August  i,  1892.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
j39 
produot  in  the  home  market  ” and  that  the  same  is 
being  done  in  Chicago  “ with  a view  of  securing  a 
practical  monopoly  of  the  Amuican  market.’  So 
much  the  better  ! Every  effort  should  be  made  to 
raise  the  average  to  Is  per  lb.  The  correspondent 
of  the  Englishman  writes  that  a representative  is 
to  be  sent  to  the  World’s  Fair  at  Chicago  “ who 
shall  convert  the  free  citizens  of  the  United  States 
from  their  present  faith  in  the  Chinese  product  to 
an  enlightened  taste  for  ‘ MazawattieU  (sic)! 
Surely  this  is  “ a confusion  of  ‘ Epitaphs  ! 
With  many  apologies  for  the  length  of  this  letter, 
I remain,  yours  faithfully, 
ARTHUR  C.  ISHAM. 
TEA  CULTIVATION  AND  SCIENCE. 
Deak  Sib, — It  is  quite  too  delightful  to  got  a 
bit  of  true  science  into  the  discussions  on  tea 
cuiuvation.  It  is  c-xaotly  the  thing  that  is  most 
wanted.  But  let  it  not  be  veiled  in  ambiguity 
and  buried  in  verbiage.  We  are  told  that  the 
right  system  is  to  tap  the  inexhaustible  atmosphere, 
and  not  the  soil,  for  flush.  That  is  splendid 
and  true  science '.  Only  let  us  know  how  to  do 
it— how  to  compel  the  trees  to  turn  their  atten- 
tion, more  than  they  do  in  their  own  natural  way 
ol  feeding— to  the  nectar  of  the  air  and  less  to 
the  “ sour  ” soil.  How  a plentiful  rainfall  “ sous" 
the  cle  an  soil  of  our  mountain  slopes  should  also 
be  explained  scientifically.  Then,  again,  why 
should  trees  be  pruned  this  way  instead  of  that 
way?  Why  in  January  rather  than  in  June? 
Why  high  instead  of  low,  &e.  ? Also,  who  has 
proved  that  the  roots  “ die"  in  proportion  as  the 
tree  is  pruned  ? Do  they  really  die  and  grow 
again,  or  is  their  action  the  operation  of  their 
natural  functions,  only  temporarily  suspended  or 
suspended  at  all  ? Or,  are  their  functions  rot 
aotually  quickened  (acoordieg  to  the  season),  th 
tree  resting,  in  any  case,  when  it  is  natural  foe 
it  to  rest,  and  active,  in  any  case,  when  itr 
“season  ” for  active  life  come  s round  ? If  the  tres 
has  been  pruned  it  naturally  expends  its  powe/-e 
to  clothe  itself  again  with  foliage  (to  our  advantag.^e) 
but  if  it  has  not  been  pruned  it  turns  its  attent’on 
to  seed,  or  to  its  strength  in  stem  and  branch  ? 
Almost  invisible  in  its  result?,  at  least,  I suppose  so 
only  we  want  the  Oracles  to  say. 
I am  asking  questions,  not  teaching.  Should 
not  our  chief  Btudy  be  the  “ seasons,  ’’  and  our 
cultivation  be  regulated  according  to  (hem  ? 
Does  a farmer  at  home  sow  when  ho  should  harvest, 
or  expect  to  harvest  in  “seedtime’’?  Are  there 
not  well-marked  seasons  in  Ceylon?  Uva  with 
ita  seasons  and  Kandy  with  its  seasons  ? Each 
a separate  study.  Does,  Bay  on  the  Kandy  side, 
elevation  mean  anything  more  than  a little 
earlier  or  a little  later  activity  than  the  true 
mean  ? Would  any  system  of  pruning  compel  tea 
to  flush  as  pbnteously  in  January,  February  and 
Maroh  as  it  does  na'urally  in  April,  May  and 
June— or  in  July,  August  and  September  as  in 
October,  November  and  December? 
I was  a long  time  in  going  over  my  pruning  last 
year.  Am  I wrong  in  saying  that,  notwithstanding 
that,  nearly  all  the  fields  are  now  alike,  the 
earlier  pruned  lagging  and  the  latter  pruned 
hurrying  on  the  growth? 
One  of  your  correspondent  says,  “ the  dry  season 
has  been  a blessing  in  disguise”!  I do  not  dispute 
it,  but  I should  like  to  know  “ why,”  apart  from 
sweetening  the  soil.  It  has  put  a fearful  lot  of 
flower,  bud  and  seed  on  the  tre^s,  whereas  we 
want  so  to  control  the  trees’  natural  foroes  to 
produce  leaf  only,  I have  no  doubt  it  can  be  done, 
and  that  your  correspondents  are  on  the  right  track. 
