April t, 1889.] 
Ceylon tea estates. But it seems to me that a 
Company of the kind can scarcely in the first instance 
be publicly floated in London with the object of, at 
least to some extent, diverting trade from that port 
any more that it can among the tea importers and 
distributors of Melbourne or Sydney. The Com- 
pany must be started and mainly supported here, 
in Ceylon, or the whole proposal will fall to the 
ground. And it seems strange that at a time 
when shareholders and capital have so readily 
come to establish a local Cotton-spinning, and a 
tobacco-growing, Company — and when indeed, ap- 
parently, the promoters of a Company to sell 
Ceylon teas in far distant America, have met 
with ample encouragement — and I wish such 
projects every success, — that there should be 
doubt as to a sufficiency of local support for a 
Company to promote the sale of our teas among our 
fellow-subjects, next door to us and who are already 
noted as the biggest tea-drinkers in the world ! I 
have heard that Mr. Sinclair proposes a capital for 
the Company at first of £5,000, a sum which is 
surely within the compass of the " Ceylon tea com- 
munity " in order to promote their own immediate 
interests. 
It has been truly said that the tea-planting 
industry of Ceylon differs from any other agricultural 
pursuit under the sun in giving " a ready money " 
return all the year round, there being no month of 
the year here in which there is not some leaf to be 
plucked and manufactured on most plantations 
where pruning properly is distributed. In the same 
way it may be said that the proposed Company would 
do a " ready money ',' business in Ceylon teas and 
ought therefore to make early and regular returns 
to its shareholders. There can be no doubt of a 
large and promising field of operations, and it is not 
likely that a better Managing Director could be 
secured than Mr. Sinclair, if he will accept the office, 
with his recent experience of the Colonies and their 
tea trade, as well as his acquaintance with the general 
conditions of planting in Ceylon. 
Already it "is gratifying to learn that not a few 
Colombo tea estate proprietors and agents have ex- 
pressed themselves as favourable to the project. 
Among the resident planters, perhaps, Mr. Wm. 
Mackenzie is the one who could give the weightiest 
opinion, from his acquaintance with Australia and 
his special interest in tea. It maybe said that Ceylon 
planters have (like poor Goldsmith) " the knack of 
hoping " in reference to each new proposal in con- 
nection with their products ; but at least in regard 
to tea the need of doing all in their power to 
create new markets must be patent to our estate 
proprietors ; and it is because it seems to me that 
the present offers an exceptionally good and timely 
opening that I venture to place the above remarks 
before our planting community. — I am, &c. J. F. 
POLGHAKANDE TEA. 
Polghakande Estate, Neboda, 13th March 1889. 
Dear Sie, — In regard to the Polgahakande tea 
sale at an average of 8d per lb. in Messrs. Gow, 
Wilson & Stanton's catalogue of the 15th of 
Feb., in justice to myself, as already misappre- 
hension has been created, which, if left uncorrected, 
will do me injury, i beg to state, although the leaf 
was plucked on this estate (Polghakande), the tea 
was made on an adjoining estate, and I had nothing 
whatever to do with the curing. 
MILO MACMAHON. 
COTTON CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 
Colombo, 14th March 1889. 
Sir,— Mr. Price's letter in your last night's issue 
is very interesting because it contains a good deal 
of valuable information, especially as to the time 
of sowing. I have been laughed at for. suggesting 
August as the best time for sowing cotton, but as 
the suggestion now comes from a European, I am 
glad to know that it will be quietly accepted. Thank 
you, Mr. Price, very much. The great point in 
cotton cultivation is that the crop should be ready 
for picking in dry weather, otherwise the staple gets 
damaged.* 
My own experience, both in India and Ceylon, is 
that the crop should be ready for picking in January 
onwards, and this cannot be brought about unless the 
sowing is done in August or towards the end of July. 
It is not generally known that cotton cultivation 
once flourished and that cloth was woven in the 
island, before the introduction of Manchester cotton 
goods. But the native looms were unable to com- 
pete with the spinning jenny and the Arkwright 
machinery, yet this ancient industry still lingers 
in far-off villages where a coarse but useful kind of 
cloth is manufactured from chena-grown cotton. 
The cotton which grows in native villages is com- 
mercially known as the " Pernambuco." The pecu- 
liarity of this variety is that the seeds adhere in 
conical masses. Before introducing the American 
and Egyptian cottons into the villages I should like 
to see the cultivation of the native plant encouraged, 
because it is as good as if not better than any im- 
ported variety, and it has the further advantage of 
not degenerating in the climate as the imported 
varieties would. 
The planting may be done according to V of Mr. 
Price's valuable hints, but the seed must be put 
out 4 feet by 4 feet, as the plant grows very large. 
Turn over the soil 3 times during the growth of the 
crop each year either by hoeing or by ploughing. 
The plants should last 4 or 5 years. After each 
yearly picking all the green wood should be pruned 
off and the land manured. 
The success of the Americans is largely due to 
the high cultivation they adopt on their lands. 
Therefore Ceylon cotton planters please plough, 
and then manure as Cato of old days. — Yours 
faithfully, ABA. 
[With this letter came three specimens of cotton 
wool, viz : — Egyptian, fine but with a yellowish 
" nankin " tinge ; Pernambuco, fine and beautifully 
white ; and Tinnevelley, short-stapled but capable 
of improvement and valued by the natives of 
Southern India not merely for the wool, but for the 
large quantity of seed yielded as food for cattle. — Ed.] 
TOBACCO CULTIVATION IN CEYLON. 
Mutwal Lodge, 18th March, 1839. 
Dear Sir, — Tobacco may with some degree of 
truth claim to be the burning question of the day, 
and though sceptios may not hesitate to tell us 
jestingly that it is all sure to end in smoke, we 
are continuing to receive daily assurances of its 
probable success in Ceylon. 
Among those who have espoused the sacred 
cause of tobacco it i3 gratifying to notice the name 
of the old colonist, Mr. Thomas Dickson, whom I 
had the pleasure of meeting at London in 1886 on 
the memorable occasion when Mr. J. L. Shand 
read a paper on British-grown teas, to a deeply 
interested London audience. On this occasion too, 
I remember a theory being advanced by one of the 
Indian visitors, Dr. Watt, to the effect that our teas 
were hastily manufactured, on which a discussion 
ensued, when some of us took part in combatting 
his views. 
But Mr. Dickson does himself and me injustice 
* In Ooylon, with two heavy monsoons, this is the 
great danger to be avoidod. — Ed. 
