Jan.  2,  1893.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST 
479 
Acme  Tea  Chests. — We  hear  of  a small  con- 
signment being  on  the  way  to  the  island  of  150 
half-chests  from  the  Acme  Company  Ltd.  As 
the  Acme  chest  is  said  to  have  many  special 
qualities  it  will  no  doubt  attraot  attention.  The 
consignee  is  to  send  a sample  chest  to  the  Office  of 
the  Tropical  Agriculturist  for  the  inspection  of  all 
interested  in  the  careful  paoking  of  our  staple 
produot. 
Tree-Planting  Upcountry. — Mr.  Maclde  of 
Great  Western  assures  us  that  great  as  is  the 
change  whioh  we  have  seen  oome  over  Dimbula 
within  the  past  few  years,  it  is  nothing  to  that  which 
will  be  seen  in  the  next  half  dozen  years  ; for  half  the 
tree  seed  or  young  tree  plants  put  in  are  not  visible 
yet.  In  his  own  case,  he  has  put  grevilleas  not 
only  on  his  roadsides,  but  all  along  the  sides  of 
drains,  ravines,  the  riversides  and  the  boundaries, 
and  most  of  them  are  still  very  young. 
Coffee  in  Jamaica. — While  we  read  that  on 
the  whole  coffee  cultivation  is  extending  in  Jamaica, 
we  regret  to  learn  from  our  old  friend,  Mr.  Wm. 
Sabonadi5re,  that  his  plantation  of  Arntully  is  not 
turning  out  a success,  bearing  very  poor  crops, 
much  of  the  land  being  too  steep  and  light  to  pay 
well.  Mr.  Sabonadiere  now  feels  that  he  would 
have  done  better  had  he  returned  to  Ceylon  and 
gone  into  “tea"  at  the  time  he  went  to  Jamaica. 
Mr.  Sabonadiere  is  63  years  of  age.  We  hope 
yet  to  hear  of  greater  success  for  him  on  the 
Blue  Mountains,  and  of  his  being  able  to  revisit 
Ceylon  and  take  a trip  by-and-bye  on  the  Bailway 
to  Uva. 
Indo-Ceylon  Tea  in  Canada.  -To  Messrs.  Kearney 
Bros.,  of  27  St.  John  street,  is  due  the  credit  of 
introducing  pure  Indigo-Ceylon  Thistle  brand  tea, 
which  is  now  consumed  all  over  the  Dominion,  and 
is  daily  growing  in  popularity.  The  sales  of  this  en- 
ticing article  at  first  were  small,  but  when  its  goo  1 
qualities  beoame  better  known  they  rose  very  rapidly, 
putting  Messrs.  Kearney  under  the  necessity  of  largely 
increasing  their  staff  in  order  to  supply  the  demand. 
Judging  from  the  past,  there  is  very  little  doubt  it 
will  beoome  the  recognized  article  for  every  home. 
Visitors  to  the  Exhibition  should  not  fail  to  oall  at 
Messrs.  Kearney’s  handsomely  arranged  exhibit  in  the 
main  building,  where  Mr  Kearney  will  personally 
present  them  with  a sample  of  the  Thistle  Brand 
Tea  in  order  to  give  them  an  opportunity  to  t-st  for 
themselves  its  quality.— Montreal  Daily  Herald. 
Coffee  in  Selangor.— Mr.  C.  H.  A,  Turney,  in 
his  report  for  the  month  of  October,  states  that 
on  5th,  he  visited  a small  coffee  plantation  owned 
by  a Tamil,  named  Sangilie  on  a steep  spur  of  the 
Jugra  Hill.  It  is  a 12-acre  patch  of  which  he  has 
10  acres  planted  up  with  about  8,000  plants;  of 
this  6,000  plants  have  been  in  bearing  for  18  months, 
yielding  10  pikuls  of  beans,  and  the  balance  of  the 
trees  are  in  blossom.  The  beans  he  sells  to  a trader, 
who  furnishes  him  with  supplies,  at  $23  per  pikul, 
being  at  least  $10  per  pikul  under  market  rates.  He 
works  himself  with  six  Tamil  coolies,  whom  he  pays 
at  the  rate  of  $7'50  per  mensem,  and  is  quite  satis- 
fied with  his  prospects.  The  plants  look  healthy  and 
robust  and  are  heavily  laden,  although  the  patch 
he  selected  has  been  covered  with  lalang  for  years. 
The  soil  is  a composition  of  yellow  earth  with  a 
large  proportion  of  decayed  granite  in  it. — Penang 
Gazette. 
“ Secrets  About  Tea". — This  is  the  title  of  an- 
interview  whioh  representative  of  the  Mail  and 
Express,  New  York,  had  with  Mr.  S.  Elwood  May. 
After  some  general  remarks  the  president  of  the 
Ceylon  Planters’  Tea  Company  thus  referred  to 
the  famous  Ceylon  tea  : — 
“Toe  tea  of  Cey'on  has  two  strengths:  that  of  tea, 
whioh  is  delioate,  fine,  inspiring  and  that  of  taunm, 
puckery,  harsh,  unpleasing,  bitter.  One  is  a beauti- 
ful amtier;  the  other  is  dark  and  forbidding. 
