July 1, 1893,] THE TBOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
35 
experiment;-; in Ceylon prove tiiat they exist in 
sufficient numl)er;i to hi lieneticial to the soil. 
At present we have no knov/ieJ.ne on this point, 
anil iMr. Banv's argumenDs arc 1/asod on an airy 
theory that may, or may not, be nltimately 
substantiated.— I am sir, your oliedient servant, 
EX- PLANTER. 
MEALY BUG. 
Colombo, Alay 2. 
Deau Sin. — Darius a recent holiday trip to Katidy, 
I notioed wish ui juh , alina that lantar. n, bitwet-n 
Kadugauuawa and Kandy wasiu places badly afctacksd 
with msaly bu^ and was being killed. On euciuiry I 
leacufc that the saiae thing is uoticeable further north 
as well. Kaowiii.; with what rapidity fungoid and 
iosont p8!it5 spre.id from uneultivatsd into cultivated 
land'-;, I was 'surprised to find that so far no notice 
whate'ver h.is been taken of this pest. What with 
low prices, the numerous enemies of the tea plant, 
and fclie yet undiscovered ensmy of cacao, one would 
think t^io upcountry planter had enough to contend 
with. How is it he sits with folded hands, and takes 
no steps to ward off a great and possible danger ? 
Should not the Piantc-rs' Association take the matter 
up and ask Government to legislate for clearing and 
burning of all waste bug-infected lands? Prevention 
is better than cure.— Yours trnly, B. 
Mil. HUGHES AND MR. BAMBER'S VLSIT. 
Analytical Laboratory. 79, Mark Lane, London 
E.G., May 20. 
GFAMLRiniX,— Mr. -M. Kchvay Bamber, whose 
name mn~t wd!!-knov.'n by Tea Planters, on 
account of his exc'elleiit book on tlie "Growth and 
Manufacture of Tea," called upon me this week 
prior to his departure toilay per P. and O. 
" Victoria" for Lulia via (Jolnmbo and Calenttn. 
I nnilerstiind he lias to keep an important ap- 
pointmeiit in C:ileutta, so will probably not re- 
main \onix in Ceylon on his outward voyage ; 
tlioui'h U i'.ecessiiry could arrange to make 
a stay on hi.s homeward voyage. 
He appears to me to have given niuoli attention 
to tlie manuf.-ieture of tea and I feel sure could 
«ive olanlers considerable information, especially 
in regard lo th.e final oiierations, such as the 
tenipei-ature and length of time best adajited to 
firing. 
As regards myscU, I am very busy in con- 
nection with Ceylon, much more so than 1 have 
ever been before. I have also samples of coffee 
soil from Central Africa sent nie at the suggestion 
of the Uirectov of t!ie Botanic (Jardens at Kew. 
I have also sauiides of Ceylon tea now being 
exliaustively aiialy-ed with a view of ascertain- 
ing if possible how fir differences in market value 
are due to d.iftr'ren;'es of soil and situation or to 
differeni't - i- -he mannfacture. 
[t is very interesting to me to see that at 
last planters are recognising the advantage of 
making a cn-efnl inqniry into these important 
points," and I need hardly add that every effort 
on my part will be made to assist in the im- 
provement of the cultivation and manufacture 
of Cevlon tea, — Believe me, yours faithfully, 
JOHN HUGHES. 
TEA IN AMERICA. 
LETTER FROM MR. MACKENZIE. 
Kandy, May 27. 
Sni,— I enclose a letter from Mr- William Mac- 
kenzie, which lie has sent to the Chairman for 
publication, as it will interest all.— I am, sir, 
yours faithfully, A. PHILIP, 
Secretary to the Thirty Committee. 
New York, February 1898. 
To the Chairman of the Committee of Thirty, 
Dhar Sir,— I havenotyet heard who has been 
elected, but I trust you are well posted in the 
history of this mission, and have been taking an 
interest ia the matter hitherto. If not, names I 
may mention, and references to different methods 
and schemes, will be oljscure to you. 
You are doubtless aware thafc the method I sug- 
gested to the Committee three yeais ago was 
to assist strong firms who were putting their own 
energy and capital into the business. I advised 
having little or nothing to do with the many 
who founded claims on such fanciful reasons as 
that they had been in Ceylon, or had friends 
there ; that they have been engaged under Sir 
J. Grinlinton ; that they were the lirst who intro- 
duced Ceylon tea into America (wonderful what 
a number of the ven/ first I met)? I enquired 
into the position and standing of many of those, 
and found they were generally failures who had 
tried many things, but had not succeeded with 
any. The Committee agreed with me that the 
Fund was not a Bene\ olent Society, or a Pension 
Fund, ami that "Barnacles" should have no 
l)laee on it. 
When I first went to America in a position to 
work, in August 189.5 (my previous visit was to 
enquire and report), I found American Houses 
averse to handling our tea. They had much 
capita! invested in establishments in China and 
Japan , they had a good business in the teas the 
people were in the habit of drinking ; and they 
saw no reason for doing pioneer or missionary 
work, on belialf of an article whose introduction 
could only be at the expense of their existing 
business. 
I was thus thrown back on the few strong 
English Houses who were endeavouring to push 
Ceylon teas in the States and Canada. In addi* 
tion to these, I tried a few small traders as a 
lever to move the larger American dealers. But 
one by one, these " went under" — not having the 
requisite capital or ability. 
In Canada I found one firm pushing our teas 
energetically, and advertising Ceylons as superior 
to all others. Several rivals of this firm on 
whom I called, vowed vengeance on them, and 
expressed their intention of breaking them, as 
they objected to their disturbing the business 
in Chinas and Japans. For a year, I paid a 
small proportion of this firm's advertising. Find- 
ing then that tlieir trade had made great pro- 
gress, and that their rivals instead of crushing 
them, were all themselves advertising Ceylon teas 
I witlidrew all sujjport from this Canadian work. 
This firm's brand is now the chief of 19 Ceylon 
packets, being advertised in hundreds ot papers 
in Canada. 
But even in Canada there iss^ill a consumption of 
about 11 million lb. of .Japan teas yearly, chiefiy 
among the French Canadians, and of poor cheap con- 
gous in the thinly-peopled Eastern settlements. 
It would perhaps be good policy to spend some 
money in endeavouring to persuade those people 
to tr/ our Teas. 
I need not here repeat what I have so fre- 
quently written, as to how the efforts of the 
English Houses, coupled with the very extensive 
Advertising we have been doing, gradually weak- 
ened the conservatism of several of the Anieri- 
