July i, i8'8i.'] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
with different products, the arrangement in the present 
Directory is confessedly an ad interim one, and we 
had fully determined another year to give fuller details 
aud in a more convenient form or somewhat as follows: — 
ArliEAUE : 
Total. 
Cultivated. 
Coffee. Tea. ' or Cacao. 
Other 
Products. 
it is, of course, impossible to gjve separate columns 
■or all the minor products— an ever-increasing family— 
with which our planters are experimenting, and it is 
equally impossible to expect to attain perfection in any 
work sucli as that under review ; but it is certainly 
satisfactory to feel that the Chairman of the Asso- 
ciation is not alone when in a second and later letter 
lie is good enough to say : — 
',' The division of the work into two volumes is an 
immense improvement. The Directory, in constant 
use for reference, is far handier in its separate form, 
and that immense mass of information which you 
have accumulated on all the most important subjects 
affecting the ■ agriculture, commerce, and social con- 
lition of the Colony, is much more conveniently 
studied in its present form. It is, in fact, an ample 
volume of itself, and of incalculable value to people 
interested in the island and its enterprise and pro- 
gress." 
Chlorate of Potash has become so thoroughly 
popular as a medicine that it is not amiss to re- 
member that it cannot be employed recklessly, at all 
events for children, since the uee of it has caused 
death. In one instance a boy of three years was given 
180 grains in thirty-six hours and died at the eud 
of ten days, with symptoms which indicated an abuse 
of the remedy.— New York Hour. 
Ctncmona. — The Conservator of Forests will be 
desired to forward direct to Mr. Thomson, formerly of 
Tamaiea but now of Bogota, an a equate supply of seed 
of the fine kind of "cinchona officinalis'' which grows 
ttk tin- Nilgiris. On receipt of intimation by Govern- 
ment of its despatch, the Secretary of State will be 
informed accordingly, in view to Sir Joseph Hooker's 
services being enlisted for obtaining plants of the 
"China cuprea." — Madras Standard. 
A Nkw Substitute for Tea or Coffee — The fol- 
lowing is an extract from the Grocer: — Mr. William 
Taylor, commission agent, York-street, Glasgow, has | 
iieen appointed agent for " Tcako, " which is described I 
as "a new substitute for tea or coffee." We should 
be glad to know of what this new substance is com- 
posed. The result of a chemical analysis of it should i 
Be published : it would no doubt prove interesting, 
mil perhaps surprising. 
A London Tea Agency fok Ceylon.— Mr. Turing 
Mackenzie's suggestion lor a meeting of Ceylon tea- 
planters as a preliminary to united action for ihe 
establishment of a West End Tea Agency is well I 
deserving of attention. Such a meeting would be the 
Swt itep towards the establishment of a Ceylon Tea 
Syndicate. Perhaps, it will lie well to wait now for 
the return of the Ceylon Commissioner to get the 
benefit of his experience and counsel. We have no 
doubt, that Sir Win. Gregory anil Other home friends 
of Ceylon would give the movement all the support 
IB their power. 
27 
@otlttespmi!limco. 
To the Editor of the Ceylon Observer. 
A LONDON TEA-ROOM AND AGENCY FOE 
CEYLON TEA. 
Maskeliya, 16th May 1881. 
Dear Sin, — I was afraid that my proposal to es- 
tablish in London a tea-room and agency had quite 
fallen to the ground. I see, however, that Sir Wrn. 
Gregory comments favourably on my letter : and as 
you yourself have taken the matter up I begin to 
hope that something may yet come of it. 
I feel convinced that such an establishment would 
be the best advertisement that our tea planters could 
have ; and as a considerable portion of our planting 
community is now interested in tea, it would only 
seem natural for the Planters' Association to move 
in the matter. 
Want of funds, of course, would be the serious 
difficulty ; but surely the numerous gentlemen now 
engaged in tea planting could, if united, command 
sufficient influence to start a Company for the purpose 
of establishing a tea-room and agency in London, 
with a view to stimulating a demand for our teas. 
It may be said by some that we have no tea, should 
a large demand arise, and what is the use of creat- 
ing a demand before we have the supply to meet 
it ? But if we wait to create a demand until we 
have a large stock of tea, the market will be glutted, 
and prices ruinously low. Clearly, therefore, the 
ooner a start is made the better. 
Apart from the benefit of the tea-room as ah 
advertisement, the agency would be most advantageous 
to planters, who by ' shipping direct could realize 
a decent profit themselves, while they could put their 
tea in the market cheaper than if they went through 
the brokers' hands— in fact, the planter would sell at 
a low retail price, and the consumer would get a 
good genuine article at a cheap figure. 
" The General Meeting of the Planters' Association is 
close at hand : could not the tea planters contrive 
to meet and discuss this question ?— Yours faithfully, 
W. TURING MACKENZIE. 
Grub. — I see Mr. W. Smith is tackling the grub 
again. Did anybody think patana had anything to do 
with breeding or harbouring them ? Perhaps the richest 
fields of young coffee I ever saw were on the flat 
lands in Rakwana, and the}' were always killed 
out in a few years by grub 40 miles from auy patna. 
All flat lands on the south side of the island have 
been liable to it. Did ever anybody see damage 
done ou steep lands ? — Old Planter. 
Madagascar Paddh.— Mr. Robertson, of the Go- 
vernment farms, Madras, submitted lately to the 
Board of Revenue a report on the experimental 
cultivation of Madagascar paddy which he considers 
the home of the Carolina specie?. The product of 
the experimental cultivation of this variety of rice 
appears to the Board of Revenue to be of sperior 
quality, and if Mr. Robertson's present opinion, the 
it thrives with a quantity of water less than the 
indigenous varieties, should be confirmed by further 
experience, the result should be of great value to 
localities where the rainfall is scanty and water not 
always abundant. The samples received by the Board 
will be forwarded to the Chamber of Commerce, whose 
opinion the Government would be glad of both as 
to the article itself and upon the suggestion to send 
tile grain and rice to London for valuation. 4S II.. 
of seed sown ou the 20th September 'SO yielded on 
•2nd February 'SI 1,483 lb. grain, <\\\<\ 2,486 11). straw. 
— Madras St a ndard. 
