March i, 1882.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
75 r 
certainly be made such as has been already admitted 
in the case of the pearl oyster. We should have 
the opportunity of comparing the coffees, teas, &c, 
of other countries with our own, and specimens of 
South African elephants, with their enormous ears, 
should be placed side by side with those of Ceylon. 
There is, as yet, plenty of room, and when more 
is needed it can be supplied to what ought to be a 
groat instrument of education as well as an aid to 
enterprise and commerce. If, however, the Cinnamon 
Gardens Museum must be reserved as at present for 
local products and art specimens, then it will be- 
come the duty of Covcrmnent and the general public 
to give all the support in their power to the De 
Soysa Economic Museum at the Medical College, 
which, under the energetic management of J)r. Vau- 
derstraaten, is likely to develop into a most useful 
public institution. 
CINCHONA AND TEA. 
CEYLON QUININE MANUFACTORY — AN INDIAN AUTHORITY 
ON CEYLON TEA. 
Aberdeen, 29th Dec. 1881. 
Howard boycotted ! A friend who is a druggist told 
me : " On ordering quinine of a traveller the other day, I 
said : ' Howard's of course,' when he said : " Would you 
not take another maker's, that is equally as good and a 
few pence cheaper?" The fact is, several of the wholesale 
houses are boycotting Howard for keeping up the price 
of quinine.'' This points to what I daresay all cinchona 
planters are prepared for, namely a fall in prices of barks. 
When Howard reduces price, other makers will have to 
reduce further, as then' hope of sale, meantime, lies in the 
inducement of cheapness. A propos of the subject of 
„ut Buffioiently alive to the profits and savinge an efiicienl 
istablishmeut would he sure to effect. For manv years the 
hberdeen butchers played into the hands of dealers in 
Ailes, by supplying hides etc. at whatever prices the dealers 
chose to give, till, exasperated at the poor returns, they 
co-operated in the establishment of a local market, called 
the Aberdeen Hide, Skin and Tallow Market Company 
Limited ; the trade taking up the shares kept the manage- 
ment within themselves. The results have been good 
beyond anticipation, for, besides securing the highest prices 
for their ••produce," there remains an annual dividend of 
about 'AO per cent, to the shareholders for their invested 
capital. Could it not be possible to work a laboratory in 
Ceylon on the' principle of our Scotch meal mills, where 
every farmer's grain is kept separate and milled by itself, 
the proceeds in meal, sids and dust being banded over to 
the owner, who pays a small charge for milling? The 
planter to he debited with price of " inilliti:.:" according to 
weight of bark, and credited with weight of alkaloids 
yielded by bis consignments. Cash, leaving margin for 
contingencies, to he paid to account, and, at yearly balance, 
the profits to be divided between shareholders and pat- 
rons, the former receiving a fair interest and the latter 
•• Mipplemcntary account Bales" on the quantities of alkal- 
oid credited to them during the year. Although Howard 
leads the market, the prestige of Ids name w ill wear oil as the 
purity (easily tested) of other makes rumcs lo he recog- 
nized. Ceylon-made quinine lias nothing to fear, and. he 
prices what they may in England, Ceylon will always find 
it more profitable to undersell the Kurdish chemists than 
ship barks to them. 1 am aware arnuc'eincnt hiv in 
hand for mukiug quinine in Ceylon, but I uiidcrstund they 
me for a private concern, that will not be at tin mttIob bi 
any One having bark to realize. 
a gentleman n ddont in Aberdeen got from me two 
samples of Ceylon tea, which, along with other two sain 
pics, he sent to his son-in-law Mr. Jackson, late manager 
Scottish Assam Company, now engaged in tea cultivation 
(under the fostering caie of the United States Govern- 
ment) in Georgia, America. His report on the four 
samples is interesting to your readers. It is : — " I 
have carefully watered all the four samples of tea you 
sent me, against teas sold in America and also my own. 
Eandaloya is a very fine tea, of good strength and in 
point of flavour is superior to all the others. Nago 
Dhoolee and Humwal are decidedly the strongest, but 
lack the rich aroma of the Eandaloya. Windsor Forest is 
a very pleasant tea, but in my opinion inferior both in 
strength and flavour to Eandaloya, although Mrs. Jackson 
rather prefers the flavour. Both Eandaloya and Windsor 
Forest are superior in every way to teas sold in Charleston 
and Savannah at 4s. per lb. I abstain from any comment 
on my own tea, until Mr. W. expresses his opinion of the 
sample I send you by this mail. It must he judged 
strictly by the liquor. It is not tea dust or faunings, 
but the best of leaves made by a new process, looking to 
the development of strength, and is not intended for sale 
in the present form. Both his Ceylon teas are superior 
to my ordinary black, but I can get high prices for my 
green tea here. I send a sample of a new kind of green 
for yourselves. I make it at less than the cost of 
ordinary Tea ; try it and report." As the samples sent 
here had got damaged in transit, it would be unfair to 
express any opinion on them. I learn, however, of samples 
of green tea he sent some time ago for the opinion of a 
skilled tea merchant here, who reported then- being 
good" but " quite unsuitable for the Scotch trade." 
" FROM THE HILLS OF CEYLON. " 
THE GRAFTING OF CINCHONA LEDCERUNAS. 
Lindula, 24th January 1882. 
Since the 20th the maximum temperature went 
steadily up from G(j° to 74° on the 23rd. The minimum, 
on the other hand, went down from 5b° to 54 3 on the 
22nd, rising to 55° on the 23rd. The cold during the 
night of the 22nd presaged the rain which fell so con- 
tinuously and copiously yesterday (after two rainless 
days), and the record of which this morning is L07 
inch. The rain scarcely marred the interest of a 
visit to Mattakelly, Waltrim and Conon, with refer- 
ence to the growth and experiments in the grafting fo 
Ledgeria ias, of which I hope to be able to say something, 
in connection with notices of similar experiments fn 
Java. I deem it fortunate for Ceylon that the 
experiments refemed to should bo taken up by members 
of the plaining community so intelligently observaut, 
practically experienced, energetic and per.-evering 
as Messrs. W. Smith ami J. A. Campbell. I ought 
not to omit mention of Mr. Campbell's partner, 
Mr. Fairlie, who during a visit to Java made himself 
thoroughly acquainted with the botanical peculiarities 
of the best forms of Calisaya Ledgeriana, and who, I 
am told, has used his artistic taleuts in the pre- 
paration of a unique collection of the large number 
of species and varieties of oiochonas, coloured after 
nature. It is doped t hat the public will ultimately get 
tlio benefit of Mr. Fairlie's efforts to depict plants so 
exceedingly varied in type, but in all e.i'- s beautiful : 
whether in form and colour of leaf, or in shape, tin; 
and exquisite fragrance of flower*. The rain moder- 
ated yesterday, as evening advanced, but wua suc- 
ceeded by a tierce Mtorm of wind, the howling and 
"soughing" of which du ring the whole of la-t night 
was auytbing but luperinduoiva of sleep. The records 
of t-mpciatuie for the past twenylour hours are: 
maximum (W, minimum 57°, and tbia morning shews 
a combination of drixxle and sunshine. As a result 
th jo was a m.tijtiilicen'. rainbow at half-past '.), which 
no all turned out to admiro. The tun was so high 
in the hori/on nnd our position with reference to the 
