July i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
»7 
Re Cotton. — Intending growers should peruse a 
very useful summary of instructions given in your 
T. A., March 1, 1883, page 733, issued by Natal 
Chamber of Commerce. The cultivation ther?> lies 
in a nutshell. What we want now is a brochure 
on the preparation for the market, — Yours, 
GIDEON. 
THE TEA CRISIS: 
QUESTIONS TO THE POINT. 
Rear Sib. — Perhaps " A Colombo Man " will 
answer some of the following questions, which bear 
upon 'the point he has raiser! of quality v. quantity. 
(1) Can some lowcountry districts produce teas 
of high quality such as now oommani prices in 
the London market? 
(2) If all the estates in Ceylon had by finer 
plucking in the last season produced, say § of the 
crop actually secured, would this have averted a 
crisis in the future, or only postponed it ? 
(3) Were all estates in Ceylon to produce tea 
of such fine quality as say Hoolankande would 
the market average now be Is lOd ? 
(1) If manufacture and plucking were uni- 
formly even, would not some estates (from their 
superior advantages of soil, climate, or elevation) 
excel others in price of tea sold? 
(5) Are not inferior teas and dust at the present 
moment selling comparatively dearer than good, 
well-made pekoes and pekoe souohongs? 
(6) Have such estates as Blackstone and Lool- 
condera altered their system of plucking and 
manufacture? If so, was it done with the object 
of increasing or diminishing their profits ? If not, 
are ihey culpable for the lower prices now paid 
for their teas ? The real question at ibsue is "Which 
pays best, quantity or quality ?" and how far either 
should be sacrificed to promote the other? — 
Yours truly, SUPERINTENDENT. 
CEYLON TEA TRADE IN NORTH AMERICA 
AND CANADA. 
Ceylon, May 18th, 1889. 
Sib, — Judging from the constant reference in 
your leading journal to the importance of opening 
special markets for the sale of Ceylon-grown teas, 
and particularly noticing the formation of a Planters' 
Company for the extension of business in this 
way in the United States of America through Mr. 
Pineo to work apparently from New York as a base 
of operations, I may be allowed to offer a few 
remarks on the subjeot, as one who knows America 
fairly well and Canada even better, and observe, 
that in my opinion the Planters' Company is fore- 
going an immense advantage which the geographical 
position of Ceylon gives it, in not taking this im- 
portant work in hand from what I may call the 
rear, instead of the front of the trade, which I 
may term such bases as New York or Boston. 
For although in this way you have the Suez 
Canal open and lines of established communi- 
cation, mure conveniently accessible — you strike 
old vested interests in New York and Boston 
more likely to be obstructive, where the most 
narrow-minded protectionists abound : and where a 
" ring " against you among dealers could easily be 
formed as unscrupulous as any ' Tammany ring ' that 
was ever created 
Aly recommen lation would b i to start an agency 
for America in >an Francisco and another at New 
Wostmin-itcr in British Columbia, to tap the trade 
with Canada ; these important points being only 750 
geographical miles apart, and for the following 
reasons : — 
1st. The Suez Canal may by war or some con- 
tingent stoppage be unavailable. 
2ndly. During winter the olimatio advantages of 
working from the British Columbia and San 
Francisco side are enormous, as compared with New 
York, Boston, or Halifax. 
Canada by way of the St. Lawrence is practically 
closed for six months in the y p ar, viz., from the 
middie of November wLdn thelasv Allan liner leaves 
Quobec to the middle of May when their first mail 
beat arrives out ; and granting that Halifax is 
open for the sak" of i-e .nails, the steamers even 
there often arrive covered with icicles, and New 
iork andBoncor, 'though better, still suffer sorri6- 
waat during the winter moc. ,hs. 
Then as above noted you encounter the mo3fc 
unscrupulous of protectionist bigots in those places, 
while on the weste. a slopes of the Rocky Mountains 
as far north as British Columbia you have a tem- 
per ite climate, an all the year round trade, and a 
population far more friendly in their ideas, while the 
harbour facilities in both San Francesco and New 
Westminster are unsurpassed, one of the largest 
graving docks capable of taking in a modern 
ironclad having only reoently been completed by the 
Government atEsquimault close to New Westminster. 
The great centre of trade for Ceylon to get a 
foothold in, is undoubtedly Chicago, which is just as 
easily reached by rail from San Francisco as from 
New York. Its gigantic trade may be illustrated in 
the one item of grain alone, there being at least 
twenty grain elevators there, oapable of storing 
30,000,000 bushels of grain, representing by railway 
measurement in the season 14 train miles of covered 
wagons of grain every day. Once tap Chicago from 
the West, .and gets depots along the Chicago, 
Milwaukee, St. Paul, and Winnipeg railway now in 
the hand3 of the Grand Trunk, coupled also with 
the southward line of the Mississippi to St. Louis 
and Memphis, both cities now almost competing 
with Chicago, and I venture to say that an area of 
population would be reached which would contain 
the largest consumers possible of " the drink that 
cheers, but not inebriate," that can be found, and 
equal to the purchase of all the tea Ceylon could 
produce. 
Again, along the line of the Canada Pacific Rail- 
way from its terminus at New Westminster, all the 
trading stations of Manitoba and Winnipeg could be 
reached in all seasons of the year, well-known to be 
a tea- drinking community of almost entirely British 
settlers. 
It occurs to me to suggest in conclusion, that an 
effort should be made to enclose the tea in handy 
parcels from \ lb. to 1, 2, and 3 lb. in the paper 
specially used for these purposes, almost impervious 
to damp and scentless, and covered with tinfoil if 
necessary, and packed again in larger cases as in 
ordinary chests. Buyers of these could at once 
establish small shops at the railway stations such as 
Cooper, Cooper & Co. and the United Kingdom Tea 
3ompauy do at the railway stations in England, and 
a roanng and profitable trade might be done with a 
possible quarter of million to the shareholders 
" reserve fund " in a very few years. — Yours truly, 
EX-CANADIAN RE SIDENT. 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
23rd May. 
Deab Sib, — I like the" ring" about "Ex-Canadian 
Resident's" letter. He seems to know oiearly what 
he is writing about. A pity we had not funds 
sufficient to induce him to proceed to the attack 
in the quarters he suggests in addition to the 
Pmeo scheme. Surely both could not fail, and if 
both were a success, what a splendid thing it would 
be for Ceylon. While Mr. Pineo is still amongst us, 
waiting simply for orders to slip his cables, perhaps 
he will notice the letter above referred to. 
PROPRIETOR, 
