Jan, 1, 1894.] TilE TROPICAL AGRiCULTURiST. 
49S 
To the Editor. 
CEYLON TEA IN AMEEICA. 
Bedford, Nov. 30. 
Dear Sik, — In reference to my letter of the Olh 
inst. I have had a long letter from our Commis- 
Bioner at Chicago telling me of the good work ha 
has been doing there for Oeylon in reply to mine 
of the 18th Ooi., and I quote a few passages which 
are of vital interest to Ceylon, and will interest your 
readers. He says :— "Government have telegraphed 
authorizing me to open a tea store at Chicago 
notwithstanding my position as Commissioner; the 
difficulty I had was removed, and I have intimated 
that I had placed K10,000 towards stooks aud wages 
which, with the promised £1,000 from the Tea 
Fund, must do till I obtain further information as 
to the intentions of the Tea Company at Kandy 
which wired me that the Tea Fund having voted 
£1,000, Company do Ceylon work. This means I 
believe that they will meet my requisitions for 
supplying of tea, but as I must have the store 
fully stocked with some 20,000 lb. of tea (to do 
any good) before I leave this, I have of course 
had to send large indents to London which are now 
arriving day after day and I must meet the bill?. 
"I have stated officially that 1 would with the 
aid of the £1,000 do what was needed until the 
Planters' Association and the Tea Company had 
decided what they would do, and I have given them 
to the 30th June 1894 (to which period only I 
engage the staff of employees) and make the needful 
arrangementf, The only responsibility beyond that 
time being the rent §4,800 per an. (or about £1,000 
a year) o£ a store and basement, the latter for 
wholesale goods, in the principal street of the city, 
I simply len.1 my money without interest till 3Gth 
June 1894. Had I waited until money came from 
Geylon, the time would have gone and there would 
have been no store at all; aa it is wo era two 
months late in starting it." 
You will see from the foregoing that Mr. Grin- 
linton has done more than could have been expected 
from him in the interests of Ceylon, and I trust 
that the results that his Ohioaga store will shew, 
by June 1894, will encourage the formation of a 
large Company in London, of say not less than 
^100, 000 to "properly work America, as in that 
country they respect concerns with a large capital 
— YoorB faithfully, A. E. WEIGHT. 
HOW TO INTRODUCE CEYLON TEAS 
INTO AMEEICA. 
Sir, — 1 have read with interest the many letters 
in Ceylon papers upon the best methods of ex- 
tending the sale of our teas thoroughout America, 
Varied has been the correspondence, and many 
opinions have been expressed, most writers being 
inolined to think that we should cot submit our 
teas to the hands of Lipton or any dealers 
beyond our control. Upon that I hold quite dif- 
ferent views , the objection is all very well as far 
as it goes, but what adequate means have we for 
disposal of teas in any quantity except through 
the legitimate methods of trade ? With all tlieir 
mixing I fancy any of the large dealers oould 
pass more of our teas mixed with others into 
America in a year than wc are likely to sell in ten 
by our limited mo'hoda. Now what is the history 
of the past or what has been tho natural mode 
whereby China teaa havQ beeo, and are being, 
To answer the last question I remember the 
timo when I first took soma " Loooandura " tea 
homo with me to the parental abodes, how it 
wag duly admired and approved, and then how, 
upon my reiurn home after a month's absence, 
I found " the dear old China " stuff had assumed 
its old position, and upon my asking the reason 
I was told it VMS preferred to Ceylon teas ; how I 
then recommanded mixing it with the " beloved 
China." and how this mixture was doubly ap- 
proved and used until in due time the taste was 
acquired tor pure Ceylon. This was a domestic 
record rf what has transpired in thousands of 
houEeholJs in Great Britain, Australasia, and 
possibly, hundreds in Eussia in and out of this 
has grown the special taste and desire for our teas. 
Through the legitimate trader, bound to ua 
by certain conditions and in a Catholic spirit, is 
the course I should advocate; for whenever we 
have departed from the lir.e of individual respon- 
eibility, i.e., the man himself — I mean with his own 
money in oontra-distinction to the American specu- 
lator and his kind — we have spent our rupees with 
no adequate n r abiding result, Take for instance 
the Oeylon Planters' American Tea Company, for 
all the money expended what have we got ? It 
wou'd be interesting to ascertain the actual 
quantity of Ceylon tea sold through the Agency 
of that Company, and then to calculate ths coet 
per lb., for I am convinced the result would not 
justify the outlay.* Then followed the local 
Ceylon Company, a concern without sufficient 
individual responsibility or control and without 
satisfactory reeults ; that is, it has been nobody's 
business, nobody in particular has done anything. 
It only materially benefits, as far as I can 
learn, those who obtain commissions on the 
operations translated, I do not wish to be hard 
upon anyone, but in the preceding two instancea 
have we had the material for any world-wide 
pushing and exiension of our tea sales, or fat 
any abiding good ! 
Now 1 need hardly eay that our sole object is 
to make the great American people take our teas ; 
by hook or by crook we must force them — all 
such businesb comes to this now-a-days — •' on 
account of our importunity;" at least such is the 
cause of our success so far, there must be an 
individuality in it, and what has been done upon a 
small scale can usually be aho undertaken upon 
liucB of larger magnitude. 
The Tea-Fund has done immense good, but it 
was proved that its assessments were only paid 
by 35 per cent of those who directly benefitted 
by its operations. About two years ago, I was, 
I believe, the first to suggest to the Planters' 
Association Committee at Nuwata Eliya that 
the best plan would be to collect the necessary 
funds for the Chicago expenses by means ol an 
export duty upon tea, which, I think, has proved 
fair and just to all. Let us adhere steadily to 
the export duty and use the result as a meena 
of pushing Ceylon teas. Say for inttanca the 
future five years' exports should aggregate 
80,000,000 lb. yearly, one-eighth cent per lb- 
export duty per annum will yield KIOO.OOQ, or, 
say, £G,000 sterling. Let £1,000 of this be used for 
general purposes for the Tea Fund aa hitherto, 
and kt £.5,000 be devoted yearly entirely to the 
introduction of our teas into America ; and that 
through the hands of those who thoroughly under- 
stand how to do it — not by means of compauiee of 
our own ftrmation, but of individuals who havo 
established themselves and so indicated their 
• Nonsense, tho fruit of the advertisUiK will be 
gutbereol far aud widg — Ed, T.A, 
