ApRiL 2, 1894.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
683 
(mail straiofi, and seek the slower iuorease of those 
which give the best honey results. 
(7t) This may be perhaps one canse of the uure- 
muuerativeDeBs of our native Jamaican bees as com- 
pared with the imported sUain wblch I and oUiar 
more advanced bee-keepeia have obtained from other 
couutaes (America, England and It»ly) where bees 
have been carefully kept for gfn( rations. 
(i) It may be well to mention that bees play a great 
Eart in the produotion of crops. Nuture saema to 
ave place! honey in the flowers not so much for 
supplying food for bees aud other iusecte, but that 
fertilisation of plants mav be accomplished. 
The hee in flying from flower to flower gets dusted 
with pollen from the anthers or male orgaus of bloa- 
aoms, aud in this way it is conveyed to the stiijmas or 
female organ«i. It is interesting to note that wh»n & 
bee starts on a foraging tour she confines herself to 
otse description of flowerc, for perhaps if this were 
not go the mixture of different pollens might interfere 
with their proper actions of fertilisation. 
{j) It will therefore be seen from this action of 
bees on plant that the agriculturist owes ts much to 
the " little busy-bee" as does to his own i-kill and 
experience in tilling the soil and in choosing his 
seeds. —Indian Jgiiculturist. 
♦ 
THE AMERICAN MARKET AND INDIAN 
TEA. 
To Editor " Home and Colonial Mail." 
Dear Sir, — With reference to the somewhat desul- 
tory discu.ssion that took place after Mr. BlechynOen's 
interesting account of what ho had done for the re- 
presentation of Indian Tea at the "World's Fair," I 
should rather like to emphasise my remarks as to 
the importance of con'iouing our efforts to push the 
sale of Indian tea in Americi by pointing out that 
Mr. Bleohynden in a preliminnry report to the Chicago 
Committee of the InJiau Te» D.striots Association, 
distinctly gives it as his opinion : 1. That if nothing 
more is done now, the money spent by tei proprietors 
will practically be wasted ; and 2. That he equally 
olearly briiught out yesterday that he believes that 
if we continue to push our teas in America, we can 
eventually secure a laraje market for them there. 
If Mr. Blechyuden is correct in the above assump- 
tions, surely it behoves all Indian growers to support 
the movement, re ommended by the Chicago Com- 
mittee, to make a further levy for this object, which, 
as I stated yesterday, was only what was originally 
proposed and largely approved of. 
Whether Ceylon teas are more suitable than Indian 
for the American market does not appear to me 
to be a matter of much importance ; we may be 
Eure that our Ceylou friends won't le behind us in 
pushing their wares, and it must be clear to all 
thiukiiig persons that, unless we, or they, or both 
hnd other markets for our teas, we shall soon have 
prices hero even lower than they are at present, 
owing to the ever-increasing production. Bo long 
as Pekoes and Orange Pekoos sell at from 6§d to 
8.|d per lb. we certainly can supply leaf buitable to 
the American trade; which will doubtless be soon 
educated to appreciate the value of the liquors of 
onr larger-leafed grades, if not for consumption 
alone, certainly for blending with the inferior Lhina 
and Japan teas at present in use. 
History repeats it^elf, and I confideiitly expect to 
set) the toi his ory of this country repeated in 
America il wo only make use of our opportunitiei 
to lai;ilitiite it. — YoutJ faithfully, 
Akthdr Bhyans. 
45, Leailei.haU Street, B.C., Fob. 2l8t, 1894. 
—h. V. Mail. 
♦ 
INDIAN TEA IN AMERICA. 
