MARCH i, 1S95.I THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 601 
were offered, nearly half of which consisted of West 
Coast African. There was a steady demand and most 
was sold at |d to 3d per unit. 
The next public sales will he held iu London on 
February l'Jth and in Holland 2n February 23th. 
Quinine continues dull of sale and scarcely any 
business is reported during the past month. German 
on the spot is quoted lljd per oz. 
Shipments from Ceylon 1st January to 7th Dec. 
1894 .... 2.438,992 lb. 
1893 - - - 3,525,522 „ 
1892 -. - - - 0,665,194 „ 
1891 - 5,679,339 „ 
DRUG REPORT. 
(From Chemist ami Drujr/ixt. ) 
London, January 2Bth. 
Kola.— Selling at much better prices, with improved 
competition, especially for West Indian. One barrel fairly 
bright seed frdifl Grenada (W.I.) realised Is 4d per lb. 
Two other parcels brought the high price of Is Ud for lb 
for good, slightly mouldy, and Is 3d to Is 4d for good 
brown. For 20 bags rather dark and lean kolas a bid of 
lid per lb was refused. 
Ksskstial Oils.— Six cases pale yellow Eucalyptus oil 
from Adelaide sold without reserve at Is ii<L per lb ; 
for Porcupine brand 2s per lb is asked. Fisher's Citro- 
nella oil is held for 2)d per oz. Cinnamon oil — The quan- 
tity placed in sale today amounted to li cases, much of 
which appeared to be of doubtful quality, although all 
bottles were labelled " genuine." The bulk was bought 
in at lod per oz. Twenty cases fair yellow Lemongrass 
oil from Bombay were bought in at l|d per oz. Of 
Paraguayan Orange flower oil, 10 cases were offered and 
bought iu at Sd per oz. There were no bids. 
COCA.— In the Ave months from July 1st to November 
30th last 330 cases coca-leaves were shipped from Java 
to Holland. The whole of this supply is consumed by 
the Brunswick Quinine-works, which is the only factory 
making cocaine that uses the Java leaf. 
REPORT OF THE TEA FUND. 
The following is the Keport of the Ceylon Tea 
Fund for the seven years ending 31st December 1894 ; — 
To effectively review the operations of the Ceylon 
Tea Fund it is necessary first to point out that in 
1873 no Ceylon Tea nt all was exported from the 
colony. Whatever was grown in the Island previous 
to that date was more as an interesting curiosity 
and " hobby " than as a commercial article. The 
staple product ot the country was coffee and continued 
to be so for some years subsequent to that date 
although seriously threatened by the ravages of the 
deadly fungus — leaf-disease. But it was not, however, 
until the "'green bug" appeared that it was fully antici- 
pated that coffee was doomed almost to extinction, 
and that another product must be found to take its 
place. Then it was that tea came into prominent 
notice for the first time in Ceylon, and as indication 
of the' fall of coffee and the rise of tea as the staple 
product of Ceylon it may be mentioned heie that 
in 1*71 the export of coffee from Ceylon amounted 
to cwt. 730.937 valued 1\32.166.517, and in 1894 
i vvt .(1,197 valued R2. 773.213 while in I87p the export 
of tea war, 1,138 lb. valued at 112.102, and in 1891 
B3,87J},332 Lb. valued at Hlti, 103,211. Iu appendix A 
will be found an interesting table showing the ex- 
ports of Ceylon tea to the various countries of the 
world for a period of 20 year*, but in using those 
figures it must not be forgotten that, owing to tran- 
shipment hi cargo at various ports such as London. 
Hongkong, Sue/, Ac the amounts givjeju as exported 
to America. Ilussia and other countries, having no 
direct communication with Colombo, do not pretend 
to strict accuracy in that regard. They have been 
carefully compiled from the Ceylon Blue Books and 
othciul sources. I 
i'o redeem vast areas of coffee land from unprofit- 
ableness owing to the ravages of "linmlcia raslntn.r ' 
and " green bug was the formidably task before 
the Ceylon planters from 18*0 onwards, at which 
date the continued general cultivation of coffee be- 
caniu more than doubtful. Tlio task, however, 
was successfully accomplished, and t^ue fields having 
been re-planted with tea, the next matter of 
importance was to find an outlet for the pro- 
duce — the tea for the world's consumption being 
at that time amply supplied by India, China, 
and Japan. An outlet has been found for Ceylon 
produce, and it is pretty safe to say that this has 
been done entirely by displacing China Tea. 
