August r, 1888.] TH^ TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
i 4 . 
as accredited and solo agent of the Planters' 
A iBOoiatiori for the salo of Ceylon teas, is one 
which the Association neither can nor ought to 
grant. Let individual planters and District Asso- 
ciations, if the latter are empowered, send tea to 
Mr. Elwood May for gratuitous distribution, or for 
sale, if they like. It may be competent, too, for any 
member of the Association to propose and cany 
a resolution that 6,00b lb. or any other quantity 
of tea be presented to Mr. Elwood May without 
any condition of his purchasing tea on his own 
account. But to accredit Mr. Elwood May 
as the special, sole and permanent agent 
of the Association for the sale of Ceylon teas, 
provided and guaranteed by the Association, — all 
this the Association has no right to do. To use 
a favourite phrase in legal discussions, such a pro- 
ceeding would be ultra vires, and any dissentient 
member could, we believe, successfully demand 
the intervention of the law to set such a resolution 
aside. The connection of our good friend Mr. 
I'ineo with Khe " booming" American makes us 
sony to be compelled to write as we have done. 
In the old Coylon planter full confidence is felt 
as well as kindly feeling entertained for him, and 
if Mr. Elwood May declines to take up the cause 
of Ceylon tea except on his own imperious terms, 
which are inadmissible, then we trust Mr. Pineo may 
start "on his own hook" and be very largely patro- 
nized by the planters, receiving help in beginning from 
I he 3Ya Fund Committee. The formation of a 
Produce! s' Company, such as Mr. liutherford has 
suf/gesiid. would relieve the Planters' Association 
from the embarrassment of dealing with such cases 
ns rbat whii h we have been considering. It would 
be quite competent for such a Company to accredit 
Mr. Elwood May as their solo agent in the United 
Suites, if they deemed such a course judicious and 
calculated to subserve their interests. But the insti- 
tiiiuin which represents the interests of the whole 
planting body in Ceylon is precluded by its consti- 
tution from considering Mr. May's demands, even 
if they were not in themselves extravagant and 
inadmissible. 
Let Mr. Elwood May have the 0,000 or more 
of tea to give away, by all means, if such 
is the desire of the majority of planters, but 
l urther supplies he will have to procure and pay for 
through Air. I'ineo or some other agent, but not 
through and as the accredited agent of the Ceylon 
Planters' Association, which is not a trading Com 
pany, but a deliberative body, as we trust it will 
remain, even if Ceylon tea loses the patronage 
tit Mr. Elwood May. 
♦ 
Tui: Cyclone Pulverizer, the remarkable machine 
which with nothing but currents of air, set violently 
in motion in opposite directions, generates a force 
that grinds iuto particles the most unwieldly artioles, 
by impact, one with another, and not by contact 
with any foreign element, is opening up unlooked- 
for possibilities in old, as well as in new, industries. 
Thus, iron slag, which has hitherto been a useless 
incumbrance, by the cyclone is reduced to a powder 
sumeiontly soft ami smooth to make it the basis of 
paint. In the grinding of bone, in what is known 
a its gru'ii condition, ihe pulveriser rtduces it at 
Hie period when it contains all the ammonia here- 
i iIom escaping in the atmosphere by the drying 
process, and reduces (at the rate of two tons an 
DOOr) to a linenesH so txo ssivo that, as a fertilizer 
it Mrly dis olv«B and almost immediately becomes 
operative. In grinding the rofuse of slate quarries 
for making bricks, peroxides of iron for paint, clay 
fur terra uotia, Carolina rock fur fertilizers, etc., its 
widu adaptability la shown, — liuUb w' s, July lttth. 
Ceylon Piioiu'cr. in Lonhon. — The brokers' 
reports received by the mail of July 20th state 
that there was a good demand for the small sup- 
plies of Coffee offering, s ,les being effected at an 
advance of Is on the previous week. Of Ceylon 
marks Mt. Vernon topped the market with 101s. 
The Cacao market showed no improvement, but 
good colored Ley Ions fold readily, !)0s 'id and 90s 
bung paid for Wuriapolla. — The supply of Cinchona 
Hark at the week's auctions was the smallest of 
the year, and the Ceylon lots were of very poor 
quality, the highest price being 7Jd for Albion 
renewed officinalis, and 7d for Tillicoultry and 
Kat iboola renewed succirubra. 
Prices of American Quinine from 1823 to 
May 18th, 1888.— In a paper which has reached us 
from the United States and which has been in- 
cluded in our Handbook, figures are given 
which show the wonderful revolution which the 
cultivation of the cinchona plants in the East, 
especially in Ceylon, has effected in that valuable 
tonic and febrifuge, su phate of quinine. Sixty- 
five years ago quinine could not be obtained in the 
United States for less than 116 to §20 per ounce. 
The price went rapidly down until in 18:-! 1 it ranged 
from $i-35 to $1-50. During the period of the 
Civil War the prices rose from 11-80 highest in 
1801 to $3-75 in 18154. It then sold at moderate 
prices until in 1877 it rose to $4-50. In 1880 
quinine was freed from the import duty of 20 per 
cent, and the price went down to 50 to 56 cents in 
1888. The benefit of the lowered prices to the 
dwellers in the swampy and feverish parts of the 
United States must be very great. 
A Prosperous West Indian Colony. — From the 
oflicial report on Grenada, we learn that the island 
unlike the majority of the West Indian colonies, 
is decidedly prosperous. Under almost every head 
the statistics point to this. Still, the present pros- 
perity is based on the fact that the one staple of 
the colony, cocoa, is, for the time being, paying the 
grower a handsome profit on his outlay. Should a 
heavy fall in prices arrive — and some think it not 
far off — there is nothing else to rely upon. Sugar 
has ceased to be cultivated to any appreciable ex- 
tent, and spices are still but a minor product. It 
is of the greatest importance that every effort 
should be made to induce those who own the land 
to estab ish in time a cultivation of the many 
products which would pay well, and for which the 
soil of the island is admirably adapted. A move- 
ment is on foot, which has been started by his 
Excellency the Governor, to obtain all information 
which may be of value to those whose enterprise 
may induce them to lead the way in an endeavour 
to establish the prosperity of the colony on broader 
foundations, and to provide them with the means 
of placing the fruits of their industry speedily and in 
good condition in the most remunerative markets. 
Progress in every direction, the report states, has 
marked the last three years. It may be said that the 
colony is at the present time spending borrowed 
money ; but after all, the amount expended under 
the Public Works Loan Ordinance is only £21,000 
— a sum which, with a very small addition to the 
public burdens, the colony could pay o IT with ease 
in three or four years' time. As it is alrea I) -and 
several years before the law requires that piuvn D 
for repayment should commence to be ma a 
sum of £ 1,500 has been Bet aside and stands to 
the credit of the sinking fund. The satisfactory 
position of Grenada, it is slated, is in the main 
due to the fact that the land is chietly in the hand-i 
of small proprietors. There are over 1. 001) p r oas 
who own the fee oimple of their holdings, who are 
resident in the isluud, and who spend the proceeds 
of their crops in the place— London TiPUi, July 14th. 
