Jan. r, 1895.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
497 
sent to London, and the milk used in the school' 
"We then visited the carpenters', blacksmiths') 
tailors', shoemakers' and basket-makers' shops, 
the lads in which were of all ages from 15 to 
20. Here again I was struck by the honest way 
in which the boys looked one in the face. 
Both in look and conversation they seemed 
manly, straightforward boys. When they learn 
a trade they are helped abroad, unless they 
prefer to remain in England or enlist. " Come 
and hear our Band." The practice was in a 
large room, occasionally used as a theatre, 
called the Moxpn Hall. I was quite surprised 
at the proficiency of the band. The music was far 
beyond the usual Volunteer Band style ; it was 
really good. Standing among the performers 
was a young lance-corporal in an infantry regi- 
ment, who had come back on a visit "to the 
old school." 
On asking how many of the lads were re- 
claimed, I was told about 92 per cent. Some 
did really well and became rich. One of these 
lately brought his wife down "to see the place" 
and evidently took a pride in it. The secretary 
went on, " The fact is these boys are the same 
flesh and blood as we are. They, poor lads, 
have been reared in all the surroundings of sin, 
misery and vice. It is really a relief to them 
to gee here, they try to forget the past, and 
consider that their lives really begin when they 
come to us. They are proud of the school 
after they leave. No public schoolman is 
prouder of his school than they are. We 
rind this out from the presents which come to 
us. One lad in Australia sent us £5 out of his 
first year's earnings towards lighting the chapel. 
Another sent £2 from South Africa towards the 
lectern. We work with monitors and have a 
system of honour. Houses which have no mis- 
co iduct report from time to time receive a reward. 
Boys receive good conduct stripes, and there are 
regular systems of rewards for diligence by which 
a boy can earn from lid to Is a week, the money 
being banked for them till they wish to spend it.' 
When one has seen the register giving the 
histories of these boys, the awful record of pre- 
mature crime and vice, one can only feel thank- 
ful that such institutions exist in England. 
Take my advice and visit the school, 
my reader, when next you are in England. 
It is only an hour's journey from Lon- 
don. If you can spare a half-chest of tea, 
direct your London Agents to send one to the 
Secretary, Farm School, Redhill, where it will be 
highly appreciated. R. C. H. 
PLANTING AND PRODUCE. 
Tea and the Lottery Act. — Selling tea on the 
"bonus" system is attended with risk. A London 
tea merchant was summoned, at the instance of the 
Grocers' and Provision Dealers' Association, for 
conducting an alleged lottery. It was explained that 
the defendant opened a shop and issued handbills 
promising to pay bonds for £10 each to his first 100,000 
customers after 25,000,000 lb. of tea had been 
sold in quarter-pound packets. The defendant 
said it was merely a scheme which allowed 
customers to share profits. The magistrate regarded 
it as a lottery, and imposed a lino of t'o, against 
which the defendant will appeal. Summonses have 
been part hoard in Manchester against a firm of 
dealers who gavo a coupon to the purchaser of every 
Eound of tea, entitling them to take part in the 
allot for £5. The prosocution calculated that before 
anyone could win the second prize the firm would 
havo made a profit of a quarter of a million sterling. 
Ohanoe Cultivation and Fruit Preservation. — In 
an ai^iclu on Orange Cultivation in the columns of 
an evening contemporary, the writer, Mr. Sampson 
Morgan, says : — " At the present time the fruit pro- 
ducers of Ceylon are engaged in a lively argument 
as to the truthfulness of an assertion that two orange 
trees have yielded a crop of 25,000 fruits in one year, 
and the assertion, which is without doubt reliable, 
suggests the advisability of planting orange groves 
extensively in Haputale, so that Ceylon shall in time 
become as famous for its oranges as for its tea. The 
mandarin tree which bore this tremendous crop 
should prove an object lesson to the merchants of 
the undeveloped Indian Empire, especially in view 
of the fact that a new system of preserving fresh 
fruit, whilst in transit, for any length of time, and 
to which reference will be made further on, will 
I enable them to put oranges from Ceylon in good 
condition upon any market, either of the Old or New 
World. If a late discovery is confirmed, there is no 
reason why Ceylon should not send fresh ripe oranges 
into English and American ports, nor why English 
growers should not send fresh strawberries, tomatoes, 
gi'apes, green, figs, apples, pears, plums, and melons 
to the Continental, American, Australian, and In- 
dian markets at the same time. The latest method 
of preservation may work a revolution in the fruit 
trade generally. Pears, fully ripe, preserved in car- 
bonic acid gas, have been kept in perfect condition 
for months, and upon being tested were found in 
full possession of their flavour. The system appears 
to be simple enough ; fruit picked and placed in air- 
tight chambers charged with carbonic acid gas, with- 
out ice, refrigerator, or any other accessory, it is 
claimed, may be shipped to any part of the world 
without fear of change or damage, so far as the fruit 
itself is concerned. Considering what science has 
already done, I do not see why the preservation 
in fresh condition of all kinds of fruit should not be 
secured by some such process, and when that sys- 
tem has been made known I do not see why English 
merchants should not take advantage of it by be- 
coming exporters of the choice products from the 
gardens of the British fruit-grower. — and C. Mail, 
Dec. 21. 
A Planting We Will Go. — If it were not for his 
detractors at home the tea planter might have a 
tolerable conceit of himself. His produce is not only 
in nearly everybody's mouth, but his pursuit is the 
ambition of the rising generation. Our youths yearn 
after the tea gardens of India and Ceylon, and are 
willing to forsake professional paths at home, and 
even look coldly on the naval and military services, 
for the chances of fortune on a tea garden. This 
is flattering to the planting fraternity. Tea planting 
may not be a bed of roses in reality. The veteran 
who has passed years of his life at it, and has not 
reaped what he conceives to be the legitimate reward 
of his labours, may have his own view of the matter, 
and even the youngster who has tried it may some- 
times murmur at his lot before he has given it a 
fair trial, but for all that there is a never-failing 
supply of enterprising young men, fresh from public 
school life, ready and eager to snap at any chance 
of becoming planters. The fact that all the profes- 
sions are crowded has much to do with this, but no 
doubt the position of the tea industry, and the importance 
of the product itself, have still more. Tea is in excel- 
sis just now. Prices may be low, tea dealers may 
resort to the lottery system in their desire to do a 
big trade in it, but somehow nearly everyone believes 
in it and in its future. The tremendous development 
of British tea enterprise in the last ten years is one 
of tho commercial sensations of the past decade, and 
it is not surprising that great expectations are formed 
as to the possibilities in store for the planter who is 
up to date. It is vain to tell of tho glut in this 
labour market, as in so many others. The 
market for " creepers " may be overstocked, 
but not even the statements made in support 
of this, nor tho tales told of the work expected 
and the requirements necessary to success, can daunt 
the ever-increasing crowd of youths who are ready 
to go anywhere and do anything, if only they can find 
a chanco of growing tea. To sell tea is one of tug 
