76o 
tHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. (Sthj i. i8^. 
obiefly to form the tissue o( plants, and are qaite as 
essential to plants aB the organia conEtitueDts 
bat they have little to do wi!h either " flavor" or 
" streDgth," except, perhaps, indireoil;, by incinaiog 
a vigorous girowib neoessitating equally abundaut 
oonoomitanta." Without a suffioient supply o( 
potash and phosphorio-acid tea will not yield leaf, 
Bind, Bamber says, " it is to the replacing of tbeee 
eooBtituents that the attontioa of the grower shoulJ 
be direoted, unleea stores are developed from the 
Bub-soil." But " sub-soil" in Upper Assam and ia 
Coyloa are two very different things. Here we 
epeak of*'Burfaoe soil" for very god and tufiS- 
oient reasons, but there, we are loid " the soil is 
fellavial without a pebble to the depth of some 
80 feet." Such soil has no need for manure for 
centuries, for the tap roots develops abncd>nt 
supplies twelve to fitteeu feet d.wn. But it is 
finssible, and. indeed, very probable, that in Ceylon 
oar tap-roots do forage aftt-r and very often find 
new supplies, whiob explains '' Why old cofif^e 
plantalions make admirable tea gardens." 
The above deductions may Oe upEet by your 
"Scientific Referee," but being fend of speculations 
like your correspondent whose query 1 am noticing, 
they go for what they are worta. 
A YOUNa TEA PLANT. 
GUM TREE TIMBER AND TEA FIRING. 
Colombo, April 8. 
DxAB Sib,— Gould you kindly iaform me if jou 
have found the wopd of buy of the Eucalypti 
BpecieSj in any way decrim^nial to lei, vtibU used 
for firing. My own exparieaae tba'< it givas tbt) 
tea a minty disagreeable flavour, which is certainly 
not oonduove to its quality and tbat one dsy'«i 
make like this, is eaouiih to spoil a month's break. 
—Yours faithfully, QUONDAM AGRIuOLA. 
No. II. 
[On .the above, we have the following opinion 
from a planter of experience : — ] 
Deab Wib, — I have for some time used blue gum 
(SnoaiyptUB Globulus) solely for tea firing 
in Jackson's Britiinaia and Venetian dryers and 
have never found the teas tainted in the biightest 
degree. 
E. Globulus is more likely, I Ehould ssy, to 
paaee a disagreeable flavour than any of the other 
euros. Sj my opinion is " Given a good dryer 
you may use thia or cowaung, or anjtuing elee, 
more, or less odoriferous, as you like." — Yours 
SoEfTIO. 
THE AMERICAN CAMPAIGN. 
Dimbula, April 10. 
Sib, — I have read most carefully what has been 
wiitteu upon this subjeot, and as practically no 
public scheme has been brought forward to meet 
the fiituatioa, and although many may be upon the 
14th, yet I shall ba obliged if you will republish 
my letter of November 16th, 1893, to your paper 
&8 BO few to whom I have spoken appear to 
tmdeistand it, I would urge its main principle is 
tbati/ no tea is taken there will be no expense and the 
benefit to us and to those who assist us will be 
relative and proportionate to the cost, and tbat 
whereas we now import only 1,688,673 lb into 
Amerioai my scheme provides for five millions ; 
and whaa this is attained, halve the subsidy per 
1,000 lb. BDd WB oan introduce ten millions. 
