June i, 1889.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
§£ 5 
The Spinning and Weaving Company are now 
issuing seed oftheNew Orleans and Fiji descrip- 
tions, which are so very suitable, and before this 
time next year, I expect to see Ceylon producing 
a large quantity of cotton, but a most encouraging 
feature about this product is, that it cannot be 
overdone.— Yours faithfully, W. W. MITCHELL. 
[An interesting letter from Mr. Atherton, the 
Manager of the new Colombo Mills, on the " Cli- 
mate and Spinning" question will appear further 
on.— Ed.] 
COORG COFFEE SEED SUITED TO 
HAPUTALE ? 
Sir, — Some correspondent of yours lately de- 
clared that it was no use planting Coorg coffee 
higher than 2,500 feet. In that ease it is of no 
use to Haputale. Who ought to know if your 
correspondent is correct in what he says? 
PROPRIETOR. 
[We should certainly consider that Coorg coffee 
seed was well adapted for use in Haputale.— Ed.] 
JAPAN, AND CEYLON, MADE TEA BOXES; 
AND TEA LEAD. 
Dear Sir, — In your issue of the 10th inst. your 
clever contributor " Peppercorn " in his happy and 
incisive style pointed out how easy it is to have 
too much advice and how the London brokers in 
particular are sometimes just a little too ready 
with their notes and comments on matters closely 
affecting the tea planter, but of which the brokers 
know very little. — Another instance of this occurs 
in the circular issued by Messrs. I. A. Rucker & 
Bencraft, datod London, 21st March, and which 
was copied into your issue of 16th inst. In this 
circular we are told that we should be wary in 
purchasing Japan tea boxes, because the Japanese 
are wily enough to make any wood do for ex- 
portation to Ceylon. This statement is incorrect 
and misleading. The facta are that the large 
numbers of Japan boxes which have been imported 
into Ceykn have consisted of two kinds of wood 
only, viz., socalled Cedar or Suji and Momi (the 
two last are the Japanese names of the woods.) 
The Cedar or Suji has no doubt a strong aro- 
matic smell, and as far back as 1885 Messrs. 
Somerville & Co. in their Circular No. 9 of the 
26th October mention that planters were then 
very nervous about using Japan cedar boxes, which 
at that time were the only kind imported.— Since 
then, however, boxes made of Momi, a white wood 
much resembling deal, have been imported and this 
wood has practically no smell, and is in every 
way well suited for tea packages. — Hundreds of 
thousands of cedar boxes have been used in Cfylon 
and India and are, I believe, used by the Japanese 
themselves and it is only now that attention is 
drawn to their strong aromatic smell. 
On the 11th Dec. 1885 Messrs. J. M. Robertson 
& Co. sent you a letter, which you published, and 
in which they informed the public that Mr. A. 
Wilson, the senior partner of Messrs. Wilson and 
Smithett, had telegraphed out that the Japan boxes 
imported by Mr. Deane had proved a success, and 
that the smell of the cedar did not interfere with 
the tea. 
Had Messrs. Rucker & Bencraft made their 
remarks apply generally to the woods used for 
tea boxes, they would have been more to the point, 
and I suspect that some of the woods which have 
no doubt come under their observation as unsuit- 
able for tea, owing to the medicinal flavour im- 
parted, were not Japan, but Ceylon made boxes. 
Take a walk occafionally through the warehouses 
at the Wharf and through the merchants' godowns 
where tea is stored waiting sale and shipment, 
and you will very soon see that Ceylon made 
boxes are not all made of hal, though the sup- 
plier will no doubt try and persuade you that they 
are. I saw one lot only the other day actually made 
of mango-wood, which the London brokers may 
mistake for Japan pine ? ! Another serious draw- 
back to most Ceylon made boxes is that the wood 
is not seasoned. I have seen boxes at the wharf 
during the hot dry weather, the joints of which 
had opened out wide enough to admit the top o£ 
your finger. I was much amused in noticing one 
lot, sent without doubt from the hands of a canny 
Scot, which instead of being hooped all round 
had little bits of hoopiron about two inches long 
nailed over the joints in the sides and ends ! 
As " Peppercorn " pointed out planters will 
always be grateful for hints and advice founded 
on facts, but advice given in a loose way 
without first ascertaining facts is calculated 
to do more harm than good, particularly in the 
present instance wh/-n a check given to the use 
of Japan boxes would subject the planter to much 
difficulty and increasing expense. 
Messrs. Rucker <fe Bancraft's remarks re Japan 
boxes have already been greedily seized upon by 
advertisers to puff the sale of their wares. 
One word as to tea lead. Planters would do 
well to keep in mind the caution and advice given 
by the late Mr. Cameron (who gave Ceylon so 
much practical information on tea-making and 
packing) as to keeping up the thickness of tea lead. 
Owing to the rigid economy forced upon us the 
tendency is to adopt thin lead. I believe it is quite 
possible for fine tea to be affected by the taint of 
unsuitable wood through using thin lead. Some 
of the lead used for fine China teas, weigh as 
much as 7 oz. to the foot and seems ti be of a 
particularly tough texture and of dark color. I 
can send you the notes you publish d a few j ears 
ago on this subject, while Mr. Cameron was in 
the island if you would like to see them. 
Can it be that the London brokprs are int rested 
in the manui'ai ure or sale of patent packages? 
I am curious to Bee the eff.Ci, of ending away 
tea in a second, third or evt-n fourth i and papier 
mache chest without lining of any kin i. — Yours 
faithfully, TEA BOX. 
SALE OF OEYLON TEAS. 
Sir, — All well-wishers of Ceylon tea-planters are 
anxious to find out markets for the sale of tbeirtens. 
Mention has been made of Amerioa, Australia &c. 
But it strikes me that tea-dr'nking in Ceylon itself is 
very limited, and that it could be increased to an 
enormous exteut in the thousands of vil'agi-s far away 
from the tei estates. Coffee (and not ua) that is 
daily hawkt-d about and sold to wa side boutique- 
kei-pers by the enterprising Tarn 1 " copee-karau." No 
doubt in the or.ariary course of time these Tamil men 
will take to selling tea. But don't you think it better 
not to wait, but to prtss them into the service by 
bringing tea within their reach. "VVELL-WI3HER. 
COFFEE : THE CULTIVATION OF COFFEE 
UNDER SHADE IN CEYLON. 
April 30th, 1889. 
Dear Sir, — In your issue of the 29th instant 
a "Proprietor" says that some one has declared 
that " it is no use planting Coorg coffee higher 
than 2,500 feet." If he refers to my letter on the 
subject, 1 must point out that he has taken me 
up wrongly. Shade experiments _ with Coorg or 
any other coffee should be carried out at a low 