Only  I ask  for  more  reasons,  or,  in  other  words, 
proof,  so  that  we  can  feel  safe  in  following  their 
lead.'  ANOTHER  PROPRIETOR.. 
P.  Since  writing  the  above  I see  in  your  yester- 
day’s issue  another  correspondent  urging  the 
same  question.  His  short  note  is  headed  ‘Tka 
Cultivation  and  Tea  Buyers,”  but  it  is  not  very  clear 
where  the  “Buyers”  come  in. 
CEYLON  AT  THE  CHICAGO  SHOW: 
A GOOD  INVESTMENT. 
Madulkele,  July  8th. 
Dear  Sie,- — It  is  now  some  time  eince  Mr. 
GriDlinlon  wired  that  £20,000  would  be  needed  to 
thoroughly  represent  Ceylon  at  the  Chicago  Fair, 
and  as  yet  no  cne  has  made  any  suggestion  as 
to  how  the  extra  sum  is  to  be  raised.  Of  rid i- 
cul  ■ there  has  been  enough  and  to  spar  ',  the 
latest  hailing  from  Nawalapitiya  being  a fair 
specimen  of  the  kind.  This  talk  of  low  prices 
for  our  teas  preventing  more  money  being  sub- 
scribed is  the  sharpest-edged  tool  such  writers 
could  play  with,  as  it  cuts  the  very  vitals  out 
of  their  argument.  The  lower  the  price  goes  the 
more  need  to  beslir  ourselves.  The  tea  market 
has  now  reached  the  lowest  stage  it  has  ever 
touched.  It  is  not  because  our  teas  are  bad  ; for 
I affirm  that  the  teas  made  Curing  the  last  six 
months  in  CeyloD  have  been  equal  to,  if  not  better 
than  ever  before  sent  to  London,  better  made  from 
better  leaf,  and  from  improved  machinery.  Brokers 
also  find  little  to  condemn  in  the  teas,  and  yet  tho 
prices  are  heart-breaking.  If  Ceylon  planters 
could  only  for  one  week  be  transported  to  America 
and  taken  through  the  vast  territories  of  “ UdcIg 
^iim”  to  see  the  great  cities  teeming  witii  acti- 
vity and  population,  all  of  them  desirous  to  get 
good  tea  and  only  waiting  to  have  it  put  before 
them  in  a sub  able  fashion,  they  wou’d  be  the  first 
to  acknowledge  that  not  a modest  £20,000,  but  a 
sum  twioe  as  big  would  bo  well  spent  to  gain  over 
such  a constituency.  Yankees  and  Southerners  are 
fond  of  show,  tall  talk  and  swagger,  as  long  as 
there  are  dollars  behind.  Commissioner  Grinlinton 
without  dollars  would  bo  no  one,  “ charm  he  ever 
so  wisely,”  but  backed  with  plenty  of  cash,  and 
in  the  position  to  blow  his  trumpet  with  the  loudest 
of  them,  Ceylon  is  bound  to  profit.  Look  at  Com- 
missioner Ferguson  at  Melbourne  : how  out  of  small 
beginnings  what  handsome  results  have  accrued. 
Do  not  let  the  good  ship  bo  lost  for  a pennyworth 
of  paint-,  but  to  raise  the  required  sum  let  super- 
intendents of  tea  estates  come  forward  and  like  the 
Assam  planters  tax  their  salaries  10  per  cent 
to  make  up  the  deficiency.  Do  not  imagine 
the  crowd  who  will  freqhent  the  Great  World’s 
Fair  at  Chicago  will  bo  like  a common  or 
gnrden  every-day  Cockney  throng,  the  hoi  polloi 
who  jostle  each  other  at  an  Earl’s  Court  or  a 
Chelsea  Exhibition.  The  Americans  are  one  and  all 
well  educated  and  as  keen  as  hawks,  and  although 
narrow-minded  in  that  they  think  there  is  no 
country  like  America  or  people  like  Uncle  Sam’s 
children,  they  will  appreciate  good  Ceylon  tea,  as 
I have  seen  for  myself  in  hundreds  of  cases,  if 
it  only  be  put  within  their  reach. 
Indian  papers  have  been  patting  Ceylon  planters 
on  the  back,  more  to  urge  on  their  own  fellows  to  “go 
on  belter”  than  that  we  really  deserve  it.  Let  us 
now  show  that  we  really  mean  business  ar.d  in  some 
way  or  other  raiso  the  bum  already  subscribed  to 
the  £20,000  wanted. 
Io  conclusion  I leave  better  and  older  men  than 
myself  to  decide  how  the  money  is  to  be  raised. 
I caa  only  propose  that  in  the  event  of  Government 
