43« 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1888. 
Rooms suitable for all classes of the community has 
sprung up in populous places, and comfortable and 
and attractive places of Refreshment of this descrip- 
tion are greatly in request. The success of the Aerated 
Bread Company of Londou, the business of which 
is analogous to that of this Company, and which last 
year paid a dividend of 22J per cent, and whose £1 
Shares are now quoted at £5 2s 6d, leaves no room for 
doubt that equal results will attend a similar enter- 
prise in other large centres of population, and next 
to the Metropolis itself it would be hard to select 
better fields than those which the Directors propose 
in the first instance to occupy. Although the busi- 
ness in the Tea-Rooms will be conducted mainly 
on the same lines as that Company's, the facility for 
purchasing in bulk exactly the same Tea as is served 
as Refreshments, will be an additional feature. The 
demand for Pure Tea for household consumption is 
everywhere rapidly increasing especially among the 
poorer classes. By extending the premises taken 
over, and by starting fresh rooms and shops in locali- 
ties where openings are known to exist, the Direc- 
tors hope to bring these " pure and moderately-priced" 
Teas within reach of the masses at moderate rates, 
thus conferring upon them an immense benefit, and 
at the same time developing for the Company a large 
source of Revenue. " The Indian Tea Bazaars " have 
appeared to the Directors to be a suitable nuoleus for 
the more extensive undertaking they have in view. 
The Teas hitherto used in connection with them have 
been exclusively of Indian and Ceylon growths, which 
are noted for their purity and high quality; and, 
although not long established, the twenty-four shops 
and tea-rooms which are at present in existence 
are doing an increasing and profitable business. By 
taking them over as a going concern, the Company 
will secure the services of a small, but experienced 
staff, with a qualified Manager and Superintendent ; 
and will thus — while keeping clear of a heavy capi- 
tal outlay for goodwill, etc,— be enabled to extend 
its operations immediately, avoid the delays involved 
in the creation of a new business, and earn profits 
from the beginning. 
A slip enclosed in the prospectus states : — 
The present Proprietor of the Indian Tea Bazaars 
has done more to introduce Ceylon Teas into Glas- 
gow and Scotland generally than almost any man in 
the Country ; iu fact, it may safely be said that he 
has done more than any man in Scotland for the 
good of Ceylon. The services of a Professional Buyer 
who has gone largely in for Ceylon and Indian Teas 
during the last few years, have been promised to 
the Company, so that there is every prospect of its 
not only proving a great success financially, but that 
it will help largely to spread Ceylon and Indian Teas 
in their pure state. 
» 
FARMING IN THE GREAT NORTH-WEST. 
To the Editor, " St. James's Budget." 
Sir, — As the St, James's Budget reaches me in a 
roundabout way from a friend iu British Columbia, 
1 have ouly just seen tne letter in your issue of the 
28th of July, headed " Farming in the Great Mackenzie 
Basin," signed " Robt. J. Rose," and dated from Fort 
Qu'Appelle, Assiniboia ; and in the original of which 
Mr. Rose forwarded for your inspection the wonder- 
ful onion, grown presumably in his garden, the bulb 
of which you describe as about the size of an or- 
dinary lucifer-match. 
It seems to me that, under the guise of friendly 
advice not to farm iu the Mackenzie Basin, Mr. 
Rose has made a somewhat feeble attack ou the 
district from which he dates his letter. I live, as 
the crow Hies, i'urty-threo miles from Fort Qu'Appelle, 
and have also had five years' experience of the 
"droughts," "summer frosts,'' and "gophers" of 
which In: complains; arid though I think I may claim 
to live in tho same " favoured region," I can say that 
at least rny garden produce is somewhat better than 
his letter would lead intending settlers to expect. Last 
yeui 1 i i, i twenty-two varieties of vegetables to our 
local show and did riot get even an honourable mention. 
The neighbour who won the first prize sent upwards 
of thirty. At the present moment I have vegetable- 
marrows, cucumbers, and tomatoes uninjured by forst 
in my garden; but if I expect a cold night I throw a 
little hay or an old sack over them. The ordinary 
vegetables are quite as fine if not finer than those I 
used to grow in England. A few days ago I cut a 
head of cauliflower which, when trimmed ready for 
boiling, weighed 41 lb. In taking up some English 
ash-leaf kidneys, I counted on one root eighteen and 
on another twenty-one potatoes fit for the table. 
Our main potato crop is not dug yet, but last year the 
prize bushel of potatoes (,601b.) contained less than 
thirty bulbs ; or, iu other words, averaged over 2 lb. 
each. Turnips, carrots, beetroot, parsnips — in short, 
all root crops, are fully equal to the average to be 
. seen at provincial shows in England- I hav just 
pulled up and weighed a cabbage for the table — 13 lb. 
His neighbour, rather larger, I am keeping for our 
show. 
I have no wish to deny that we are troubled by 
, summer frosts, droughts, and gophers "Grasshoppers 
undertow 8 of ve g etabl e-destroying grubs" I have 
.j escaped : they may be more plentiful in the 
Qu^Appelle Valley. Nor in this a country in which a 
man can make a rapid fortuue by farming ; but I say 
distinctly that a man can make a fair living by mixed 
farming — he should not put all his eggs in one 
basket — and that he can lead a comfortable country 
life, aided by his farm produce, on an income which 
would be genteel beggary in England. The "endless 
ice in winter and millions of every species of mosquito 
in summer," of which Mr. Rose complains, art* no 
doubt more severely felt in the wide alluvial valley 
of the Qu'Appelle — especially where, as at Fort 
Qu'Appelle, the river expands into the " fishing 
lakes" of many miles in extent — than on the higher 
grounds. Water attracts the cold and encourages 
the mosquitoes ; but the climate is a most 
healthy though severe one. The prairie air, both 
summer and winter, is most invigorating, 
and 50 degrees below zero is anything but 
unbearable even by one who, alas ! is considerably 
the wrong side of the half-century. I ought, how- 
ever, to say that 45 degrees below zero is the 
lowest I have registered in five years' residence. 
Any further information that I can .give is very 
much at the service of your readers, especially of 
any old officers who in these times of enforced 
early retirement may think of making a home in 
a new country. — I am. Sir, your obedient servant. 
— Percy G. B. Lake, 
Lieut.-Colonel late 54th Regiment and 3rd Royal 
Lancashire Militia. 
Grenfell, Assiniboia, N. W. T., Canada, Sept. 11, 1888. 
PENANG NEWS. 
(Penang Gazette, 26th October.) 
An Inquisitive Official. 
We hear that the District Officer of Nibong Tebal 
has addi'essed a circular letter to the Chinese sugar 
planters in his district, asking the following questions, 
in accordance, he says, with Section 96 of Ordinance 
IX of 1887, otherwise the Municipal Ordinance: — 
1. Nature of crop and when planted. 
2. Area under cultivation. 
3. Average yield per acre or orlong. 
4. Average price obtained for produce. 
5. Cost of manuring and cultivating per orlong. 
6. Rate at which land is let if any. 
7. Average net profit for last three years. 
Another document asking the following still more 
inquisitorial questions is going round: — 
1. Nature of crop. 
2. Area under cultivation. 
3. Average yield per acre or orlong, 
4. Average price obtained for produce. 
5. Cultivation expenses. 
C. Cost of manure. 
7. Cost of manufacturing. 
8. Gross annual expenditure past year; 
