DifeMflEfc I) I888.J THE TROPICAL 
NOTES ON PRODUCE AND FINANCE. 
We hear rumours as to tbo formation of a Tea 
Trust under influential auspices. Should this Trust 
ho formed, it ought to have some offect upon tho 
jirico of Indian Tea company shares. 
Au effort ia boiug made to arrange for the sale of 
Indian tea at tho Paris Exhibition. Negotiations have 
been conducted with this end in view, and the idea 
was that in the Indian Palace which the British 
Indian Section will have in the Exhibition building 
there wuuld be a buffet for the Bale of Indian tea. 
Like other plans sketched out for the advancement 
nl tho lea industry, this is hanging fire for the want 
ill funds, but efforts are being made by the Indian 
Tea District Association to furthor the scheme ; and 
we hope it may ultimately ho carried out, although 
the monetary difficulty stops the way just at present. 
Hie Uoylou planters bave arranged their plans, and 
OeylOn tea will be represented at the Exhibition. 
No doubt, with numbers of visitors from all parts of 
tbo world, the Exhibition would be a fine opportunity 
of making Indian tea generally known. 
The buyers at the Indian tea sales, Mincing Lane, 
had, on Friday last, a little discussion not altogether of 
a Briendlj nature over the question of accommodation 
for buyers. Mr. Prod Davis moved a resolution to the 
effect that uon-buyers (brokers) shall not occupy front 
positions in the room to tho exclusion of buyers. JLIo 
declared that his resolution was only aimed at those 
brokers who occupied front seats in the room, and who 
i' ii ' I v, if ever, bought. Ho said it would be within the 
Knowledge of all present that for some months past 
buyers of greater or lesser position had been standing 
up during the whole sale, thereby causing considerable 
inconvenience to those near them, besides placing 
themselves in a very unfortunate position. The only 
alternative to that was that they should go to the back 
of the room and stand there, and they would bo quite 
prepared to do that if there was no possibility of getting 
to the front without disturbing buyers. But when they 
saw the majority of the best seats in tho room oc- 
cupied by gcutlemen who rarely bought any tea, they 
diil not think that they ought to be satisfied with their 
position. 
The resolution and tho speech of Mr. Davis caused 
a good deal of opposition, several buyers remarking 
that tho former was uncalled for, and that the calling 
of tho meeting was a ridiculous thing. Ultimately 
tho chairman, Mr. Arthur Thompson, said that to him 
it seemed that the resolution was very reasonable and 
fair. In effect it simply meant that the largest buyers 
should have the preference of position in the room, and 
both from the auctioneers' and the buyers' point of 
view, that could not fail to be an advantage. They 
suffered from too much noise during tho sales; what 
they had most to complain of was the " buzz " caused 
by nearly everybody talking at once. As a rule, bo 
noticed that tho largest buyers were always the quiet- 
est, lie should support the resolution, as, iu his 
opinion, it would facilitate the business of tho room, 
ami would harm no one. They could not bo proud 
of tho way in which the business of the room was 
carried on ; there was too much talk and too much 
noise, and be believed the talkers iu most cases were 
those gentlemen who did the least business. Ho then 
put the resolution, when eighteen voted for aud twenty- 
seven against, it being therefore lost by a majority of 
nine. 
Tho Grocer has something to say about Ceylon and 
tea-growing, and it is good enough to tell us that 
nil the mythical hallucinations 'about tea cultivation 
bave exploded, and the disastrous experience of India 
previ nted Ceylon from fulling into any serious errors 
at tho outsUrt, which means, we presume, that it is 
easy enough to grow tea and make it pay if you 
know how- It says, " Ceylon h is au advantage over 
India in tho fact that its rains are moro regular, 
which is i\ most important matter for suceesMul tea- 
growing. It also p.isse-s.'s mi advantage over IVhra 
Doon, Kangru, Kummm, and other parts in its facihtii s 
for getting the ten convoyed easily aud cheaply to 
(•hipping ports. Railways are being spread all over the 
viand, do that iu a short time the expense of carriage 
AGRICULTURIST. 415 
■ I Willi 
will bo vory small indeed. This certainly will ho an 
important consideration, and may tend, with other 
things, to reduce the price of tea. Oeylon tea, while, 
useful for blending, and often suitable for drinking 
alone, is nevertheless apt to go off so much that many 
buy it from hand to mouth." " Ceylon tea," the 
Grocer kindly adds " seems to be at the height of its 
popularity just now, aud although some people prophesy 
that it will have the same fate as coffee, let us hope 
that they are wrong iu their anticipations, and that 
Ceylon will go on improving year by year the quality 
and supply of its teas." — //. C.Maii, Nov. 2nd. 
THE ERA OF TEA IN CEi'LON. 
A Round of tiig Old Planting Distuicx.; : 
With Test Oases foh Tea, 
{By " Old Colonist.") 
[Written before ho received our letters on the 
Matale district.— Ed.] 
Perhaps no colonial newspaper ever was, or ever 
will be, better fitted to keep alive the interest 
of old colonists in tho scene of their former 
labours, than the Ceylon Observer. One result of this 
is, that it invariably leads to a thirst for moro 
and moro details. Ample as these may appear to 
he, particularly in the matter of tea, there arc many 
old Ceylon men, besides myself, who feel a grow- 
ing craving for more specihe reports from our own 
particular pakum. 
In every one of tho various districts of Ceylon 
there are certain test spots familiar to all who have 
resided therein : keys, as it were, to the general 
characteristics of the locality, and it may be to 
1,000's of acres beyond its limits, though clearly 
within the limits of the old planters' memory, 
so that any reliable hints as to the prospects of 
these test tyots under tea would probably lead to im- 
portant results. 
Supposing, for instance, that the observant corre- 
spondent who four times a year dilates on Maria- 
watte' S original 100 acre field were to note and report 
on the appearance and prospeots of the conical 
little hill at the back of the bungalow,— many an 
old Gampola man would thank him. 
Again, it must please many an old Hantane man 
to read "Peppercorn's" praise of Anthonyinulo 
new clearing ; but not a few who wero wont to ride 
round the Kandy lake remembering the rather bare 
ridges, to the south-east, the wash from which 
threatened to silt up the lovely little loch, would 
like to know if these ridges be now really eor, n I 
with verdant tea ? 
And what old Matalo man would not give some- 
thing to know how tea flourishes on Ballacadua, 
where poor Wyllie, who had chewed coffee leaves 
for SO years, at length perished for want of hoalthy 
foliage! 
Or may be the anxious inquirer was a Malale 
East man, and thinks of the mangy hoights of 
Midlands, where in days of yore tho dauntless 
McRac hunted by day and danced hoolachun by 
night. Does tea grow here? * Or, say, tho opposite 
side of the oya, on the breezy ridges of Barnbara- 
galla, where hospitablo old Bob was wont to prime 
tho proprietor with pop, charging it to manuring:, 
and yet tho coffee went out. Docs tea do better? 
Over tho ridgo and towards tho Hoolaukando gap 
wc feel sure tea will do fairly well, though no moro 
shall we there meet tho gontlo Jolly nor tho real 
Maokay. 
Onco through tho Gap, tho ovorgroon valley o( 
Kelebokka leaves liltlo room for doubt or inquiry . 
but there is just ono Bpot I would like to hear 
about, viz., tho patana plantation — I mean itta 
spot through which that bashful youth Johnuio 
* Yea, it dots, wo believe.— Eu. 
