July  i,  *892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
65 
$0tlt!£sspcmtf3no3» 
- •» — ■ — — 
To  the  Editor. 
THE  STABILITY  OF  THE  OEYLON  TEA 
INDUSTRY. 
38,  MinciDg  Lane,  E.  C.,  London,  13th  May. 
Dear  Sir,— We  hand  herewith  an  article  on 
tea  whioh  appeared  in  the  London  Financial  News 
sent  to  the  formation  of  the  Association  which  will 
not  take  definite  shape  until  practically  all  the  cin- 
chona planters  of  the  whole  world  shall  have  ex- 
pressed their  willingness  to  join. 
The  Association  will  he  managed  by  a Committee 
of  12  (6  in  London  and  6 in  Amsterdam)  chosen  from 
among  the  leading  members  of  the  Bark  trade  in  its 
two  chief  oentres  and  these  gentlemen  will  both  direct 
the  affairs  of  the  Association  and  also  safeguard  the 
interests  of  all  those  who  are  now  in  any  way  in- 
terested c-ither  in  the  cultivation  or  in  the  sale  of 
cinchona. — Signed  for  the  Trading  Founders, 
Rivers  Hicks. 
of  May  6th. 
As  we  deemed  the  statements  respecting  Ceylon 
misleading,  and  unfair  to  those  interested  in  tea 
plantations,  we  at  onoe  wrote  the  enclosed  letter, 
which  appeared  in  print  on  the  9th  and  we  hope 
may  correct  the  wrong  impressions  produced  by 
the  artiole. 
A letter  whioh  has  sinoe  been  printed,  signed 
by  Mr.  Hawes,  does  not  weaken  the  position  we 
have  taken  up,  nor,  in  our  opinion,  need  reply. 
—Yours  faithfully, 
W.  JAS.  & HY.  THOMPSON, 
[The  letters  referred  to  are  quoted  by  Mr.  John 
Ferguson  in  his  letter  on  page  42.— Ed.  T.  A.] 
PROPOSED  CINCHONA  SYNDICATE. 
TEA  IN  INDIA  AND  OEYLON. 
Upcountry,  June  4th. 
Dear  Sir, — The  note  of  warning  to  the  planters 
in  your  London  Letter  of  May  13th  haB  not  come  a 
clay  too  eoon.  India  has  resources,  both  in  soil 
and  climate  (the  latter  giving  the  tea  a rest),  that  we 
have  not ; they  have  also  an  unlimited  reserve  of  new 
land  to  fall  baok  upon,  that  we  also  have  not— the 
struggle  between  the  two  is  only  now  beginning, 
and,  it  is  a case  of  who  has  got  the  greatest 
amount  of  mineral  matter  in  the  soil,  available  for 
tea.  Allowing  other  conditions  to  be  equal,  this  will 
decide  who  is  going  to  take  the  cake.— Yours  truly, 
AN  OLD  COFFEE  STUMP. 
London,  May  13th. 
Dear  Sir,— By  today’s  registered  book  post  I am 
sending  you  two  copies  of  the  papers  connected 
with  the  proposed  Cinchona  Association,  which 
ia  at  the  present  moment  engaging  the  serious 
attention  of  a'l  sections  of  the  trade. 
It  is  not  however,  intended  to  form  the  Associa- 
tion until  the  bark  unit  shall  have  fallen  below 
one  penny  and  until  planters  shall  have  proved 
that  they  really  desire  higher  prices  by  showing 
their  willingness  to  join.  — Yours  faithfully, 
RIVERS  HICKS. 
Cinchona  Association,  Limited. 
Capital  £1,000,000  (£100,000  to  be  called  up).  Offic  0 
London  and  Amsterdam-  i 
It  is  proposed  to  associate  all  persons  interested 
in  the  cultivation  or  in  the  sale  of  Cinchona  with 
a view  to  raising  its  price. 
The  Association,  when  formed,  Will  at  once  contraot 
for  the  World’s  crops  or  shipments  of  Bark  during 
3 years,  at  a price  a little  over  that  ruling  in  the 
market  immediately  before  the  formation  of  the  Com 
pany,  and  will  resell  them  as  required  at  an  advance 
in  price  of  Id  or  2d  a uDit. 
The  net  profits  thus  made  will  be  divided  equally 
between  those  who  shall  have  provided  the  bark  and 
those  who  shall  have  found  the  money,  with  which 
to  finance  it  thus: — . . 
