406 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec, 1, 1898. 
IMPERIAL TEA DUTY. 
We think tlie inference ot most ])eo|)le from 
tlie iiiteiestin<:; and varied Correttpondence of 
the London Brokers with Mr. E. J. Youn<^, 
(see page 398) will be that any reduction 
in tlie Imperial Tea Duty should not exceed 
2d a 11). in the first instance, if the interests 
of Indian and Ceylon producers are to be 
studied. When the effect of such reduction is 
seen as to the jjossildy considerable intro- 
duction of cheap and even trashy teas, 
then will it be time enough to settle 
about "abolition." Of course the iieople 
who can influence Sir Michael Hicks-15each are 
the home consumers ; but a very considerable 
proportion of these would be fjlad to vote accord- 
ing to the wishes of British tea planters, who 
incleed, have a very wide parliamentary influence 
through relatives and friends in the United 
Kingdom. 
THE GOURAMl FISH FOR CEYLON. 
We are much indebted to Mr. Fowler, Acting 
Government Agent, Ratnaimra, for his resume of 
past attempts to introduce the "Gourami" into Cey- 
lon. Seeing lioW well it has pros])ered in Mauritius 
and on the Nilgiris, not to S{)eak of Java, there 
can be no good reason why it should not be 
a great success in Ceylon. If specimens were 
brought from the Nilgiris they ought to be well- 
suited for introduction into tlie Nuwara Eliya 
Lake. We trust the experiments about to Ije 
made by the Fishing Club at Mr. lJurrows' in- 
stance may be fully successful. — The scieiitilic name 
of the "Gourami" (misprinted on Saturday) is 
Osphromenus olfax. 
0 
INFERIOR AND REFUSE TEA. 
A planter calls attention in a letter below 
to the large quantity of very inferior, even 
trashy, teas which continue to be offered for 
sale in the local market, justifying to some ex- 
tent the satirical remark by metropolitans that 
the Colombo market was becoming the " dustbin " 
of the trade ! Our correspondent considers that 
all tea selling under 20 cents a lb. must 
be made at a loss, so that its sale can do no 
good to the proprietor, while injuring plant- 
ers as a body. But we are creditably informed 
that much of the said tea is from native gardens, 
the owners of which take no account of their 
labour, but consider every ce)it received as grist 
to the mill. We fear tlie Press can have no 
dissuading influence on such sellers ; and if the 
teas were not shipped outside the island, no 
harm would be done. But the natural fear is that 
a goed deal is bought to be shipped, or blended, to 
the damage of the name and fame of Ceylon tea. 
The only remedy we can think of is that such tea 
lie all bought for the " Thirty Committee " to be 
used in some guarded way for sale and distri- 
bution in local, or bazaars for sale, under a 
guarantee, for the purpose of manufacturing 
*' caffeine." 
When in Mannheim in 1891, we went over the 
extensive Chemical Manufactory of Messrs. 
Bohringer and apart from the main purpose of 
our visit (the manufacture ot cinchona^ 
bark into quinine, &c. ), we were in- 
interested in seeing and learning about " tea 
fijlff"ftU(l ttjQ jp5^i}ufacture of "caffeine." Now, 
we learn that so great is the demand for " fluff" 
and "factory refuse " for caffeine, that Messrs. 
Bohringer & Co. of Colombo can take 2(X),ii00 lb. 
a year at a price not excelling 4 cents per lU- 
A cent or two of profit made from the collection 
of ''refuse" sold in this waj', iis legi'iuiate 
enough ; for the buyers are ready to guarantee 
tliat not an ounce is diverted from the <.'li<;un6l). 
But this after all does not affect the main qae»- 
tioii of the trashy, inferior, made teas selling 
between 4 aad 20 cents per lb. for axoort from 
the island. It is for the " Committee of Thirty " 
in conjunction with the Committees of the I'ianterB' 
Association and Chamber of Coiuuienc, to devise 
some means ot meudicig or eudiiii; this evil 
practice. 
CEYLON TEAS AND SELLING RUBBISH. 
SiK, — I have gone to the trouble of extracting 
from iast Colombo Tea Sale the total of teas 
sold under 20 cents per lb. on that day the 
lOth. The total of the sale that day dclucting 
"not arrived" parcels w;is 098,601 lb. and the 
total of tea sold under 20 cents rangiii;: from 
7 cents to 19 cents was 39,851 lb. which works 
out to nearly 0 \>er cent of teas that are beinj; 
put on the market by the growers at a loss ; and 
were tliese teas destroj'ed it is surely safe to 
say the buyers of this muck would have to con- 
tend for better teas and materiallj- raise the aver- 
age value. Why has the parent I'lanters' Asso- 
ciation done so little in bringing tliis before the 
planters. It is suicidal sending these teas to market. 
OLD I'LANTElt. 
CEYLON TEA IN WUUTEMBUKG. 
We are glad to learn that Ceylon tea has 
been freely introduced not only into Stuttgart, 
but into Southern Germany generally, by Messrs. 
Bohringer* Co., although chiclly so far throughout 
Wurtemburg. In Stuttgart alone there are no 
less tl.an sixteen of the leading grocers now selling 
Ceylon Tea supplied by the above firm. Mr. 
Gryer, of the firm, who is now in Colombo, is 
very lioiieful of a wide extension of the sa'es 
all over tlie country, and we ha^•e seen the 
printed forms useil in the different agencies in 
Wurtemburg, so that there can be no doubt of 
a very considerable business having been started. 
" The Thirty Committee," who supi>ort Messrs. 
Bohringer & Co. in this matter, will be interested 
in the progress made and still more in what 
is anticipated. 
^ 
THE PESTS AND BLIGHTS OF THE 
TEA PLANT. 
This latest monumeut of Dr. Watts' labour and re- 
search* is of great interest to tea planters, for it is not 
only a scientiiio description of the many and various 
evils affecting tea, but also a practical discussion of 
the best means of warding them off. The book took 
its origin in a journey undertaken for the purpose of 
studying the matter and of reporting on the use of 
an infusion of the leaves of Adhatoda Vanca as an 
insecticide. On the latter point Dr. Watt finds that 
* The pests and blights of the tea plant by Dr. 
G. Watt, C.I.E., act., Superintendent, Government 
Printing, Calcutta, 1898, 