The OhBmbsr of Commerce has passed its 
opinion upon our Oommissionet's scheme which ia 
fimpl;' ooaitmoatoi^i jet has Fubetitut«d nothing 
in its stead. Th3 fignraa thii iiutitation has 
given ui of C 'ylon t'^a introduisd to America (1 
have removed those relntioit to Canada) ere : — 
1891 .. lbs. 1,037,894 
1892 .. „ 1, 619,967 
1893 ,. 1,688,678 
We have spent upwards of £20,000 on the Ex- 
position, and yet the Chamber indicates no great 
desire to derive the full benefii nf thi<< by a oon. 
tinuatlon of our most str6uuou4 tfi.rts ! Are 
these figiires ts cocanrai$ing thti we ehould now 
stop? bhoulj «re leave it to private enterprise 7 
Have we pr^vressod enough to re^t oontsnt 7 
A wiiter over the ei^'nature " E. S. G." would 
have U3 do notbi. g ; Boiiviiy, energy and push 
have br JDg'at upou ua all our mibfortuneti, he tell* 
us. Surely there is sooietfaing wiang here ; ic 
me such i3 a n^w doctrine — 
"Tnat the earth ehoald stand and gaze like Joehua's 
moon ia Ajalon ' ! 
If America is to bb won, I wjuld say for oaoe 
leave Canada alone for the piesent, as far as 
special eftori goes; coocentrate tpon America ; Itt 
tbat hi the ' gjli" if our target, believing ae 1 do 
that t^ie Uiiitea Hta^es means Ultimately tbe whole 
of Ibet Cjntin'^Dt N-iiber will any attempt, at 
all likely to saccetd, l etr nriu jb division of means. 
Let ae do as all great g-nersU have docie, con- 
centre ts cur forofB, remembering that the old 
and P8t'bliii:hel mein? of aggression, even if 
assurfd, ere more worthy oi cupprrt (ban the n'w. 
So, if we have lo pay thuss who alre&dy im(ort 
our t':as, W3 are eup^Oiiing a far m.rn cerlaia 
rojrci: of developineut ih:>n in Eupportiag these 
wj h.pe some day will begio. All eysteme inde- 
pendent of the exieting trade so far have failed. 
If we want to carry America ve must vigorously 
assist tfaoHe who have found out bow to do it; any 
other course would maice tbem our oppjueote. 
WM. FOBBES LAORIE. 
[The pith of Mr. Laurie's letter referred to above, 
is oontaiaed in the following extracts :— 
" Let us adberd stsaiily to the export duty and 
nee tUe resalt aa a meaas of (.u h ng Ceylon teaa.*' 
Simply epeakin^', my plan would be tor ttie Pinutera' 
AesoLNstion of Ctyl^n t> offer 4 per cout a<f ixi^orent 
premium on all bona Jide ehipmiuvs of Ceylon tea to 
America from eitbet Londoa or C'e^lou ; or wtat 
would te about the sauie tbiog and more sicupl-, 
pay tliesbippers at the rateof £1 st-trling pirt 1,0001b- 
cf te V on all maoitaatgof tea bo ebipped, Tbte ironid 
provide tor iatr.-dticiag 6,000.000 b. intJ America 
yearlx, and wlien that qaaut ty wai exoeede) the 
sbipprra woiilcJ t;e satiifiad witu a lower rate upon 
larger transaotion^.** 
" If 4 per oenti does nothing e ss it caa ha bene- 
fiotal y used for aivert'siug by th'jca into whose 
bauds we plase it ; far better t' sn wa cou'd do to 
ourselves, nod, as f.ir ai v.e ard coDceroed no ship- 
ments no payments by na. The iotroduotiou of 
6,000,000 lb. of Uejlou tea to begia with auuually into 
Ametica will be oheiply pnrctiitsoJ by s3 email a 
eaerifice, if we can orly arrunge with men like Lipton 
to opea the ompaign; and whut ii ^ cent per lb. 
on 80,600 lb. of ie» (>tie average jiai^ of en orJinary 
estate) butRlOQ, sbjut £3-10 etsrlin* annaally." 
-Ed. r-i.l 
THE TEA CAMPAIGN IN AMERICA: 
CO-OPERATION BETWEEN INDIA 
AND CETLON. 
Relugas, Madulkele, April lOtb. 
Sib,— I enclose for publication a letter received 
by me from Mr. P. R. Buchanan this morning. I 
have not asked Mr. Buchanan's leave to publish 
tb9 letter, bat take the reepoQeibilitv on mjeelf, iq 
