7 8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [August t, 1889. 
varieties of rare flowers, which, when all is m grow- 
ing condition, will render the giounds and house an 
apparent paradise. There "re 15 men employed on 
the place, ploughing, cultivating, and planting. In 
his selection of vines he has assorted the Muscat, 
70,000 in number, from a stock of 175 000, and getting 
them io, or a large portion of them, before the rains, 
they are budding, and it is not expected that on6 
per cent of the vine slips will be lost. He finished 
the general planting on the 2nd of March, and the 
advancement made in the short time is wonderful. 
This year, of course, he expects no returns : next 
year he will have a moderate crop, and then will 
follow paying crops from year to year. The vines 
he set out were rooted Muscat, 12 months old, so 
that next year he expects to get out of the vineyard 
as much at least as will pay for the outlay on the 
grounds. Located as it is, in the midst of the most 
celebrated vin yards in the State, the soil being so 
admirably adapted to the raisin grape, Mr. Mal- 
colmson will be soon among the prominent raisin- 
growers of California. The survey for the new 
mountain railroad passes on the east and south side 
of this vineyard, for which he has given permission 
for right of way. He is surrounded by landowners 
prominent in the State — H. 8. Crocker, of San Fran- 
cisco, having 80 acres adjoining, Michael Tarpey, and 
ott)3rs, who hold their land from 200 dollars to 250 
dollars per acre. Mr. Malcolmson is a gentleman who 
has travelled in various parts of Europe, and at one 
time was a coffee planter at Ceylon, in the Bast 
Indies, where he carried on a successful business 
for many years. Although coffee-planting may differ 
from grape-growing, still we predict the same suc- 
cessful management will follow Mr. Malcolmson in 
his grape-growing enterprise. He has his family 
living upon the place, Mrs. Malcolmson, a most 
estimable lady, being deeply interested in the orna- 
mentation of their lawn, and when he has com- 
pleted his fig and olive avenue from the main road 
to his residence he will have one of the most inviting 
spots in the valley. 
+ 
THE TEA DUTY. 
A Liverpool paper says: — "Mr. Picton says that if 
the duty were abolished ' the consumption of tea of 
all kinds would be largely extended.' Is this desirable? 
At tho present moment the consumption of tea is over 
five pounds per head of the entire population. Does 
it not occur to thinking people that if the people of 
Great Britain consumed tea at a much larger rate it 
would hardly be for Great Britain's good ? We know 
that there are those who say thit God made the 
grain and the tea and the devil the whisky and beer. 
But, if that be so, why do not the disciples of the 
doctrine eat the tea leaves ? And then again, the tea 
consumed in such abundance is, to a large extent, 'such 
tea.' Let us say once more that the present duty may 
be too high ; but even apart from revenue considera- 
tions, we should be sorry to see no duty at all. When 
the duty was Is 9d per lb., tea was, no doubt, much 
dearer than it needed to be ; but it was always geuuine 
good tea. Since the reduction to 6d per lb it is still 
possible to tret pure tea, but so much more difficult 
that one quails at the thought of the vile stuff which 
it might pay to import if there were no duty." A great 
deal of this is rubbi-h — not the tea, but the writing, aud 
it goes to prove that where Party considerations are 
concerned all else, even sense, must give way, if neces- 
sary. The wisdom of abolishing the duty on tea is a 
debatable question. Certainly when the Liberals were 
in office we heard nothing about the proposals for its 
removal, but the idea that an increased consumption of 
tea would be prejudical to the welfare of the country 
is too silly to call forth further comment. 
But is there not much to be said in favour of the 
removal of the tax? Tea has become a necessary of 
life; and a necessity of life should not be taxed. 
Secondly, this necessity of life is taxed, and taxed more 
highly than many of the luxuries of lite. It is taxed 
much more heavily, for instance, th in some wines. Tea 
can b(n bought in bond to: 4£d or 5d. The tax is more 
than 100 per cent, on the price of the commodity. i{ 
the duty cannot be abolihhtd.it might be diDiinisbed. 
One r> suit of such a dtpp would no doubt be an in- 
crease of trade with India and Ceylon, which would 
be a food thing for all concet fed. It would also in- 
crease the consump tion of a tnnp< ranee drink. The 
difficulty is, of course, to find a substitute for the tsx, 
and till that is done, or c ur expenditure seriously re- 
duced, we cannot, sacrifice the four millions aid mrre 
which it produces. But-, the. duty is almost unique 
iu its kind, as a tax upon a useful food, and Mr. Picton's 
protest shouid serve as a reminder to future Chan- 
cellors of the Exchequer— H. $ C. Mail, May 17th. 
» 
GEMMING AND MINING IN CEYLON : 
THE OPINIONS OF MR. GEO. ARMITAGE, 
A COLOMBO EXPERT. 
MR. STREETER'S VIEWS CRITICIZED. 
Yesterday our representative had the pleasure of 
a long interview with Mr. Geo. Armitage, the 
well-known Colombo prospecor and mineralogist, on 
the general subject o( mining in Ceylon, and more 
particularly respecting the views expressed by Mr. 
Streeter to our London correspondent, 
THE ADVANTAGES OF A COMPANY OVER PRIVATE DIGGERS. 
Mr. Streeter referred to " the competition of diggers 
outside of any Association that might be formed." 
With regard to that Mr. Armitage considered it 
could not well be prevented in a country like Ceylon 
where there is much gemming land in private 
hands. " It would be impossible," he proceeded, 
"in a free country like this to prevent persons 
from working, or allowing others to work, on their 
own land. Where an Association would have the 
advantage over private workers would be in their 
working with a large capital and having responsible 
persons to look after their interests, and also by 
being able to pass through their mills a largo 
quantity of alluvial, or the matrix containing the 
gems, against the present laborious, slow and 
dangerous system — dangerous because it is almost 
impossible to prevent theft if worked on a large 
scale. Again, machinery properly adapted for the 
work would allow of much larger quantities being 
worked at a time, and also prevent theft. A 
wealthy Association will always be in a position 
to keep themselves advised of where good deposits 
are to be found through their prospectors, and also 
to purchase, or otherwise acquire, the rights of 
gemming on land found to be rich in gems. For 
an Association to derive the full benefit of working 
out in Ceylon they should have 
A CENTRAL FACTORY WHERE STONES ARE CUT BY 
MACHINERY, 
and according to the approved European method. 
Such a factory there would be no difficulty in es- 
tablishing in Ceylon, where lapidary work is so 
much cheaper than at home, and as cutting by 
machinery would so much lighten the labour 
of the lapidary, there would be no difficulty in 
getting the natives to adopt the new system. As 
it is, if a little trouble be taken -with the 
native lapidaries, they can cut stones almost 
as well as they are out at home, notwithstanding 
the fact that their appliances are rough in the 
extreme, and the facets of the stones are cut 
entirely by the eye, the stone being held in the 
left hand and cut on a vertical lap. With all 
these disadvantages it is wonderful to tee the work 
they can turn out when trouble is taken with them, 
and they are made to understand that weight is 
not the main object to be considered in cutting a 
stone. Another reason why it is very necessary 
to establish a factory in Ceylon is to allow of the 
stones being sent out to the various markets of 
Europe, Asia, America, and Australia direct, and 
