Jan. 1, 1903.] THE TROPICAL A.GRICULTURtST. 
441 
of each vine, bnt not such as to hinder the sturt of 
rew growth for more lhaa two or three months 
Pods Fhould be gathere3 every other day. 
Ciirinrj. — The slower, the better, be^inn'ng in a 
heated room at about lIo° P. for some days, then in 
a cooler one, 90° to 100° F., finishing at ordinary 
temperature ; humidity of air kept down if need be by 
chs rcoal braizers. 
il'ia)-/:e;!«9'.— Qualities and lengths kept distinf^t, 
made up in packets of 50 pods, and neaily packed in 
fins holding about 12 pounds each, 
Labonr.~ Cheapness and intelligence are of the 
greatest importance in vanilla production. The culti- 
Tator must himself have his eyes everywhere ; the 
best of labour known here deteriorates quickly if 
left by itself. — West Indies Agricultural News. 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
IMPOBTANT AI LEGATION KEGAIiDlNG KE-COLCUEED 
CEYLON TIA?. 
(By T. Gossupp, of New York.) 
It may be of interest to many of the planters ff 
India and Ceylon to know a certain amount of actual 
facts about the American tea trade without being 
puzzled bv a lot of figures. 
In the first place, Ceylon teas are coming rapidly 
into favour here, and without doubt Ceylon green 
teas are slowly rephicing Japan teis. Unfortunately, 
howeve-, the Oe\ Ion grern teas are offering at rather 
higher prices than the buyers of sun-dried Japan are 
accustomed to pay, except for Japan sun-dried teas of 
rea I^ fine liquors. 
Your writers may not he aware that there Are 
three classes of d^apan teas sold here, the " sun-dried" 
being similar to our uncoloured Ceylon greens but of 
much better make, having a darker colour and of 
rather more delicate flavour in the cup. Then there 
ia the ' pan-fired " Japan which is simil/ir to a 
co!ou''fd Ceylon green, but the basket-fired Japan, to 
my mind as a tea expert, is far superior to anything 
I have seen with the exception of perhaps one in- 
voice of Ceylon greens which came, I believe, from 
Bloomfield estate, but which was only a very small 
pa'cel. 
I advocated some time ago that the Ceylcn planters, 
in order to cope with the ovei -production of tea 
ffrom which they have been suffering) should en- 
deavour to make an " Oolong " tea similtr in flavour 
and siyle to the Formofa Oolongs which are in 
general use here. It would be very easy for any of 
your planters to write to Formosa or to Japan and 
get samples from these two countries in order that 
they may see from an actual sample the kind of tea 
which is wanted in America. The price of Oolongs 
to-day is lOd. per lb. c-i-f. N. Y. 
To take the United States first, it is necessary to 
remember that it is about 73 times as large as Great 
Britain and has a population of 7(1,000,0110 people as 
against Great Britain's 40,000,000, so that you see if 
we can once induce the Americans to become tea- 
drinkers on the same scale as the British peo) I3 
generally, or even, say, they take three lbs. of tea per 
head, in a very few years to come we shall have no 
fear of over-production as Americaa alone will be 
able to take nearly nil the output of Indian and 
Ceylon. It ia, therefore, a field we have to consider 
and during the last few months (when Japan teas 
have been very high), we had a chance of getting 
Ceylon green teas into favour, but the price held cut 
for by the planter or merchant in Colombo, has 
pieveuted them from being more readily taken. 
The grades wanted here are Uyson No. 1 and 
Hyson No. 2, and for these people are willing to pay 
from C^d. to 7d. for the Hyson No. 1, and about 
54 to 6d. for the Hyson No. 2. The Young 
Hyson grade is generally coloured in New York, which 
can be done for Jd., per lb. and it is then BOld a3 
^hiua gr«ea tea, 
A great many of the Ce^on greens sold in the 
States are coloured, repacked, and either sold aa 
coloured Japans or as China green teas, being packed 
in ( hina packages and faced with the usual paper, 
cxacl/i/, to represent them as or China Japan teas. 
With regard to Canada: this country is different, 
as there is a large population who have now become 
accustomed to teylon uncoloured greens, and the 
loyalty that exists in Canada prompts the consumer 
to support Bi'itifh tea in preference to .Japan tea. 
Here again the question of price conies in, and the 
only way that Ceylon greets can oust China and 
Japan is by Felling them at reasonable prices, as the 
grocer will always push the teas that show him the 
largest profit. 
The labour in Ceylon and Irdia is cheaper than in 
Japan, so one would think that the planters would 
have a great deal in their favour. The duly of 10 
cents per )b , which was a war tax, is to be repealed on 
Ihe 1st January, 1903, and it is anticipateJ that a 
much larger trade will be done. 
Some of the favourite grades here are the Nor- 
wood, Labukellie, Condegalla, Meeriabeddie, Warwick, 
and similar liquoring teas so this will guide many of 
the planters (who are in these districts where this class 
of tea can be made), to get samples and follow them 
very carefully and closely, as there is regular de- 
mand for the light liquoring, fl ivoury. good quality 
(so called lemon-flavoured) C eylon teas. 
If a few of the estates shipping desirable and suit- 
able teas for the American market were to create a 
demanel here by shipping direct they would find that 
in a very short time the venture, would pay as the 
writer has seen tea sold here 2d. and 33. per lb. 
above the price that they sold for in the London 
auction. 
There are other matters I could write about in con- 
nection with the tea planters of Ceylon and India, 
the tea cess, the packages that are required for this 
market, the question of shipment, and several other 
matters which I will touch upon in my next letter. — 
Local "Times." 
JOURNEY TO A RUBBER PLANT- 
ATION ON THE ISTHMUS OF 
COLUMBIA. 
By C. 0. Weber, Ph. D.* 
(Concluded from page 371.) 
The Latex I have already stated that the latex ob" 
tained from Castilloa elastica at Las Cascadas does not 
flow like milk, but issuses from the cuts in the form of 
a thick cream containing a very high percentage of 
india-rubber. This is certainly curious in view of 
the fact that the same tree in other districts pro- 
duces a fairly thin milk although I have been told 
that the Castilloa trees in certain districts of 
Guatemala and Venezuela exhibit the same pecu- 
liarity. 1 have not been able to discover any r.^ason 
for this difierence. It cannot be due to a difference 
of species, iior to the elevation at which the trees 
are growing, nor to the temperature limits of the 
respective districts, as in other districts, at both 
higher and lower elevations, and higher and lower 
temperature limits, e.g.. Mexico on the one part, 
and Ecuador on the other, the Castilloa trees pro- 
duce a perfectly fluid latex. It is not impossible 
that the condition of the soil, and the annual rain- 
fall may have some influence upon this point, but 
in the absence of any positive proof I prefer to leave 
this matter for the present undecided 
The latex of castilloa at the moment of issuing 
from the cuts forms an almost pure white, thick 
creamy mass, which, however, almost immediately 
begins to discolour, assuming at first a pale drab 
colouration, which, in the course of a very short 
- From the India Itubher and Gutta-Percha Tradi^' 
.jQiu ml, Sept. 2U, 1303. 
