THft TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb. 1, I89d. 
We are now verging on a very critical crisis : 
the Currency Committee's deliberations arc neai ing 
the end, what the ultimate result is to he no 
mortal can foresee ; hut of tliis much we may rest 
convinced— their utmost endeavours would tend to 
bring about a scheme to beiielit the poor unjortu- 
nate Indian ofhcial element who lose Mich a 
fortune witli a low exchange. The agricultuusis 
and producers of that vast empire are an unknown 
quantity, why give a second thought ot them ? 
let tlieiii rot ! , , . 
Let us therefore he up and doing, seize 
every opportunity and spare no eflort to over- 
come all impending evils. We have to face 
the inevitable ; let us use every means m our 
power to alleviate the trouble when it does arrive. 
With a high exchange and i)resent prices few 
indeed have worked 1898 on the right si He of 
that office ledger ; and if prices are still further 
to fall, blank ruin would and must overtake a large 
proportion of the Ceylon estates. 1 he only feasible 
outlet to avoid a recurrence of a falling market 
is to use our utmost endeavours to lessen as much 
as possible the export of tea. The old woman 
was heard to say in a very serious emergency 
" every little helps " and to the best ot her 
ability I am told she rendered such help. In the 
same manner. Why not our city magnates take 
the invitation and help the unfortunate tea far- 
mer by finding a market at this end to dispose 
of his lower grade tea and thus hell) to ease the 
export trade. An Indian pl.aiiter from Cliota 
Nagpur w.as years ago on a visit to nie :in the 
course of a discussion he remarked To you 
Ceylon men nothing seems impossible. " Oh ! that 
ic may in this instance prove to be gospel.— Yours 
truly, 
C. T. 
DR. TRIMEN'S " FLORA OF CEYLON." 
Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Jan. r2tli. 
SlR^_May I, through the medium ot your 
paper, ask those who liave received trom the late 
Dr Triinen, presentation copies of liis "I'lora of 
Ceylon" to inform me of the face as early as 
possible, and at the same time to let me know 
which volumes and plates they have received. 
Sir Joseph Hooker informs me that volume 
IV. is now ready, and he wishes to present it 
to those to whoiii Dr. Trimeu presented copies 
of the earlier volumes. Some of those who have 
received presentation copies from Dr. Tiimen 
must, I think, have complete sets, as I have 
a number of odd volumes which Dr. rnmen 
left. — I am, etc., 
JOHN C. WILLIS. 
I think yonr correspondent Ib wrong io Bupposing 
the biitterfiea travel ouly in very brigtit, hot weather, 
I have Been lliem going over the Hapuule mi 
Balangoda ranges on dull days against a cold «iu'J, 
but rainy weather stops *hem. Aa to their prefer- 
ence for the Gcvernment roada in level country it 
ia probably not altogether on account of the extra 
warmth, but they incur less danger there irum birdi 
and liz^irds and other enemies. 
The flight seems this year to be later than oaoal, 
perhaps through cold weather prevailing while the 
caterpillars were feeding, or daring the chrysaiii 
stage. — YooTB faithfully, 
COLLECTOR. 
THE FLIGHT OF BUTTERFLIES. 
Dear Sir,— " Rolling-stone" 's letter ia very interest- 
ine If it were possible to get a few more careful 
observers to report the time at which the first day b 
flight ot butterflies passes different stations from 
■ south to north ot the island, it would be very 
useful We should learn the rate at which they 
travel," and the northern gentry could tell us what 
becomes ot them all. Do they all fall exhausted 
into the sea at or north ot Calpentyn, and, if so, 
does the annual flight attract large shoals of fisli 
to that part ot the coast ? 
Your correspondent does not tell us how many 
BDecies composed the flight, nor on what vegetation 
he saw the larvae feeding a couple of months pre- 
Tiously Xhey must create a perfect wudernefls. 
COLOMBO TEA SALES: INCREASED 
SUPPORT WANTED, 
Gammadua, Jan. 16 
Dear SlU,— I ask your permissiou to impress 
on my brother planters how important it is to 
them and the tea industry generally that the 
Colombo Wednesday's tea sales should be better 
supported by all who have the power to offer their 
tea for sale in the local market. 
The market was never in aljetier position, I un- 
derstand, than it is now, for sellers getting 
similar value for their tea as ihey would get 
were they shipping lo London ; while the local 
vendor has the advantage of iirompt payments 
against five to lour mouthfi' delay when shipped 
to London. 
Ill addition t/t the many buyers for Australia 
and the Continent of Europe, there aie a number 
of Russian buyers who have for a time settled 
in Colombo with a view to buying large 
quantities of our teas should suitable teas 
be offered. Every effort, therefore, should 
be made by independent proprietors to encourage 
those gentlemen to remain in our midst, by tryinj; 
to meet their wishes and the wishes of other 
buyers, by olTering not the Reil Leaf Dust and 
inferior grades only of their breaks, but by 
odering full breaks of the various grades. 
The local demand will thus be met and Con- 
tinental and other markets than London supplied 
diiect. Those shipping to London would find 
that prices would rise there and as local prices 
are in a great measure guided by London 
market values, we should reap the benelit here. 
If planters do not keep up the supply of good 
household teas in the local market, we shall in all 
probability find that our Russian buyers will have 
to leave, being unable to get what they want, 
and we shall have ourselves to blame if they turn 
their attention to India or Japan, 
By the latest shipping returns, Germany 
had -256,584 lb. of our tea in 1897, and 3.52,252 lb. 
in 1898 ; Russia 4.39,349 lb. in 1897 and 2,714,003 
lb in 1898. Now we are bound to ship to both 
countries much greater quantities this year from 
Colombo, if buyers can get the teas they re- 
quire. Then we have Australia taking over 
15,126,000 last year, and America ought to take 
more direct, from this than 2,180,000 after so 
much expenditure in advertising and in trying 
to meet the requirements of their markets : 
while the other countries in the shipping list 
referred to would all take more if suitable teas 
were offered. For the above reasons let every 
one who has the power do his level best to 
support the Colombo mark'-t, and thereby lessen 
the quantity to be thrown oa the London market 
which has more than it requires. — Yours faith- 
fully, 
JAMES WESTLAND. 
