March i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
PLANTING IN BURMA. 
(fly an ex Ceylon Planter.) 
OLD FRIENDS TO THE FRONT — TEA- DRIERS CONDEMNED 
BY AN OLD TEA TASTER FOB WANT OF THE KEEPING 
QUALITIES OF TEA CURED BY THEM ; AND TEA-ROLLERS RE- 
COMMENDED — PLENTIFUL SUPPLY OF SPLENDID TEA 
BOXES IN BURMA OF DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS AND TIMBER 
OF VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE FOR SHIPMENT 
BY BRITISH INDIA STEAMEKS — A SUCCESSFUL CROP OF 
ANNATTO READY FOR PICKING. 
Tavoy, Burma, '28th Jan. 188!). 
I was much interested in the budget of T. A.'i. 
you sent me just in time at the New Year. 
I am glad to find some of my old friends to the 
front, viz. Thomas Mackie, 11 B. Lawrance, 
James H. Barber, and many others, but not a 
word about the Laird of Logie. I had an old 
tea planter here and also a tea taster, a man 
that knows his work and the wants of tea quali- 
ties at home. He was down very much on your 
great tea driers; said they were a delusion and 
a snare to Ceylon men, and that they did not 
dry the tea thoroughly, and tea cured by them 
did not keep, exoept it was dried over again at 
home. Tea rolhrs, he said, were perfection, and 
sifters best ; your expensive driers he would cer- 
tainly break down and pitch out of the tea-house, 
as da ought to be dried to the very letter and 
those driers did not meet the desired end, and 
he recommended the old plan for a thorough 
good standing keeping tea. Take this for what 
it is worth and go on and prosper. Ceylon 
men are keen enough to find out this them- 
selves, and I wish them every success. 
I see you want tea boxes by the thousand : that 
is a good sign for Burma. I have got thirty 
thousand ready seasoned for the last five months, 
inside measurement 23" by 20" by 18". The wood 
is perfect for tea-boxes, same kind taken and 
recommended by Calcutta agents, and the timber 
out and allowance made for seasoning, so that 
the boxes are perfect when made up, and the 
timber is the only thing required for the trade. 
I am prepared to supply fifty thousand more 
boxes within live months at the rate of ten 
thousand per month. Sizes as follows : — 
Pes. 
> ; 14 l\v 6 by .J \ fiO boxes to a ton. Inside 
U 24 by 7 by * > measurement 23 iD. by 
t L8 by 10 by jj 2 in. by 18. No. 1. 
Hi 
2 21 by .1 l.y .'. } Inside measurement 23 iu. 
li 21 by (I by if by 19 in. by 17. 71 
4 21 by 7 by A f boxen to n ton. 
4 17 by 9J by J) No. 2. 
b> I' by '. ) Inside, measurement. 15 in. 
4J by niii-ir 
6 b, II l,y 
ti by if 
GJ by J 
lrt in. by 13}. 117 
boxen to a ton, 
IB 
6 17 
2 17 
1 17 
4 17 
M 
I :> on board, packed with hoop iron, British 
India steamers going direct to Colombo. I wish 
inquiring friends to lot me know by letter what 
rate they could pay for each size, namely : — 
28 by 20" by is", 23 byl'.i 'by 17", 16" by 161* by 
13J '. 1 shall be glad to hoar from any of the 
firm* in Colombo and also Mr. Edmund Wood- 
house and Messrs. D Edwards iv Co., Hatton, and 
anyone requiring good, sound and well-seasoned 
li.rboxe . To ..i\c tini" telegraph rue direct to 
Tavoy. and I shall make arrangements to prepare 
an y amount.* Mills in Moulmein and Tavoy, a nd 
• All Qui il a regular advertisement, mid yot 
•'J. I). W." dnlayn bin recognition of, and rumiUeiicti 
tor, the priutvr'.— Bo. 
B. I. S. N. steamers going direct for Colombo 
weekly, can also supply other timber for buildings 
and sleepers for railways : the very best ironwood 
(Burmese pingodoo, Sinhalese nagas, Tamil erembu 
maram) : * samples of different kinds of timber can 
be sent for inspection. 
I have a great crop of annatto now on the trees 
nearly ready for picking, and have got about a 
ton of produce of sorts rea<ly for London. I am 
shipping on to Thomas Christy, London, direct this 
year ; sent on my last shipping to W. Martin Leake ; 
ho sold my little crop of coffee very well and took 
great trouble with such a small lot, and my only 
reason for changing this year is because I am 
sending on several drugs of sorts, which is scarcely 
in an old planter's line of business. 
J. D. W. 
A VISIT TO THE RANI OF SIKKIM : SUCH TEA! 
The Calcutta Englishman prints a letter from a 
millitary correspondent who relates the incidents 
of a vioit to the Kaji and Rani of Sikkim. * * * 
Alter bowing to oue another, it was the Rani who 
asked us to sit down ; in fact, it is she who seeuis to do 
everything and who is, I fancy, quite the most; import 
ant personagein that household. Tea was tbeu brought 
— such tea ! May Heaven defend me from ever drink- 
ing it again ! Thibetan tea is made out of the coarsest 
tea-leaves, which are partly fermonted and then made 
into bricks. This is boiled with a lot of butter, salt, and 
some very pungent spices. I tried to get out of drink- 
ing the tea by talking hard, hoping that the Raui would 
not notice that I was not drinking it ; but not a bit 
of it ; she was far too sharp to be taken iu like that, 
and politely suggested that I was not drinking my tea. 
So, rather than offend her, I went at it like a man and 
took a good gulp ! The worst medicine was a joke to 
that mouthful I I could not resist it, and made an 
awful face that fetched them both. The Raja roared, 
and I thought would never stop laughing. The Raja 
seemed to appreciate the tea very highly, and simply 
poured it down. The Rani hardly touched hers, but 
still would not allow that she did not like it. After 
this thoy brought in a plate of salad, everything chop- 
ped up very fine; then came a dish of maccaroui with 
highly spiced mincemeat on the top. This was evi- 
dently the Raja's favourite dish, for he had several help- 
ings of it. — L. 8f 0. Express, Jan. 25th. 
THE MARKET FOR CINCHONA BARK 
AND QUININE IN 1888. 
Wc take tho following extracts from the Price 
List, January 1889 of C. F. Boehringer & S««hne, 
Waldhof near Mannheim : — 
Quinine. — The year 1S88 has been remarkable for an 
exceptionally largo consumption of Sulphate of Quinine, 
in fact wo do not remember the demand for actual 
consumption in the U. S. A. ever being so great and 
so well sustained as during last summer and autumn. In 
addition to this, speculation interested itself repeatedly in 
the article and secured large quantities, with the result 
that important transactions took place, and we were 
extremely bu*y throughout the year. Prices, however, 
have been very unsatisfactory. The rise in the value 
of Bark and ljuinine which occurred in Novimberaud 
December 18S7 indneed holders to offer the unusually 
largo quantity of 7,70-1 packages of bark at the first public 
auction last year, at which lower prices win otahh'd'cd 
i.iuiniuu dropped from 2s Id to Is 6d in the course of 
January, but warlike rumours on the Continent caused 
an advance of 2d about tho middle of February, and 
when at tho auction of Bark ou the 26th of that 
month higher prices were realized, manufai tare- r.u-. d 
their quotation to 2s. During tho whole of March. 
• Ironwood hat buen tried in Ceylon and found 
wanting.— Eu. 
