Dec.  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
427 
NOTES  FROM  OUR  LONDON  LETTER. 
London  Nov.  11. 
After  what  I have  recently  written  you  as  to 
expressions  of  complete  content  spoken  by  Mr. 
Farr  before  leaving  London  with  the  prospeots 
now  before  the  American  Ueylon  Tea  Company 
as  the  result  of  the  grant  of  tea  made  to  it  by 
your  Tea  Fund  Committee  it  was  a moBt  serious 
and  disagreeable  sui  prise  to  me  to  be  shown  a 
letter  just  received  from  that  gentleman  in  which 
he  states  that  the  company  mentioned  is  without 
a farthing  of  money  to  carry  on  its  work, 
and  that  unless  some  can  be  immediately  ob- 
tained the  Company  must  proceed  to  early  liquida- 
tion. When  last  writing  you  my  doubts  were 
expressed  as  to 
WHAT  ME.  FARR  HAD  BEEN  ABLE  TO  ACCOMPLISH 
in  a monetary  way  before  leaving  London,  and 
my  supposition  was  stated  that  he  had  concluded 
all  his  arrangements  beforehand  conditionally  on 
news  as  to  the  grant  above  referred  to  being  received. 
We  can  only  surmise  now  that  he  had  been  too 
hopeful  when  he  spoke  as  he  did  to  my  in- 
formant. His  letter  shown  to  me  does  not  at- 
tempt to  explain  the  discrepancy  between  his 
former  hopeful  view  and  that  he  now  presses 
upon  our  notice.  It  remarks  that  Ceylon  tea  is 
now  on  the  very  “threshold  of  success”  in  America 
but  that  it  cannot  advance  without  immediate 
financial  aid.  Already  his  firm  has  made  very 
large  advances,  and  he  writes  that  it  is 
NOT  DISPOSED  TO  PROCEED  FURTHER 
though  it  is  willing  to  bold  back  from  . any  at- 
tempt to  reoover  the  sum  the  Company  is  in- 
debted  to  it.  That  indebtedness,  Mr.  Farr  further 
writes,  is  the  sole  debt  of  the  Company,  and  he 
thinks  that  with  comparatively  slight  aid  the 
“threshold”  mentioned  may  be  orosstd  and  futuer 
success  secured.  For  this  end  he  proposes  to  issue 
£10,000  OF  ADDITIONAL  SHARES 
at  par,  the  selling  price  of  which  is  to  be  five 
shillings  per  £1  of  stock.  No  doubt  it  is  neoes- 
sary  to  hold  out  some  strong  allurement  to  pro- 
bable investors  in  this  transatlantic  scheme, 
but  the  price  mentioned  appear  to  be  rather  a 
startling  one.  Still  it  is  evident  that  money 
must  be  had  somehow  or  other.  Mr.  Farr  also 
wrote  that  he  had  cabled  Mr.  Grinlinton  as 
to  his  pressing  needs,  and  he  probably  relies 
much  on  that  gentleman’s  well-known  persuasive 
powers  towards  reaching  the  pockets  of  planters 
and  merohantB  in  Ceylon.  He  also  declares 
himself  to  be  confident  that  he  can  duplicate 
every  subscription  promised  in  India  and  Ceylon 
by  a similar  contribution  in  America,  Now  it 
BeemB  that 
WHAT  IS  DEEMED  REQUISITE 
is  a oaeh  realization  of  £2,500.  Half  of  this 
would  be,£l,250 ; and  if  that  sum  oan  be  ob- 
tained here  and  in  Ceylon,  Mr.  Farr  guarantees 
the  whole  demand  being  secured.  You  see  it  is 
not  a heavy  pull  upon  the  purses  of  the  nu- 
merous people  interested  in  Ceylon  toa  that  is 
asked  for.  Mr.  Farr  has  represented  his  case  to 
THE  CEYLON  ASSOCIATION  IN  LONDON  ; 
and  we  hear  it  is  in  contemplation  to  call  a 
meeting  of  the  Tea  Committee  of  that  body  to 
consider  how  help  can  be  given  to  the  American 
Company.  All  of  us  here  would  regret  to  see 
this  come  to  grief  after  so  muoh  has  already 
been  accomplished  ; and  we  hope  that  the  delibe- 
ration of  the  Committee  when  it  meets  will  de- 
cide upon  some  oourse  whiob,  in  conjunction 
with  what  you  may  do  in  Ceylon,  will  avert  so 
fatal  a retrograde  movement  with  respeot  to  the 
prospeots  of  a market  for  your  tea  in  America. 
The  position  is  decidedly  largely  connected  with 
THE  F0R2HCCMING  SHOW  AT  CHICAGO. 
