292 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1889S 
next steamer, the " St. Petersburg," which calls 
here about the 27th November on her way from 
Saghalien to Odessa. Messrs. Zinzinoff Brothers 
on Moscow, to whose discretion some of the samples 
would be consigned, are among the most important 
tea firms in Eussia. Of course, M. de Frisch will 
be ready to ship consignments of tea for sale, as 
well as samples, and indeed he is personally interested 
in starting and encouraging a trade in tea between 
Colombo and Odessa ; because the Administration 
Board of the Russian Volunteer Fleet would be great- 
ly pleased if one or more of thpir steamers could 
load up for Odessa at this half-way port every year 
with tea, in place of going so much farther East 
to Hankow. We trust, therefore that the enter- 
prising Chairman and Secretary of the Planters' 
Tea Fund will be able through M. de Frisch to 
make a wide distribution of represantative samples 
of Ceylon tea with average values f. o. b. noted 
on the same to aid the Bussian dealers in giving 
orders for shipments by successive steamers of the 
Volunteer Fleet. One drawback to the trade is 
the heavy Bussian import duty on tea. In the 
latest annual Beport of Messrs. Gow, Wilson & 
Oo. the duty is given as varying from " 2d(!) to 
ll|d," but " Is lOJd from European frontier. M. 
de Frisch states, however, that the duty "was 
about 63 copeks in gold or about Is 8d per lb. 
last year," and he thinks it must still be the same. 
This is very heavy, although, of course, if the same 
duty applies to China as to Ceylon tea, the latter 
will rather have an advntaage. 
CEYLON TOBAOCO IN GEBMA.NY. 
Favourable Beport. 
We are indebted to Mr. Gray of Galmadua, for 
the following encouraging report on Ceylon tobacco, 
Mr. Gray writes : — " I enclose a copy of a letter 
from Bremen about my recent lot of tobacco, and 
you must bear in mind, this was my first attempt 
and I had almost all Dumbara tobacco, not having 
been able to procure good seed, and having 3 
months dry weather to contend with. You will 
especially note that the tobacco was properly cured, 
and sound, which is the great point, as every- 
body said -I could not find out the euriDg of it. 
What does 's' stand for, and how much is it per lb. 
I would like to know." [What looks like " s" must 
really be "d" and stand for "pfennigs," 100 
of which equal 1 mark or shilling, so that 45 to 
80 per J kilo would equal about 5d to 9d per lb. 
These were the bids, the sale was at 80 p. or9d 
per lb.] We quote the Bremen report as follows : — 
Bremen, 20th June 1889.— Confirming our letter of 
29th ult. as per duplicate enclosed, we have the 
pleasure of advising the sale of your 105 bundles 
tobacco p. st. "Niirnberg" at 80* per \ kilo at six months 
credit. As regards the out-turn of the tobacco we beg 
to say the following : — 
There is no essential difference between the six 
marks, although the S. L. V. L. especially the III. 
and the one bale V. are somewhat better than the rest, 
and therefore our remarks apply to the whole of your 
consignment. The tobacco has, as a novelty, found 
much interest and a very different valnation, the bids 
varying from 45 to 80* per -J kilo: the favorable attri- 
butes of the tobacco are good taste almost equal to 
Havana, good, burning, and good sound condition, the 
quality is rather too heavy, a lighter one would suit 
better for cigar purposes, the defect of the growth 
are the many coarse, think leaves contained in the 
assortments I. and II. which cannot be used as 
wrappers, but only as binders of rather undesirable 
sorts and therefore the assortment III. and IV. are 
more useful and valuable than I. and II. For the 
whole the lot represents no more than cigar 
bindcrsfnd fillers, the small precentafe of leaf suit- 
* "s " written in translation sent to us, but should 
clearly be " d." — En. 
able for wrapper contained in I. and II., and some- 
what more in III. cannot be considered, it would be 
necessary, as soon as larger quantities are raised, to 
separate the fine leaf from the coarse and thick leaf 
in order to secure a full value for the former. What 
our manufacturers want and what they are willing to 
value high is tobacco of fine silky broad leaf, light of 
weight and light coloured, and we hope you will 
succeed in improving your crops in that direction. 
We don't know the cost of your production, but as 
labor in India is cheap, as compared with Sumatra 
and Borneo, we hope that the price of "80 ' will at 
least cover your expenses and be no hindrance to 
further production. Your tobacco has rather too 
much quality and green, the soil is probably too rich 
and heavy and perhaps you could counterbalance that by 
ming the seed of a ligl t tobacco as Sumatra Laukat, 
but in this respect you know certaiuly more than we. 
As regards the packing of your tobacco we re- 
commend to put it in squared bales of about 130 
pounds of this shape □ and be careful in selecting 
the leaves according to size, texture and color giving 
numbers for the different sizes with counter marks 
in regard to texture and color and one or more main 
marks for the lot or lots. However, assorting should 
not be extended more than necessary ; many marks 
force more samples, bales to be opened, more samples 
to be drawn and valued, they cause more labor and 
expense and consequently our dealers prefer to buy 
large lots which can easily be handled. Your first 
shipment was not in a merchantable condition for a 
dealer and therefore was only a purchase for a 
manufacturer of this city ; we should, however care 
to have the competition of the whole marked. The 
buyer has not yet received the tobacco, generally 
four weeks for storage are allowed, we will settle the 
business as soon as possible and in our next mail 
report, you will find sales and remittance for net 
proceeds. Against further shipments of tobacco you 
may draw on us at three days or any longer sight 
with list of weight and shipping documents attaohed; 
marine insurance to be covered by us. 
♦ 
TANNING AN ELEPHANT HIDE. 
It weighed about 1,200 lb., and was about an 
inch and a third thiok. After being put into a 
reservoir of pure water to green it, it was beaten 
for one hour every day with an iron on a large 
anvil. After being ten days in pure water it 
was left for another ten days in water with 
about 4 per cent of salt. Then it was re- 
placed in pure water again for twenty days. 
During those forty days it was constantly in soak. 
The head and feet, weighing about 300 lb., were 
then removed, and the skin hung on spikes in 
the drying-room. After hanging one day it was 
put in a vat containing potash and a small quantity 
of sulphate of sodium in the following proportions : 
water, 1,000 parts; slaked lime, twenty-five parts; 
potash, three parts ; sulphate of sodium, two parts. 
After being two days in this bath it was rinsed 
in pure water of a temperature of twenty degrees, 
when it was again placed in the drying-room. After 
this double operation was repeated three times the 
skin was ready to have the hair taken off. This 
operation occupied about one day's time and gave 
about 75 lb. of hair. Another day was spent in 
cleaning and scraping. By this time it lost 30 per 
cent of its weight. The operation of its prepara- 
tion lasted two months, anil it went through j the 
same course as cow hide, with the difference that 
each phase of the work took three times as much 
time. The skin should be stretched in the pit, and 
placed in the middle of cow-hides. Six layers 
of powder are then thrown in ; two first, two 
seconds, and two third layers. Altogether the 
tanning takes three years. The partition of time 
is thus : becoming green, 40 days ; worked, 16 days ; 
preparation, 50 days; repetition, 60 days; first pit 
(double), 200 days; second pit (doubie), 300 days; 
third pit (double), 400 days. — P. M. Budget. 
