Sspf. 1, 1900.J 
THE TBOPiCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
207 
III 1S97 the rise in prices began, whicli culniiuated 
last year, when tlipy atlvmiced to R4C0 for coiii- 
iiion ami to Rl,l25 for oood. The above quota- 
tions aie taken on the I,i.<t (lay of each year. Un 
the 30tii June hisf", couinion was qnoted 1>350, 
and pood R700 — a cotisidei-able fal], but still leav- 
ing prices higii. 'Mie rise tliat took place was 
clearly traceable in its causes, and was based on 
nothing nevver than the laws of supply Rnd demand. 
During a long period of depressed trade, especially 
maikedon the United States of America, manu- 
factiiiers be<--anie habituated to the system of 
buying as they wanted snpiilies. Most of tliem 
did not buy for stock, for piices altered little. 
VViien tbc trade began to iinjirove, they did not 
believe that prices would continue to rise — no one 
aijywhero dreamed of such activity as has been 
witnessed in the last two years cliieliy caused bytlie 
movement <^f trade in the U S. after the last Pre-- 
sidential election. When they awoke to the fact 
that prices weie really rising all wanted to buy 
at once, and the ri^e became a succession of le.ijjs 
and bounds. It is natural that there should be 
a le-action. It is the regular course. All markets 
stocked ; high prices checking trnde ; buyers 
holding off; producers accumulating stocks and 
unable lo sell ; prices, what can be obtained 
and quite uncertain. Tliis condition will in turn 
change, and as surplus stocks are used up, a 
stable market will once more exist, but what 
prices will rule when that time comes it would 
be unwise to prophesy The statement of sucdi 
patent facts and elementary ])rinciples demands 
an apology, but it seems called foi- by the ignor- 
ance of all .such priticii)les sl-.own in the writing 
referred to. 
4. To sum up the position then, it appears : — 
(a) That London is not now the distributing 
centre, but that Colombo is. 
(6) That i-he system of business is now based on 
standards, the accural e matching of which re- 
quires judgment, knowledge and honesty, 
(c) 'I'hat prices are not low at present, and, 
judging liy experience of the past may go lower. 
And tiiially, that they are governed, as they 
siUvays will be, by the laws of supp y and 
demand, and the invariable rule that, "after a 
peiiod of iuriation, there must come a time of 
depression. How long the latter will last will 
depend much on producers, who will have to 
adapt themselves to the demand. If they do not 
do so no'vY, many will perforce have to do so later, 
when it beeon es unprofitable to work their mines. 
In the meantime, the only a,dvice that can be 
ttiven them is: Don't believe in any fancy or 
iiuercsted schemes for overnding natural laws. 
Such scliemes always recoil on their inventors 
bringing loss where gain Wds promised." 
The strange part is that wl;i!e he was about it 
Mr. Stretch entered into no explanation uf the 
causes of the enormous e\pansi<'ii of tiie |i'i;:n- 
bago trade during the past few years. It is not 
simply that the price rose rapidly and (o an 
unprecedented pitch, (from whicli it has since 
fallen) :— tliat maybe accounted for in the way 
Mr. Stretch points out; but the far stranger 
experience is the simultaneous enormous increase 
in exports. Usually, one would expect prices 
to fall with air addition of 50 per cent to exports ; 
but that wa-^ not the case during most of 1899. 
Here are the !i,-ures for tlie p\st four year.'? : — 
EXPOKTS FROM CEYLON. 
Owt. Cwt. 
189G .. .B40,491 I 1898 .. 473,075 
1897 .. 357,257 | 1899 .. 61(5,385 
We suppose it is true that increased activity ia 
regard to "armaments" in Europe and America, 
accounts for the disposal of well-nigh 14,000 
Ions aljove the aver.age ex'port, tiuriug ]iart of 
1898 and in 1899 ? But then we infer tl lere is no 
siacdiening of armaments even now and yet the 
shipments of our valuable mineral this year have 
greatly fallen off— only 243,190 cwt. to 3rd of 
Sept. against 412,178 to same dale last year. 
Alter all, this may mean that heavy stocks were 
laid in last year ; but if so, was it not a little foolish 
of the buyers to be in such a luin y to store up so 
much beyond current rsquirements and so raise 
the inice so greatly ? 
THE PEOSPECTS OF CEYLON TEA. 
IN AMERICA, 
LOCAL MANUFACTURE OP "GREEN'' 
TEA. 
We learn that the attitude of the large 
United States' tea importers towards Ceylon 
" greens " is that of determined hostility. 
They resented the introduction of our 
" blacks " ; but they have four times as much 
interest in " greens," and it is thought that 
Ceylon dealers must work through the tea- 
packet houses at first. 
We have received copies -of advertise- 
ments of Ceylon tea, published by two tea 
houses in Boston which are not subsidised 
l)y the Ceylon Commissioner. They have 
both been forced to push or hold "Ceylons," 
by the action of a subsidised Firm. One of 
the former, it seems, refused some time ago 
to sell Ceylon packets. But they have been 
obliged to advertise our teas, because a rival 
was making such vigorous efforts. This is 
what advertising does all the world over : — 
it makes an article Known ; householders 
inquire for it; grocers must have it; and 
importers then have to look out for it. 
In this connection, we nray refer to the 
local manufactiu'e of "green" tea find Mr. 
F. F. Street's very practical letter of which 
we had no time to make mention yesterday. 
It is clear there is to be no "rush" into^ the 
m.aking of " green " tea, as was feared by the 
American Commissioner and some London 
dealers. These gave two million lb. as the 
quantity which, if well made and satis- 
factory, might be taken off in twelve months ; 
but we see that our evening contemporary 
thinks one million lb. an outside estimate 
for Ceylon "gi'een " tea shipments in 1901. If 
so, there will certainly be no special pressure 
and the American importers may well 
restrain their hostile attitude for a few 
years, say till about 1903, when perhaps we 
may get up to four or five million lb. in 
shipments of " green " teas. 
HOW TO MAKE GREEN TEAS : 
IMPROVED METHODS ADVOCATED. 
Jo the Editor. 
Sept. 3. 
Dear Sir, — At the request of Mr. H D 
Deane, and in the interests of those making 
green teas, 1 desire to draw attention to 
that part of Mr. Deane's printed letter, " How 
to manufacture green tea," which gives a 
"gloss" or "glaze" to the leaf, as I con- 
sider it improves the leaf appearance of the 
teas treated and in no way detrimentally 
