Nov. i, 1894.] TEIE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
2 93 
put them in a closed box until the followin 
day, when, to my disappointment, I found th e 
insects as lively as ever ! Not a single corpse 
to be seen ! Further experiments were prevented 
by the rapid putrefaction of the infusion. It is 
possible that the fault lay in the preparation of 
the mixture. Perhaps it is necessary to obtain 
an extract by distillation instead of infusion. 
These are points that should be ascertained from 
headquarters. 
I think it very probable that we may possess 
in Ceylon many native plants or trees with 
hitherto unsuspected insecticidal properties. I am 
now engaged in making experiments in this 
direction. — Yours truly, 
E. ERNEST GREEN. 
AMERICAN CONSUL MOREY ON 
CEYLON TEA AND TRADE 
GENERALLY. 
A Colombo merohant in sending us a copy of 
the Shipping and Commercial List of New York, 
in which we find Consul Morey's R°port on 
Ceylon Tea Trade, &c, writes:— "I think Mr. 
Morey has gone too far in dogmatizing about 
low-country teas, land in Coylon, and marke I 
deterioration in quality, all of which is calculated 
to do damage to the int reats of the Js'and, and 
will not help Ceylon tea into America. The 
paragraph about American drills beirg displaced 
by looaily manufactured drillp, ' neither as good 
nor as cheap as pepperill,' is altogether gratui- 
tous; for, the local production is much cheaper. 
I am eurprissd at Mr. Moray's tone altogether." 
And so are we, beoausa while it is the bouoden 
duty of a Consul to give a fair and outspoken 
Report for the benefit of his countrymen, it is 
equally his duty to seek information from those 
best qualified to give it to him, and surely one or 
other of the Direotors of the Cotton Mills ought 
to have been inquired of ; while as regards our 
tea we certainly think Mr. Morey goes a little too 
far. We quote from his Report the main portions 
sb follows: — 
CEYLON TEA FOR THE UNITED STATES. 
By W. Morey, United Stitei Consul at Oeylin. 
In Jure, 1836, I reported upon ten, trie production 
of which was then being prosecu'el as a " new Ceylon 
industry." The shipmeuts hid urn muted to 4 353,000 
pounds iu the previous yeir, and both planters a d 
exporters were aoxio jsly c >nsidering ways ami moans 
for introducing 'heir product into d'fTereut cmntnes, 
especially the United States. In 1889 a "Ceyloi 
Planters' American To» Company" was form' d 
locally, which merged in 1891 into au American 
company, bearing the same came, I believe, and in- 
corporated under the laws ot Now Jersey. Consider- 
able advertising was done iu the United States by t"ie 
last-nanied company, but ve-y li tle tea was handled 
by them, and in 1893 the company went into liqui- 
dation. In the meantime the Ceylon Government nad 
appropriate §100,000 toward making an exhibit ai 
the Worl i's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, and it 
appears that most of that tno:iey was expuidcd iu the 
interest ot Ceylon tea. Wit'i this iucntivd the local 
shipments of tea to the United States amounted to 
250,945 pouuds in 1893, though about 103,000 pounds, 
say neirly two-thirds, of that quantity w nt to Cali- 
fornia, quite independent of uny stimulus whatever 
from the Worl. i's Fa*r exhibit. The total shipments 
to tho United Slates in 1891 having been 2:68,554 
p nnd* (about tin same quantity as iu 1890), and only 
250,945 pounds in 189'!, it is plain that up to the 
present tue considerable attompts tint havo been made 
to introduo Cey'.ou tea into the United States havo 
rn.it with small success, The tlantere, however, iu\j 
rot di'couraged, and nt their meeting in Newara 
Eluja, [sic] on the 14thof April, they voted to ask the 
Government to continue ind-fiuitely the exi ort duty 
on tea of on>'-tenth of one cent per pound (imposed 
in 1893 to raise funds for ihe exhibition at Chicago) 
for the puapose of continuing what tbey cad " the 
American camjjaifjn."* * * 
As herembeiore mentioned, the total fhipment of 
Cejlou tea to ad countries in 1985 was 4,353,000 
ponracs, and 84,406,004 poun 's in 1893, showing the 
enorm' ns increase in eight, years ot over 80,000,000 
pounds. In >be meantime prices bave so fa leu annually 
that in 1893 the average price of Ceylon tea at public 
sales in England was 9d (18 cents) p<r pound. 
