July 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 2i 
as no satisfactory appeal for funds can be made 
without some knowledge of the programme pro- 
posed, and speedy action is essential to success. 
A remark to this effect was to be included in 
the telegram to be sent to the Committee of the 
Association in London. 
Another letter from the London Committee in 
connection with the American Market, was dealt 
with. Mr. Mackenzie, the Ceylon Commissioner, 
had recommended the Ceylon Committee of Thirty 
to continue the work in America for two or 
three months only in 1,900. The decision of tlie 
Ceylon Committee had not, however, been so far 
received. The General Committee also under 
stood that the balance remaining of tlie amount 
raised by the last levy, after tlie close of Mr. 
Blechynilen's Mission, would be devoted to the 
continuanceof the advertisement issued jointly by 
the representatives of India and Ceylon teas. 
CKOSSING OUR TEAS. 
WHAT LONDON TEA MERCHANTS ARE CONCERNED 
ABOUT. 
(Daily Mail Special.) 
The statement made at the meeting of the 
Whitechapel guardians, and reported in our yes- 
terday's issue, that there was an unexpected 
rise in the price of tea, Avas confirmed yesterday 
in the inquiries instituted by a Daily Mail repre- 
sentative. 
> What the London tea merchants are most con- 
cerned about, however, are the bold attempts ot 
foreigners to foist cheap unwholesome teas on tlie 
Loniivn market. 
" The Custom House authorities," said Messrs. 
Alfred Newby and Co., of Mincing-lane, to a 
Daily Mail representative yesterdi^y, " ought to 
stop the importation of this foreign stuff at once. 
It is injurious to the public health, and should 
never be allowed to come into our market. Here 
is a sample of tea which we had sent to us from 
Belgium, the price quoted being 6id per lb without 
duty. It is of too Jong growth, it has been infes- 
ted with caterpillars, it has a most disagreeable 
odour, and it would be 
A SOURCE OF DANGER 
to the public health if it were consumed. It is 
Oolong tea, and is jjrobably part of a consignment 
Avhich was rejected by the Belgium people as 
worthless. 
" And now attempts are being made with a 
a view to putting it on the .English markets. If 
something is not done to check its importation 
other countries besides Belgium will try to find a 
market here for the tea which is no good to them, 
" This state of affairs arises from the fact that 
Indian, Ceylon, and China tea has been over- 
bought by the blenders. There was a rumour about 
Christmas time that the supplies would be short, 
and since then prices have been gradually rising. 
Those blenders who foresaw t!ie position bought 
as much tea as they could while the prices were 
normal, in order to carry themselves over tlie 
season, and, of course, they have made huge 
profits, one firm, we hear, having made as much 
as ±'20,000." 
THE NUWAEA ELIYA ESTATES COMPANY: 
As Mr. A. F, Souter has appealed to us 
in connection with his criticism of this 
Company's affairs, we can bear testimony, 
from personal knowledge, to the adequacy 
of the explanation tendered in the Directors' 
Report, of the falling-off of profit from 
Naseby estate during 1898. With the Factory 
under reconstruction and enlargement for 
the greater part of the year, we have been 
assured by the superintendent — Mr. Battin- 
son — who has just gone on leave, that it 
was impossible for him to keep up the same 
careful preparation of the tea, — to secure 
adequate withering and to do justice in 
other ways. All that is now at an end, and 
the Factory, one of the roomiest and best 
equipped of its kind, in the hill-country, has 
been in full working order during the present 
year. 
As regards the local management of the 
Company's affairs generally, we can assure 
Mr. Souter that, in our opinion, more hard- 
working, conscientious Manager and Super- 
intendents — from all we have seen and heard 
— no Tea Company connected with Ceylon 
can show : while as to the Agents, it is 
superfluous to say one word. We have gi-eat 
confidence in the future of the Company 
and in its good management both in Ceylon 
and London. 
CINCHONA IN CEYLON. 
It was to be expected that the advance in the 
price of cinchona bark an:l the promise of a 
furii>er rise in the future would set planters 
in India and Ceylon wondering whether it was 
worth while to go into the cultivailion of cin- 
cliona trees aj.'ain, or to extend their existing 
plantations. It appears that in Ceylon opera- 
tions have actuElly been begun in this direction, 
and the Tropical Ayricultwist prints an interest- 
ing letter which it has received as the result 
of advising the importation of fiesli seed from India 
or Jciva for the purpose of trying cinchona again 
in tlie Ceylon hill district. — British and Colonial 
Drujfjist, May o. 
CINCHONA IN JAVA. 
The unknown quantity to quinine speculators 
is the condition o£ the cinchona industry in 
Java, and whether it pays the planter or not to 
produce. " Why shouldn't it pay ? " asked a sapient 
person in the Commercial Sale-rooms the other day. 
" Oak bark sells at i'S a ton, and pays." " Be- 
cause it is a by-product)" added a long-headed bro- 
ker. " They cut down the oak trees for the sake of 
the wood." lu Java they grow cinchona for tha 
sake of the bark. We have before us a report 
regarding the plantations there, which gives the latest 
available information, and from this we learn that 
the Governmeut has decided on principle to give np 
the cultivation of cinchona, and transform the plan- 
tations into experimental gardens. This will be done 
gradually, no seedlings being planted in place of the 
up-rooted trees. The Government plantations are 
eight in number and to the three of these plantti- 
tion nurseries are attached for the propagation of 
seedlings and grafting. The number of trees in the 
plantations diminished in 1897 by eleven per cent, 
and, as the reduction will go on at about this rate 
yearly, it will be eight years at least before the Govern, 
ment ceases to be competing factor. They are eighty- 
three private plantations in Java, of which fifty-eight 
are situated in the Praenger province. These show no 
indication of reduction. The Bandoeng quinine-factory 
is now able to produce quinine to the extent of 3,500 oz 
per day, or 2,500,000 oz a year, and the Pandang 
Aroem works are gradually pulling np. So that 
there is no intention of stopping Java quinine< 
Thirty-four cases of the Bandoeng brand were 
landed at Amsterdam this yiQ9k,—Chmist mH X'rwg' 
jri'sf; April 20, 
