Sept. i, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
181 
" Good wine needs no bush " and in the long run 
I believe that " quality " rather than " quantity " 
will best pay the producer ; for while it is true, as 
Mr. G. A. Talbot ssys, " the more fine tea you 
send the lower the prioe you get for it," — taking a 
" quality " crop at an average of 2d per lb. ov>.r a 
" quantity " crop, the net result would prove in 
favour of the former. 
The steadily inoreaeing extensions in all parts 
must also be noted :— China, whose export has been 
steadily deoreaaing the past few years, —may yet find 
it worth vfhile to ship more freely and in that case 
the difierenee of value between ordinary and fine 
teas may b9 more accentuated than we have of late 
been aocuatomed to see,— Faithfully yours, 
ARTHUK THOMPSON. 
MOfiE HINTS TO POULTEY-KEEPEFF!. 
Dear Sir, — When cholera appears in the poultry 
yard, cholera can be detected by the evacuations 
being very white : administer to the birds attacked 
a pinch, night and morning, of pepsalia and another 
of quinine. 
Another hiot is that the disease called " roop " 
is incurable. Birds attacked should, therefore, be 
killed and buried as soon as possible. The symptoms 
of roop are difficulty in swallowing, and a sort of 
bad snutlles, with much shaking of the head 
on food being taken into the mouth. 
Third hint is, use whitewash for the walls, 
and wood-ashes for the flooring of the sleeping 
rooms liberally. MAETHA. 
NOJaTH BOENEO COMPANY. 
Kandy, August 5. 
Deae Sib, — I send the British North Borneo 
Compmy'sKeport and balance-sheet presented at 
the last half-yearly meeting of the Company. 
The comparative statement of the expenditure 
and revenue of British New Guinea, Im| erial 
British East Africa Company, British Bechuana 
Land and the British North Borneo Company is 
a very interesting one, and shows how the last- 
mentioned Company though not subsidised either 
by the British or Australian Government, or 
Mi-sionary Sot-iety has held its own and devrloped 
a revenue in four years double that of all the other 
Companies put together and wiih an expenditure 
of only a third. The British Colony of Fiji 
has a public debt of £259,000, and the British 
Government has fdvanced that colony £126,000 
on which no interest is charged.— I remain, yours 
faithfully, W. D. GIBBON. 
[We have quoted from the Eeport fully on 
page 185.— Ed. T.A.] 
CEYLON TEA IN AUSTEALIA, RUSSIA, 
AND AMEEICA. 
Talawakella, August 8, 
Dear Sib,— With reference to your Editorial of 
5th instant, anent the encouragement to a further 
" Tea Campaign in Australasia," I would go a step 
further and molude Russia, as wjH as follow up 
this splendid advertisement we are getting at Chicago, 
for I hi U, unless a some well-thought-out scheme is 
ready to be put in praoiice i Imost before the Hon. 
J. J. Giinliiitcu leaves that city we might as well 
haTO had our money in our pockets. Whatever 
shape this effort takes, it ia quite clear from our 
experience of America that it must not only be 
a determined one, but sustainod for some time to 
come. 
This being so, it is high time the subject was having 
attentioD. Mr. Rutherford's scheme of voluntary 
subsoriptiona if it has not already had its day, 
(so far as it went, a good day too it has proved) 
is unable to cope witn any plan or plans which 
will be worth trying. Why not therefore agree 
to continue the special levy made on the planters 
by themselves after all expenses connected with 
Chicago have been met? Where so much of the 
island's prosperity rests. Government would not 
object to continuing to be the medium of collecting 
the levy. In it, we have a perfectly equitable 
means of getting subscriptions which none can 
shirk and I should be surprised if there were a 
dissentient voice to its continuance. So long as 
the spending of it ia in the hands of such a body 
for instance, as the existing Tea Fund Committee, 
nothing but good to our industry can accrue. 
Taking ninety millions per annum as the yearly 
output for the next five years and one-eighth of a 
cent tax on that we have a sum equal to £7,500 per 
annum with which to subsidise traders, advertise 
pure and simple, or any other scheme suitable in 
each case ; whilst surely no one would grudge a 
quarter of a cent were it necessary I 
No accounts have yet been published in connection 
with the tax so far, nor do I know if the Tea Fund 
Committee is in funds to allow of an immediate 
grant for the object your Editorial dealt with. At 
all events, as I find I have not subscribed for two 
years now I have no right to make any proposal 
regarding their available funds, but I should think 
if it were agreed to by the planters, that the levy 
should be continu'jd a sum sufficient for the object 
you advocate could be got immediately. 
It is a pity that no one has thought of moving a 
Resolution on the subject at the Planters' Meeting 
of the 11th. Perhaps it may be competent for some 
one to take it up, notice not having been given 
notwithstanding, — Yours faithfully, 
JAMES SINCLAIR. 
TEA DEALERS COMPLAIN. 
In the report presented at the annual meeting 
of the London Wholesale Tea Dealers' Association 
there is the following : — ■ 
" Many compla nts having been received of irre- 
gularities ia the tares of certain Indian and Ceylon 
teas, especially that some Indian teas were inferior 
to sample ; also that in some warehouses tea, after 
bulkiug, had been left on the floor for an unneoee- 
sary time before the packages were refilled, these 
subjects were brou(jht under the notice of the Tea 
Brokers' Association, and greater care has since 
been exercised. Attention has been given to the 
reweighing of tea on leaving the bonded ware- 
houses, and it is hoped that uniformity of practice 
and a correct record of the delivery weights will 
be kept in future. The subject of the establish- 
ment of a central sampling warehouse has been 
considered, and further details have been pro- 
mised. Your committee await these before ex- 
pressing any opinion. Instances were mentioned 
to your committee of parts of breaks of tea only 
being offered in public sale, when it was generally 
understood that the complete parcels were sub- 
mitted, and the attention of the Brokers' .associa- 
tion has been directed to the subji ct w ith the 
view of Laving fuller particulars specified in the 
catali gues. It has been found that w<iod in a green 
state is tr< queiitly used in Indian, but still more often 
in packing Ceylon teas. The sap from the wood, when 
itcimea in contact with the lead, ptoJuoes an r.oid 
which seriously affects the tea. The Indmn and 
Orylon associations have been fully advisej of th.^, 
aud, recognising the justice of the case, have taken 
steps to insure only seasoned wood btir;; used in 
future," 