^ How Not to do it.— The meeting of the Indian 
Tea Districts' Asaociation, hold for the purpose of 
heannii an uccount from Mr. Blechyndeu of tho 
work done at Chicajjo ou boUalf of Indian tea, waa 
not characterised by any show of enthusiasm. Thia 
quality is one of which Oeylon tea proprietors have 
the monopoly apparently. Whether it is that the 
owners of many Indian tea gardens can afford to 
conserve their energy while Ceylon planters feel 
that now is the time to go ahead, or whether the 
former are less sanguine by nature, the fact remains 
that Indian tea proprietors in London, with a few 
notable exceptions, are much more difficult to " en- 
thuse " and slower to act than their Ceylon con- 
temporaries. The United States market for tea 
has not hitherto offered excessive encouragement to 
either the Indian or Ceylon tea grower. A marke^t 
where the demai:d has, up to a recent date, been 
exclusively for China and Japan teas is not to be cap- 
tured for the mere asking. It requires a long and 
patient siege, and the expenditure of a considerable 
store of ammunition in the form of energy and the 
sinews of war, before the taste of a nation can be 
changed. Mr. Bleohynden is hopeful of the future, 
bat the majority of the members of the Indian Tea 
Dirtricts' Association seem to aijree with the princi- 
ple expressed in the proverb about " hope deferred," 
moreover they are cautious ai d wary, and of the 
I' don't seem to .see it" order. The fact is that the 
interests of Indian tea planters are not as concentra- 
ted as those of Ceylon. Their gardens are in 
various parts of India, and their iuteresto, at least, so 
it may be inferred, are as scattered as their tea esiatee. 
Subsidy cr a general " whip round" is a pastime 
that is apt to grow wearisome to them uuless the 
result looks immediate, No doubt these were the 
causes which led to the ttme result of Tuesday's 
meeting. The meeting was not sympathetic, to far 
as a united effort was concerned. Practically it 
heard BIr. Blechynden, aud repolved to do nothing 
trusting, we presume, to (he chapter of accidents or 
private enterprise to develop the business of posh- 
ing Indian tea on the American market. This mas- 
terly policy of inactivity may be commendable from 
the point of view of extreme caution, but it does 
not solve problems. Aa our correspondent Mr. 
Bryana points out, re-echoing Mr. Blecbynden's 
opinion and emphasing hi« own endorsement of it, 
if nothing more is done the money already spent 
is wasted for nought, and at the same time a genu- 
ine opportunity is neglected of following up a trade 
already initiated. — R. and C. Mail, 
Handbook ob the Floba of Ceylon. — The rioh 
flora of the island of Ceylon found an early historian 
in Hermann (1717), followed by Lint; sens, who worked 
out Hermann's materials affesh in his Flora Zeijla- 
7nca," 1747. This was before the publication of his 
binominal syetem of nomenclature ; and it was not 
until 1824 that there was another substantial addition 
to the botanical literature of the island, when Moon's 
Catalogue appeared, " for the use of the Sinhalese." 
Then came Thwaitea' Enumeratio Flautarum Zeylanice, 
containing descriptions of a large number of pre- 
viously undescribed species. Ttiis was comple'ed in 
1864. Dr. H. Trimen succeeded Dr. Thwaites as 
Direotor of the Royal Botauio Gardens, Ceylon, iu 
1880, and he is now issuing at the coat of the Oeylon 
Government, under the above title, the resalts of his 
unremitting studies of the flora einoe his appointment. 
This is called a " Handbook," but it is really a very 
elaborate work ; the first volume iLcludiog only the 
natural orders liaimnculaccae to Anacardiaccae. At this 
rate the va.scular plants will occupy five volumea, to 
say nothing of the plates, of which twenty-five of 
quarto size accompany the first volume. Dr. Trimen's 
work is of a most thorough character, written wholly 
in Knglisb, and on a most excellent plan. It em- 
bodies a oomplute re-elaboration of Hermann's origi- 
nal Herbarium, the foundation of Oeylooete botany. 
Dr. Trimen has further cUaied up, with all the 
critical insight of a ftkillcd and practised botanigt 
a number of species whiuh were either imperfectly 
understood or badly described, or even, perbapj, 
erroneously inolndeil in the Flora. And he has added 
many new species, tho result of hi* prolonged ex- 
plorations of every part of the island. — Kt k h\dUtii\. 
