Sept. i, 1893.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
205 
CEYLON TEAS. 
To the Editor of the Morning Post. 
Sib, — I left London on the 15th ult., and have only 
just returned. My attention has been drawn to your 
issue of that date, in which there appeared an anony- 
mous letter on Ceylon tea, conamentirg adversely on 
eome previous reports on the subject written by my- 
self, under my firm's signature. In the ordinary course 
I should not take notice of opinions expressed by any- 
one who has not the courage to append his name to 
them, but the letter in question is so personal that I 
must reply to it. It is evidently written by an inter- 
ested and prejudiced planter. His statements as to Ihe 
teas naturally being inferior at this time of the year, 
because of the early pickings, &c., after the annual 
pruning, contradict nothinn I have stated, and I again 
maintain that the gen, i ul quality of Ceylon tea has been 
declining for the last twoyears. It is true that sometimes 
for a short period a few months ago the beet Cejlous 
offering w«re sl*ck of sale, but that was only an 
ordinary turn of the market, when there was an 
abundance of fine Iiwiian tea which could be bought 
comparatively giving much better value to the trade 
and therefore until fine Ceylons fell to a trade«b!e 
price they were neglected. Really fine Ceylons, as • 
rule, are always iileable at good prices. He could, 
he aays, give at least a dozen gardens from which 
the teas have improved in quality, but what is a 
dozen against the hundreds of gardens that have 
been sending depreciating quilities ? The closing 
paragraph of the letter is aluo miileading as it 
was the former full fine-flavoured teas from Oeylon 
which gave that country such a reputation every- 
where. Now the constant complaints from all 
consumers is that the te-^s are not as good as 
formerly. The writer has only to oonmlt any of the 
large wholesale deilers or leading brokers of Ceylon 
teas to learn the truth of my assertions. My strictuies 
on this article, the success of which I am largely 
interested in, have not been to dama'.'P, bu', on thn 
contrary, to prevent it becoming daniaued in the 
public estimation.— Yours, &o., F. SU LTON HAWEy. 
14, Mincing Line, July '21. 
♦ 
INDIAN TEA NOTES AND NEWS. 
Onr Monani correspondent writes on 29th Jul", 
1893 :— Rainfall up to date 55 10 ; same period last 
year 47'57. Most gardens now falling behind owing 
to unfavourable weather and blights, and those moun- 
tains of tea which we read about as having been made 
in the district are growing beautifully less. 
Indian Tea Districts weather news i« as follows: — 
Duars — clearing, but still cool, fair quantities of leaf 
of light quality and wanting in sap ; gardens rather 
falling behind again. Terai— a little more sunshine 
but still unfavourable. Caohar— High floods still 
prevail and in places the young rice crops are deep 
under water. South Sylhet —ceaseless rain and coolies 
having a hard time owing to scarcity and dearnesa 
of rice. In Sibsaugor there have been heavy flushes, 
but wet days have interfered with manufacture. As 
to onttnrn over the whole of the t( a districts, a writer 
in the Englisliman rays with regord to the compira- 
tive statement of yields of a leading Tea Firm, "The 
Agency is, ever all its large interests, about three 
thousand five hundred maunds ahead of last year, 
which is doubtless fairly indicative of the state of 
matters over the whole of the North-Westera tea 
district." "North-Western is without doubt, a mis- 
print for " North Eastern.'" 
The season is now getting well on and another 
fortnight will see many plain gardens at their half- 
crop I'ay. Most of the large ngeu'n- lionseh' vield- 
returns show np, we believe, ifairly ahead of last 
aoasoii, but "gainst this lins, of course, to bs set, the 
new nr''a which has come into yield. Upper Assam 
is •king bei-t among a I the d'stricts, but Cachar ia 
gelling on well also. Sylhet i^, in spite of its Urge 
area of new tea, only on about a level with last year, 
and the Duars eeem rather to have gone back some. 
what lately. Severe landslips on the steep Darjeeling 
slopes have been caused by the recent heavy and 
3ontinuous rains, and much tea has been buried by 
the avalanches and mud stones. Green fly blight 
is prevalent on eome Sib«Bugor gardens, others of 
which are unaffectd, and making mountains of tea. 
— [. P. Gazette, Aug. 5. 
CAN'T GROW TEA IN AMERICA. 
It will Never be a Paying Industry 
IN THIS Country. 
THE EXPERIlSIBNTS OF DK. BHBPAED IN BODTB CAROLINA 
MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN THOSB OF THfl A«BICULTHRAL 
DEPARTMENT, BUT WS CANNOT COMPBTB W^TH CHINA, 
INDIA AND JAPAN IN OROWING TEA. 
Washington, D. C, July 19. — About ten years ago 
the then Commissioner of Agriculture, under direction 
of Oongresa, expended a amall appropriation made 
for the purpose of ascertaining whether the tea leaf 
could be grown in any part of the United States in 
such quantities as would warrant the fostering of 
the industry for commercial purposes. The resalt of 
the experiment, which was made in one of the South- 
ern States, demonstrated that the soil was too dry, 
thn average temperature too low, and that it would 
rtquire much irrigation and outlay of much money 
and care to carry out ttie project. It was accordingly 
abandoned by the Government as a failure. 
The trial wsi so thorough that the department 
baa since expended nothing in further experiments. 
Not long since. Dr. Charles U. Shepard wrote to ex- 
Secretary Kusk requesting his co-operation in further 
experimenting with the production of tea. On the 
doctor's request Secretary Rusk wrote to the Secretary 
of State to request the United States Consu's at the 
various tea ports to send samples of the seed of the 
tea grown there. The seed was forwarded to Dr. 
Shepard which action ended whatever pecuniary in- 
terest the department had in the experiment. 
Dr. Shepard selected Pinehurst, S. 0. where he es- 
tablished an experimental station at his own expense 
and began the propaoalion oi the plant. He has 
m«de a report to the Secretary of Agriculture, which 
will be incorporate! in the annual report of the 
department on the progress of the plant. While ha 
has had more success than did the department in 
growing the leaf, and is quite hopeful of better results, 
it is plain that the conditions are such that as au in- 
dustry, tea-growinp in the United States can never 
be profitably conducted in competition with China. 
India and Japan. — Brooklyn Standard Union, July 19th. 
PICKINGS WITH A LOCAL APPLICATION- 
In an article on "The Poisoning of the Future" 
in the New Recietr for July last. Dr. Squire Sprigge 
referring to poisoning by vegetable alkaloids mentions 
the following facta as being in favour of this method 
of poisoning, viz., the smallness of the fatal dose, 
the obscurity of the symptoms produced, and the 
impossibility of obtaining chemical proof of the pre- 
sence of the alkaloid in the body Against these 
he puts the difficulty of obtainiHg the drug, possibly 
the great difliculty of administration, the notoriety 
that will attend the purchase, and the impossibility 
of all que.stions of accident, and most questions of 
suicide. Now in Eastern countries the dilhculties 
attending the adoption of vegetable poisons practically 
vanish, since poisoners of men or cattle dn not use 
the alkaloidal extracts of poisonous plants but parts 
i f the plants themselves. It is to be hoped that the 
reproach against science of not providing satisfactory 
teats for vegetable poisons will be absent before 
long, at any rate it behwVes our chemical and phyiio- 
logical students to work at the subject of vegetable 
poisons if they would bo benefactors of mankind and 
