TriE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. fDEfc. i, 1R94. 
A GROUP OF PLANTERS OF STANDING. 
We remember during our first v isit to " Dim- 
bula Felix " in 1869, taking a record in tlie 
hospitable Talawakele bungalow of "Colonel ' 
Hood, of some nine leading planters who in 
length aggregated some 55 leet odd or an aver- 
age of close on 6 feet 2 inches eacJi ! Of course 
Mr. Tilly, who is still to the fore, (may his 
shadow never grow less !) made up 0 feet B| 
inches of himself, so that made it easy for the 
rest. We have just heard that Mr. Carmichael, 
who arrived by the " Massilia " yesterday to 
learn planting with Messrs. Dunbar and Ryan, 
stands 6 feet 3£ inches and the group of estates 
connected with these gentlemen is rather noted 
for assistants to whom the coolies' designation 
of "Alavangan Durai" for a six-footed S.D. — 
now a well-known V.A. — might well be applied. 
Mr. Hughes is 6 feet 2£ inches, and Mr. Hendei 
son near Gampola 6 feet 2 inches ; while an- 
other Assistant is shortly expected from home 
who is not less than 0 feet 3 inches. Here 
then we may have four S.D.'s aggregating close 
on 25 feet; while their two chiefs Messrs. 
Dunbar ami Ryan — are each only half-an-inch 
short of the six feet. Half-a-dozen on one group 
making up 36 feet 10 inches must be considered 
a capital record for "men of standing" among 
our planting community ! 
CHEAP TEA. 
It i8 well known that the importation of adulterated 
tea has been largely checked Dy the system of analy- 
tical examination to which that article is subjected 
by the Customs authorities on its entiunce into this 
country, but it has been too readily assumed that the 
application of this system has insured the public 
against the sale of spurious and adulterated tea. The sale 
01 tea "faced" with Piussian blue or plumbago is no 
doubt practically a thing of the past in this couutiy, 
and so also must be the sale of mixtuies containing 
any considerable quantities of foreign leaves or 01 
that pleasing article prepared by dipping leaves in 
gum water and rolling them up with sana, which is 
known to the ingenious and enterprising Chinaman as 
"lie" tea. Although an extensive and unexpected appli- 
cation of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts in certain 
districts which are still the happy hunting grounds 
of the dealer in adulterated goods would probably 
result in some curious and disagreeable discoveries, it 
is no doubt true that the grosser forms of tea adulter- 
ation with substances entirely foreign to tea — has 
virtually ceased to exisit to any great extent. Even 
the adulteration of tea by admixture with exhausted 
and redried tea leaves — a loim of fraud which un- 
doubtedly exists — is certainly rare in comparison with 
the amount of sophistication practised with many 
other articles of food. A case of some interest was 
heard at the City of London Court recently, in which 
a City tea merchant claimed payment for " tea dust" 
supplied to a tradesman in Seven Dials at the rate of 
2§d per pound. It appears that this valuable com- 
modity was purchased, not for the purpose of selling 
it by itself, but for mixing with " cheap, teas," the 
mixtures being sold at Is, Is 3d, "and so on"- — how far 
"on" does not appear- — per pound. The public analyst for 
the Strand District, who analysed the "tea dust," found 
it to contain 13J per cent, of mineral matter, of which 
about half was silica and sand. The " dust," it seems, 
was also referred to in court as being of a " nauseous 
character." As it had been warehoused for two years, 
and was sold at 2Jd. per pound, and "good" tea 
dust was stated to realise from 6d, to 7d. per pound, 
the application of the term " nauseous " may not 
have been altogether undeserved. The amount of 
mineral matter yielded on the incineration of genuine 
tea is remarkably constant at about 5 per cent., and 
a very large percentage of this — not less than 60 
per cent, of the mineral matter, or 3 per cent, cal- 
culated, on tfee tea— is solubje jp water, So apply 
the name "tea" to the "dust" in question was 
therefore plainly unjui-tifiable, and the judge ingiving 
his decision for the defendant was obviously of this 
opinion. The detection and prevention of the par- 
ticular form of adulteration ijitnlonml bv the case, 
so long as it is practised within certain limits, isone 
that presents considerable difficulties, more especially 
in the present unsatisfactory state of the law. 
—Uritinh Mtdiral Journal, Oct. 27. 
HOW TO DETERMINE WHAT A SOIL 
NEEDS 
The best way to determine the first point is by field 
experiments in which we apply fertilizers containing 
each one, two or all three of the " essential ingredi- 
ents " to separate plots of equal size, say 1-10 or 1 20 
acre, tend all alike during the growing season, and 
carHully harvest and weigh the ci op from each plot 
sepaiately. liy comparing the yields of the plots we 
can usually deteimine whether the toil on winch the 
experiment was made is veiy dihciintin one or more 
of the "essential ingredients" of feitihzeis. Experi- 
ments of this kind have been made at the station 
fuini with corn, potatoes, wheat, tobacco, oats, htnip 
and grass, and ihe results in detail have been pub- 
lished in the bulletins of the station, to which we 
refer the reader. Copies of nearly all of these bulle- 
tins can be still furnished on application.— America* 
paper. 
THE LANKA PLANTATIONS COMPANY, 
(LIMITED). 
M.Mk.11. MEETING. 
The ordinary general meeting of the shareholders 
of this company was held at me office ol the com- 
pany, 12. ienchurib Street, E.C., on 'Wednesday, 
lhe chair was occupied by Mr. Geoige Alien, chair- 
man of the directois. 
The Secretary read the notice comening the meet- 
ing, and the minutes ol tLe pievious meeting wer* 
read and continued. 
The Chairman, in moving the adoption of the 
report and accounts, itmaiked that theie had been 
a very satisfacloiy letuin Horn coffee, and, although 
there had been a decline of 122 acies, the uecline in 
the cabh sent home had not been gieat. They were 
endeavouring to piotect their coliee as much as 
possible. "Vv ith reieience to tea, although the puco 
nad fallen jd net, they had lealised more money 
than last year. Retelling to the efforts made to 
extend the sale of Ceylon tea, he remarked that it 
was more wholesome than any other, the reason 
being that it contained less tannin. The percentage 
of tannin in Ceyiou was 10 against 12 in Indian. 
These figures were given in the offiicial catalogue of 
the Chicago Exhibition. The directors were endea- 
vouring to impiove their machinery and therby to 
impiove the quality of their tea. if Ceylon tea was 
going to supersede Japan and China they might, he 
thought, look loiwaia to an increase in price. 
The report and accounts were then adopted. 
A long discussion was then carried on by Messrs. 
Austin, Bois, Ivorth, and Coliinge with reierence to 
the advisability of reducing the capital of the Com- 
pany. The general opinion was that it w ould be best 
to leave the matter in the hand6 of the board. 
The Chairman, in reply to questions from Mr. 
North, stated that it was very difficult to give the 
cost of tea laid down as it varied on different estates. 
The production was S00 lb. per acre. 
The formal resolutions having been adopted, the 
proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the 
Chairman and directors. — L. and C. Express, Nov. 2. 

"Tortoises Roosting in Teees '!— Who could 
have believed it ; and yet we can vouch for 
Major Tranchell, who sends us elsewhere a letter 
full of interest to naturalists, being a trust- 
worthy as well as very experienced observer in 
the island, 
