748 
TH£ TROPICAL A6meUL?UftlST. [May i, i8ye. 
PROFITS OF INDlVN TEA COMPANIES. 
We think the following table from the Home and 
Colonial Mail shows good reason for the Indian 
tea industry being well supported. The highest 
average dividend recorded is e o good as 13J per 
oent, while the lowest is close on 4 per oent ; — 
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Q 02 
THE BOTANICAL LABORATORY IN THE 
ROYAL GARDENS, PERADENIYA, CEYLON. 
The attention of the readers of Nature has been 
drawn more than onee (vol. xxxi. p. 460, vol. xxxiv. p. 
127 ) to the opportunities which are before botanists 
for the study of plants other than those of our own 
flora. But sioce the latter of these articles appeared, a 
step has been taken which will justify a return once 
more to this important subjeot. 
It is certainly one of the most healthy signs of the 
present time that our younger botanists desire not 
merely to pore over minute details of microscopical 
structure in the laboratory at home, but to become 
personally acquainted with plants in the open. When 
the somewhat sudden reversion occurred some fifteen 
years ago, from taxonomy, as an academic study, to the 
more detailed examination of the tissues of plants in 
the laboratory, and the study of their functions, those 
who took a large view of the progress of the science 
must have seen with regret that the change, however 
valuable in itself , brought with it a new danger. Those 
whe as students were first introduced to plants as sub- 
jects of microscopic study ran the risk of falling to ap- 
preciate the importance of external form: they acquired 
a knowledge of themiuute structural details of certain 
plants, but did not acquire a strong grasp of the exter- 
nal characters of plants as a whole. But the pendulum 
whioh thus swung rapidly over to an extreme position 
is now returning to the mean. While duly appreciat- 
ing the value of microscopio examination, the- younger 
botanists are awake to the advantage, or even the ne- 
cessity, of a wide knowledge of plants. The whole area 
of facts upon which those who are now engaged in 
teaching draw in the course of their lectures is much 
wider than it was ten years ago, and the extension has, 
perhaps, been most marked in the province of exter- 
nal morphology. 
This beiDg so, there will be no need to press upon 
the men who are starting upon a career as botanists the 
importance of a visit to the tropics : they will look upon 
the collections in our Botanic Gardens, which they are 
hardly allowed to touch, as only a temporary substi- 
tute for a tropical jungle, where they may cut down 
plants as they pleaee, in order to obtain specimens illus- 
trating nature or developmental characters. Moreover, 
those characters of a tropical flora which are the most 
striking and characteristic are often those which must 
remain entirely unrepresented in our glass-houses at 
home. An expedition to the tropics should, in fact, 
become a recognized item in the programme of prepara- 
tion for a career as a teacher of botany. 
The advantages offered by the Royal Gardens at 
Peradeniya have already been pointed out in Nature 
(vol. xxxiv. p. 127); but since that article was written 
steps have been taken by a Committee of the'British 
Association to add to them. Backed by a grant of 
money, they have undertaken the establishment of a 
permanent laboratory in whioh visitors may carry on 
their work. A room has been set apart for this pur- 
pose in the official bungalow by th? diiectorate of the 
Royal Garden. It has every advantage of position, 
being plaoed centrally in the garden, and within 
easy reach of the herbarium, &c; while, since it is 
under the same roof as the Director's office, visitors 
would have the great advantage of the presenoe of 
Dr. Trimen himself as a referee in recognition of 
the plants of th3 rich native flora. In this room are 
to be found such apparatus and reagents as are o> 
dinarily required for laboratory work, and steps are 
being taken to add other facilities. 
The mere mention of these facts will probably suffice 
to attract those who were not previously aware of 
them. The chief deterrent will be the cost of the 
journey. It has already been stated that £200 to 
£250 will suffice for all expenses of an expedition of 
six months' duration, while if two club together the 
individual cost would be considerably smaller. Though 
the Committee of the British Association have no 
power to use the money entrusted to them as a per- 
sonal grant, still it is well known that there are 
sources from which such grants may be obtained in 
order to assist those who are engaged on a definite 
line of research. Bearing all these facts in mind, 
the value of such an expedition as that to Peradeniya 
cannot be too strongly urged on those who are about 
to enter definitely on a career as professed botanists. 
The widening of view, and opportunity for research, 
which any man of originality would obtain by it would 
amply repay him for his expenditure of time and 
money. Applications for the use of the laboratory, 
which is at present vacant, should be made to Prof. 
Bower (University Glasgow), who is the secretary to 
the Committee. — Nature, March 13th. 
CEYLON TEA : LONDON BROKERS' REPORTS 
FOR THE PAST YEAR. 
This mail has brought us a copy of Messrs. 
Wilson, Smithett & Oo.'s very valuable Annual 
Report entitled " Ceylon Tea Memoranda for 1889 " 
and which is dated March 1890. It also brings 
Messrs. Geo. White & Co. 's "Annual India, Ceylon 
and Java Tea Report " containing much useful 
information especially in the elaborate statistics. 
Pending the reprinting of the former in full and 
considerable extracts from the latter, we may 
notice today a few of the salient points of special 
interest to Ceylon tea planters. Considering that 
Ceylon tea offered in auction in London duriDg 
1889 showed an increase of 50 per cent over 1888, 
Messrs. Wilson, Smithett & Co. think the reduotion of 
the average for the year to lOfd per lb. from 
lljd in 1888, a matter whioh can be .viewed with 
equanimity and still mora the tali from Is Id in 
