THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [February r, 1889. 
The writer left Assam in 1881 direct for the United 
States, taking with him a considerable quantity of 
specially manufactured tea, and determined to see 
what could be done with it. 
I say " specially," because, in full knowledge of the 
Syndicate's operations and failure with the teas they 
were attempting to introduce, I manufactured, and 
sorted it to my own ideas, which were adverse to 
all previously set forth. For over seven years I have 
continued to sell Pure Assam Tea in America, and do 
bo at this present moment at a price which amply 
pays me, my agents and the purchasers. Thus success 
has succeeded. During a residence of five years in 
the States I had every opportunity of gaining ex- 
perience of the taste of Americans, as also of watching 
the futile attempts made by the Syndicate to establish 
Indian teas on their own merits. To any experienced 
planter on the spot, with his eyes and ears about him, 
there was no room to doubt the result of such opera- 
tions, based as they were, upon an entirely wrong 
system. 
I placed my opinions and convictions in print and re- 
peatedly urged in a long series of letters to your con- 
temporary, the I. T. G., the vital need of other methods ; 
in fact, just what I practised myself on a small 
scale in several States where I had agencies working. 
I addressed the Calcutta Syndicate, and offered 
to place my experiences and services at their disposal, 
and to remain in America to carry out the work 
fully, and also if needed to come to England tempor- 
arily and meet any Committee and lay my views 
before them. My opinions received the highest con- 
firmation and approval, the Syndicate itself being one 
of those who supported my views on certain points 
suggested. 
I received several offers from Indian growers to 
push their teas, but on terms which did not suit my 
views for many reasons. Over two years ago I re- 
turned to England, and by request of two distinct 
representative authorities placed my convictions and 
experiences of five years' success on a limited scale 
before them for contemplated action, and further fully 
repeated my conviction to many others interested in 
Indian teas. In two sections at least, my views have 
been productive of good results, though not in a way 
likely to benefit Indian growers as a body. Sufiice it 
now to say, that being on the spot here, the contem- 
plated proceedings, in view of the new start, are per- 
fectly familiar to me in their various stages to date. 
From all one can hear, the prospects of unity are remote, 
and of raising the funds needed proportionately so, 
which is not to be wondered at by those conversant 
with current events. 
The scheme referred to in your letter as Mr. Allies' 
is, of course, one of comparatively recent date, and 
doubtless is worthy of due consideration, but he, like 
others, presumably became weary of wasting his ener- 
gies on the desert air. Your correspondent's opinions 
" P. P." are worthy of acceptation, as they point td 
a foregone conclusion i. «., failure so far as the 
American masses are concerned, though doubtless the 
trade will benefit by having some stook of pure In- 
dian teas to help down the Impure Chinas and 
J <ipan6 " Invaluable for mixing with China teas " (?) is 
the way; the former Syndicate's American adver- 
tisements used to put it, till your present correspon- 
dent directed attention to it now just six years ago. 
The lines then essayed were wrong, and from your 
letter under notice also appear to be wrong now ; but 
nous verrons 'i 
Six years ago it was distinctly pointed out that there 
was but one course open to insure success, aud that 
course at present hah not been adopted. No Americans 
will evur push British interests, particularly when 
opponed to their own, but they will make a"" cat's- 
paw " ot Indian teas so long as it suits), as was done 
before ml .mi the pr< spective China. Franco war lowered 
imports, or if it pays better, perhaps buy up the 
wtioe HtocK at a lo-s to the Indian p'anters and 
reJtibip to England at a gain to themselves.— India 
MunUri Gazette. 
[The meaning of all this we take to be that 
" Hatis " manufactured India tea so as to resemble 
Oolongs,— Ei>.] 
THE RAILWAY TO TEAVANCORE. 
A correspondent writes to ua from Dikoya, Ceylon, 
under date the 7th instant : — 
In looking over an old copy of your paper, that of 
29th November, I came across a letter signed " A 
Native Thinker," in which the writer warns those 
concerned as to the cost of a railway into Travan- 
core via Ariankao, and points out how much cheaper 
the route via Arambuli would be. We all know that 
a Mountain Railway costs more than one across 
a plain, but I imagine the first question asked 
about any proposed new railway is : ' Will it 
pay ? ' Now, even supposing a railway was built 
via Cape Comorin, what would it carry ? The 
planters' traffic would still continue to go to 
Quilon or Colachel, and the native traffic is not 
one that a railway would develop very much, I 
have travelled more than once all the way from 
Tinnevelly to Nagercoil, and I did not see much 
sign of any traffic. The people of the country 
on both sides the range produce what they re- 
quire for themselves, and what they can't pro- 
duce they have for the most part to do without, 
as money is not very plentiful. Salt, salt-fish 
and cotton goods would be the main items, and 
they would hardly keep a railway going, or pay 
a dividend on it, even if the first cost did not 
exceed half a lakh per mile. 
A railway via Ariankao, on the other hand, 
would have many sources of traffic in addition 
to what the one by the south route would 
have. The timber trade is already very 
considerable, judging by the strings of carts 
one meets on the road, loaded with teak, angely 
and other valuable timbers, and with a railway 
this traffic would certainly be very much increased. 
The route for 20 miles lies through one vast forest 
which is allowed by all who know it to be the 
finest field for tea-planting in Travancore, and 
certainly better than anything Ceylon can show. 
The tea in bearing there is already giving 600 to 
800 lb. per acre, which means that every acre 
would give at least 1J tons traffic to a railway 
passing through the district, and if the sircar will 
part with the land, I have no doubt they could 
sell the whole of it at a fair price and have per- 
haps 10,000 acres under tea before the railway was 
two years at work. Even that small acreage would 
mean the expenditure by the planters of two 
millions of rupees by the time it was into bearing 
and had machinery set up. The circulation of 
that amount of money, with the addition of about 
one million rupees a year ever after, would cer- 
tainly benefit the natives of the country immensely, 
and would open out new industries and occupa- 
tions to them that are not in existence at present. 
Take again the sawn timber trade. At present 
only the finest timbers are used, but with cheap trans- 
port to the sea at Quilon there is no reason why 
Travancore should not use up all its soft timber in 
supplying Ceylon with tea boxes, the demand for 
which is an ever-increasing quantity. At present a 
large proportion of them come from Japan, and 
cost in Colombo about one rupee per chest, and 70 
to 75 cts. per half chest. Now the current year's re- 
quirements here will be for 32 millions of pounds, 
say 220,000 chests at Rl .. R220.000 
and 200,000 half chests at 75 cts. .. „ 160,000 
R370.000 
If Travancore could lay these down in Colombo 
at 90 cts and 65 cts for chests and half chests res- 
pectively, they would monopolise the market and 
givo 3 to 4,000 tons traffic in tea boxes to their 
railway. 
It only wants the newest sawing, planing and 
box-making machinery anywhere along the railway 
