8i6 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1889. 
elevation to get the benefit of the forcing power 
of the climate and soil at that elevation. It must 
be obvioris to all that shade, at a high elevation 
in a climate like Ceylon,* would act deleteriously ; 
and you generally get good soil " at the bottom 
of the mountain slopes among the foothills." 
The " Ghaut " estates, or those on the steep 
mountain-sides, are so washed and worn that new 
experiments in coffee would not be worth trying. 
On the other hand estates like " Eosebury,'' which 
have suffered from fierce sun and drought and 
have good soil, would be just the places to try 
the beneficial effects of a cool cover, a thick litter, 
and digging combined with weeding and manu- 
ring ; and shade would soon grow in the forcing 
climate. W. A. TYTLEE. 
COOONUT CULTURE DISCUSSION. 
Colombo, 30th April 1889. 
StR, — You are respDnsible for putting down " A.B.C " 
instead of "Aba" below my last communication. *** Do 
"B." emerge from wherever you are and visit Cambridge 
Place in the Cinnamon Gardens of a morning when tbe 
truth of what I say will be ocularly demonstrated to 
you. Have your good " B." ever travelled on the sea- 
side line '} and have you really failed to s,ee the 
bunches of fruit propped up on the trees growing 
close to the sea at Wellewatta ? " None are so blind," 
they say " as they who will not see." Another of 
your theories "B." — the " differing " and "toughening" 
of stems owing to silica — is a thing of the past, for 
it has been recently proved by carefully conducted 
experiments that stems may be "stiff " and " tough" 
without the aid of silica. Once more good "B," I ad- 
■jure you by all the coconut trees to visit the Cinnamon 
Gardens and Wellewatta before you sit down to reply. — 
Yours faithfully, ABA. 
[This correspondence must now cease so far as 
our columns are concerned. — Ed.] 
TEA BOXES:— JAPAN AND OTHERWISE. 
Colombo, 1st May 1889. 
Deae Sie, — Your correspondent " Tea Box" has 
the aroma — and a strong one too — of a Japan 
tea chest such as is condemned by Messrs. Rucker 
& Bencraft in their recent circular, and seeing 
he impugns their honesty of purpose, it is a pity 
he has not the courage to express his opinion 
over his own name instead of doing so anonymously. 
But instead of proving Messrs. Rucker & Bencraft 
wrong in their statement, " Tea Box " actually 
confirms exactly what the London brokers say, as 
will be seen by the following extract from his letter: — 
"The facts are that the large numbers of Japan 
boxes which have been imported into Ceylon 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 aromatic smell, and as fur 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. Hundreds of thousands 
of cedar boxes have been used in Ceylon and India ar/d 
are, I believe, used by the Japanese themselves and it 
is only now that attention is drawn to their strong 
aromatic smell." 
It is not "only now" that these boxes have been 
objected to, for they have long been condemned 
by one of the oldest and largest tea buying firms 
* " In a climate like Ueylon ": — no one knows 
better than our correspondent that we have a large 
variety of "samples of climate" even within our coffee 
zona. Would "W. A. T." not agree that almost any- 
where in the Uva districts up even to 4.000 to 
4,500 feet, the shade experiment with coffee, on virgin 
or good soil, is worth trying '(— Ed. 
in Colombo, some of whose purchases have failed 
to realize within 3d per lb of their value owing to 
the aromatic taint. Moreover, many of the Japan 
boxes are of such frail timber that notwithstanding 
hoops and a plentiful supply of nails, they will 
not stand a long journey. It was only a week or 
two ago we were invited by Messrs. Carson & Co. 
to inspect some chests in their godowns which 
were much damaged in transit, direct by cart, from 
one of their estates. 
While speaking plainly of the worst features of 
some of the Japan boxes, we do not forget 
that for appearance and make-up they have been 
far in advance of Ceylon-made boxes ; but now 
that improved appliances are being used in their 
manufacture, local boxes are steadily improving in 
both these respects. With regard to the "quality" 
we admit there are woods quite unsuitable for boxes, 
like Japanese cedar for instance ; but your corre- 
spondent is very much mistaken in supposing hal 
is the only timber that can be used out of 148 
kinds already well-known and largely used for a 
variety of purposes in Ceylon. If he will publish 
his name to his next communication on the subject 
in your columns (" as a guarantee of good faith") 
we shall have much pleasure in not only giving 
him a list of the woods but showing him these 
kinds on his calling at our office. 
We notice " Tea Box" suggests that planters 
should use 7 oz. lead in place of 4 and 5 oz. to 
prevent the taint of cedar wood; but so long as 
inodourous boxes can be obtained there is no reason 
why the expense of packing should be so largely 
increased, particularly at this time when most men 
are striving to reduce cost of manufacture in every 
possible way. — Your3 faithfully, 
W. H. DAVIES & Co. 
Deae Sie, — Allow me to point out that Messrs. 
W. H. Davies & Co. have twisted and contorted 
my letter in an unwarrantable manner. Messrs. 
Rucker & Bencraft do not condemn Japan boxes 
in toto, but caution packers to reject those with 
a piney or cedary smell. 
I do not impugn the honesty of purpose of 
Messrs. Rucker & Bencraft. 
I do not say that hal is the only Ceylon wood 
suitable for tea boxes. 
I do not suggest that planters should use 7 oz. 
lead to prevent the taint of cedar wood. — Yours 
faithfully, TEA BOX. 
Colombo, May 3rd 1889. 
Deae Sin, — " Tea Box " " greedily seized " (to use 
an expression of his own) an opportunity of ano- 
nymously casting innuendoes at Messrs. Rucker 
6 Bencraft and ourselves, but now that he has 
been challenged to do so over his own name he 
says we have " twisted and contorted " his letter. 
We reiterate that in the form of a question he 
suggested that Messrs. Rucker & Bencraft had an 
interest in the manufacture or sale of other tea 
packages, hence their condemnation of Japan boxes. 
Secondly, he distinctly suggested that hal was the 
only Ceylon wood suitable for tea boxes, and im- 
plied that suppliers tried to palm off other woods 
for hal. 
Thirdly, "Tea Box" believed it "quite possible 
for fine teas to be affected by the taint of unsuit- 
able wood through using thin lead," and mentioned 
7 oz. as being the weight used in China. 
We leave you, sir, and others to judge whether 
we have "twisted and contorted" your correspon- 
dent's letter. — Yours faithfully, 
W. H. DAVIES & CO. 
