422 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec. j, 1893. 
slauda of Formosa and Hainan, and foundthe forests 
filled with untouched Ficua dastica. 
It is natural to reason that in all the semiex- 
plored regions from Burmah to the Pacific these 
trees are to be found, and that with the subjugation 
of the wild tribes an amount of rubber will come 
from India and the country eastward, to supplement 
that derived from South America and Africa, suffi- 
cient to supply the world's demand.— //irft'a-fijsWer 
Journal' 
THE ACME TEA CHEST. 
Wa have received from the local Agents— as 
per letter given below— an Acme Tea Chest 
with the latest improTements, which has been 
Bubjectfd to a severe test in respect of packing. 
With moat satisfactory reauUs. We learned from 
Mr. Butherford when in Colombo that he was 
present when an Acme chest (with wooden end 
as DOW supplied) was tried after a very 
unusual fashion ; it was packed with tea, then 
hoisted to a considerable height and dropped 
on the hard floor ; and yet without any of the 
tea being spilt or the chest damaged to any ap- 
preciable extent. The chest packed with saw- 
dust and sand in Gla^'gow and sent out here, 
can be seen at the Obecrver Office and i(b con- 
dition ought to encourage planters to use what 
it bound to become, we think, the favourite (ea- 
obeet of the early future. 
THE ACME TEA CHEST. 
Colombo, Pec. 5th. 
Deab Sir,— By request of the A. T. C. Syndicate, 
hi., we are forwarding you a specimen of the 
Aome Tea Chest, which has been packed with 
about 100 lb. saw-dust and sand, and shippedtfrom 
Qlasgow to Colombo to prove its stability and to 
enable shippers in Oeylon to judge of the packages 
after a voyage.— Yours faithfully, 
WHITIALL & Oo„ 
P. pro. A. J. Sawkb. 
« 
CEYLON TEA IN AMEKICA. 
We are indebted to Mr. 3, L. Shand for the 
following very practical and instructive deliverance 
on the subject of the introduction of our tea into 
America. It will be read with interest by the 
planting community :— 
"Your London Corresponient reports with fa'r 
accuracy the convereatron I bad with him about 
Cejlon Tea id America though of coarse I fuiii 
£30,000 would me»u an expenditure of nearly £30 
for each estate and not £30 tor every ten* estate?. I 
have never looked upoa the expenditure over tlie 
Chicago Exhibition as in any way likely to raise the 
price of Ceylon tea to the producer, but as a judicious 
hedged in a caie they should come when tlie markets 
of Eurtipe were glutted wiih black teas from lodia 
and Ceylon and no effort should be fp^red to encourage 
the taste for black teas in the United State-i. So long 
as the London market is relieved it dres not to 
my mind in the least matter whether Indian or 
Ce}Ion tea goes to the States : they rise and fall in 
perfect harmony. With all the American bunkum 
and bluster about using the best of ererything, 
you have only to look at the 'Price Currents' of 
the large towns to see how finely trade is cut. I 
would uudertake to sell half next year's crop of 
Ceylon tea iu the United Statee, ; but I should 
have to do it at from 10 per cent, to 20 per cent, less 
than I could sell it at in Lomdon. 
I have seen something of the Yankee trader by 
whom- many interested in Ceylon tea have had their 
wings singed. He cooaes ia a myeierioas way intro- 
' • "Ten," we fear must have beea ft mispriot for 
{'tea," e9tftteB.-^D. 7.4, , 
daced by somebody you never quite know by whom aod 
telle you that Le wmits to do busine s with you — 
■no ordinal// hasiness meaeoied by pom d< or breaks, 
bjt by touH or cargoes. You aesuie him you cao 
•apply bis every want And after tercoB have bef-n 
satisfactorily discussed end a special provi«o at his 
rnq'ie8t coac 'ded, tliat be it lea or coffee or ooooa 
Of plumbago, be sbo<ild have your sole afiency for 
the whole of the United Btatea. He then (Kraspi 
your hand w«rmly, tHbea a fricQ'lly and what ceDe'ally 
proves ti tie an e'eroai fnrewel and pasteb from 
your sight aud ken for ever ! 
