Oct, 1, 1898.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
271 
The chuielies and hotels of the lie- 
public were a disappoiiilnienb to nie, but 
on tlie wliole, it is a very interesting, coun- 
try to visit, and it is rapidly coming to be 
recognised as a progressive and, of course, wealthy 
country. 
If you think the foregoing v/ill be of any in- 
terest to your readers you may, perliaps, give 
them space in your columns, or you may decide 
that tiiey are suitable for the waste paper basket. 
—Yours faithfully, R. E. PINEO. 
ENEMIES OF TEA. 
Nawalaintiya, Aug. 16. 
De.\R Sir,— Under separate cover I am sending 
you some Tea Shoots off bushes pruned about 
three months ago. I also found the same shoots 
on tea ()runed over a year a^^o ; it is not general 
but is quite in evidence. This looks very serious. 
I have been trying to lix it to many surround- 
ings such as the drought we are experiencing in 
what is one of our v.ettest montiis ; August in 
every year has been famous for its stormy wea- 
ther ; never a year without 30 inches of rain ; last 
year we had no less than 36'4-4: inches and up 
to date this year we have only registered 2-78 
and more tlian half the month is gone; today it 
is quite biigiit like any day in December or 
January. I also thought tlie tea bushes in rocky 
soil were afiected and not others, but here again 
I was disappointed ; I fouad it on tea, where there 
are no rocks within 100 yards. Do sir, ease 
our mind by reterring the matter to some experts 
and let 'ts'Uuow how to guard r,gainst this evil. 
Asthe Planters' frieu't, I have not the least doubt 
you will give ns i^^ll the liclp yo\i can. C. T. 
[We have referred the injured shoots to Mr. 
S. Green asthe nearest autliorily.— Ed. T..^.] 
HAS CEYLON TEA DETEIUOKATED ? 
August 16, 1S98. 
glRj—With all due humility and perliaps a 
slight sensation of fear and trembling, whicii I 
think panlonable, considering the number and 
strengtli of our enemies, I venture to record my 
vote in favour of the minority who contend that 
our Ceylon te.is have not deteriorated. 
V. A. interrogating grizzly old fo5sil like myself 
as to new estimate : — " Field No. 1, 20 years old, 
what yiehl for 97 " 843 1b. 15 oz." " put it 
down at 930,— natural increment you know "! 
Managing Director prancing around and making 
himself generally disagreeable. "What the 
has Brown Stout been about that he hasn't frothed 
up to lOd at least and as for Cock o' the North 
I'll scrag him for his cliickenheartedness over 
those co'ufouiideil coolies. Pluck coarse ye beg- 
gars and study grind.-^tones or gunny bags." 
"He will return I know him well." Ample 
supervision properly remunerated did ye say? 
No fear ! Cheaj) and nasty is tlie order of the day 
and cheap and nasty it is, sir, in a great many 
cases. 
Now for London :— Tea for Price and the great 
Combine will ultimately kill tine teas, for though 
they keep on howling for quality, you won't find 
them pay for it and the reason of this, in my 
opinion, is that so many upcountry men nowadays 
go in for quantity anil produce a tea witli some 
flavor and quality (precious little of either tliough) 
which the country grocer thinks good enough for 
general use and therefore does not see his way to 
ri.se to the e.\tra superline, tliough the best the 
world prwluces is put at only Is 7d, so even were 
there no combination there would be but limited 
competition for fine tea.'. 
Look at recent sales and you will find close 
on 1,000 packages from Dimbula Sv)ld tlius : 
London 6^d and O^d, Colombo 33 cents. These 
estates got stand-out prices not so very long ago, 
so why this thusness? Coarse plucking and 
nothing else which simply spells suicide were all 
to indulge in it. 
The Tliirty Committee, I take it are neutral. 
They act on the hue and cry as in duty bound and 
.'^ee no harm in more light like the rest of us. Mr. 
Bamber is welcome to a leaf from my catechism : 
"Your yield and average in '94? 400 lb. and lid 
Do. Do. -9 ? 600 and 8d Q.E.D. 
Now for J. R. Many a time and oft have 
I marvelled at the experience and expertness of 
our worthy friend as a taster of the whisky 
Avine, but still more do I now wonder to hear 
he has become an authority on tea. He livfs 
by it of course and it h naught, it is naught, 
says J. R. and all this would be positively 
amusing did the press not swallow it so seriouslj . 
Did J. K. ever make a pound of tea worth 6d. 
in his life and if not what right has he now 
to pose as an expert on the subject, and why 
should the " Times " back up such twaddle 
and as it were foul its own nest ? 
It is comforting to be assured that planters 
are now doing a little work ; have renewed th« 
bottoms of their kettles and set their pluckeis 
to hiint the shy and wily fiusii at the rate of 
about three days in seven as this is to give them 
good prices later on. I was under the impressior, 
prices usuallij impreved from now for a few 
months ; tliat planters worked all the year round, 
siine like editors, but as the latter constantly 
s ly no and of course, they know everything 
even to the law of libel, I suppose there must be 
a certain amount of verdancy about me, though 
witli apologies for this lengthy yarn I feel bound 
to sign my.'.elf — Yours faithfully, 
OLD FOGIE. 
XL 
Aug. 22. 
Here is something worthy of the serious notice 
of the Observer even. Per last mail I had a 
sample of my own tea sent me, which had been 
seen in a grocer's shop and sent him by a large 
buying firm as a very good substitute for Dar» 
jeelings. 
It was priced 4d per lb. in bond more than it 
had fetched in the market, and seeing the grocer 
had still to have his 4d or 6d per lb. for his 
trouble, do you think we are getting anything 
like fair play whether our teas have deteriorated 
or not ?— Yours faithfully, 
"OLD FOGIE." 
EE DIMBULA VALLEY (CEYLON) TEA 
COMPANY, LTD. 
Dear Sir, — \yith reference to the paragraph in 
the London letter of the " Times ot Ceylon " 
of the 1st August inst. , headed "Dimbula Valley 
Company ; management severely criticised " 
and ' to the publication in " The Times of 
Ceylon, of the 8th inst., and your own report 
of Mr. Jas, Sinclair's speech from the chair 
at the meeting of the Conqjany on the 19th 
July last, I desire to point out to you and 
through you to the general public, the injus- 
tice Mr. Sinclair has done nie in his criticism 