F^r this tall in price sevn'-il reasons are given. One 
authority fa\s the piico of tea follows ttie price of 
silver; ano'h'reays plucking for quantity instead of 
q lality is the cause; auotber says carelessness in the 
manufacture has much to do wi'h it; another that 
Ceylon tea doos nit ke?p will i.e,\% soon loses its 
fine flavour; and others say that ii is actually dettrior- 
ating in quality. 
lam much inclined to believe that the la't-mmed 
causelis the most nearly correct, for it is, within my 
know edge that es'ates which ten or fifteen yeais ago 
produ ced good tea grow nothing now worthy of that 
name. This is especially true of properties in the low 
country, and to a great extent of old coffee lauds 
amor g the hills convert ed into tei estates. In tho low 
country the soil is poor, and constant cropping soon 
exhau*t8 ti e tea elements therefrom. Accordingly, 
aft>r tei years at most, the tea produst is so very 
poor that the liquor from it resembles more a decoc- 
tion from boiled herbs than from good tea. 
To ketp up the quality nununng is necESsary, but 
the priee of tea in Europe (18 otnts per pouud) does 
not, pay lor fertilizing'; Leitber will raanuriug pay ia 
th°. higher altitudes, tuough the price of h ; g:i-grown 
tea is about 25 ptr cent more than of that which is 
grown ia the low oountry nearer the sea. 
Much of rhe upcountry tea is grown on hd'sides, 
where, owing to the steepness of tho la&d, most of 
the manure appiitd is waBbed away by the rains. 
But it the theory of eectric storms produoiDg 
an abun lance of plant manure in the form of 
nitrogen is correct, the high n't tude estates 
have a gnat advantage, as there is muoti 
thunder and lightning and rain in the hills of 
Ceylon nearly all tho year round. Therefore high- 
growu tea iua\ be expected to hold i's own and keep 
lis flivor lor soma years ,0 come. More espes ally is 
this the case where the estates have been made on 
virgin sod in favorable localities. 
Considering that most low groan teas are too poor 
in quality for anything hut blending purposes, sjma 
not biiog even fit for that, it lol'ows tbut, as a rulej 
only high-grown Ceylon tea is suitable for the Ameri- 
can market ; more especially as the olj'ct is todis- 
pl ce (Jiiina ai d Japan teas, already largely in use 
there- Tuis can on y be done by presenting a better 
a- tele to the dialers and coi sumers at as low, or 
perhaps lower price, than now obtains. To do this, 
I conceive that nothing cbe iper than 20 to 25 cents. 
(United States moiey) per pound locally cm be 
successfully used. Ot course there is plenty ef such 
tea produced here, but very little is sold in tho local 
market, for as a matter of fact, producers of suoh 
tea mojtly seud their product to Lor.dou, where its 
quality is so Will kuowu to the tride that it is 
sure to be soil profitably, and there may be other 
reasons for i s going there that need not be men- 
tioned here. It will be hard, thenf jre, to indues 
them to send it on speculation to tie United iStates. 
Tea &uitible for the United States w. 11 therefore 
need to be bought in EonduD, alter ltj co*t has 
been greatly enhanced there by many intermediate 
expenses and ch>rges, and where, perhaps, ltj 
purity or quility has not heeu improve 1 by uim ipuli- 
lious. Accordingly it is by no means certiin a that 
Cuina an I Japau tins will b i easily or 1 r^ely 
displaced iu a country where they are a' ready used 
to the extent of 8">,OuU,000 pnindj p3r annum wmlo 
C'tylou tea, notwitUBttiU ling the txpt nditura yf lur a 'U 
