September i, 1881.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
2 55 
a sheet of ice about 3 inches thickness in the cistern. 
I have never felt so lit in my life. There is no 
liquoring " Ceylon madiri " here. You can get beer 
tub rosd in the lake, but wo never keep it. Kier 
came up from St. Paul's the other day, and brought 
u,, a bottle and unexpectedly brought me out a glass 
while I was ploughing, and I can tell tell you it was 
nectar. What would not I give for a gang of coolii'S ad- 
vanced ad lUiitum ! I came with the Hon. George Hamil- 
ton who came out to see what sort of an invest- 
ment it would be. He 's the son of Lord Some-one, and 
on arriving in New York he sent his valet back. 
On arriving at the hotel up bore, he saw a lot of 
common-looking men hanging about (and did not un- 
derstand you had to live with livery stablemen, &c,)> 
and went up to one and said : " Who is the man who 
has to clean boots,' 
stranger, if you wan 
you d better do it y< 
man did and made i 
and w 
your 1. 
tin 
leaned, I guess 
f ;" which the hon. gentle- 
ugh by remarking : " Well, 
iVer cleaned my own boots, 
it much better done than 
•e. Every man is your equal, 
;, you must not mind Bill 
rcssing you thus: " I say, 
' at which you 're expected 
13. S.'s use ! At this, how- 
p lilely but firmly decline 
P. At the hotels, the en- 
his one knife to help 
to eat with, whereas the 
1 maintains the use of the 
and does not consider it 
in his mouth bi'fore makiug 
sr. This is trying, but 
. The first year you can 
per cent on your capital, 
is mostly paying out. 
Smith, the ploughbo 
Captain, give us a i 
to hand over your pi 
to accommodate the 
lightened American 
himself to butter ai 
unenlightened Britisl 
fork for eating pur 
necessary to whet hii 
a "swoop" on th 
there's money to b< 
with ordinary luck m 
and of course the fin 
I liked tho life in Ceylon, but consider it 
not worth tho candle. Take for example such 
men as . He gets his screw and spends 
it. What will lie do in his old age, or what would 
his wife do in the event of his death ? Were 
he down here, with £1,000 he. could secure himself a 
permanent horn", and probably in a few yens have 
enough to retire on. Land is cheap at present, but 
is going up every day, and ere long my laud will real- 
ize 50 per cent, more than I gave lor it. I have only 
£1,000 in at present, but directly things are "fixed 
up," I am going to put iu (mother £1,500. 
Ouly any fellows thinking of coming down 
here should bo warned to avoid all land-agents and 
•advertizers, Shearman. Close Bros., and all others. I havo 
been offered 5 per cent on all lands I can sell for 
the railway, but have declined, as I have an agent in 
London who sends me out fellows to "learn the ropes" 
wlio pay me a premium, but if I was in any way 
connected with the railroad land it would look fishy 
fed I can make more the other way. I have two 
coming out to mo shortly, and the railroad company still 
think they M ill get over my prejudices and have pro- 
■ented me with a through ticket and 1 am quite a " big 
boss " when down at St. Paul's. So 1 calculate 1 have 
scored one oil' the blooming Yankee already. Tho 
Bb iety here is "very fearful. We have an ancient dnmo 
pho Keeps houso for u\ who is a very nice person — 
/or a Yankee. Wo also have a farm help, a Norwegian, 
a Very decent fellow, but tho genrrul rue are really 
ghastly. It is common to give " socials " where tho 
neighbours all congregate and liouoiir you by spitting 
tobacco over your carpets and making themselves gener- 
ally agreeable. I politely hut (irmly declined to have 
my house turned into a pig-sty, and received a lecture 
from my neighbour, who "told mo wo ought to do 
our utmost to civilize the people around vis. I told 
her i w.i.s not a missionary and did not intend to 
make a martyr ol myself for all the Yankees iu crea- 
tion, but wo 
would attend 
drew a line 
spittoon. T 
root. I have 
and I board 
vanta"eous term; 
to subscribe to the school, 
lo anything reasonable, but I 
; my dining-room a public 
cbangc as we take deeper 
n London canvassing for me, 
for a premium) "on very ad- 
t leaving Ceylon now. 
vaniagcoLis serins. i imii l regie;, leaving ueyion now. 
1 did at first, as Hiked tho old placp, but there, unless 
you go into coffee, which is generally a pretty perman- 
ent investment, you have no settled home. 
thi^presen'Ftea SEASON. 
Although the Tea season has only just fairly com- 
menced, still tho views we expressed on the subject 
of speciality are borne out by the prices which have 
already been obtained on the market. At the public 
sales New Season's Teas were sold at rates which 
cannot be deemed satisfactory to importers, considering 
that it was the first steamer, and a clear week is 
given to sell the teas in. In many instances a rather 
gloomy view is* taken of the future. We do not share 
in the extreme pessimists' opinions, because according 
to advices from India the present crop iu that country- 
is also much below last year, and as a consequence 
the imports to this country will for some time fall 
short of expectations, and there will therefore be an 
opening for the China produce. But, on the other 
hand, the experiences even thus early in the season 
are once more such as to force on the importers the 
neceseity lor greater caution in chcir purchases. India 
is undoubtedly makiug great inroads on the market, 
and the care bestowed on the manufacture in tho Euro- 
pean supervised estates is producing an article which 
is maintaining the position it has taken up. We trust 
as the season advances a better tone will prevail for 
China Teas, and tho losses now incurred may be made 
up by subsequent gains ; but that anything like ad- 
equate profits will he realised is much open to question. 
The subject is really a serious one. for importers, and 
it is time they took some steps to do away with the 
abnormal competition which exists amongst them. We 
shall wait and watch events before alluding to tho 
subject again, and if the worst is realised, perhaps this 
last disappointment may bring about the desired result. 
Dn 
ROBERT VON RLEHN & SON'S MONTHLY 
COFFEE CIRCULAR. 
London, July 5th, 1881. 
e first two weeks of last month there was 
a sudden rush to buy Coffee. In Havre the purchases 
for the first week exceeded 50,000 bags ; the telegram 
from Rio of the Gth June advised purchases for Europe 
amounting to 107,000 bags ; and at the Dutch Sale on 
the 15th June the competition for the 9-2,000 bags 
offered was so great, that, good ordinary Java sold at 
33 cents— 2i cents above valuation, and 15 per cent, 
above the price at the "May sale. This was one of those 
feverish and excited movements to which we arc always 
exposed when the price of an article is on a really low 
level, as is the ease with Coffee at present. It may he 
taken as a samplo of how rapid and how important 
will be tho advance when something really turns up 
favourable to the position of tho article. We believe 
that the rush was greatly stimulated by tho fact that 
the bulk of tho European stocks are held by p ireou 
outside the Coffee trade, and not by the usual middle- 
men of tho Coffee trade, who hold little stock, but 
are extremely desirous of getting into stock whcuevci 
tlr v think tho lowest point readied. 
Tho rush to buy was premature, because absolutely 
without reason, and eonseqU' ntly tho advance in price 
has sinco beeu lost. 
Tho position however, remain* tho same, a large part 
of thr ■) iota are held by outsiders, and tho instant 
tho trade sea or think they see a reason for an advance, 
they will make another rush to get into stock at low 
