Dec. t, 1893.] TttS TkOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
409 
To the Editor. 
INDIAN AND CEYLON TEA COMPANIES : 
A WOULD-BE CRITIC DISPOSED OF. 
[ In reply to letters appearing on pages 337 and 
338.— Ed. T.A.\ 
Colombo, Oct. 25. 
Dear Sir,— With reference to the coniniuni' 
cation in yonr last night's edition headed " Indian 
and Ceylon Tea Companies: Criticism Thereon" 
we are not aware that there is any Gal aha 
Co. in existence for your coiTespondent " Tea 
Planter" to criticize. 
Negotiations were entered into for the purchase 
of certain properties from the proj)rietor of Galaha 
from whicii he witlulrew when it appeared that 
he would not receive what he considered their 
value. 
Should a Galaha Co. be brought out, "Tea 
Planter" may rest assured that all statements 
made in the Prospectus will be based on figures 
which will be verified by a competent account- 
ant, and in the meanwhile tlie business of your 
anonymous correspondent would presumably ap- 
pear to be tea planting.— Yours faithfully, 
per pro. CHARLES StrACHAN & Co., 
J. H. STRACHAN. 
EUROPEAN CUSTOMS TARIFFS ON TEA. 
Colombo, Nov. 17. 
Deak Sib,— Eooloaed information may be of use 
to yoa, and I think you are colleoting the parti- 
oularfl of the European Customg Tariffa. 
E. B. 0, 
Tariff— Ceftoa, October 23, 1893. 
Tea— Lire 250 pr. 100 Kilos. 
Tobacco (prohibited). 
Cigars aa Manila, Avana au Oigareta Lire 35 
pr. Kilo. 
Coffee (natural) Lire 150 pr. 100 K1I03. 
Precious Stones (raw) free from Custom. 
Precious Stones flaborated) Lire 10 pr. 1 Kilo. 
Tariff, Marseilles, October 28, 1893. 
OoFFEB . . francs 156 per 100 Kilos 
Tea .. 208 „ „ „ 
Tobacco : (a) Cigars and 
Cigarettes . . 3,600 „ ,, 
(b) Wrought for smoking, 
snuffing, maaticatiug 1,500 ,, ,, 
N.B.— Tobacco can only be imported for pri- 
vate use, exclusive of whatsoever commer- 
cial purposes and the yearly quantity granted 
for one person, even paying above duties, 
cannot exceed 10 Kilogr. 
for Gems or precious stones, cut 
or uncut . . . • uo duty 
AoATE or do do do 
uncut . • • < do 
the same, cut francs 18 per 100 Kos. 
N.B. — Phkcious Stones is a qualitioation insuffi- 
cient; they must bo described as oem or aoate precious 
atones. 
MILK TREES AND DYSENTERY. 
Gonavy, Nov. '21. 
Dbab Sir,— I send you oopy of an estraot from 
Chamhers-i Jourml of September last. Should the 
properties of the Ch'SM GalactQdeiidroit, be what 
tbey aiQ d«iionl)e<), the ti«e i( posaibU saoul<i DQ 
fa 
introduoed into Ceylon where dysentery is so pre- 
valent and fatal a disease, — Yours faithfully, 
W. H, WALTERS. 
MILK TREES. 
(Extract from Chambers's Journal Sept. 9th, 1893.) 
. . . . Besides the general usefahieas of the 
juice aa milk, it possesses another property, which 
though far more valuable, ia oftentimes overlooked. 
Our readers will have noticed that the milk ia 
alwaya viscid, and contains a little caoutchouc ; this 
renders it a most important remedy for dysentery. 
Its utility in this respect has been confirmed by an 
English gentleman who some years back resided on 
the Pacific Coast. He s»ys : " I was attacked by 
diarrhoea, which in two days passed into very severe 
dysentery. In the space of 12 hours I was reduced 
to a state of ntter prostration, suffering the most 
excruciating pains. The bloody discharge was so 
terrible, that it seemed possible to predict death in 
a few liouvs. At daybreak the wife of one of our 
inspectors was called in, as a nurse, and by 
9 o'clock " leche de saca " (the Spanish name for 
this milk,) was procured. Up to this time, 
I wfts getting rapidly worse, and was then hardly 
consciou'. Tbe milk was given to me, a tablespoonfnl 
in a glass of water, every half hour, till 9 o'clock, and 
at. this hour I was perfectly free from dysentery or 
the elightest symptom of it. Broth and light food 
was given me for a few days, and I was restored t<t 
perfect health, witboat taking any other mediciDe." 
The tree from which this milk was obtained was tho 
Clusia Galactodendrcii, a native of Venezuela. It ii 
said to contaiu a resinoas and an astringeat principle, 
and an aromatic and tonio substance. . . . The resin 
no doubt coats the intestineg with a film, and allaya 
irritation. No other medicine is used in Ohooo, or 
on the coast of New Grenada, for dysentery, where 
this disease is thought little or nothiog of, as \\ ia ao 
easily oared. 
ME. A. E. WRIGHT ON THE CHICAGO 
CEYLON TEA STORE. 
Bedford, Nov. 0th. 
Dear Sir,— Mr. J, Capper of the " Ceylon Times" 
has written to ask me it it is the case that I bad 
arranged with the Ceylon Commissioner at Chicago 
to join in a Syndicate for running a Tea Store 
in that city after the close of the World's Fair, 
and in reply I have sent him a oopy of my 
letter embodying my proposal to Mr. Grinlinton 
and think it only fair to put your readers in posses- 
sion of the same information. When in Chicago in 
June last I was so much impressed with the 
necessity of something of this sort (especially after 
the ooll&pse of the Ceylon Planters' American Tea 
Company) to back up the benefit the Exposition 
has been doing our tea enterprise, that on my 
return to London I oalled upon the Secretary of 
our London Association and several of the leading 
morohantg, who have interests in Ceylon, to try 
and interest them in the formation of a Bta 
Company to push Ceylon tea in America. The 
matter was afterwards discussed by the Committee 
of the London Association who thought that the 
matter had better be left over for the present, aa 
the subject was being taken up in Ceylon. 
Fearing that nothing might be done, as the 
Tea Fund oould only grant Mr. Grinlinton 1 1,000, 
out of the £2,500 asked for, I wrote him the 
enclosed letter, and if he accepts my proposal; I 
trust that this Company may be the nucleus of 
a large concern later on. The importance of tha 
subject ia my excuBO for asking you to publish 
those letters in jour valuable paper.— Yours faith- 
tully, *^A. E. W«IQHT, 
