April  i,  1893.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST 
49 
To  tht  Editor. 
THE  CEYLON-AMERICAN  PLANTERS’ 
TEACOMPANY. 
Feb.  10. 
Dear  Sir,— We  beg  to  inform  you  that  the 
business  of  the  Company  has  inoreased  very  con- 
siderably. Last  week  we  were  25,000  paokets  behind 
in  filling  orders.  We  have  made  a beginning  with 
some  of  the  largest  houses  in  Boston,  New  York, 
Ohioago,  St.  Louis,  Cleveland,  Washington,  Balti- 
more, Philadelphia,  etc.  One  house  alone  claims 
to  supply  20,000  retail  stores  in  the  South-Western 
SiateB.  ThiB  will  all  have  to  be  supplemented, 
and  these  merchants  require  tea  for  distribution 
free.  If  we  can  find  a way  to  sustain  them,  we 
will  not  only  have  built  the  foundation,  but  a 
good-Bized  Btory  as  well. 
Through  the  personal  efforts  of  our  President 
we  have  succeeded  in  getting — to  the  exclusion  of 
all  others— our  tea  and  coffee  upon  the  “Wagner 
Palaoe  Car  Company’s  ” system  of  dining  and 
buffet  oars,  and  upon  every  menu  our  brands  of 
“ Bhud  ” tea  and  “ Lanka  ” coffee,  together  with 
the  name  of  our  Company,  will  appear.  As  these 
oars  will  entertain  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
people  going  to  and  coming  from  the  World’s 
Exposition,  we,  here,  look  upon  it  as  a more 
direct,  and  a greater  introduction  of  cur  tea  than 
anything  that  will  be  done  with  the  hurried  masses 
after  they  reach  the  Fair  at  Chicago. — We  are 
yours  faithfully,  J ELWOOD  MAY,  President, 
R.  E.  PINEO,  Secretary. 
COFFEE-PLANTING  IN  EAST  GERMAN 
AFRICA  : AN  EX-CEYLON  PLANTER  ON  HIS 
WORK  AND  PROSPECTS. 
German  East  Africa,  Feb.  12. 
Dear  Sir,— Many  thanks  for  yours  of  the  7th 
ulto.  You  may  rest  fully  assured  that  I shall 
very  muoh  appreciate  the  contents  of  both  the 
Overland  and  T.A.;  for  every  scrap  of  news  I can 
get  hold  of  here  I devour  with  avidity.  Though 
I take  in  a fair  number  of  English  newspapers 
they  arrive  very  irregularly,  generally  taking  a trip 
down  the  coast  and  over  to  Zanzibar  before  landing 
here — or  rather  at  Tanga,  so  that  I find  time  hang 
very  heavily  at  times. 
Muchly  regret  to  hear  of  the  death  of  your  senior 
editor,  who  has  passed  away  full  of  years  and  full  of 
honour. 
I ’ll  drop  you  a line  now  and  again  as  to  our 
doings  here.  So  far  everything  has  gone  well: 
transport  being  the  only  worry  to  one.  I had 
the  pleasure  of  planting  out  the  first  coffee 
for  the  Company  on  the  2nd  October  last,  and  have 
now  about  40  aores  all  doing  well  in  spite 
of  a queer  monsoon.  Last  year  was  a dry  year 
suoh  as  the  natives  had  not  seen  since  1884  5 
so  that  I trust  the  next  dry  year  may  not  ooine 
round  till  1902 — as  it  is  quite  thirsty  enough  now. 
In  the  way  of  temperature  the  thermometer  shows 
up  well— at  nights  it  is  from  12°-13°  Celsus  53 
to  65°  Fahr.  and  from  9 till  evening  about  30 
to  32°  Celsus  =86-89  Fahr.  I don’t  mind  the 
heat  so  muoh,  but  the  cold  is  the  difficulty,  as  the 
bungalow,  all  iron,  resembles  a refrigerator  in 
the  mornings.  Natives  don’t  like  it  at  all  at  first. 
All  ooolies,  I ’m  glad  to  say,  with  only  one  or  two 
exceptions,  and  my  colony  of  English,  German, 
n 
Tamil,  Sinhalese  and  Malays  all  well.  Quite  got 
over  the  terrors  of  Africa. 
