July i, 1893.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
55 
teas in the low-country. Why shouldn't we ? In 
Cachar low down ? I bolieve so. It can make fine 
tippy thick teas, as for :n>tance Borokai Ga .'en 
lodia Tea Comparjy of Cichar. They m^'kv or ufe lto 
make very fine teas. And so could iow-couotry 
OeyloQ. Not fine-flavoured perhaps, but thick dark 
liquoring t ?a8 with tippy leaf and any amount of body. 
If low country places would a ni EonLefiue tippv flavory 
pointy teas, Ceylons would soon pull up. When we 
get a good proportion of hue Ceyloz)s — say 30 pfir 
cent to 35 per cent of our exports— and Scud it, from 
high, medium und low elevations an 1 stick to it, then 
we may fee Ceylon take a place equal to Assam and 
even perhaps above it — and not betore — and then and 
only then will the trade look out for tine Ceylons 
and eeiablibh a regular trade in it bb they do now 
in fine Assam. — Yours, FINE 'lEA. 
F.8. — Later. — In answer to your suggestion re se- 
parating Ceylon's into two classes — high and low 
grown, I myself fail to see where the advantage 
would come in. Even lowcouutry teas can be made 
to produce high averages as I have tried it at a 
place not 300 feet above sea level but it was real 
good plucking that did it, i.e. two small leaves and a 
bud and no bangles. Teas from such leaf even in 
bad districts will give very tippy pretty B.O.P-'s 
with dark liquors which are always saleable when 
tippy as well as strong liquoring pretty leafed 
pekoes. But these places all go for big lowcountry 
yields and poor prices and I am sure almost that 
eventually prices paid would actually leave more profit 
than present system of nothing but medium and 
common teas and scarcely any fine. Why the very 
fact of making our exports fall to say 50 or 60 million, 
and having it all either good medium, tine or finest 
would of itself raise prices as the demand would be 
greater than the supply. Then this wretched coarse 
plucking I suppose would seize on everyone again 
and prices would again fall. Advocate and advocate 
strongly all round tine plucking and advocate 
sticking to it even when prices are high, and try 
and induce planters not to S'samp London with 
common tea just because common teas are fetching 
high prices at some particular time, and by ham- 
mering away at it you may gradually produce fruit 
of some value. Pluck fairly tine ao every elevation 
and coarse nowhere is the " word " and the result 
will bring its own reward and with interest I should 
be inclined to say. I notice very few answers to 
"Philpot" touch on the real point at issue. They 
mostly say when the market will pay for fine tea 
we make it — but however can the market pay for 
what they hardly ever get. Ormidale sends it. 
Why not others. Most feem to imagine their best 
grade of B.O.P. at lOd is tine tea instead of medium 
or poor medium. Witness the Assam and Darjeeling 
sales. 
If you advocate strongly going in more in Ceylon 
for a better class of tea altogether than we send at 
present, it may bave some effect in helping to 
improve our teas. Coarse and medium coarse plucking 
ruins the delicate flavour of our teas and entirely 
swamp all semblance of delicacy which Ceylon once 
possessed,— F. T. 
No. XXV. 
Dear Sir, — In your summary of the '■ Bitter Cry" 
discu=8ioD, you dwell pnuoipally, indeed, almost 
exolueively ou the quettiou ot " supply but what 
about " demand " ? You do glanco at the fact 
that " Ceylon teas for some reason have been Belling 
several pence below valuatior," And to account 
for thie, so far aa " fine tea " is concerned, you 
instance the advioe given by Mr. Thompson, the 
meaning of which is that the supply of " fine '' 
Ceylon tea is not steady enough, nor large enough 
to oreaie an active demand, or to insure the 
realization of fair prices for the little that is 
offered. We are asked to infer from this that 
there exists a demand for fine Ceyloa tea, which 
the plaatera themaelvee keep dowo, or in a latent 
etatp, by not awakening into active and permanent 
life by the stream of a full supply. 
Weil, sir, alter all, the opinion oE an average 
planter on the London tea trade cannot be 
oi much practical value. We laugh at the brokers' 
opinions on practical tea planting, and doubtless 
they are justified in laughing at our ideas of 
conducting the world's tea trade. But as between 
London brokers and planters there is a test which 
should be applied. How many estates in Ceylon 
are now practically under the immediate and 
absolute contrcl of London brokers ? Are these 
estates not well known? And do they stand out 
in any way distinguished from the general working 
of Ceylon estates ? Do the estates controlled by 
Messrs. Gow & Wilson, and by Messrs, Anderaon 
Bros., &o. &o., show d)fierent in the price lists 
from all the others'? Also, I know sundry ColDmbo 
brokers interested also as plaaters ; is their method 
d fierent from ours? It is for you sir, to pick out 
tdese propenies, to make the comparisons, and 
to draw the inferences. But this point wants 
clearing up. 
Now as regards " Demand." Is not this all that 
a planter, as such has to guide him ? What can 
he know about the under currents of special demand? 
Surely there are trade secrettl But what you do 
not even touch upon in your summary, sir^ is the 
bare-faoed glaring " demand " of the middle-men 
who supply the consumer ; the packet-men ! Lipton 
wh3 in himseif combines planter, broker, msrohant, 
middle-man and retailer assures the world that 
the " finest tea produced" oan be retailed at Is 
7d a lb.! Take 4d duty from this, 2d expenses 
and 4d profit, (tor your middle-man and his retailer 
are determined, in the end to get most out of it, 
whatever becomes of the planter), and all they oan 
affurd to pay for such tea is 9d a lb, ! In elucidating 
this mystery, " What becomes of even the small 
quantity of high priced tea that is produced T' We 
must ascertain who are the consumers ? What is 
the "demand" we are called upon to supply ? la 
there any other tea-drinking world or large country 
or ciase, not known to the planter ? 11 this 
" demand " oan be made clear to our intelli- 
getiOj we can then batter judge how to meet 
It. Does any other '' demand" exist that the 
middleman does not strive to supply ? Who are 
the oensumi^rs of whose existence wa apparently 
do not know, but who are anxious, and willing, 
to encourage the production of high-prioed tea 
by paying lor it, in face of the blends universally 
cfi'jred to them at Is and Is 3d a lb ? Is not 
this a.c'Mi\ demand of the middleman overwhelming in 
Its bulk and extent, and yet, Sir, you have not a 
word to say about it. 
Many oE my own friends, at home, are in the 
enjoyment o£ large incomes, and yet when I sent, 
them broken pekoe at 2s 6d, free to their own 
door, they were dissatisfied because they oould 
get it in packets from the shops at half that 
price, and they thought it "very fortunate" the 
servants liked the " dust" I send gratis, as that 
made the B, P. less expensive I 
Does not this show the demand created by the 
packetmen ? Can the " Lane" cDntrol the 
packetmen, or prevent them going from bad to 
worse? OLD HAND. 
COCONUT CULTIVATION IN CEYLON: 
AN ANSWER TO CRITICISM. 
Dear Sir, — The leading article in last Wednes- 
day's '■ Examiner " comments on the statistics 
quoted in your issue of the 'ibth ultimo, under 
the beading Cooonut Cultivation in CeylOQi and 
