September i, 1888.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
207 
♦ 
To the Editor. 
PUSHING CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA: ME. 
McOOMBIE MUlUiAY'S EXPERIENCE. 
Philadelphia, I8th July 1888. 
Dear Sik,— Perhaps a short account of my ex 
perienees in the line of distributing samples of 
Ceylon tea might be interesting to your readers. 
At first sight it may appear a mighty nice thing, 
if I may use the expression, to be the happy re- 
cipient of ;5,000 lb. of tea, free, gratis, and for 
nothing. But when it is taken into consideration 
that this amount of tea is not a present to the 
recipient, but to the public through the medium 
of said individual, there are two ways of looking 
at it, as I have found to my cost. When I found 
that my first three weeks of temporary proprie- 
torship of the tea sent me for distribution, and 
(he labor attached to the work of putting out the 
same, made me liable for more than #2o0, I be- 
gan to wonder whether I would see my money 
again. 1 was the more thoughtful on the subject 
as there remained a goodly number of tea chests 
still untouched, which meant that my expenses 
were by no means at an end, and that I would 
have to bo prepared to put as much again into 
the work before I got the tea disposed of. 
In reading a remark on the subject of pushing 
Ceylon tea by means of samples made by Mr. J. 
L. Shand (in your issue of June 11th), I was at 
first disposed to criticize what appeared to be 
rather a wholesale imputation of lraud and dis- 
honorable action to all on whose behalf the fund 
nas been instituted, myself included. An 1 indeed 
it is apparently unwittingly that he made remarks 
that contained an element of truth. That any 
man would accept a consignment of tea, on the 
pretext of wishing to distribute samples free where 
it could best encourage the drinking of Ceylon tea, 
and »<•// it to apply the proceeds to his own personal 
bene lit, I do not believe, as tea would not be so 
placed at the disposal of anyone whose sense of 
honor had so forsaken him. But where applicants 
for samples ought to be very careful is first to 
count the cost of putting out samples, and then 
be careful to receive only such amount as he 
feels he can put out without drawing too much 
upon his resources. 
Given that the tea costs the pioneer of Ceylon 
lea nothing so far as buying it is concerned; it is 
by no means a cheap, or rather inexpensive, style 
of advertizing, but on the contrary, the most ex- 
pensive of all ways. 
Judiciously carried out, it is equal to any Exhi- 
bition, aa there, there is so much to attract the 
attention of the sightseer that any one article is 
lost sight of to a great oxtent in the crowding 
upon the imagination the interesting features of 
the whole Exhibition, whereas a well-directed sample 
cornea upon the recipient in his quiet moments at his 
oivn home. But it is expensive, and I would warn any- 
one who does not feel ho can afford to make a pretty 
good show at an Exhibition, not to undertake a 
general distribution of free samples, aa the one 
course will cost almost as much as the other, 
oven although the tea h given him. 
From personal experience I can say that in 
America a good-sized samplo of Ceylon tea (pro- 
vided it costs nothing to buy) judiciously distri- 
buted will pay in the end as well as almost any 
advertisement that 1 know, but the lirst expenses 
are heavy, and although a man may be over so 
willing to see the last pound given away, ho will 
not, if ho is honorable, give it away injudiciously, 
and, as it is in my own cane, he may iiud it hard 
to meet the expenses of putting it out profitably 
all at once. 
Having nearly a dozen agents at work in diffe- 
rent parts of the country, I have been able to dis- 
tribute through them, with no cost to myself ex- 
cept packing the samples in boxes and printing and 
advertizing expenses; but I calculate that in dis- 
tributing these samples I will pay over £500 out 
of my own pocket, or rather out of tho resources 
of my firm, and that without agents established 
it would have cost half as much again. 
The epaestion of whether it has paid me I cannot 
yet answer. At present I am very much out of 
pocket — so to speak, but in the end it will pay me. 
Locally my method was in the first place to 
procure six nice girls to pack in full view of the 
public. This attracted attention. Secondly, to ad- 
dress envelopes containing my circular auel attach 
to sample package. Then to secure three young 
fellows nicely dressed and a waggon. 
From a book published in Philadelphia called the 
•'Blue Book," we get the addresses of the better 
class people of the city. 
The streets being laid out in regular blocks we 
could very easily arrange a methodical system of 
delivery ; and before three weeks had passed from date 
of the arrival of the tea, we had 6,000 samples care- 
fully placed in 0,000 of the best houses in Philadelphia. 
Personally I supervised the work given me to do, 
besides which about 6,000 samples have been cast 
upon the waters, some sent to my agents, some 
disposed of in other ways, such as to bazaars for 
charitable purposes, where they were sold at 10 
cents each for the benefit of the cause, etc.. &c. 
With the exception of a few chests in bull; (to 
remain so for a season) all the tea has been put 
up in sample boxes ready to send to any good 
channel for profitable d istribution. If Mr. Shanel 
could raise an Exhibition here for me at which to 
boom Ceylon lei, 1 am sure I would be more than 
ever indebted to him ; but the worst of it is I 
have no Exhibition, but my own store wherein to 
indulge in my elociuence and eulogize Ceylon tea 
before the more or less sceptical people of the 
quaker city. 
Down in Cincinnati a Centennial Exhibition has 
just been opened, and I have done my best to 
get a man to get up an exhibit there for me, as 
1 cannot leave Philadelphia. So far I have not 
succeeded, but am now engaged in a correspondence 
which may end in a representation of some sort. 
I will exhibit next year at the Pennsylvania State 
Fair, which, by the way, did me a great deal of 
good in the end, although it cost money at the time. 
I enclose our latest circular for the use of agents 
in particular. Twelve thousand now received go 
direct to ray agents, so you may judge from that, 
that my means for reaching the general market 
are not so very limited as Mr. Agar would have 
it appear. True, I cannot do in New York or 
Chicago what I have done in Philadelphia. 
Since Mr. Pineo left I have reached the good 
families of this city on two occasions, once with 
samples, once with circulars. Through the agency 
of Messrs. Barclay & Parsons of New York City 
I hope to do a little in the way of advertising, 
and I trust that nothing will occur which will in- 
terfere with my right to mention the Planters' 
Association of Ceylon as the parent body from 
which I am sprung by tho appointment of anyone 
as the accredited ogent and representative of "that 
Association. I am a Ceylon man to the backbone, and 
I have written to Mr. Philip as Secretary of tho 
Association, resentiug any such appointment, us 
Mr. S. Elwood May, of " New York City," claim* 
for himself in tho event of hia undertaking to 
push thu sulo of Ceylon lea in America. 
