8 
THE  TRQPtCAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[July  i,  1892. 
tainted  “ Sierra  Leone,”  and  for  some  days  fought 
shy  of  th9  vessel.  But  Mr.  Dickson,  though  full 
of  faith  in  the  future  of  the  Ceylon  tea  trade  in 
America,  doubted  if  merchants  ever  in  the  present 
day  make  so  much  profit,  as  he  cleared  from  bis 
miscellaneous  assortment  of  Ceylon  goods  forty  years 
ago.  Again,  the  veteran  Mr.  John  Capper,  now  in 
his  78th  year,  was  at  the  meeting,  reporting 
for  his  journal  and  apparently  as  hale  and 
active  with  his  penoil  at  tho  desk  as  I re- 
member him  in  the  Legislative  Council  thirty 
years  ago.  Mr.  Grinlinton’s  explanations  were  all 
dear  and  generally  approved  of,  especially  the 
arrangement  to  supply  cups  cf  Ceylon  tea  properly 
infused  and  with  good  croam  and  sugar,  free  of 
charge  to  visitors  ; it  was  feared  though  that  the 
Court  buildings  (including  dagoba)  were  scarcely 
extensive  and  large  enough  to  arrest  attention  in 
a place  built  on  so  enormous  a soala  as  the  Ex- 
hibition is  to  be;  while  it  was  generally  agreed 
that  the  total  amount  of  money  available  or  in 
prospect  so  far  was  inadequate  to  doing  justice. 
The  increase  of  the  British  vote  was  mentioned 
apparently  as  a reason  why  the  Ceylon  official 
vote  of  B50.000  should  be  increased  ; but  I suspect 
that  in  proportion  to  total  amount  of  revenue, 
Ceylon  stands  better  in  its  vote  than  either  the 
United  Kingdom  or  India.  Mr.  Whittall,  who 
presided  and  who  discharges  the  dutips  of  Chair- 
man at  such  gatherings,  so  far  as  I have  seen 
with  business-like  precision,  tact  and  courtesy 
— supported  as  he  is  so  well  by  the  experienced 
Secretary,  Mr.  Leake — was  anxious  that  a sub- 
scription list  for  London  friends  should  be  begun 
in  tbe  room;  but  eventually  he  deoided  to  leave 
the  circulation  and  management  of  this  list  to  Mr. 
Leake,  who  would,  he  felt  sure,  arrange  the  business 
with  his  usual  taot.  Mr.  A.  A.  Delmege,  who  has 
reoently  returned  from  a shooting  expedi  ion  in 
the  far  West  of  the  Rockies,  gave  an  interesting 
account  of  how  he  and  his  companions  were  served 
at  a remote  station  with  capitr.l  tea  which  turned 
out  to  be  from  a chest  of  the  pure  Ceylon  article, 
and  how  the  railway  engine-driver,  stoker  and 
the  train  conductor  deolared  they  got  such  tea 
nowhere  else.  This  bears  out  what  I have  always 
said  about  the  good  opening  in  the  Central  and 
Western  States,  where  the  people  are  free  of  pre- 
judice and  many  of  them  fresh  from  the  old 
country,  for  Ceylon  teas.  But  then  Mr.  Delmege 
(whose  firm  was  one  of  the  earliest  to  enter  the 
American  trade)  proceeded  to  show  how  over  and 
over  again  he  had  urged  on  their  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  friends  who  were  bo  ready  to  do  a 
business  in  Ceylon  oils,  plumbago,  coffee,  &c.,  to 
place  Ceylon  teas,  but  in  vain.  The  largo  tea  dealers 
in  the  Eastern  States  hold  a monopoly  and  making 
their  profit  of  fid  and  more  per  lb.  out  of  China 
and  Japan  teas  they  do  not  see  why  they  should 
encourage  a new  and  dearer  article,  allowing  a 
profit  of  perhaps  only  2d  a lb.  It  is  the  Aus- 
tralian case  over  again  ; and  this  was  fully  acknow- 
ledged by  Mr.  Elwood  May,  who,  being  called  on  by 
Mr.  Whittall,  gave  an  account  of  his  Company’s  work, 
in  its  oareful,  substantial  mode  of  procedure,  so 
as  to  lay  a good  foundation  in  educating  the  taste 
of  the  consumers,  rather  than  in  attempting  a more 
showy  course  which,  while  securing  a sudden 
consumption  of  2 or  3 million  lb.  of  Ceylon  tea, 
would  in  reality  prove  a mere  flesh  in  the  pan. 
Mr.  May  appreciated  Mr.  Grinlinton’s  mission  and 
is  sure  that  if  utilized  properly  the  Chicago 
opportunity  should  help  forward  the  good  work  of 
making  the  American  people  understand  the 
superior  quality  of  Ceylon  teas — that  is  of  the 
good  grades.  [It  is  satisfactory  to  learn  from  Mr. 
