Feb. 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
559 
I saw Mr. Wenham, the tea buyer of Grigga and 
Cooper, Lipton'a wholesale agents in St. Paul. He 
told me they sold a few hundred chests a year to 
the trade, chiefly in Bloutaua, where there were a 
lot of Welsh and (Jornish miners. They had also an 
Indian and a Ceylon Tea packet oi their own. I asked 
him if he would not make a special push with our teas, 
provided I guaranteed him $o a week for some months 
towards wages of demonstrators. 
Hia reply- was what I have heard from many, but 
which he put in fewer and terser words than usual. 
It is a clear statement of the condition that exists 
everywhere in business, where business is success- 
fully conducted. He said, " I keep my appointment 
here by making a profit for my department. Each 
of our travellers cost $7, say 30s. a day for travel- 
ling expenses, besides his salary, and the profit we 
expect him to make for us. Each traveller knows we 
have no use for the man who cannot do that. Were 
the traveller to spend his time trying to sell the 
grocer what the consumer does not wane, and what 
would be returned on our hands, he would be a 
ruined man. Men in business with keen competitors 
cannot afford to push what is not wanted, unless 
they want their rivals to get their trade. Our travel- 
lers have not time for proselytising, only '' cranks 
can fool with misaionanj %oorh." I was so much im- 
pressed with hia direct way of putting it, I wrote 
down hia words at once. 
About my offer to pay for demonstrations, he said 
he would consult his partneis of the firm, and let 
me know. He has not written, so it is clear that 
they did not think it worth while. 
This difficulty meets us everywhere. We can work 
only through grocers, it does not pay them to give 
time to our teas. Customers pressed to take those 
black teas by their grocers, try them, don't like them, 
and go to other grocers next time. I may mention tlmt 
87 a day cover the expeuaes of travellers only because 
they stop at all small towns, short distances apart, 
going only to large towns as I do. The railway fare 
ftloue averages double that amount. 
From St. Paul I went away north 500 miles to Win- 
nipeg, travelling chiefly through North Dakota, a state 
which allows no liquor to be sold in the trains while 
passing through it. tiuffet must be kept closed. The 
Boil is very rich. It is a country of wheat, corn and 
divorces, the former being the main support of the 
farmers, the latter of the lawyers and hotels. But the 
latter industry seems doomed or at till events it looks 
as if it were to lose the privileges it has hitherto en- 
joyed. For I see the lawyers are advertising to restless 
or unhappy couples everywhere to hurry up, as the 
time requisite for residence, before securing divorce, 
may shortly be lengthened. 
So far as the eye can see for hundreds of miles along 
the rivar, the country is a level plain, with hardly a 
tree visible, except a few fruit or shelter trees around 
some of the farmers' houses. The harvest has been 
reaped, and steam threshers and steam elevators are 
everywhere in evidence. It is strange how few animali>, 
horsee, cattle or sheep one sees. Yesterday on a long 
day's journey, I saw a herd of pigs, today a flock of 
turkeys and a few horses. 
In Ireland the pig " pays the riut," but in the 
West, I see by a Kansas paper, " the hog is the 
debt payer, the mortgage remover, the promoter 
of progress and the buttress of prosperity. High 
class wines are impossible among low class people" 
Kansa's wine are the product of " Kanaa'a grain and 
brain." 
The Btationa on the railway are the centres 
of iudiibitiy; here is the Post Office, the scliool- 
house, suvt-ral churcliey, always the hotel, a store 
where everything is sold, groceries, clothes, furniture, 
etc., and above all, the huge elevator to which the 
(armors bring their grain for txport. The store has 
neiirly always a largo sign, which is visible from the 
wiialuw of the car. Foreign names prevail; the last 
one we passed boro tho names of Bovis and liaino- 
usaau, suggestive of old clothes, tobacco and coffee, 
hardly of tea. What they can be, Turks, Armenians, 
Bulgariana, 1 Jews certainly. 
