194 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. f Sept. r, 1894. 
the balmy fragrance of those which Ceylon produces. 
Nothing succeeds in America that is not " boomed," 
Barnum, one of the most successful men of modern 
times, was the greatest " boomer" America ever 
had — not content with ordinary methods every five 
years he had a conflagration, and his tigers and 
elephants were burnt out of house and home. Then 
the newspapers were filled with paraaraphs of it, 
flaming posters appeared all over the walls of 
American cities, representing Phineas Barnum rising 
from the flames like a modern phcenix. 
Fires are no novelty in America now ; it would 
hardly pay us to burn our Sham ; for this it is I 
would propose " A Monster Travelling Show," 
"bossed" by some "smart" energetic man, who 
could speak well on the platform, making his audience 
laugh (no one can take a joke better than an 
American) impressing them at the same time with 
what he says and convincing them that Ceylon tea 
is superior in every conceivable way to China tea, 
explaining to them the former's cleanliness and 
purity of manufacture over the latter. 
" First catch your hare, then cook it," must be 
twisted into " First find your man, then send him to 
America." He must be our representative there, and 
" boom the show" for us. RlOO.OOO is equal to £5,364. 
With this we ought to be able to fix up a show 
worth seeing, and give it a six months' tour through 
America; this would simply be as an Advertisement. 
When the Show was over, Agencies might be estab- 
lished in some of the principal cities. 
Our representative, or " boomer " as the Americans 
would call him, should have half-a-dozen interesting 
Ceylonese types, in their various native costumes, to 
exhibit on his platform, such as 
A Malay. 
A Tamil. 
A Chetty clerk, (with curious hat aud rings in his 
ears. 
A Kandyan. 
A Veddah (if possible.) 
And a Tamil and Sinhalese woman. 
A tame elephant should also be included, and should 
be taught by some little sign, that the ingenuity of his 
keeper would devise to drink "pure Ceylon tea" 
and refuse China tea. 
The platform should be prettily decorated, a few 
tea bushes in pots might be placed in a prominent 
place, if they could not stand the travelling; have 
a faithful reproduction taken of them artificially. 
Group the natives about on the platform, with piles 
of tea in attractively got-up packets. 
We have all seen a drop of water magnified in 
a microscope; why not magnify a drop of (jhina and 
Ceylon tea ? Exhibit them in a prominent place side 
by side; let the former have such dirt in it as 
imagination can suggest likely to be there, but keep 
the Oeylon tea as pure as possible. 
" All is fair in Love and War," and let us add ''tea." 
It might also be advisable to serve cups of tea 
free during the evening. This could be managed best 
perhaps by giving each person who attends the 
entertainment a ticket as they enter the room, 
for which on giving up at the refreshment 
bar, they would receive a cup of tea, and good, well 
made tea, it must be. 
So far I have only described the "show," More 
interesting details that could be included, may still 
suggest themselves to our "representative," if we 
can manage to get hold of the right man. Anything 
novel is what we must strive to attaiu. 
I will draw a slight sketch now as to what the 
lecture should be like. 
To command attention let one of the natives com- 
mence beating a " tom-tom"; not that I think this 
Will be luriDg to American e irs, but being sttange it 
will attract attention, and that ia our object. 
When the overture oeases thsn begin the lecture' 
which must of course be illustrated by limelight 
views, of tea mauufactur. 1 , tea estates, Qeyton scenery, 
native types, &c. 
Describe in an interesting manner the growth and 
manufacture of tea ; let it all be brirf and w>tty. 
Impress upon the Americans the. superiority of 
Oeylon tea, inform that through being so pure it 
is a touio, aud beauUfier of the oomplexion, wLere&s 
the hand manufactured China tea is neither. 
Urge upon them the necessity of importing it 
direct from Ceylon. 
Exhort the merchants and grocers present to 
become " Tea Importers." 
When the lecture is conclude.!, the natives ebon'd 
walk through the audicnoe distributing free samples 
of tea. 
Next day our representatife should call on the 
priccipal dealers aud grocers, give tn-ui samples and 
see if be could not book or Jets for Oe>lon tta, to 
be fent to America direct. 
Tbia Show must be well advertised, or to ace an 
Americanism, wo must " drum it wel>." Advertise 
a lecture for instance as 
FilKE. FKEE FREE. 
NOTHING HKAW — BUT AMUSEMKKT. 
A NIGHT'S LMtlHISMtM. 
A NIGHT'S 1NSTBUCTION. 
FKEE. FKEE. FKEE. 
YOU HAVE ONLY TO COME AND LOOK THBTTY. 
— iod bo or. Tbe more original, the better of course 
would it attract attention. Iq this line the elephant 
would be cf iiumoLB^ us<-; let it parade all the prin- 
cip»l streets during the d<y, with "Pure Cejlon Tea," 
in large letters of some vivid colour on either side of 
bini: then below this a board should be fixed, extol- 
ling the virtue i of Oeylon Teas, prai-iig tbem for 
thtir parity and flavour, aud setting forth how be- 
neficial tb<yarofor the health and complexion, (this 
Utter would be a strong pcint with Amerirau ladies, 
who pride themselves upon tbeir complexions.) A'so 
the uatnej ot Importers aud Sellers of " Pore Ceyloo 
Teas'' in that particular town or city, should be 
printed iu a prominent place in 1 >rge Utters. A ca- 
nopy might be arranged ou tbe elephant's back, to 
make it look more impesing. 
A taxing advertisement should also be pat in all 
prominent American newspapers. 
At the eud of it should be published the names 
of all Importers of Pure Ceylon Tea in Amreica, 
un ler some beading such as the following: — 
" Pure Ceylon Tea can be obtained from the follow- 
ing Importeis, 
"Silas, BL. Mark*, Pure Ceylon Tea. Importer 106, 
43rd Street."— and so on. 
Tbia would not only give them a litte more pres- 
tige, than be'ng merely.grocers, but would also be a 
valuable free adveriitemeut to anyoLe whose name 
w&i iucluded in the list. 
Theu I should fay it would be money very well 
spent, if several millions of pencils, prettily got up 
in metal cases with ths words printed on them, 
". Pure Ceylon Tea is the best for the Health and 
the Complexion. " 
These should be freely distributed. A pencil is 
alwajs useful and would briDg the words Ceylon Tes, 
before many eyes. 
This style of advertising often bears very good fruit, 
an<l is extensively used now-a-days. See the blotters 
issued by Davidson & Co., which cost that firm 
£100 annually, and many others of a smtlar type. 
If you catch the populace, they will demand Ceylon 
tea; then the grocers will have to provide them. 
Get some of the leading newspapers to notioe pure 
Ceylon teas in their leaders, and thus bring it before 
a more educate! class than the "show" would reach. 
Also anothtr good plan would be to present the 
newspapers with some shoit interesting accounts of 
Oeylon, pertaining more or less to tea. 
To get a gcod selection of these, a competition 
might ba started, and prizes given locally for the 
best works. 
I have not gone into any details of expenditure, 
because when once a scheme is decided upon, I think 
all that rests with the man who undertakes it, to 
portion out and use to the best cf bis ability guided 
Dy circumstances, the money given him to spend. 
With RIOO.OOO the scheme I have proposed here 
should be quite feasible. We must not expect too 
great a return at first; let us make a good show to 
start with, and then work away steadily, establishing 