Stanton  that  as  a matter  of  fact,  the  demand  for 
Ceylon  tea  in  America  is  steadily  progressive, 
although  of  course,  comparatively,  it  is  still  the  day 
of  Email  things.]  It  was  Eatisfactory  to  hear  that 
the  Commissioner  hopes  to  realize  a coed  deal  by 
the  sale  of  Ceylon  tea  in  the  Exhibition  anu  also 
ol  the  Court  material— Ceylon  woods  for  instance 
and  exhibits.  It  is  possible,  too,  that  money  may 
be  saved  by  articles  being  lent  from  the  Imperial 
Institute  (some  of  the  Colinderies’  Exhibits  for 
instance). 
A further  suggestion  I have  sines  made  to  Mr. 
Grinlinton  has  reference  to  a paragraph  I have  come 
across  in  the  London  Letter  (of  six  weeks  ago)  of  a 
Manchester  paper  in  which  it  is  stated  that  at  tho 
Horticultural  Exhibition  shortly  to  be  opened  at 
Earls  Court  (with  “ Buffalo  Bill’s  Show”)  amoDg 
other  attractions  will  be  a model  tea  garden  show” 
ing  the  cultivation  of  tea  in  all  stages  in  the  fiMd, 
and  the  preparation  of  the  leaf  all  through  the’ 
Factory,  This  ought  also,  undoubtedly,  °to  he 
a feature  at  Chioago. 
Mr.  Grinlinton  has  been  busy  in  other  directions, 
meeting  the  American  Minister,  Mr.  Lincoln,  and 
obtaining  letters  for  influential  citizenB  in  New 
York  and  Chicago.  I have  myself  been  sending  in- 
timation aoross  the  Atlantic  to  journalist  friends  about 
his  mission,  so  as  to  oreate  interest  in  advance  ; for 
clearly,  the  bigger  the  ‘‘  advertisement”  Ceylon  and 
its  tea  gets  in  this  matter  the  better.  Mr.  Grinlinton 
leaves  Wymondham,  Rutlandshire,  on  Saturday 
(tom  rrow),  goiDgto  Edinburgh  on  the  2nd  and  then 
back  to  Liverpool  to  embark  on  the  S.  S.  “ City 
of  New  York”  on  the  4th  May.  That  he  will  not 
have  a iong  passage  may  be  judged  from  the  fol- 
lowing paragraph  now  going  the  round  of  the 
London  press  : — 
The  Thansatlantic  Record  Again  Broken. 
The  Inman  liner  “ City  of  New  York  ” arrived  at 
Queenstown  on  Tuesday  at  seven  o’clock  after  a re- 
markably fast  passage,  having  broken  the  record  for 
the  distance  on  a single  day’s  run  east  bound  by 
making  482  knots  (555  statute  miles)  in  a day  of 
twenty-three  hours  and  ten  minutes.  Her  sister  ship, 
the  “'City  of  Paris,”  has  also  made  a record  passage 
by  arriving  at  Sandy  Hook  before  6 a.m.  This  is  the 
first  occasion  on  which  two  steamers  of  any  line  going 
in  opposite  directions  have  together  averaged  con- 
siderably over  twenty  knots. 
After  a lew  days  in  New  York,  the  “ Commissioner” 
will  go  on  to  Chicago  for  his  work  occupying  two 
months  or  so,  since  he  expects  to  be  back  in  London 
by  July  and  out  in  Ceylon  in  October— baok  again 
with  a staff  of  some  12  to  20  Ceylonese  (who  will 
not  be  the  least  attraction  in  t e Court  or  adver- 
tisement of  the  Colony)  by  February-March  1893. 
Mahogany  Cutting  is  one  of  the  chief  in 
dustries  of  British  Honduras.  The  export  of  timber 
varies  from  about  4,000,  00  feet  to  about  0,000,000 
feet  per  annum.  Tbe  annual  value  is  about  a 
quarter  of  a million  sterling.  The  mahogany  forests 
are  cut  over  once  in  about  fifteen  years.  The  trees 
are  selected  and  cut  down  generally  above  the  large 
slab-1  ke  buttresses  which  grow  cut  of  the  base  of 
the  stem.  They  are  then  Equared  into  convenient 
logs  and  drawn  on  heavy  truoks  to  the  nearest 
stream.  The  broad,  massive  wheels  of  these  trucks 
are  sometimes  cut  cut  of  the  slab-like  buttresses  of 
the  mahogany  trees  or  by  sawing  pieces  aoross  the 
stems  of  .Santa  Maria  trees  ( Galophyllum  C'alaba). 
Recently  Sir  Alfred  Moloney,  k.c.m.g.,  Governor  of 
British  Honduras,  forwarded  to  Kew  two  truck 
wheels  that  have  been  in  use  in  the  mahogany 
forests,  consisting  of  cross  sections,  about  12  inches 
thick  Of  mahogany  and  Santa  Mnria  trees.  These 
are  roughly  trimmed  and  pierced  for  the  axle. — 
Kew  Bulletin, 
