256 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1888. 
TEA: "THE CEYLON PAPEES AND 
LONDON BEOKEBS' CIECULAE. " 
Messrs. Eucker & Bencraft have returned to 
the charge under the above heading, in their circular 
received by this mail : — 
By recent mails from Colombo wo have received 
uapers containing comments, editorial and otherwise, 
upon our Tea Circular of June 14th. 
In that circular we advocated the view we hold, in 
common with the principal dealers in London, that 
planters would, by improving the quality of Ceylon Tea 
rather than by increasing the quantity, find their ulti- 
mate profit. 
Our suggestions are by one paper held to expose our 
ignorance, by another as calculated to lead to deception 
being practised in order to obtain a fictitious average 
for a particular estate, while a third disposes finally of 
the matter by stating that if any planter attempts to 
carry them out he will ruin his bushes and himself. 
It is some satisfaction to ourselves to remember, that 
strong language and sound argument are not neces- 
sarily synonymous, and we leave it to our many per- 
sonal friends in Ceylon to decide whether the criticisms 
are on the whole in good taste. 
We should be sorry indeed to believe that both 
systems had now been fairly tried, that all planters 
had come to the conclusion that quantity rather than 
quality was the factor for which they must strive, and 
that we can only expect in future to receive from 
Ceylon enormously increasing quantities of common to 
medium Teas, and that every one had abandoned all 
idea of keeping up the reputation of Ceylon for the fine 
quality o f its leaf . 
Though the chorus of disapprobation in the public 
prints is unanimous, it is rather consoling to find the 
paper that is loudest in condemning our ignorance, 
quoting Mr. Eutherford as having stated the other day 
that it is by no means certain which system — fine 
plucking or medium plucking— gives the greater profit 
per acre, the only true test of the merits of either or of 
any system. We bad supposed the question to he still 
open, und having witnessed the career, so to speak, 
of so many articles in Mincing Lane, thought, perhaps 
erroneously, that we might be able to indicate what 
we believe to be the wisest course to aim at with 
Ceylon tea. Our "young man" having been nearly 
thirty years in th6 tea trade, both at home and abroad, 
can scarcely be considered new to the duties of either 
tea tasting or circular writing, and we take it that 
part of his duty consists in bringing before our 
merchants the requirements of the dealers. 
One of the largest buyers, if not the largest in London 
said to us recently, " the only hope of salvation for 
Ceylon Tea is to keep up the quality." In most if 
not all great staples, the tendency of late years has 
been towards over-production. Tea has been no ex- 
ception, and for many years the value of Tea ha.s 
been on the decline. If a broad view be taken, and 
we attempt to look some years ahead, we see no 
dearth of Tea staring us in the face ; on the con- 
trary, enough, if not abundance, promises to be the 
order of the day. Some hope and count on this 
feature as regards produce generally being checked, 
others consider the tendency towards over-production 
will increase rather than diminish, but as regards 
Tea we take it there can be no question but that 
the article sets at the present time towards over- 
production. 'While this goes on the producer of 
Tea who limits his out-put for the purpose of 
improving his article, benefits in two ways. He 
commands attention and even obtains competition 
in an otherwise flat market. He also staves off 
the inevitable period of depression, by doing nothing to 
contribute to the over-production going on around him. 
When the period of under-production arrives, the up- 
ward move is always more marked among the lower and 
cheaper grades. He then for a short time does not bene- 
fit in the same proportion. His position is, however, 
unassailable, and the new round soon begins, when he 
has his reward. We are aware that many assert that 
a planter can in the course of a few days change him- 
Bolf from a producer of quantity into a producer of 
quality, or vice versa, The former experience teaches 
us to doubt for reasons which we need not enter into 
now, the latter we hope our friends will stedfastly 
avoid, even under great temptation. AVe have gone 
fully into the cost of fine plucking as compared with 
coarse, with both merchants and plauters, and we 
do not find that the difference of cost per pound is as much 
as some newspaper correspondents would have us believe. 
The challenge to satisfactorily explain to an intelli- 
gent planting community the case put forward by 
" Pewit" does not appeal to us, because it would be 
just as easy for us to put forward an example shewing 
quite a different result, with the names of the Estates 
given. "Pewit" knows whether he has simply gone 
for what we may term a verbal score, or whether he 
has given an example which planters, as a body, would 
acknowledge to be a fair one. On the face of it it 
appears to us to be an unhappy one, and to carry its 
own answer on its back. Fine plucking or what may 
be termed discriminative plucking will we believe 
become more and more necessary as time goes 
on ; medium plucking being in its nature restrictive to 
a certain extent, comes within, and really admits the 
principle for which we argue. In conclusion we may 
be permitted to add that from all parts of the world 
we get applications for our circulars, originally in- 
tended for our constituents only, and tboujjh the very 
last thing we should think of would be to deprecate 
criticisms from any quarter, we cannot again notice 
them if they descend to personalities, personalities 
with which we feel convinced ninety-nine out of one- 
hundred Planters have no sympathy. 
DEUG TEADE EEPOET. 
London, August 23rd. 
Annatto. — A parcel of 7 bags fine bright Ceylon 
seed brought 2fd per lb., a very good price consider- 
ing the position of the article. For 5 bales of medium 
quality l^d per lb. was accepted. 
Bajsl Fruit. — Twenty bags pale quarters, slightly 
mouldy, sold at ljdper lb. 
Cardamoms. — Today's drug sales included 117 pack- 
ages, of which by far the greater part were sold. 
The first lots went very cheaply indeed, but subse- 
quently much better prices were realised, and on the 
whole the article, though irregular, must be quoted 
at fully the last rates. Mysore cardamoms realifed : 
good medium to bold smooth pale pods, 2s ; long 
bald pale good appearance, Is lOd to Is lid : me- 
dium pale fair long Is Gd to Is 8d ; small long 
pale, Is 4d to Is 2d ; dark mixed Is ; Ceylon Ma- 
labar, mixed sizes pale rather heavy, Is 9d ; smaller 
ditto Is 7d ; plump pale medium, Is 9d ; fair medium 
pale and yellow mixed. Is 7d ; small pale to brown 
Is 4d to Is ; brown and split, lOd. Seed sold at Is 
3d for some lots, for others Is 4d was refused. 
Cinchona. — The South American barks offered 
today consisted mainly of flat Calisaya, of which two 
new parcels were shown. For good hard bright orange 
sound pieces 2s to 2s 2d per lb. was paid, and from 
Is to Is 9d per lb. for damaged lots. Fair but very 
broken Loxa realised Is 7d per lb. For Lima, fairly 
good bright, 2Jd per lb. was refused. Forty-four 
bales low Pitayo, imported in 1882, were bought in. 
Privately similar bark has been sold at §d per lb., and 
even that price, can no longer be obtained. 
Quinine. — Some business has been done since our 
last report at Is 3§d to .Is 4d per oz. in second hand, 
and the agents for the B&S brand, in a circular in 
which they point to the improbability of an advance 
occurring in the article, announce that they reduce 
their price to Is 4d per oz. for October-November deli- 
very- Other German brands, however, are still quoted 
at Is 5d per oz. Howards' and Pelletier's are both 
held at Is 8d for bulk and Is lOd for vials. — Chemist 
and Druggist, August 25th. 
« 
Egyptian Perfumes. — The ancient Egyptians 
have never been equalled for their skill in the manu- 
facture of perfumes. Some of their ointment, pre- 
served in an alabaster vase in the museum at 
Alnwick still retains a pungent odour, although its 
age oannot be much less 3,000 years.— Indian Agri- 
culturist, Aug. 25th, 