A planter  who  shall  sell  to  the  Association  £1,000 
worth  of  Bark  will  receive  his  £1,000  cash  against 
deliveries,  and  in  addition,  even  if  he  take  no  shares 
in  the  Association,  will  get  one-half  of  the  net  pro- 
fit* whioh  the  Association  shall  make  on  the  resale 
of  £1,000  worth  of  its  purchases.  If  however  the  planter 
shall  also  subscribe  for  £1,000  share  iu  the  Association 
he  will  receive  beside  his  £1,000  cash  against 
deliveries  the  whole  of  the  net  profits  resulting  from 
the  sale  by  the  Asso.’iation  of  £L,000  worth  of  its 
purchases.  ... 
The  profits  of  the  Association  will  be  subject  to  no 
deduotion  in  respect  of  the  cost  of  its  formation 
until  the  price  of  Barks  shall  have  advanced  to  2d 
per  unit,  after  whioh  10  °/o  of  its  profits  will  be  paid 
to  the  Founders  and  this  payment  will  constitute 
the  sole  remuneration  of  the  founders. 
Planters  are  requested  to  apply  for,  fill  up  and 
sign  “Planters’  offer  and  contract”  forms  and  then 
to  return  them  to  their  own  European  representa- 
tives, for  by  so  doing  they  will  express  their  con- 
[This letter  has  been  largely  answered  by 
anticipation  in  the  artiole  which  appeara  on 
page  4l.  But  we  are  glad  of  the  reference  to 
our  soil,  so  as  to  be  able  to  say  that  its  quality, 
especially  for  the  growth  of  tea,  has  been  very 
unduly  under-rated.  Of  course  we  speak  cf  soil 
wbioh  has  not  been  exhausted  by  maDy  years  of 
coffee  oulture.  Even  in  such  cases  much  may  be 
done  to  bring  the  soil  into  good  condition  by  the 
application  of  fertilizing  substances,  which  also  can 
be  ueeJ  indefinitely  to  postpone  the  exhaustion  of 
virgin  soil  or  soil  only  slightly  exhausted,  planted 
with  tea.  We  have  dealt  with  the  question  of  “rest;” 
and  as  regards  reserve  of  soil  to  fall  back  upon,  we 
must,  of  oourse,  admit  that  we  oannot  compete  with 
India,  although  there  is  still  considerable  room  for 
expansion,  if  lands  at  high  altitude  were  sold  subject 
to  conditions  of  tree  culture  in  good  proportion. 
Meantime  our  wisdom  is  to  concentrate  culture 
including  manure,  on  our  planted  area,  whioh,  if 
limited, is  well  supplied  with  means  of  communication, 
and  everywhere  muoh  nearer  the  seaport  than  any 
Indian  tea  district  is. — Ed.  T.  A.] 
VEGETABLE  PRODUCTION. 
Dear  Sir, — In  your  issue  of  the  30th  May  I 
noticed  an  article  evidently  from  yourself— under 
the  above  heading,  quoting  Surgeon-Major  ixirti- 
kar’s  observations  on  reproduction  by  means  of 
fruit-eating  birds,  I think  it  fair  to  your  readers  to 
tell  them,  and  you,  what  I have  all  my  life  ob- 
served. We  all  know  that  many  species  of  birds, 
particularly  the  pigeon  tribe,  eat  fruit  voraciously, 
the  smaller  birds  eating  smaller  fruit,  the  larger 
the  large-sized  kinds,  according  to  throat  or  swal- 
lowing capacity.  That  while  the  painted  pigeon 
(Sin.  battagoya,  Tam  itti  praa ) swallows  hundreds  of 
pala  or  ironwood  fruit  and  that  of  the  Ficus  reli- 
giosa,  the  great  fruit  pigeon,  the  occeanica,  bolts  a 
large  number  of  the  fruit  of  the  wild  nutmeg,  known 
locally  as  the  “ pal-manicum,”  not  to  be  distin- 
guished from  the  true  nutmeg  by  a stranger  to 
Ceylon,  by  reason  of  the  exact  similarily,  between 
the  two,  both  possessing  in  common  the  yellow 
stiff  rind,  the  mace  and  the  lovely  shiny-dark 
brown  nut ; but  one  difference  there  is  and 
that  is,  that  while  the  nutmeg  of  the  “ Moluc- 
cas” grows  on  a moderate  sized  tree  more  a 
large  busk,  the  wiid  nutmeg  grows  to  the  height  of 
9 