Before the inception of the Tea Fund, the first 
attempt publicly to make Ceylon Tea known was in 
Australia at the International Exhibition held in 
Sydney in 1879. The Planters' Association, impressed 
with the advantages that would accrue to Ceylon 
from special attention being drawn to its products 
and particularly to its tea, approached the Govern- 
ment, but without success, with a view to procuring 
the nomination of a fully accredited Commissioner 
who was connected with Ceylon. In 1880-81 an Inter- 
national Exhibition was held in Melbourne under 
the auspices of the Victorian Government, and the 
Planters' Association unanimously nominated the late 
Mr. A. M. Ferguson, c.m.o., as Commissioner to 
represent Ceylon and specially its planting industry. 
That gentleman's mission was a great success in 
every way, and there is little doubt that to his efforts 
is due the foundation of the large trade now done 
with Australia, which absorbed 6,952,098 lb. of Ceylon 
tea in 1894, against 120,069 lb. iu 1881 (fide Appen- 
dix A.) 
A considerable interval elapsed before any further 
action was taken in the same way on any consider- 
able scale. Ceylon was well represented at the Cal- 
cutta International Exhibition in 1883 by Mr. John 
Capper at the instance of the Planters' Association 
but it was not until 1886. at the t olonial and In- 
dian Exhibition, in London, that a fresh and im- 
portant effort was made specially directed to benefit 
Ceylon Tea. Up to this time it had been always 
difficult in the extreme, often impossible, to induce 
Government to see that it h . d any responsibilities 
in connection with the welfare of that industry on 
which the prosperity of the country depended. On 
this occasion, however, doubtless owing to pressure 
from exalted personages at home rather than from 
any lively sense of its duty and responsibility, the 
Ceylou Government took steps to have itself repre- 
sented, and on the request of the Planters' Asso< 
ciation handed to that body the sum of B.5,000 
(out of vote of 1150,00(1) to secure the efficient re- 
presentation of Ceylon Tea specially, the success of 
which to the colony generally was more important than 
that of all the other exhibits. The Association, 
however, was not backward in its efforts to 
supplement the amount supplied by Government 
and to avail itself of the opportunity to make 
known to consumeis the good qualities of Ceylon 
Teas, and so to stimulate the demand at a time when 
the production was incieasing enormously throughout 
the island. As 5,550,745 persons visited the Colonial 
and Indian Exhibition it is obvious that Ceylon Tea 
there obtained a splendid advertisement in the United 
Kingdom at any rate. Much of the success of 
Ceyion's representation at this Exhibition was due to 
Mr. J L. Shand's able and energetic effoits as Com- 
missioner nominated by the Planters' Association. 
The success of Ceylon's enterprise at the Colonial 
and Indian Exhibition of 1886 abundantly showed 
how desirable and necessary it was to continue 
efforts in the same line in order to place before the 
consumer the good qualities of Ceylon tea; and henco 
at the several exhibitions held in Great Britain 
immediately follow ing the " Coliuderies " in 1886, 
Ceylon Tea was always well shown (see appendices 
B A E) and its claims to superiority vigorously re- 
presented. The success at the " Colinderies " also 
clearly indicated that some scheme of a more or less 
permanent character to ensure representation of 
Ceylon tea at these and similar exhibitions was neces- 
sary, and to this necessity is due the origin of tlio 
Ceylon IVa fund. 
To Mr. H. K. Kutheifoul is entirely due the credit 
of initiating the Tea Fund and of perceiving that 
this was not a case of subscribing money toward a big 
show in the ordinal}' sense of the words, but of in- 
vesting money in one's own business with every 
prospect of securing a good return Bock of Frc- 
