644 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[April  i,  1893. 
IMPORTS  OF  TEA  INTO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
From  the  American  Grocer  we  take  the  following 
figures  which,  in  some  respects,  are  far 
from  satisfactory  : — 
Year.  Net  imports. 
Value, 
Per  head  of 
population : 
Pounds. 
Dollars. 
Pounds. 
1880 
...  69,894,769 
18,983.368 
1-39 
1881 
...  19,130,849 
20,225,418 
1.54 
1882 
...  77,191,060 
18,975,046 
1.47 
1883 
...  69,697,945 
16,278,894 
1.30 
1884 
...  60,061.944 
12,313,200 
1.09 
1886 
...  66,374,365 
13,135,782 
1.18 
1886 
...  78,873,151 
15,485,265 
1.37 
1887 
...  87,481,186 
16,365,633 
1.49 
1888 
....  83,944,547 
13,154,171 
1.40 
1889 
...  79,192,253 
12,661,812 
1.28 
1890 
...  83,494,956 
12,219,643 
1.33 
1891 
...  82,395,924 
13,639,785 
1.32 
Thus,  although  the 
total  importation  of 
tea  has  increased  in  the  12  years  by  about 
13J  million  lb.,  the  consumption  per  head  per 
annum  has  positively  decreased  ! Thus  if  the 
people  of  the  United  States  used  tea  now  at  the 
same  ratio  per  head  as  in  1880,  they  should  require 
over  100  million  lb.  in  plaoe  of  83  to  85  millions  at 
the  present  time.  The  fall  in  value  is  also  note- 
worthy : the  average  being  over  Is  2d  per  lb.  in  1880 
against  about  9d  in  1891  if  we  take  the  dollar  at 
its  full  value  of  4s  6d,  though  this  is  of  oourse, 
too  high  now.  We  can  only  hope  that  our  American 
cousins  may  awake  to  a true  appreciation  of  the 
value  of  really  good  pure  teas  and  that  the  Chicago 
Exposition  may  aid  largely  in  promoting  an  in- 
creased demand  for  our  Ceylon  produoe.  Altogether 
during  1892,  the  United  States  and  Canada  as  well 
as  South  America  took  of  Ceylon  tea  : — 
lb. 
From  Ceylon  direot  to  “ America  ”...  100,893 
From  London  to  United  States  ...  710,365 
Do.  to  Canada  ...  ...  613,817 
Do.  to  S.  Amerioa  ...  200,113 
1,625,188 
Say  that  800,000  lb.  of  the  above  was  for  the  States, 
it  does  not  make  one  per  cent  of  the  present  total 
importation  1 There  is  therefore  immense  scope  for 
the  increased  use  of  Ceylon  tea  in  the  United  States 
of  Amerioa. 
TROUT  OYA  FOR  NUWARA  ELIYA. 
Mr.  Fowler,  Assistant  Agent  at  Nuwara  Eliya, 
is  imitating  the  publia  spirit  of  his  predecessor  in 
getting  out  consignments  of  trout  ova,  and  Mr. 
Tringham  is  now  in  Colombo  to  meet  a fresh 
supply  which  he  expects  to  convey  safely  to  Nuwara 
Eliya  by  Monday  next.  When,  as  is  fully  expeoted, 
success  attends  the  experiment  and  fry  are  ready 
for  distribution,  the  same  will  be  made  available 
at  a moderate  charge  for  gentlemen  who  may  be 
interested  in  different  streams  throughout  the  hill- 
country. 
THEFT  OF  TEA  PLANTS. 
P.  O.  Urugalla,  367,  Polioe  Constable  301,  Suadera' 
complainant,  v.  Tennepettegedera  Ealua,  defen 
dant. 
Messrs.  Jonklaas  and  Williamson  for  the  accused. 
The  aooused  was  oharged  with  committing  theft 
of  about  400  tea  plans  of  the  value  of  R6,  the  property 
of  Duglas  Donald,  Esquire,  in  breach  of  the  367th 
section  of  the  Penal  Code. 
JUDGMENT. 
The  defence  in  this  ease  proves  nothing.  It  may  or 
may  sot  be  that  the  accused  some  years  ago  wrote 
out  a transfer  for  this  land  in  favour  of  his  son, 
but  that  is  not  a very  extraordinary  thing  to  do. 
Many  natives  write  outdeedBfor  (heir  lands  in  favour 
of  their  son«,  or  wives  and  friends  ; and  ihey  have 
no  doubt  various  purposes  in  view  in  doing  so.  It 
may  be  that  the  deed  in  favour  of  accused's 
son  is  a deed  intended  for  the  son’s  advance- 
ment ; but  there  can  be  no  doubt  (for  it  has  been  proved 
not  only  by  the  witnesses  for  the  complainant 
bnt  by  witnesses  for  the  defence)  that  the  land  is 
still  in  the  possession  of  the  accused,  and  has  been 
dealt  with  by  the  acoueed  as  if  it  were  his  own. 
