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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, [March i, 1888. 
* 
To the Editor. 
THE CEYLON CACAO CROP OF THE SEA. 
SON NOT TO EXCEED 12,500 CWT. 
PEOBABLY. 
Dear Sie, — Cacao shipments to date are 3,500 
ewt. short of what they were at this time last 
year. With this early and extreme drought again 
during the twelve months, it is very unlikely that 
the balance of the season will ship what it did 
last year, but even allowing that it does, that 
would still only make a total shipment for the 
year off 12,500 ewt. CACAO PLANTEB. 
CEYLON TEA FUND: CEYLON TEA AT 
BEUSSELS. 
Planters' Association of Ceylon, Kandy,22nd Feb. 1888. 
Sib, — I beg to invite attention to the following 
telegrams regarding the Brussels Exhibition. — Yours 
obediently, A. PHILIP, Secretery Ceylon Tea Fund. 
Copy telegram to Mr. J. L. Shand, transmitted on 
the 20th February :—" If cannot sell teacup withdraw 
(from) Brussels, wire reply." 
Copy telegram received from Mr. J. L. Sband on the 
22cd February: — " Cup sales, Brussels arranged. 
CEYLON TEA AND THE GLASGOW AND 
BRUSSELS EXHIBITIONS. 
24, Rood Lane, London, B.C., 27tk Jan. 1888. 
The Secretary, Planters' Association of Ceylon, Kandy, 
Dear Sir, — I have been asked by Messrs. Reid and 
Cargill to keep you informed from time to time as to 
what we, as an Exhibition Committee, are doing. 
I sent you copy of a circular letter addressed by us 
to the London firms chiefly interested in Ceylon, and 
I am glad to tell you the response to it has been very 
favorable : 
Messrs. Matheson & Co. guarantee £100 
James Whittall, Esq. .. 50 
Messrs. Baring Brothers 100 
Do Spence & Aitken . . 50 
Oriental Bank Estates Co. • . 20 
Messrs. J. A. Hadden & Co. . . 20 
Ceylon Land and Produce Co. . 10 
Messrs. Arbuthnot, Latham & Co. 50 
And I have appointments fixed with others interested, 
which I am hopeful may result in further sub- 
scriptions. 
The object of this guarantee is that we may do the 
thing properly, and that Messrs. Reid, Cargill and my- 
self may not find ourselves with money gone and 
necessary work to do at the end, in other words as used 
by Sir Arthur Birch under similar circumstances "may 
run no risk of spoiling the Bhip for a baporth of 
tar." Judging by my Liverpool experience we shall 
require to go £1,000 out of pocket before we have any 
income : — 
Tea-house will cost say .. .. £400 
Decorations and fittings of court say . . 150 
Packing exhibits, freight by sea and land . . 200 
Native servants say .. .. 150 
Contingencies, attendance, &c. . . . . 100 
£1,000 
But if the Glasgow Exhibition turns out as we all 
expect, this money and a good deal more will readily 
return. 
The latest news about the sale of Indian teas at 
the Glasgow Exhibition is that a firm has paid £2,400 
for the concession, so I think the arrangement made 
by the Ceylon Committee is by no means an un- 
favorable one. 
Until the buildings at Glasgow are completed, we 
can of course do little towards getting on. I have sent 
down my attendant, who was at Liverpool last year 
and at South Kensington the year before, who will 
got B on with the preparation of the site for the tea- 
on o and with the gradual unpacking of exhibits, but 
ot much can be done until we have the court ready 
for the reception of exhibits. I hear Mr. Aitken is 
expected in London in a day or two, and he will be able 
to tell us what has been done about a repreaentative in 
Colombo, for there are several things, such as selection 
of native servants, which must be left in Colombo 
hands. I think I can pick up one or two on this side, 
but I found last year that if I had been in time and 
had some one looking out in Colombo I could have easily 
brought all my servants over for nothing, as home 
comers are often prepared to pay passage in considera- 
tion of services rendered on the voyage, but don't care 
to be burdened further. Some of my last year's ser- 
vants would gladly return upon these terms. I hope 
the P. A. and others beside the P. A. are getthog on 
with exhibits : we ought to have everything here very 
early in April if we are to be ready for the opening. 
Natural history exhibits are specially required. 
Belgium. — I have had meetings with Mr. Lee 
Bapty once or twice since writing to you, and 
Mr. Reid and I went to a meeting at the 
Mansion House of which I enclose programme, al.lthe 
resolutions were passed, but the Lord Mayor' tan- 
nounced that the labours of the proposed Oommsttee 
were simply honorary. Mr. Reid and I called yedier- 
day on Mr. Bapty, who told us that he was (pending 
a large sum of money upon erecting a building 
at the Brussels Exhibition, and that he looked to 
recoup himself by rent for space and letting 
out refreshment contracts. He is quite prepared 
to meet us in the matter, and we told him, 
provided suitable space was • allotted for a Ceylon 
Tea Room, we were prepared to expend £300, half of 
which should be spent upon passage and wages of 
native servants. We, of course, should have control over 
the Tea Room and it should have a distinct footing of 
its own and be unconnected with any other refreshment 
department. 
I think there is no doubt we shall be able to carry 
out this arrangement if after investigation we find the 
game is worth the candle, for of course it is possible to 
pay too much for an advertisement ; but I would urge 
upon your Committee the desirableness of placing us in 
a position to apportion the Glasgow and Brussels 
grants, bearing in mind that the consumption of tea 
in Glasgow and the immediate vicinity is more every 
month than the whole annual consumption of the 
Belgian ILingdom. I shall soon let you know, I hope, 
that something has been settled. I am to see Mr. 
Bapty again tomorrow. — Faithfully yours, 
(Signed; J. L. Shand. 
Coffee in Southern India. — The two Coonoor 
coffee properties, which have done well last season, 
are the Hillgrove and Pilioor. The former has al- 
ways been a model estate. — Nilgiri Express, 18th Feb. 
Cinchona. — We learn that the Quinologist has 
been deputed to visit the Government Cinchona 
Plantations at Darjeeling, Mr. Hooper will be absent 
from Ootacamund for about a month on this special 
duty. — Nilgiri Epxress, 18th Feb. 
"Gold, Gems, and Pearls." — A gentleman who 
received an early copy of this volume writes : — 
" I beg to acknowledge with many thanks the re- 
ceipt of ' Gold, Gems, and Pearls.' I think the 
community is greatly indebted to those who per- 
form the laborious task of writing and compiling 
the exhaustive works with which your names are 
connected. I shall read this book with great 
interest." 
" Pitch -blende " or "Uranite." — A specimen of 
this mineral, found by Mr. de Mel in one of his 
plumbago mines in the Kurunegala district, has 
been shown to us by Mr. George Armitage. Its 
specific gravity is very great, and from it is ob- 
tained " uranium," which comes next to gold, 
platinum being above gold, in specific gravity. 
Uranium is a very scarce and dear mineral sold 
by the grain and used in pottery painting we be- 
lieve. 
