ?— En.] 



CBOTON-OIL PLAuN'TS AND THEIR ENEMIES: 

 CATEBPILLAKS GALOEE. 



Ncgombo, viTth April imH. 

 Dtiii HiK, — My good friend Mr. Hollosvay, at the 

 Planters' Association meeting held on 28th .Ian. 

 ISiHI, staled that even bees would not approach a 

 croton-oil plant to gather pollen from its blossoms, 

 implying thereby 1 presume that so virulent was 

 its poison that no insect would attack it. 1 have 

 also heard others express very much the same 

 opinion, and was myself inclined to endorse it. This 

 idea has been exploded in a most effectual manner as 

 yon wiU see. About a week ago the conductor 

 in charge of my little place between Polgahawela 

 and Kurimcgala wrote to say that caterpillar., liad 

 attacked the croton-oil plants and were destroying 

 them rapidly. I went up as soon as I could, ex- 

 pecting to 6ee tioiuetbiug like (be sight (bat 



l)resented itself to my view about three years ago 

 when caterpillars attacked a field of castor-oil 

 plants, and after devouring everything but thr 

 trunks, began upon the Liberian coffee and cocoa 1 

 Wliat I did sec was not quite so bad, yet it wan 

 bad enough. The insects (one of the hop cater- 

 pillars, tlic larva I fancy of the common brown 

 and black butterfly, rather numerous there just 

 now) had made a clean sweep of every leaf over 

 about three acres of croton-oil plants ; there was 

 nothing left but the main stems and the primary 

 branches; all the young twigs were eaten, and the 

 bark from the secondary branches clean eaten off. 

 The trees had crop on and were laden with blossom, 

 but nothing came amiss to these voracious creatures ■, 

 their stomachs must be as case hardened as that 

 of the sailor who drank off a glass of aqim forti^ 

 and who when told what it was ho had drunk 

 coolly rejjlied ; " Aqua forty or aqua fifty I 'd like 

 some more of it " ; so no doubt would these 

 insects. The rest of the crotons, over other 

 2.5 acres, were only slightly affected as they had 

 been taken in hand in time : the bushes 

 were shaken and the insects killed on the ground. 

 This had to be done three times ; and so tenaciously 

 do they hold on with their 1 suckers that it is very 

 diflicuft to get them off ; this however is a very 

 effectual way of getting rid of them. The trees on 

 the 10 acres will. I think, shoot out again as the 

 weather is wet ; but had this occurred at the 

 beginning of the dry weather I believe they would 

 nearly all have died. Not a leaf of the cocoa was 

 touched, evidently it was too insipid a diet after 

 the strong and stimulating croton. I should like to 

 know if anyone else has had a similar visitation, 

 —Yours truly, WILLIAM JABDINE. 



TEA-MAKING: A BEMEDY FOB "ALLEGED 



DETEBIORATION " ;— THE PBOPER TEA- 



DBIEB? 



Colombo, 21)th April 188b. 



Deak Sni,— During a visit to Dimbula last week, 

 my Benjamin and I made an excursion to the 

 Templcstowc estate where one of the "l*'luc Tea 

 Driers" is erected. After reaching Watawala by 

 rail, we ;;lepped along nearly two mileo of railway 

 sleepers, and then ascended a bteep path fur a mile 

 and a half, macadamised with tolerably largo 

 boulder.-j. We were not sorry therefore when wo got 

 to the top of the hill, to xc the Bungalow of the 

 hospitable Mr. MeCauslaud looming in the distance 

 below us ; this we reached in due time and did 

 full justice to a good breakfast. 



After digesting it we inspected the brand new 

 tea-house in which the "drier" is [ilaced. As both 

 the furnace and chimney are outside the building, 

 there was not a xmrticle of dust or dirt in the 

 tea-firmg room, which, everything being spick and 

 span new, was perfectly clean, tidy and well 

 arranged. I found the "drier" being worked pro- 

 perly, with one or two slight drawbacks, which 

 will bo rectiticd when the small ovens, to contain 

 the tiring trays, arc placed upon it. 



We tested some of the tea which Ml'. McCausland 

 just made, and, though lam an ine.vpert at tea tasting, 

 I know sufficient of its manufacture to be able to 

 distinguish between good and bad brews. I was 

 uuich struck with the very fine color of the infused 

 leaf, and the dark strong appearance of the liquor. 

 I asked Mr. McCausland if he could account for 

 this. He said ho thought the great heat of the 

 tea-tiring room, was conducive to a good wither 

 of the leaf, in the room above it, and also to the 

 fermentation of the leaf, which was twice rolled iu 

 one of Jackeou'a uew t>maU rollers. 