Nothing surprised me more than the number of 
small churches. At one small village yeaterday, I 
saw four close together. At several two. Competi- 
tion and Salvation IS as strong here as edibles, drink- 
ables and wearables, perhaps because of tho many 
nationalities. Uu tolegraoh poles are many adver- 
tisements, " Yeastfoam Baking Powder," " Carter's 
Little Liver Pills," " Hood's Sarsaparilla," " Chew 
Century Plug," " Chew B uttle Ax.3 Plug," etc., etc. 
In the country besv/ean the stations arc ia- 
numerable large tire.s. Fifty year.s ago, these wouid 
have suggested Indians torturing the whites or 
vice versa.^ Now it is only the farmers burning the 
fctraw, which seems of no value as yet, while wheat 
crops can be secured without manure. 
in the morning when the train stopped at a station 
a boy came in seUing papers. I bought one, and 
each page of it reminded me we were now in Canada. 
For in it were not less than Ave advertisements of 
Ceylon Tea, none of which were paid for by us. It 
was a Winnipeg paper. Winnipeg at present contains 
about 45,000 people, and is tne capital of Manitoba, 
which has about 200,000. It is a great distributing 
centre, being on the junction of the Bed and another 
river, and the converging peint of many lines of 
railroads. It should some day be a very large city. 
It has many initial advantages. The sign boarda 
bore the naniea of McKenzie, McLean, JUacIutosh, 
MacDonald, MacFarlane, Eraser, etc., only one 
Elsinger caught my eye, then " Dewar's Whiskey," 
" Best Hot Scot,ch in Town" and Ceylon Tea were 
prominent everywhere. Never had 1 seen so much 
advertising of our Tea in so small a compass. The 
papers were full of it, huge boards, 12 to 20 feet 
square stared at one from every point of vantage, 
bearing the name of some well-known brand, "Tetley's'" 
being in this respect, far a head of all others. But 
Lipton's, Salada, Monsoon, Blue Eibbon, Ram Lai, 
etc., were everywheic. It was easy to come to the 
conclusion that we need spend no money in Winuipeg. 
Wm. MACKENZIE. 
Kandy, 4th Jan. 1899. 
Sir,— I he rein enclose letter irom Mr. Alackenzie 
to Mr. Lane dated London, I4tli December, also 
extract of letter dated 15cli December tocrether 
with tlie letters referred to from Messrs. "e. A 
Willard and Kichaid Blechynden, all of >vliich are 
01 considerable interest and I would ask you to 
have them published in full accordingly.— Yours 
faithfully, A. PHILIP. 
Secretary, " Thirty Conmiittee." 
London, 14th Dec, 1898. 
Dear Lane,— In my last report, 1 said I stopped 
Ar DETROIT 
on my way back to New York. Lipton's and 
Tetley's teas are held by some distributers ia 
this town, bat the only teas that are vigorously 
pushed are the Silada brands. Mr. Larkin has a 
branch oflice in the town, and a man whose business 
it is to visit the grocers' shops. Hia teas are seen 
in 512 shops, but although advertised regularly in 
the daily papers, the average sales are about 370 lbs. 
a week, or less than J lb. per shop per week. No 
wonder the grocers say they can give no time or 
attention to articles the public do not want. This ia 
A CillEEN TEA TOW.N, 
SO far as tea is drunk at all, but there are many people 
from the old country whom we are gradually reaching. 
For instance, Mr. Larkin's man told me the follow- 
ing story : — He laliod on a grocer several times, who 
had rather a prominent store, but who refused to take 
in any of Lurkin s packets, because there was no 
demand for pure black tea. A Welsh family settled 
near this grocer's place, and the lady made her gro- 
cery purchasers there. She complained bitterly to the 
grocer of the quality of his tea. He gave her different 
kinds, but could not satisfy her. Wishing to retain 
her custom, he got a package of "Salada," which 
he sent her. Slie called next day, and thanked him 
Baying thtt was what she wauled. The grocer said' 
