208 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1888 
I do not know Mr. May personally, although I 
have frequently supplied him with Ceylon tea, but 
I have no doubt he will do well for Ceylon if he 
gets encouragement. It would appear he is a man 
of capital, and if his heart is in the work, let him 
have full swing. There are very few Americans 
who will consent to handle Ceylon tea, and if you 
find the American with money, who will invest his 
money in the interests of the Ceylon tea enterprise, 
catch a hold of him and stick to him, bat don't 
forget that there is a Ceylon Planter in America 
who has done more for Ceylon than Mr. May. I 
plead guilty to the weakness, if it please you to call 
it so, of wishing my humble efforts to introduce 
Ceylon tea into America to be appreciated just so 
far as they have been faithful to the interests of 
Ceylon and unceasing since I took the first step in 
addressing the members of the Ceylon Tea Syndi- 
cate through the favor of your columns and those 
of the "Times of Ceylon " in a letter dated 23rd 
July 1886. I said in that letter " I bind myself 
to conscientiously serve your' interests," and with- 
out a guarantee of any kind I left for America, 
and none better than Mr. Pineo can tell you that 
I have kept my word at the risk of utter ruin to 
my own temporary prospects. 
I will say no more ; I am not in Ceylon to plead 
my cause, or to answer any criticism of what I 
might write, so I must write plainly and openly 
and let the thing go. 
One thing I know, I have fought just so 
hard for Ceylon, that I am jealous of anyone 
who would step between me and the first place in 
the estimation of those for whose interests I have 
risked everything, and allow him to place even 
money and power before my ivork, the only reward 
for which is the appreciation of my brother 
planters in Ceylon, and a meagre livelihood for 
myself and family, which is, even now, not out 
of jeopardy. 
I cannot write more on this subject. I have 
already said perhaps too much, but I must be ex- 
cused, for I am? far away and, as is my usual, in 
a very anxious frame of mind. If I live and can 
earn but a bare livelihood in the work I have put 
my hand to, I am yours in the cause of the Ceylon 
tea enterprize, whether it be Oolongs, Congous, or 
any other kind of tea ; but I claim what I earn, 
the first call upon the Planters' Association for 
their confidence and support. 
So far as the manufacture of a Ceylon Oolong tea 
is concerned, I can only say what I have said before. 
If it can be accomplished satisfactorily, you can 
win the Americans over to using Ceylon tea in 
one-tenth of the time and with just so much less 
expense, and so long as it can be made to be 
equally pure and wholesome, why not at least 
experiment on it, and follow the advice of one of our 
great soap advertisers, which is "Don't be a clam." 
It may not be a successful experiment. The 
first shipments of Ceylon tea in its present form 
were not successful as marketable teas. Why ex- 
pect the first shipments of Ceylon Oolong3 to be 
a great success ? 
Try it, and if I am well advised you will succeed. 
For the present I conclude. Your readers are 
probably tired ; I know I am.— Yours very truly, 
J. McCOMBIB MURBAY. 
Ashks and Salt on Potatoes.— The American 
( 'vlt ivator says it is an excellent plan as soon as po'ta- 
i are well up to go over the place and throw a hand 
Inl of a mixture of fait and ashes on each hill. The 
preparation is booh washed down into the ground by 
rains. It repels insects makes the potatoes fair and 
smooth and helps to draw moisture to the potato during 
a dry tune. 
Pepper and Caedamom Cultivation. — To give an 
impetus to the cultivation of pepper and cardamoms 
in the Wynaad, the Special Assistant Collector of 
Malabar and the Nilgiris has recommended that 
the assessment ion lands taken up for such culti- 
vation may be remitted for the first three years 
from date of planting, as the trees take that 
time to come into bearing. — Madras Mail, Aug. 27th. 
Ceylon Tea in America. — We call attention 
to the frank outspoken letter addressed to us by 
Mr. McCombie Murray : we think its appeal will meet 
with a hearty response from Ceylon planters, and 
that the Tea Fund and P. A. Committees will be 
strengthened in their resolve to do nothing to weaken 
the hands or to derogate from the representative 
position of Mr. Murray as a Ceylon Tea Agent, in 
entrusting a similar recognition and Agency to Mr. 
Elwood May. The more agencies the better, pro- 
vided there is no partiality shown in nominating 
anyone in particular as the only Agent recognized 
by the Planters' Association of Ceylon. 
Cocoa Trees in the Southern Province — It may 
not be geuerally known that cocoa trees are found 
almost wild in the Hinidum Pattu of the Southern Pro- 
vince. The Mudaliyar of the district informed me, 
some time ago, that trees as large as jak (!) are found 
iu almost every garden, and that the only use made of 
the pods was for the youngsters to suck the fleshy 
part of the beans and throw them away. Seeing that 
I was sceptical, he, in a few days, stnt me a gunny- 
bag full of large pods, but they were unripe and useless 
or the preparation of chocolate — a preparation often 
made by me from the produce of some trees in a garden 
in Labodowe, and highly appreciated by all who partook 
of it. It is onty lately that European planters opened up 
estatesjin Udugama. Who, then, planted these trees in 
the wilds of Hinidum Pattu, and when ? — Local "Times." 
Rhea Fibre Machines. — Our enquiries in reference 
to the details of the rhea machines said to have been 
brought to such perfection in Spain, and to which we 
referred last week, have thus far resulted in ascertain- 
ing that the French Government, impressed with the 
importance of this very promising industry for the 
French manufacturers, have issued a decree notifying 
the holding of an International competition of machines 
and apparatus for the preparation of rhea in Paris on 
the 15th of August, offering prizes of various values 
for those competitors who may be successful. If this 
competition is held with any approach to fairness 
as between competitors of different nationalities, there 
will be every probability that we shall be able to 
learn which of the various machines for which patents 
have been taken out, are likely to be suitable for 
use in India, also as regards their cost. At present 
the accounts regarding them are somewhat conflicting, 
and it is especially desirable that the fullest infor- 
mation be obtained, as the practical value of these 
depends upon turniug out a quantity of the fibre in 
a marketable state within a given time. Without 
such data the result cannot be considered of practical 
value. Our readers may probably remember that in 
the early part of the year 1884, during the currency 
of the Calcutta Exhibition, we reported the results 
of trials made with various fibre machines, some of 
which performed very good work on a small scale, 
but on being tested on larger quantities were found 
to be unequal to the task. Since that time a com- 
pany has been formed to grow rhea in South India, 
and this part of the undertaking has been actually 
carried out, considerable quantities of the fibre in the 
rough or half- prepared stite having been sent home 
for working up. In 1886 the Company had a show 
case in the Iiido-Colonial Exhibition which contained 
a larger assortment of articles said to have been made 
from rhea grown on the Company's land. Some of 
these were beautifully got up and, judging from 
appearances the success of this Company would seem 
to have been assured. But it does not apear to have 
accomplished much, no doubt from the failure of 
crushing machinery for removing the dried cuticle 
from the fibre.— Indian Agriculturist, 