All  tea  has  these  two  strength.  A proper 
steeping  extraots  the  better  and  leaves  the 
worse.  Japan  and  China  teas  at  their  best,  are, 
coarse  compared  with  that  of  Ceylon,  which  is  new 
to  your  taste.  This  newness  is  ‘ herby.’  Why  not  ? 
Is  not  tea  an  herb?  Would  you  have  it  metallic  ? 
Excuse  the  herby  taste  for  a week ; you  will  find  it 
outgrowing  excuse.  Your  taste  is  righting  itself.” 
Mr.  May  also  related  how  a lady  had  called  at 
bis  office  and  desired  to  be  supplied  with  golden 
tip  Ceylon  tea: — 
“ I was  not  long  in  presenting  myself,  and  in- 
formed her  that  the  last  sale  of  Golden  Tip  Ceylon 
tea  brought  at  public  auction  $183  in  London  and 
was  bought  by  an  English  lord,  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  say  when  the  next  parcel  would  be 
offered,  and  that  only  five  to  eight  pounds  came  to 
the  London  market  at  a time,  and  that  only  occasion- 
ally. There  must  have  been  some  of  the  curiosity  I 
felt  as  to  what  she  could  want  with  such  costly  tea 
depicted  on  my  countenance,  for  after  a short  pause 
she  said  : ‘ I would  gladly  purchase  five  pounds  at 
$200  a pound,  as  I am  going  to  give  a tea.  I am 
constantly  gomg  abroad,  and  always  proclaim,  when 
provoked  to  do  so,  that  we  Americans  have  the  best 
of  everything.  I should  like  to  feel  that  we  had 
entertained  our  friends'in  America  with  tea  at  $200  a 
pound,  for  I recently  read  of  the  sale  of  tea  you 
speak  of  in  London  at  $183.’  I was  so  carried  away 
with  her  national  pride,  that  I forthwith  offered,  if 
she  would  permit  me  to  send  her  some  of  our  best 
Bhud  tea,  with  my  compliments.  After  her  departure 
my  mind  turned  to  other  whims  that  rioh  Ameriaans 
had  indulged  in,  and  I concluded  that  nowhere  are 
there  so  many  people  willing  to  spend  fabulous  sums 
for  the  gratification  of  their  pride  *Dd  fancies.” 
Ceylon  Tea  in  America. — The  inconsistency 
of  some  people  is  wonderful  ! Here  is  a journalist 
and  certain  other  members  of  the  community 
who  have  taken  care,  we  suppose,  that  their  own 
pockets  have  not  suffered,  sneering  away  at  the 
advertising  of  Ceylon  tea  effeoted  in  the  United 
States  by  the  Planters’  Tea  Company,  during 
the  last  three  years  and  yet  they  are  as  urgent 
as  any  of  us  in  the  desire  to  spend  £20,000  of 
Ceylon  money  at  Chicago,  in  what  is  nothing  if 
not  a big  advertisement,  and  mainly  with  the  view 
to  advertise  Ceylon  tea  1 What  is  the  Columbian 
Exposition  to  this  Colony  save  as  a big  advertise- 
ment for  Ceylon  tea  ? Were  it  not  for  the  need 
of  making  known  our  staple  at  the  Show,  we 
question  if  an  expenditure  of  even  20,000  rupees 
wou'd  be  sanctioned  at  Chicago.  Some  people 
indeed  doubt  if  we  are  doing  alto- 
gether the  right  thing  in  order  to  get  the 
greatest  return  for  our  money.  Here  is  what  a 
City  man  (not  a merchant  or  broker  and 
yet  interested  as  an  outsider  in  Ceylon  tea) 
writes  to  us : — 
“ In  America  the  £20,000  that  is  to  be  spent  seems  a 
large  sum  for  Ceylon  to  spend  in  helping  private  firms 
to  start  a new  business.” 
As  regards  the  increased  demand  for  Ceylon  tea  in 
America  since  the  Company  began  its  work,  it  is 
simply  silly  of  our  contemporary  to  take  advantage  of 
a slip  made  in  our  absence,  and  for  him  to  repeat  the 
figures  of  looal  export,  as  if  they  represented  all  the 
Ceylon  tea  sent  to  America  (see  next  page).  In  the 
case  of  Australia  all  the  Ceylon  tea  taken  has  been 
shipped  direct  from  our  shores.  In  the  ease  of 
America,  we  should  have  to  get  the  London 
figures  for  1889,  1890  as  well  as  1891  and  1892  to 
add  to  the  looal  returns  before  we  realized  the  very 
considerable  increase  whioh  has  taken  plaoe.  We 
surely  need  not  point  out  that  Australia  has  always 
been  essentially  a tea-oonsuming  country,  whereas 
in  America  cofee  has  been,  and  still  is,  the  drink 
par  excellence  of  the  people.  The  distance,  too, 
of  America  from  Ceylon  (as  compared  with  the 
Southern  Colonies,)  tells  against  our  efforts  to  con- 
vert our  Amerioan  cousins  to  the  use  of  Ceylon  tea. 