The  very  man  who,  the  accused  sajs,  planted  the  land 
shows  that  about  three  months  ago  the  accused  gave 
him  some  tea  plants  to  plant  out,  and  that  be  planted 
them  for  the  aooused.  That  is  a fact  which  un- 
doubtedly shows  that  in  spite  of  the  deed  the  accused 
is  in  possession.  No  doubt  the  planting  will  be 
to  the  benefit  of  the  son,  bet  the  important  fact 
remains  that  the  accused  has  been  planting  the  land 
or  getting  it  planted.  How  does  that  fact  affeot 
this  case?  I think  that  fact  affects  this  case  most 
materially.  On  the  night  of  the  4th  October  last 
one  of  Mr.  Donald’s  tea  nurseries,  planted  ont 
(amongst  other  kind  of  tea  plants)  with  tea  plants 
of  Manipuri  jat  (as  the  technical  phrase  goes)  was 
robbed.  On  the  morning  of  the  5th  October  (by  a 
mistake  of  mine  written  as  nit.,  a mistake  which 
however,  I have  corrected)  Mr.  Donald  finds, 
that  a whole  bed  of  his  Manipuri  tea-plants  (num- 
bering about  6,000  plants)  was  robbed,  and  every 
plant  in  it  carried  away.  Within  12  daja  after  that 
the  constable  (complainant),  who  had  been  sent  to 
try  and  trace  out  this  wholesale  theft,  fiDds  in  pas-ing 
over  accused’s  garden  there  are  plants  growing  the^e 
which  the  kanakapulle  of  Mr.  Donald’s  estate  recog- 
nises at  once  as  his  matter’s  tea  plants.  I have  no 
donbt  that  men  like  the  kanakapulle  who  have  con- 
stantly to  do  with  the  planting  and  nurture  of  tea 
plants,  would  at  orce  le  able  to  reorgnize  the 
different  varieties  of  plants  which  they  have  to  tend. 
A few  of  these  plants  tthOBe  in  the  parcel  Ld  A.) 
were  taken  from  this  garden  to  Mr.  Donald  and  Le 
recognized  them  at  once  as  plants  of  tte  kiud  thst 
were  stolen.  He  proceeds  to  the  spot  the  next  day 
and  finds  in  a email  corner  of  ihe  garden  (now 
proved  conclusively  to  be  accused’s  garden)  about 
400  plants,  so  exactly  liko  those  stolen  from  his 
garden,  not  only  in  Bge,  size,  appearance  and  variety, 
but  also  in  respect  of  certain  marks  of  disease  on 
the  leaves,  and  all  so  reoently  planted;  that 
he  undertakes  to  the  best  of  his  belief  to  swear  that 
they  are  his  plants.  I am  not  prepared  to  say  that 
he  is  not  able  to  swear  io  these  plants.  Such  sptoifio 
knowledge  though  not  possible  to  me,  is,  I have  no 
donbt,  possible  to  gentlemen  whose  speciality  it  is  to 
watch  the  growth  of  plants  put  out  by  them  and  thus  to 
be  able  by  ocular  inspection  to  discriminate  between 
plants  of  different  varieties,  and  to  speak  with  a 
high  degree  of  certainty  with  reference  to  them.  In  a 
oase  of  this  kind  I con’d  not  say  that  a higher 
degree  of  certainty  as  to  the  plants  beiDg  Mr,  Donald’s 
tea  plants,  would  be  necessary.  The  recent  and  un- 
accounted for  possession  of  stolen  properly  is  evi- 
dence of  thefW  It  is  incumbent  on  the  pariy  in  whose 
possession  suoln  property  is  found  to  prove  how  he 
oame  by  it  ; and  where  that  is  not  proved,  it  is  a 
fair  presumption  that  he  came  by  it  feloniously.  In 
this  oase  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  prove  it  t and 
the  acused  instead  of  that  has  been  trying  to  throw 
off  the  responsibility  that  presses  so  heavily  upon 
him  by  saying  that  the  land  belongs  to  his  son.  This 
defence,  I hold,  has  failed.  It  is  true  that  when  the 
garden  was  first  visited  by  complainant  and  the 
kanakapulle  the  accused  was  not  in.  He  of  course 
would  not  always  be  in  the  garden  ; for  he  lives  a 
mile  away  from  it  as  the  Ratemahatmaya  says. 
However,  that  he  knew  of  this  visit,  and  that  he  was 
meditating  a defence  which  looked  like  trying  to 
implicate  the  oonstable  in  a fraudulent  attempt  to 
get  him  into  trouble,  appears  from  the  fact  that 
on  the  25th  November  (4  days  before  the  sum- 
mons was  served  on  him)  he  went  to  the  Rate- 
mabatmaya  and  voluntarily  made  a statement  which 
shows  that  he  was  oognizant  of  what  was  looming 
agaiost  him.  He  sems  to  have  abandoned  the  though 