"I di t n-it mean to any that no good eould be done 
in the United States with a sniallf-r sum thau £100,0< 0. 
I believe this turn would r» quire to be speut if Cey- 
lon 'ea were to be adequately pluc^id before tbe 
70,0110,000 of tbe S'ates and if tbo London market it 
t"! be sen-ibly relieved ; but I believe that £10,000 or 
£2 '.000 might be ^r fi'al ly expeu' ed iu tobiuiizing 
existing Agencies. What those re poKbihle fortb«<ez- 
ruu'iiturH icust beware of is tbe great danger 
of dribSlin? away money and bee ming at the same 
time po"rtr and witur as oia'iy wlio have ttifd to 
push Indian and Oeylon teas in the States have already 
found. J. L B. 
[Mr. Forbes Laurie's letter given el-ewbere, 
reached us at too late an hour to enable com- 
ment to be made.— Ed. I A.\ 
DRUG REPORT. 
(From the CUemist and Drugy 'ui.) 
LonHoD, Kov. 9. 
C'iKCHONA.— The October exporta from Java as snnuuDcrd 
by cable, shew a very heavy decline compared with tho»e 
Of October IfJi. the flaures being: — 
Oct. 18a.'. Oct. 1803. 
About *OO.COu Amst. lb. About 380.0 0 Amsi. lb. 
The excess of tte Java shiproeulB during the current 
year compared with lb92, which wa* about y,000,(ioO lb. 
O'l September .30tb, bac now been reduced to aboui I,5t0,tfl0 
lb. The London ciu' hooa auciioi'S <l Tuesday next, 
which at first seemed lil;ely to be very tmall, will be 
B )mewhat Utger after all than wag anticlpited. tome 7<.6 
bales of ten or twelve-year oM Cuprea bark bavli'v jnst 
been declared for sale, a parcel of thi- barn, which was 
boueht in ut the last auction, htesince b*eD told privately 
at ^.1 per lb., which is equal t>j abuut 96 per seron. 
The hide-covering of each package alone is worth atont 
68. The total quantity of other bari now catalou^ed la 
4 3 bales Ceylon and East Indian, 56 Java, end )9iJ cut- 
tivatpii Calisaya qaillh. 
CiXNAJioN.— The demanH still continues, ab ut 300 
balen Ceyloii cinnamon, November-December >-bipmeiit, 
U3unl assortment, having sold this week at t jd per lb. 
c.i.f. terms. 
COCAINE.— There has been another big drop in coc'ine, 
the mauufactuiers hhving suddenly put the price down 
another shilling per oz 148 10 lis 3a per cz. t^inc the 
present liRure for hydrocblorate in bulk. The cause of 
the orop lies partly in the heavy impos-ts of crude cocaine 
from Peru, and partly in the determination of the older 
manulai turers tn cruph a German competitor who has 
lately bpRun to ^nrter^ell them. 
Coco-BUXJEB.— At the tuual monthly sales hold on 
Tuesoay, b.50 a-cwt. cases 01 Cadbury's coco-butter edd 
at from 12^d to ibjd per lb., marking an average decline 
of Id per lb. upon the preceding sales. 
» 
NOTES ON PEODUCE AJsD mAIS'CE. 
" CorFEA." — In view of she fact that the Lancet 
recently referred to the " restorative " and " rdr. sh- 
iiig" properties of coffee-tea, the followicg letter from 
Me ssrs. Pulitroob and Co. of Idol Lane, is not without 
much interest : Last June a fcmtll quantity of ' coffee- 
Ra,' from Ce>lon, was cold in the O'mmercial Sale 
Kootns and tow there is another sma 1 parcel in tte 
market. So far as we can Jeam these are the first 
importations although we find that it has been pre- 
pared and used by the Latives of Sumatra lor 
n.anv years. Though the product of the coffee plant 
(Coffea Arahtca), the leaves before infueion closely 
re^bmble true te» {CamtUia thea), bnt when infusfd 
they are easily distingu Khed, tbe former lackiig the 
serrated edges which are characteristic of all verietiea 
tQ Qhs fftnellUi Tt;|eli<}aoi( iepnngcnt witb a ipicj 
