54.8 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [F«8. I, 1894, 
THE VISIT OF MR. P B. BUCHANAN TO 
CEYLON-ANE BRITISH OtlOWN lEAS 
IN AMEUICA. 
Mb. p. B. Buobanaa hfi Colombo fcr Cal- 
ootta by the e.s. " Pekin " on Jan. 18ib, last. 
Mr. Buobacaa bae Been a good deal ol Ceylon 
duriiig his present visit, and be takes an 
iaterest — as might be expeoted from hie antecedents 
— in a grtat deal beyoud the tea and planting 
enterprine with wbioh tils firm and partners are so 
oltsely identified- Mr. Buch nan is well-known iu 
metrupolitan oiroles for bis philai<tbropy, as well 
as for bi8 esteusive tea oonuection tbrough Lis 
tieadenbali btceetFirm. He is second only tu Sir 
John Muir in the great enterprise just start d 
for extending the inierects of the Nortb and South 
Bylbet Tea Oompaciea in C^ylun as well as Indiu, 
and he is now prooetding to join Sir John in 
Calcutta, preparatory to a joint visit of some four 
weeks' duration to Assam and the DooarH, Be- 
turning thence, boih gemlernen will rtvisit C ylon 
on the way home, Mr. Buchanan prububly 
oming first, as be leaves Mrs. acd Miss Buobanan 
at Nuwara Eliya ftr the present. 
It is DOi generuUy known bow great an in- 
terest Mr. Buchanan b«s taken for toma time 
back in deve oping a demand for British-grown 
teas in America. With this object in view, he 
has paid no less thsn three vuits to the United 
States and Canada during the past eighiees 
months. Mr. baobanan soon found out ibat 
there was no hope of developing any consideraole 
tr^de in Indian or Ceylon tea save by workii'g 
throDgh the Urge wholesale firms. Aoytbing like 
the odtablishment of livdl reiail stores in the 
principal towns, he would regaid as a means rather 
of retarding than of promoting the oDj-ct in 
view. Such stores may attract a local paying 
trade for the particular proprietors, but tLe wUule 
of the demand they will cruute will be as a drop 
in the bucket of the wbolusale and steadily iu- 
creasing trade which it sbuula b: the object of 
Britii^h planters to tstablisb. Indeed, aujtbmg 
like an " official " Planters' Store — a Store oea. ing 
the authority of the planters in I^oy.on or ibdm 
—he would regaid as the worst enemy of the true 
interests of the planters at large, which Mr. Buoba- 
nan considers to be, the gradual wiuning over of 
the large tea dittnbuting houses which have got a 
more complete hold in the Uniteii States, than 
perhaps in ai>y ctbir country, of the letbil trade, 
Mr. Buchanan acouidiugly set himbtli irum the first 
to show that he and bis p<trinei8 — and he very 
large present and prospectne tea interests they 
tepresent— did not wisti at ah to meddle w.in 
retailers, or to do otherwise than supply the 
distributing houses and the trade whoie&uie. It 
Dxust be cooftssed, huwever, that on bis first visit 
early in 1893, Mr. Buobanan exptrienued but Ecant 
enooui'atiement. The big tea firms in New Yoik 
and «.hioago poobpuohed the idea of Indian 
or Ceylon tea coming in to disturb their 
established trade in Japan's and China's— chiefly 
the former. They did not care for auy such in- 
trusion or rival i lor did they fear that the 
comparatively limited number of tea di inkers 
among the people of Amer^oa wtuld d sire to muke 
a change. The business offers wbicb Mr. fiucbunan 
could make to thorn were not sufficiently attractive, 
and he oame at last to see that if he wisbed 
Briti|:h growu teas to gain a footing in the count y, 
be must eatablimb bis own Agencies and Depo s 
fof the 3U|i(.>ly whoiefeale of the trade. With this 
objeat in ?iew, he looked oat for Agents i^f ex- 
perience in the Ameraoaa toa tradt, and hivmg 
fodnd suitable men with a full knowledge 
oi the market in the States and Cftuada, 
end the neoesuiry go-beadoMS to pa*b a 
new cnterpiiae, he ebtabli-^b d three Agencies io 
New York, V bicago and T< rouio. His Ax^^nie went 
to work among the eetablieb<d lea tirmn, hat 
tbey aUo found it uphill work, and when Mr. 
