Oct. ], 1898.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
26§ 
JNIK. II. E. P1NE() ON MEXICO. 
We call attention to an iiilorestir.^ letter froni (see 
next pa;^e) this well-known Uva planter on colfce 
l)lantin^' in Wexii'o. The picture lie draws is very 
different from the hi;;hiy-coloured ones of the pro- 
moters of Companies in America or of Syndicates 
in London. Mr. Pineo shows very plainly the 
(liHicnlties with hbour. H-? does i:ot, however, 
refer to the present low prices of cottee. He 
gives us news of Mr. E. O. Darlcy and also of 
the Ob-icrvcrs correspouJont, Mr. W. J. Forsyth : 
both are evidently very busy. It is more in- 
teresting, however, to learn of Mr. Pineo himself: 
he is now established in the capiial of Texas as 
agent for Tilr. Elwood May's " Bluid and Tiffin 
tea" and "Lanka GolTee." We may as well 
quote what Mr. Pineo .?ays in a separate note, for 
it will be of intere-.t to his old friends out here :— 
" I am new here in the interest of Mr. Blay en- 
deavouring to sell hia brands of Ceylon piu-e Tea, 
and I see that one of the stores haa a packet tea 
styled 'Holvrood' on sale and two places have 
bulk Ceylon's on exhibit. It is a pity, I think, that 
the Ceylon planter is going in for quantity, and not 
quality, as the markets of the world have a sufft- 
ciencv of rubbish already to take care of. 
"It has grieved me to see the notices of so many 
dea'-.hs among the old residents of Ceylon who helped 
much to make its history. The late Mr. Byers was 
among the many good friends who helped mo in 
Ceylon, and the* late Major Skinner was one of the 
men who gave me a helping hand when most I needed 
assistance." 
We trust Mr. Pineo will be very succpssful in 
liis Texas mission both for his sake and that of 
old Lanka where, he must now understand, the 
tea planters are especially set on (lualitij during 
the present season. 
. ^ 
-PPxOGRHSS IN CEYLON." 
Under thiri heading, the London Times oilQ{\\ 
Au"ust— the d.iy the lasc Mail left London— con- 
tains a letter from our pen covering nearly a 
column-and-a half of leaded type- We did not ex- 
pect to lind it inserted in full ; bmg letters being 
so often cut down. The subject we need scarcely 
say is a review ot the latest statistics connected 
with the P anting Enterprise not only in Tea and 
Cacao plantations, but also connected with Coco- 
nuts and other products more especial y in native 
hands. Were jnoduce the latter on page 274, 
so that our readers may see what has been 
published in the leading metro|)olitan journal. 
The parts that are of most local interest are 
wliere wo emphasize the benefit that may result 
from the stoi)page put on planting extensions, 
tlirou'di the large area now under tea and the 
\)\" crops in proS]3ect, if all continues to be cul- 
tivated. We arc strongly of oi>inion that nothing 
is more likely to deter Sir .Jolui Muir and other 
bic capitali-its from opening more land for tea, 
than to put before tiieni the enormous extent 
now covered with the product in Ceylon as well 
as in India. Next we point out that Ceylon has 
a full supply of planters ami no young men should 
come hero ''seeking." Uut of far more importance 
is the possible eiloct of the Currency Committee's 
decision on our tcii planting and other export 
industries, and to this we refer more than once, 
and in the end we venture to leave the follow- 
ing expression of opinion with the home [)ul)lic, 
otticial and otherwise :— 
"I would just mention that, should tlio decision 
of the Indian Currency Commiltco prove unfavour- 
able the Oeylou tea plaulcni aud p'.oduce exporteru 
generally are likely to press Mr, Chamberlain for an 
amelioration of fiscal bm-dens in two directions, namely 
— (1) a reduction (with a vievv to eventual abolition) 
of the import duty on rice; and (2) a reduction in 
the Government railway traffic rales, which are out 
of all proportion higher than those charged on any 
Goveinment railways in India." 
Before this, we had shown the utter failure of 
the policy of abolishing the Paddy rents and 
"protecting'' the local industry, so far as lessen- 
ing tlie imports of rice which have, instead, 
risen from 7,282,411 to 8, 72.'!, 750 bushels between 
1S92 — the year before abolition — and 1897. 
We refer, further, to the importance of Rus- 
sia as a tea consuming country and to the 
wisdom of reducing the prohibitory import duty 
which \\Q trust the present Finance Minister, 
M. Witte, may take in hand and lessen gradu- 
ally. Finally, we close with a reference to the 
Colombo Harbour Works and the great futurd 
before the trade of our Port, especially if con- 
nected by railway with Southern India, and if 
gradually relived of the oListruction offered by 
a long and troublesome Customs tariff. 
MINING PLUMBAGO! 
In our reference to this subject ye.sterday we 
were thinking only of the "royalty" (now an 
export duty) aud forgot all about the obligations 
of the " Mining and Machinery " Ordinance No. 
2 of 1896. We quote an obligatory clause as 
follows for the information of planting and other 
friends : — 
(1) if any person intends to open, work, or naa 
any mine, he shall, one week at least before com^ 
menoing to open, work, or use such mine, furnish 
the government agent of the province within which 
such mire is situate with a declaration in writing 
containing the following particulars ; 
(a) The name and boundaries of the land in which 
the mine is to be opened, worked, or used ; 
(h) The nature of the right of ihe applicant td 
opeo, work, or use the mine on such land ; and 
{<:) The name or names and residence or residen- 
ces of himself and of the person or persons under 
whose management or superintendence the mine ia 
intended to be opened, worked, or used, 
(2) If such person ceases to have an interest iU 
such mine, or if any person or persons other than 
those named in the declaration shall be entrusted 
with the management or superintendence of such minej 
such person shall forthwith make a further declaration 
thereof to the government agent. 
PL.4NTING IN SUMATRA: A PARTNER 
WANTED. 
With reference to an advertisement sent 
and which appears elsewhere, Mr. Turing Mad- 
kenzie writes : — " Soengey Poetitie ia the finest 
young Liberian cotlee I have ever seen, and 
Daisydale is a good second. For this espe» 
cially I wanted Mr. Vander Poorten to come to 
me. But it was not to be. He confined his 
attention to coffee planting in ' Switzerland' and 
could not spare a day to come to Serdang Easb 
or the more cosmopolitan end of the DLstrict. 
At the time, I was in the agonies of ' Hitting," 
in fact movings myself, from Cosinopolitania 
(Serdang E.) to Switzerland (Serdang W. ), so I 
could not get to meet Mr. Vander Poorten. The 
coffee ill Switzerland is very line, bub f think 
Cosmopolitania is even better. More power to 
your elbow. You will surely get relief on the 
Currency (.Jnesiion, anil prosperity will return 
once more. It is not as if planters only raised 
the outcry. Imjiorters and Exporters in Ceyloij 
aud India, coiubine aj^aiu;;!; tU« Uwv^inm^ut.'l 