All  sorts  of  products  growing  here — but  this  plaoe 
will  grow  coffee  principally  ; for  caoao  I shall 
have  to  move  down  miles  from  this— quite  in  the 
lowoountry. 
Railway  line  from  Tanga  to  within  20  miles  of 
this  has  been  sanctioned  and  operations  I hope 
oommenoe  in  two  or  three  months'  time.  This 
will  be  the  beginning  of  a line  that  will  ultimately 
go  to  Kilimanjaro  I believe.  Anyone  coming  this 
way  had  better  change  at  Fega  where  three 
bananas  can  be  got  for  a pesa  equal  R1'64  and 
perhaps  a “ Tanga  ” Times. 
Tanga  is  a very  pretty  little  harbour,  (according 
to  all  accounts  the  prettiest  along  the  coast  by  far) 
and  likely  to  become  in  time  the  Planting  Capital. 
With  an  enterprising  Governor  suoh  as  we  have 
now  stationed  there  Tanga  ought  to  be  quite  a 
centre  of  industry  soon. 
Do  you  know  of  anyone  who  could  tell  me  the 
best  way  of  getting  ooffee  from  Arabia,  That  is 
to  say,  do  you  know  of  any  one  who  knows  someone 
else  stationed  out  there  who  knows  ooffee  well 
enough  to  obtain  a good  sample  for  seed  purposes. 
I am  writing  to  the  German  Consul  there,  but  you 
may  know  of  other  channels. — Yours  faithfully, 
W.  H.  COWLEY. 
CINCHONA  BARK  AND  INDIAN  TEA  AND 
THE  CEYLON  IMPORT  DUTIES  : 
MORE  ANOMALIES. 
Colombo,  Feb.  13. 
Dear  Sir, — Before  the  question  of  the  import 
duty  on  tea  came  under  disoussion  in  the  looal 
newspapers  I suppose  few  planters  in  Ceylon  knew 
that  suoh  a duty  remained  in  force  and  perhaps 
fewer  still  know  that  there  is  an  import  duty  on 
cinohona  bark. 
That  the  abolition  of  the  duty  on  Indian  teas 
will  do  Ceylon  or  its  teas  the  slightest  injury 
direotly  or  indireotly,  I do  not  for  a moment 
believe,  and  I do  not  think  Indian  planters  in 
asking  for  the  freedom  of  this  market  for  their 
produce  are  making  an  unreasonable  request 
seeing  that  Ceylon  planters  have  a perfectly  free 
field  in  India  where  not  one  cent  of  duty  is  levied 
on  tea  or  bark, 
Some  days  ago  I imported  from  India  some 
25,000  lb.  of  cinohona  bark  whioh  I intended  to  sell 
locally  as  soon  as  the  market  suited  me.  To  avoid 
needless  charges  I desired  to  dear  and  store  it 
where  oharges  would  be  less  than  at  the  Wharf  ; 
but  this  I was  informed  I could  not  do  until  suoh 
time  as  I paid  duty  at  the  rate  of  6£  per  cent.  The 
Collector  of  Customs  is  of  course  only  oarrying  out 
the  law  as  it  stands,  but  surely  it  will  be  con- 
sidered a bad  law  and  one  that  requires  alteration 
whioh  brings  in  no  revenue  and  tends  only  to 
hamper  the  business  of  the  island. — Yours  truly, 
TRAVANCORE  PROPRIETOR. 
The  correspondence  referred  to  is  as  follows  : — 
Sir,— I have  the  honour  to  inform  you  that  264 
bags  of  cinchona  bark,  lauded  ex  s.s.  “ Bhundara  ” 
from  Cochin  are  my  property  and  have  been  brought 
over  to  Ceylon  for  tale. 
On  a former  oocasion  you  were  good  enough  to  allow 
the  bark  to  be  removed  from  the  Wharf  premises  for 
re-baling  aad  reshipment  without  the  imposition  of 
any  import  duty,  and  I trust  you  will  be  good  enough 
to  extend  the  same  indulgence  in  this  instance  and  allow 
the  bark  to  be  treated  as  transhipment  goods.— I have 
