2U THE TROflCAi 
PARA RUBBER IN MATALE. 
Kepitig.alla Estate, Matale, Oct. 1. 
Dear Sir, — I think the following sale of 
three cases containing 336 lb. nett of Para 
rubber grown on Kepitigalla estate, would 
interest those concerned in rubber cultiva- 
tion, and also show that high prices can 
be obtained for rubber grown in Matale 
district. The price of fine Para, at the same 
sale, early this month, was 3s OJd and three 
cases Kepitigalla sold for 3s lUJd, a price lOd 
above best Para. I have just despatched 
another 13 cases, and shall let you know 
results of sale. You will notice that the 
fine price 3s lO^d has been obtained for a 
large quantity ("for Ceylon) and not merely 
for a few lb. which could be specially cured, 
I will also take this opportunity to reply 
to the " Critic " in the "Times of Ceylon" 
who wished to make out that this estate 
was not in the Matale district, Kepit-igalla 
estate proper is in the Matale district, as I 
know, when I havehad todeal with the Village 
Headmen and Government Agents. Your 
contempwary's "Critic" might just as well say 
Yatewatte is notin Matale, as agood portion is 
in Kurunegala, andevenfacing Messrs. Pinlay, 
Muir & Co.'s Delwita estate. But why 
particularise as to our boundaries ? The fact 
remains that Para rubber has been most 
successfully grown, and proved to be of com- 
mercial value, and yield handsome profits. 
As I have proved by figures in my last letter 
it has cost 47 cents in Colombo or, say, 50 cents 
in London, and practically yielded a clear profit 
of R2-38 per lb. I also notice in the Tropical 
Agriculturist for September an article on 
Vanilla in Ceylon, where, it is stated that 70 
beans was considered good for a vine. I 
have vanilla growing on this estate, 60 to 80 
feet in length, trained on poles, 4 feet above 
ground, with 300 to 350 well-developed beans 
5 to 9 inches in length, niostly ahoat 7 to 
8 inches, and have many vines with 150 to 
200. I shall be pleased to show any one 
interested in vanilla cultivation, over the 
part of estate where the vanilla is grown, 
— I am, Sir, yoars faithfully, 
FRANCIS J, HOLLO WAY. 
CEYLON TEA FOR AMERICANS IN THE 
PHILIPPINES, 
Mindanao, Philippines. 
Sir, — The aggressive operations for disseminat- 
ing knowledge concerning Ceylon teas and the 
amount of money and energy the Ceylon Planters 
are expending on the above, leads me to make a 
suggestion nearer home. You are making efforts to 
educate the United States people to drink and 
judge good tea. So why not try them in the Philip- 
pines where there are over 30,000 soldiprs and 
about 5,000 American civilians. The U. S. Army 
calls for tenders in Manila to supply the soldiers 
with tea and, if your planters could furnish the tea 
to them at, say, even cost for a trial or two, it 
would be money well-invested in my opinion, for the 
reason that when these thousands learned to drink 
Ceylon tea they would, on returning to their homes 
all over the Slates, be an advertisement in them- 
selves as well as being consumers of the tea. Think 
of tbQ iaflc^Qaoe these people would have in pushing 
AGRICULTUEIST. [Nov. 1, l90i 
your teas in their home districts which would 
embrace every State in the Union. I know locally 
the officers and their wives are enthusiastic on 
Ceylon tea. I always use it and everyone who 
driiiks it in my hou.^e say: where did you get it? — 
procure some for me and I have been doing so 
though with difficulty I have to send to Borneo 
and the sceainer connections with Sandakan are 
very poor. I have no hesitation in saying that 
your tea once introduced to Americans in the 
Philippines, they would carry the flavour hoiEe 
and want it there. At present the army is using 
China teas and are paying — * a lb. I was a 
buying agent for two years for a Manila firm of 
Covernment contractors and in that capacity 
travelled over Australia, China and Japan ; the 
former for meat and produce and the latter for 
produce and tea, and after seeing the Chinese and 
Japanese CGolies preparing the leaf, I never drunk 
tea from these countries. The rolling and roasting 
process of lire dried teas is especially disgusting, 
where tlie women, in an almost nude condition 
are bending over the fire- pans and rolling the 
tea around, while the filth and perspiration dropp- 
ing off their warm bodies into the pans is a sight 
that once seen, needs no further persuasion to 
abandon drinking these teas. There are a great 
number of army ladies in the Philippines, and as 
all ladies like good tea, I am sure they would be 
staunch supporters of using Ceylon tea on econo- 
mical grounds alone^ as a good tea is a cheap tea. 
FRANK J DUNLEARY, 
THE OBNOXIOUS PREPARATIONS OP 
CHINA AND JAPAN TEAS: 
MORE AUTHENTIC " COPY " POR A 
P. A. PAMPHLET. 
Degalessa, Yatiyantota, Oct. 12. 
Sib, — I have read Prank J Dunleary's 
letter in the Observer of 10th inst., and I can 
corroborate every word he says on the rolling 
and roasting process of Chinese and Japanese 
teas, having seen the working of teas out- 
side Poochow and near Hiogo or Kobe. 
The pan system is accurately described. I 
went through a tea making Pactory at Kobe ; 
the pans were copper or brass and set at an 
.angle on "chuUu" fires, and the workers at 
the pans were just as Prank J Dunleary 
describes ; the heat was awful and 
exudation of perspiration great, the building 
itself was very dirty and the tea chucked 
into a corner of the room when finished. 
Much the same process was in use at Poochow 
by the Chinese : the only difference was that 
the Chinese rolled the tea with their feet by 
holding on to a bar ; the Japs rolled it by 
hand.— Yours truly, 
WM. MITCHELL. 
RAINBOW TROUT. 
North Cove, Oct. 2. 
Sir, — An impression seems to have got abroad 
amongst fishermen, especially in the neighbourhood 
of Nuwara Eliya, that rainbow trout as soon aa 
they attain a weight about a pound, disappear 
— the presumption being that they drop down- 
stream and seek deeper and larger pools in the 
lower waters. This may apply to the Nuwara 
* A blank here in letter.— Ep, TU; 
