734 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST, [Mat t, 1890. 
Whole Black Pepper— North Matalc Estate Second award 
A. G. IC. Borron ... Third award 
Whole White Pepper— A. G. K. Borron... Second award 
Long Pepper — A. G. K. Borron ... First award 
AVhole Cayenne Pepper— A. G. K. Borron First award 
Cinnamon Bark— C. H. De Soysa ... First award 
Coconut Oil— Stevenson & Son ... First-class award 
C. H. De Soysa ...Second-class awn I'd 
Photographs- Scowcn & Co., Kandy ..Special First-class 
award and flower 
studies 
Mr. Scowen should be grateful to the Tea Fund Com- 
mittee for this award, as the photographs were, I un- 
derstand, purchased by you and sent to adorn the 
Court, 
I regret that all efforts made to recover Messrs. 
Skeen & Co.'s photographs, forwarded from Mel- 
bourne, have proved unavailing. 
The certificates cf awards will probably not be dis- 
tributed until nearly the close of the Exhibition, but 
I shall forward them to you as soon as received. 
By this mail I send to you and to Mr. Kelly copies 
of the Otago Daily Times of 21st and 25th Feb. con- 
taining a list of all the awards for teas, and a satis- 
factory article on the Ceylon Tea Exhibits. The list 
shows that Ceylon teas were better represented and 
took more awards than all other teas put together. ■ 
The Ceylon and Indian Teas Association, Limited, 
have desired me to request that you will be kind 
enough to send them as many copies as you can spare 
of the circular headed " Tea in Ceylon," and having 
the picture of the Tamil girl plucking tea. They also 
request that at the close of the Exhibition they may 
be appointed agents at Dunedin for the Planters' As- 
sociation, and, to combat the unfriendly remarks and 
advertisements of certain dealers in China teas, I think 
this would be advisable.— I remain, &c, (Signed) W. 
Watson, Inspector, Colonial Bank of New Z raland. 
. o 
PLANTING IN UVA. 
A CHAPTER OF PLANTING GRIEVANCES— UNPRE- 
CEDENTED!. Y BAD "WEATHER IN UVA— FLUSHING OF 
tea retarded— an omission in gow, wilson & 
stanton's weekly tea report : average prices 
FOR INDIAN TEAS— WHAT TO DO WITH THE STRAY DOGS : 
A SUGGESTION TO THE MUNICIPAL MAGISTRATES — 
JUBILEE STATUE VERSUS PROVIDENT FUND— SURPRISE 
AND DELIGHT IN STRANGE COUNTRIES— CHANGE OF 
THE WRITER'S NAME— WEATHER PROSPECTS. 
There is said to be a reason for everything— a 
balm for every wound— a billet for every bullet, and 
a whole lot of things for a whole lot of other things. 
Such being the case (and I am sure we ought all 
to bo exceedingly thankful that such is the case) 
we in this part of the country will esteem it a 
favour if anyone will kindly give us the reason 
for the abominable and unseasonable weather that 
has characterized nearly everyday of the past four 
months. It has been truly heartbreaking— and the 
English language in this district ba3 been reduced 
to a few monosyllabic words, mostly beginning 
with a capital D. During November, December 
and January, when we wanted to plant, we couldn't.. 
And when we did have a rainy day or two, and 
rushed out as many plants as we could, out came 
the sun again for a fortnight or so and killed 'em 
all off. This sort of hide-and-seek game kept op 
till we ' were well into February, and then— then, if 
you please- splendid planting weather set in when 
nobody wanted it and nobody had any plauts to 
plant— and this beautiful planting weather is not 
over yet. Holy Moses ! In the meantime, our tea, 
which is bursting with impatience to flush the 
moment it gets the chance, is doing hardly any- 
thing, and we have the unspeakable bliss of know- 
ing that a considerable slice of our very best flush- 
ing season has already gone with hardly such a thing 
as a single big plucking to show for itself. Why 
cannot the sun shine when ho is so badly wanted 
and when ho would dw incalculable good— and as 
ho has hitherto ncvero failed to do at this time of 
the year V Who ever heard of a Fobruary and 
March in Uva without lots of sunBhinc and heat ? 
This sort of thing upsets all our calculations and 
will put a peter on all our hopes if it does not stop 
shortly. I am sure it is enough to make a swine 
swear and to draw tears from a ham. This wet- 
blanket weather has put a stopper on lots of 
things besides tea-flush. For instance, " Mountain 
Echoes " have been completely smothered and could 
not make themselves heard through the fog. 
There is only one thing wanting in Messrs. Gow, 
Wilson & Stanton's Weekly Report, which is ad- 
mittedly the most complete and accurate tea 
report received there, to makeit quite perfect. They 
do not, as in the case of Ceylon and Java, give us 
the average price realized by Indian teas. If this 
want were supplied we could see at a glance, 
week by week, if our teas were holding their own 
against India or vice versa. And as there is not 
a reader of their report in Ceylon (and in India 
too I presume) to whom this information would 
not be of the greatest interest and value, I trust 
our good friends, Messrs. Gow, Wilson & Stanton, 
will take this suggestion into consideration. 
The home papers tell us that several tons of 
quite a new kind of manure have recently been 
imported into England from Egypt in the shape 
of embalmed cats presumably dead. Now that is 
something worth knowing. The local papers inform 
us that the Colombo Municipal Council finds itself 
rather puzzled as to the best way to dispose_ of 
the (apparently) numberless stray dogs with which 
the Metropolis is infested. Put these two faots 
together and further comment is unnecessary. 
There is any number of estates upeountry wanting 
manure, ancl everybody knows that a dead dog is 
about the highest and most perfect kind of a 
stimulant that can be applied to the root 
of a tree. A nod is as good as a wink to 
a blind horse. So keep your weather eyes open, my 
worthy municipal magnates (I have a sneak- 
ing regard for you, a renowned ancestor of my 
own having occupied the proud position of a 
Bailie in a certain western city), and do not 
let such a glorious opportunity of increasing you 
country's exports slip from your grasp. 
Tea Notes.— Darjeeling, March 8tb. — Ground dried 
up. No immediate signs of plucking before _ 1st 
April or one week later than last year. High winds 
daily in the afternoon with heavy clouds but un- 
usually clear mornings for the time of year. — Seleng, 
March 10th. — A sharp storm with hail, and not 
much rain passed over here on Thursday, but did 
not do much damage. Rain is threatening daily, 
and is badly wanted. Fogua passed off quietly. 
Tipping begins next week on most gardens. Sun 
very hot in middle of day. — Indian Planters' Gazette. 
Coolies in Assam.— Sir J. Gorst, replying to ques- 
tions by Mr. S. Smith and Sir G. Campbell, as 
to alleged ill-treatment of Coolies employed in the 
Assam Tea Gardens, said that he was arked by 
the Secretary of State to say that the Rev. Isaac 
Bowe, of the Anglo-Indian Evangelisation Society, 
who had laboured for some two years among the 
Assam Coolies, and who was in no way connected with 
the Government, had borne his testimony to the 
generallv kind treatment of the Coolies by their 
employers, and stated that he was certain, from 
his knowledge of the East-end of London, that 
hundreds of starving poor in England to jay, would 
be most thankful if they could be as well fed and 
housed as the great bulk of the people employed 
in the tea gardens. The misrepresentations so per- 
sistently made on this subject were a great wrong, 
not only to the planters but the Coolies themselves 
of whom there were tens of thousands half-starved 
in the overcrowded districts of Bengal and elsewhere 
who might but for these statements seek lucrative em- 
ployment in Assam.— London Standard, Maroh 4th 