Buchanan r> turned on his second viait in ibe 
winter of 1892, although Bome impieiisioB bad 
been made and the big bouBes w<^re more willing 
to receive and tebt Bsmphs of Indian and Cey on 
teas, >et trie immediate proBp els were by oo 
means brilliant. When, bowevtr, Mr. Buohartan 
paid a tbinl visit in Anguat last year, be f(<und 
a marked change for the better in the aitua ion. 
A dematid had let in, sn^^ some of the very lar^ebt 
and loogeat eetablisbed cibtribuiing bouBea bad 
begun to plaoaid their warehouse walle with 
'stocks of i dian and Ceylon teas on band' or 
words to that < ffeot ; and in the prioe-carrenta 
and pamphletg set out to retailer;, some of tbea 
more efiectivi- adver i-emeniB referred to the new 
(an j previously despieed) teas. Indeed, Mr. Buoba- 
nan found leading men in the tea trade rea' y, lant 
year, both in New York and Chicago, to diacusa tba 
possibility of ousting Japan tea sltogerber ; for, tb«y 
admitted — some of tbem— that the iK) million lb. of 
teas at present sent to North America from Japan 
and China itcluded a very large i.ro(.orUon of 
adulterated stufi and trash. They mentioned 
indeed that the deterioration in Japan teas waa 
increasing, and that just as the United Slates bad 
turned from China to Japan tea not many years 
back, it would not require a «ery lorg oampaign, 
if properly directed, to create another revolution and 
win the greater part of the 90 miUion lb. oonsumed, 
for India and Ceylon teas with a stead/ develop- 
ing consumption. TbiF, we may be suie, waa 
welcome news to the representative of large 
British tea interests. Mr. Buchanan has iio 
doubt, that the Exhibit on and its display of 
botb Cc-ylon and Indian teas (lislri;<u ed by 
natives in the cup to all visisitorB. h>d a good 
deal to do with the change of feehrg. Be 
gives the higbet-t credit to the Ceylon Comniisaioucr 
whom Mr. Buchanan empb*ticiilly thinks was 
the right man in the right place to pU' b Cf-ylon teas 
in the Exhibition. The reprtsen at>ve of the Indii^n 
teas also did well. But Ibe Exbiaition is all O'^tt; 
and the practical question now is, how best can lb* 
C-^ylon aiid Indian planters follow up the preli- 
minary work and win the United 8;aus and 
Canada for Bntisb-growu teas, ousting out some 90 
million lb of adulterated and inferior Japan and 
Chinn teas, Ou this subject, we shall treat to- 
morrow. 
EAST AFRICA FOR PLANTERS. 
A commuuicbtion lo the Boyal Geographical 
Society siaie^ that Mr. i rawshey, a Government 
official in British Cen ral Afriea, has recently 
visited the Angoni country near Lake Nyasa. He 
found the N>ika PKtebU, which was traversed 
on the way, a magnificent country, inhabited by 
a scattered population oi Anyika, living in buta 
built on ijatiow teirdces on tbe monntain-fcide 
or in caves, and cultivating peas as an almost 
exclusive cr<'p. In this difatrict there are some fine 
mountains, exceeding 8,000 feet in height, the 
priLicipal town of tbe Anyika on the s.opa of 
Eantorongoodo, being nearly 6,000 feet above the 
sea. — Nature, c. 28. 
OUB TEA EXPOBT TBaDE. 
84,887 ,©56 LB. SHIPPED IN 1893. 
Tbe Lhaii.b::r ot CommLrce is n^t ytt in a 
position to lesue their annual tabie showing the 
total Exports from Colombo and Galle for 1883, 
