THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[August i, 1888. 
• ♦ 
To the Editor. 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
Philadelphia, 9th June 1388. 
Dear Sir, — Your Overland issue becomes more and 
more interesting on the subject of the introduction 
of Ceylon tea into America. Mr. K. E. Pineo's 
arrival in the island ii timely. His advice will be 
valuable, aud it is to be hoped that a well- considered 
scheme will result from the deliberations of the 
Planters' Association. I take this opportunity of 
thanking Mr. Pineo for the eulogistic terms in which 
he speaks of me and my pioneering work here. 
Any determination I have shown is but the natural 
result of the fact that nuj heart is in my work. Since 
I put my hand to this particular plough I have not 
looked back. Discouragement is, as Mr. Pineo can 
tell you, scarcely suggestive of what I have had to 
face, and although now well-kuowu and established 
in Philadelphia, I have nothing but tedious uphill 
work to look forward to for some time to come. 
" Never venture, never win, " is a truism applicable 
in a special manner to business in America. Suc- 
cess cannot come to the man who waits for business 
to come to him. To be progressive in this country 
one must be aggressive, and in such a work as 
I have undertaken it means money and venture ; 
what money I have obtained from private sources 
has been spent to the last cent in the interest of 
Ceylon, depending for my livelihood upon the success 
of my venture. 
Now that general attention is being directed to 
America as the great field in prospect for our tea, 
I feel that I ought to speak very plainly when any- 
thing like a general introduction of Ceylon tea into 
America is contemplated. 
Let me therefore place before you a few sugges- 
tions which I can assure you are worthy of serious 
consideration before concluding upon any scheme 
which can be looked upon as a general introduction. 
If you mean success in your undertaking, you must 
study the taste of the buyers, your customers, and 
apply yourselves to the preparing of a tea similar 
in character to that in general use over here. 
Now the teas appreciated iD America, although 
sold under a variety of names, may be divided into 
two orders:— Congou and Oolong, the latter being 
far and away the more popular of the two. If you 
wish to appeal to the American you have but one 
channel by which you can successfully do so — the 
palate ; and in spite of all the good things that cm be 
said in favor of Ceylon tea, the fact remains that 
not more than one out of ten like it and will buy 
it, whereas nine out of the ten will appreciate and 
use a good Oolong. 
What I wish to impress upon the minds of the plant- 
ers is that all prejudice in favor of any particular make 
of tea must be abandoned if it is their wish that their 
teas be accepted and welcomed by the American peo- 
ple, and the introduction thereof made easy. In sayiug 
this I do not mean to suggest a general distraction of 
their attention from the present system of manufacture, 
but I do mean that, with the purpose of making Cey- 
lon tea popular in America in view, tbey ought to ex- 
periment, and in time perfect themselves in the manu- 
facture of an Oolong which will at once recommend 
itself to the palate of the American tea-drinker. 
Shanghai is, I believe, the centre for the fine Oolong 
districts. Failing a local authority on the manufacture 
of Oolongs, would it not pay one of our best men to go 
there and thoroughly master the art of manufacturing 
these teas so that he could teach our planters and assist 
iu overcoming this difficulty if indeed there be any 
difficulty about the matter? 
So far as coloring teas is concerned, I hope and trust 
that this custom will remain with the originators. 
Let every planter follow the banner of purity on his 
march through the battle fields of America. People 
fight shy of colored teas now, and the first question 
a&ked of Ceylon tea is invariably regarding its purity, 
" I can recommend this tei as an absolutely pure and 
wholesome tea" is a weighty answer to such inquiries. 
I have been for some time back been in almost daily 
communication with a gentleman whose general know- 
ledge of and experience in teas of all kinds is perhaps 
unequalled in the States. I refer to Mr. C. K. Eeid (late 
of Messrs. J. H. Oatherwood k Co., and now broker in 
this city), and Mr. Pineo can endorse what I say of him 
Let me quote Mr. lleid's own words on the subject 
of Ceylon tea for America: — " I have been in the tea 
trade for over a quarter of a century. I, like you, 
came over here to establish myself as a tea-dealer with 
Assam teas as a speciality. I very soon found that I 
would starve if I confined myself to that branch of the 
business, and so, as a matter of discretion if not of ac- 
tual necessity, I redirected my attention to the study of 
Ohina and Japan teas. I have already read one paper 
under the heading of ' The Tea Leaf of Commerce' be- 
fore the Grocers' Association, and am now preparing a 
more exhaustive pamphlet on the subject (with map of 
tea districts) which will be at the disposal of the Cey- 
lon planter as au aid to further developments in the 
art of making tea suitable for the American market. 
Ohina Congou, India and Ceylon teas will no doubt 
be used here in increased proportion?, but they will 
not, in our generation, be so. popular among Americans 
as Oolongs, Moyunes ani Japans; and tuch mis- 
sionary work 88 tryinr to revolutio'dz ) th^ palite of 
a country can only be compared to establishing a 
new religion. 
Rather than seek to convert Americans, convert 
your Oeylon planters." 
Mr. Reid is a good adviser, and my own experience 
goes to confirming his viewo. 
With the aid of machinery and superior science, a 
fine Ceylon Oolong could surely be manufactured, and 
I hop that before the year is out it will have been 
satisfactorily proved that such is the case. It would 
give Mr. Reid and mys f much pleasure to receive 
and report on any samo'es you can send. So far as 
I am concornod, I wish, my next ' boom ' to be in 
a Oeylon Oolong tei', That is what I wish to see and 
expect to see ere long irom Ceylon 
Let me remark here that all teas shipped to the 
Am riean market ought to be packed in extra strong 
chests not to exceed 50 lb. in weight. Six or eight of 
the chests sent me litely by the planters required no 
opening. Had it not been ;or the heavy lead lining, 
which in two cases was torn and the chests hal f 
empty, the loss would have been good 20°/ „ of the 
lea sent. Out of 10 chests containing 90 lb. net 
weight of tea, only three arrived in anything like sound 
condition, and whatever may have been the wood used 
it was certainly unfit for tea chests. " Gingranoya " 
chests are string and arrived here in good order, 
but I cannot tell what wood they are made of. " Oamp- 
den Hill " tea also arrives in good order. Small 
light tea chests protected by matting are the best, 
in fact indispensable so far as this market is con- 
cerned. The chests now used get completely 
smashed and unfit for the market, as every second 
chest arrives with the lead burst and more or less 
in a leaking condition. 
I have just received a note from Mr. Reid which 
I enclose, as it is of interest to all, and I have not 
the time at my disposal to write as fully as I had 
intended. Indeed I have been so disturbed in my 
attempt to get this letter written, that I am almost 
inclined to tear it up and write when I have more 
leisure. I will follow this up, and let you know 
what I have done with the sample teas &c. Mean- 
while accept apologies for a rather disconnected lette. 
—Yours very truly, J. McOOMBIE MURRAY. 
4th June 1888. 
Mr. J. M. Murray. 
Dear Sir, — Agreeable to promise, I send you a few 
lines on my ideas of tea classification &c. in view of your 
trying to get the Ceylon planters and curers to send 
you certain descriptions of tea, specially prepared for 
this market, 
OoDgous, as you know, now constitute a very small 
proportion of the 70 to 80,000,000 lb, used iu the United 