Your  representation  there  must  be  most  injuriously 
affected  if,  just  at  the  moment  before  its  opening,  it 
becomes  known  that  your  teas  have  secured  eo  little 
of  success  in  America  that  their  representative 
Company  has  smashed  up  1 TVhat  can  be  done 
to  avert  this?  we  are  all  asking.  The  strait  is  just 
as  annoyiDg  as  was  that  Mr.  Grinlinton  found  him- 
self to  be  in  with  regard  to  the  funds  necessary 
for  the  carrying  out  of  his  own  work;  but  in  this 
oase  we  oan  have  no  taxation  to  fall  back  upon 
suoh  as  he  has  induced  the  planters  of  Ceylon  to 
voluntarily  submit  to.  I shall  send  you  early  in- 
telligence as  to  what  decision  the  Committee  of  the 
Ceylon  Association  in  London  may  arrive  at.  There 
is  no  time  to  be  lost  if  the  Company  is  to  be 
placed  in  a sound  position  before  the  Exhibition 
at  Chicago  opens,  and  most  of  us  consider  it  to  be 
vital  to  your  island  interests  that  this  should  by 
some  means  or  other  be  done.  We  hear  it  said 
that  probably  £500  of  the  shares  proposed  to  be 
issued  could  be  disposed  of  here  in  London.  If 
this  Bbould  be  the  ease  we  can  hardly  suppose  that 
there  would  be  any  insuperable  difficulty  in  obtaining 
a subscription  of  the  balance  .of  £750  in  Ceylon  ; but 
all  efforts  towards  this  end  here  must  await  the 
meeting  referred  to  of  the  Association’s  Tea  Com- 
mittee. 
THE  “ ORCHILLA.” 
It  is  unknown  to  me  if  the  orohilla  referred  to 
in  the  subjoined  extract  is  identical  with  the 
orchilla  weed  which  is  an  export  from  Ceylon.  I 
rather  fanoy  that  it  is;  and  in  that  case  the  in- 
formation given  in  the  extract  will  be  of  interest 
to  many  of  your  readers. 
The  Orchilla. — Three  interesting  reports  from 
United  States  Consuls,  in  Lower  Calif  ormia,  Cape  Verdi 
and  Ecuador,  dealing  with  the  orchilla  lichen  and 
its  economical  value,  have  recently  been  published 
simultaneously  by  the  Washington  State  Department. 
It  grows  on  rocks  on  the  cost  of  the  Canary  and  Cape 
Verd  Islands,  Sardinia,  Minorca,  and  elsewhere,  and 
in  some  places  is  described  as  a maniature  shrub 
rather  than  a lichen.  It  yields  the  archil  of  com- 
merce, which  gives  a rich  and  extremely  beautiful 
purple  tincture.  It  was  extensively  used  by  dyers 
when,  in  1853,  the  discovery  of  the  orchilla  in  Amenoa 
and  on  the  Galapagos  Islands  is  said  to  have  created 
a commercial  sensaiion  in  Europe,  because  of  its  supe- 
riority over  any  lichen  in  use  prior  to  that  time. 
In  1872  a ship’s  oaptain  discovered  it  in  Lower 
California,  and  altera  few  years  a oertain  Mr.  Hale 
succeeded  in  obtaining  a concession  from  the  Mexican 
Government  of  the  entire  orchilla  lands  on  the  Pacific 
coast  of  that  State — a belt  six  miles  broad  and  com- 
prising nearly  eight  degrees  of  laititude.  About  3,000 
men  were  employed  in  the  industry  ; but  since  the 
Congo  Free  State  has  become  the  main  source  of 
supply  the  California  industry  has  languished.  In  the 
Cape  Verd  Islands  it  is  plentiful,  but  difficult  to 
obtain,  for  it  grows  on  the  sides  of  precipices  where 
it  is  shaded  from  the  sun  the  greater  part  of  the 
day.  The  export  amounts  to  about  120  tons,  and 
goes  mainly  to  Lisbon.  In  Ecuador  it  is  gathered 
by  hand,  put  in  the  sun  to  dry  and  cure,  and  is  then 
pressed  into  bales.  The  demand  at  present  is  small. 
It  is  used  in  Europe,  especially  the  Galapagos  variety, 
because  of  the  delicate  colour,  lustre,  ana  tone  that 
it  gives  to  silk. 
THE  SEPARATION  OF  PRECIOUS  STONES  FROM  THEIR 
MATRIX, 
I this  week  sought  an  interview  with  Mr.  Henry 
Saunders,  who,  it  had  been  told  me,  would  be  abie 
to  afford  me  full  information  with  respect  to  it. 
That  gentlemen  was  kmd  enough  to  furnish  me 
with  very  full  particulars,  and  communication  of 
these  to  yourselves  will  doubtless  be  pusetssed  of 
interest,  You  arq  aware  that  one  of  the  gieatest 
