May 1, 1899.] THJE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
8G3 
T.' the Edilof. 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA. 
Toronto, March 21st, 1899. 
Dkab Sir, — We are enclosing herewith' an 
article which appeared yesterday morning in 
one of our daily papers. It will perhaps be of 
interest to your I'eaders. — Yours truly. 
P. C. LARKIN. 
TEA AM) THK PREFERENTIAL TARIFF. 
It is reported that the Government has in view 
the placing of a tax on tea to meet the deficiency 
caused by tlic recent postal reductions. If siTch is 
its intention, advantage should be taken of the 
opportunity to discourage the use of the adul- 
terated and poisonous teas that are dumped on 
the Canadian market. There is a lot of trasli known 
as tea that sliould be absolutely prohibited from 
entering the countrj'. This low grade stuff is the 
cause of sallo^v complexion and nervousness in 
the people who use it. We have no hesitation in 
.saying that it is the exciting cause of many cases 
of insanity. The farmers seem to use a good deal 
of it and with bad effects. Whether the Govern- 
ment places a duty on tea or not, it should protect 
the people from these poisonous teas. They come 
principally from Cliiua and .Japan, being prepared 
by people who are uncleanly, ignorant and devoid 
of all ideas of sanitation. In order to discourage 
importations fi-om China and .Japan, it would not 
be a bad idea to extend the preferential tariff, as 
.applied to Great Britain, to such parts of the empire 
as produce tea, that is if a dutj' of any kind is to 
be imposed on tea. The tea plantations of Ceylon 
and India .are under the control of Englishmen, 
who use machinery to prepare the tea, while in 
China and .Japan the work is done by the bai'e feet 
and hands of the natives. A preferential duty 
Avould kill two birds with the one stone— encour- 
age trade within the empire and discourage the 
use of an article that is sending many people to 
the asylum. 
TEA FOR THE QUARTER, 
London, E.C, April 6. 
DearSirs, — We are not issuing atea circular this 
week as no public sale-* have been lield in London, 
but as the montli's ligures have been published 
since our last circular was sent out, we enclose 
copy of the figures with a few remarks upon them 
which we think may interest you. 
The increased deliveries of Indian tea are very 
encouraging, while the reduction in the stock is 
very marked. Tlie smaller Ceylon deliveries 
during the i)ai?t few months are doubtless ac- 
counted for by the somewhat higher (trices which 
ruled for the lower grades of these teas during 
the greater portion of the season. 
We feel sure that you will be interested to 
receive the enclosed copy of ligures, and we are, 
dear sir, yours faithfully, 
GOW, WILSON & STANTON. 
Deliverioa of Indian tea during March were nearly 
one million and a half pounds above March last year. 
This brings up the increase iu deliveries of ludian 
tea tor the first ten montlis of the season to 13i 
millions aliead of tlie corresponding period last se:i- 
son ; while the stock is 6i millions below that at 
the eud of March 18'.is. Smaller Ceylou dclivorica 
are doubtless accounted for by the higher relative 
prices at which the lower grades of this growth were 
selling during a large portion of the season; but it 
is satisfactory to notice that the stock is practically 
the same as a year ago. 
Movements (in lbs.) of Indian and Ceylon Tea 
from : — 
1st June 1898 to 31st 1st June 1897 to Slst 
March 1899. March Ib98. 
Indian. Ceylon. Indian. Ceylon. 
Imports ... 134,212,606 77,266,270 133,389,215 :S,7!*2,754 
Deliveries .. 119,850,559 70,153,798 106,572,938 80,661,592 
MANURING EXPERIMENTS. 
Colombo, Slst April, 1899. 
Dear Sir,— Mr. Joseph Eraser sends us today 
the analysis of a fair sample of the average soil 
of the experimental plots which, he writes, might 
be inserted alongside the manuring experiment 
ligures, first published in the Observer of the 
6th inst., and since in the Tropical Agriculturist. 
The following is a copy of the analJ^sis men- 
tioned above : — 
The results represented the composition of the fine 
earLh of the soil viz., that portion fthich passes 
through a sieve having 40 meshes to the linear inch. 
Per cent. 
Water lost at 212° Fahr. 
5-560 
*Organic and volatile matters 
, 11-900 
Soluble in standard hydrochloric 
acid oxides of iron 
11-7-20 
Alumina and Manganese oxide . . 
, 16-127 
Lime . . . . 
-461 
Magnesia 
•690 
Potash . . . , . , . . 
■245 
Phosphoric Acid 
•153 
Insoluble silicates and undeter- 
mined matters 
53-154 
Total 
100-000 
^Containing Nitrogen .. 
•135 
The soil is well supplied with lime, potash, phos* 
phoric acid and magnesia. There is a fair amount 
of nitrogen, but this is relatively the most deficient 
element of plant food present ; and from the analysia 
we would expect this soil to be more responsive to 
the nitrogenous elements in manures than to the 
potash and phosphoric acid. The air-dried soil con- 
tains a high percentage of water, viz., .'vcS per cent, 
or in a drier condition of the atmosphere 4 20 per 
cent. The high percentage of alumina accounts for 
the soil being thus retentive of moisture. 
(Signed) M. COCHRAN, r.c.a. 
City Analyst 
— We are, dear sir, yours faithfully, 
FREUDENBERG & CO. 
CEYLON TE.A. IN AMERICA. 
Kandy, April -ilst, 1899. 
Sir,— I enclose copy of a letter received by Mr. 
Lane from Mr. Wm. JVIackanzie, dated New York, 
March '20th, reporting generally on the state of 
the tea trade iu America,— I am, sir, your.-; faith- 
Secretary •' riiirty Committee." 
New York, March 20. 
Dear Lane,— I wrote to you three days ago, to 
catch Saturday's mail. This may possibly catch the 
same mail from London to Coylon. 
I have just heard the surplus Revenue iu Ciinada ii 
likely to lie so large that no new duties will be imposed. 
Lut until the Uovonue Lill comes up, nothing dctiuice 
will bo known. 
Discriminative against China-.Iapau nieet^ with no 
approval from the Home Government, who have 
to take a wide aud general view of tlio Enipiro'a 
u If airs. 
