67^ 
THE TROPICAL 
AGEICTJLTURIST. [April 1, 1904. 
THE CEYLON RUBBER INDUSTRF^ 
PARA RUBBER GROWN AT 2,700 FEET. 
The cultivation of para rubbei- and the 
future prospects of the industry in Ceylon 
continue to absorb the attention of agricul- 
turists and capitalists. Hitherto rubber plant- 
inpr has been regrarded as purely a lowcountry- 
industry and 1,700 feet has been considered as 
the limit of elevation at which para could 
be profitably cultivated. It is interesting 
to hear, however, and it will be encouraging 
to planters in the higher districts to learn, 
that para rubber has been successfully and 
profitably grown on Somerset Estate, Gam- 
pola, at an elevation of 2,700 feet. On en 
quiry from the Superintendent Mr P R 
Bisset, we are courteously informed that the 
para rubber on Somerset was planted in 
1891-2 by Mr John Aymer so that the trees 
are now about 12 years old. The trees were 
tapped for the first time in 1903 and from 
83 trees in bearing 40 lb. of rubber was 
secured which soldatR3"25 per lb. in Colombo. 
The Superintendent expects to tap twice 
during the present year and hopes to get 
at least one lb. per tree. This is, we suppose- 
the highest yielding para rubber in Ceylon, 
and the success with which it has been 
attended proves the possibility of rubber 
becoming a valuable asset on estates at this 
medium elevation where tea prices are 
not always of the best. 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
The Pall Mall Gazette, which prints Mr Deusham's 
letter, to the Englishman [already quoted in the 
T.A.'] makes the following sympathetic comment : 
"Mr Densham sends usthe following letter which 
appeared in the Calcutta Englishman. We are not 
sure however, that we can endorse his demand for 
the reduction of the tea duty. The consumption of tea 
in this country figures out at roughly |d lb per family 
per week, and if the duty were put back to 4a per lb it 
would mean a saving of only Id per week. Under any 
conceivable circumstances this gain to the consumer 
would be inappreciable, but in the case of tea it is less 
BO than in R.ny other commodity that could be named. 
For these reasons. In the first place, there is an enor- 
mous range of prices from which to select. You can 
buy tea at Is 2d per lb— perhaps even less— or you may 
pay 3s 6d to 4g for it. In the second place there is, 
perhaps, an even greater range in the number of cups 
produced from a given quantity, as will be admitted 
by those who know the ingenuity displayed by very 
poor people in extracting the last vestige of colour and 
flavour from the leaf. Having regard to these facts, 
the tea duty is undoubtedly the most ideal item of 
indirect taxation we possess, and it is impossible to 
raise the same amount of money by any method that 
would be less felt by the consumer. From this point 
of view it was a great mistake ever to reduce if, aud we 
are far from convenienced that its increase in 1900 has 
had any appreciable influence on the depression m the 
tea industry which has accidentally been coincident 
therewith." 
Mr Austen Chamberlain will, no doubt, appreciate 
the poetry of the phrase ''the most ideal item of in- 
direct taxation we possess," if no one else does. It has 
been one of the golden maxima of Chancellors of the 
Exchequer for some time, and it should be quite com- 
forting to Mr Chamberlain to learn that it finds an 
echo in one journalistic quarter. 
A correspondent of the Daily Nev-s (W G S) writes 
to that paper as follow; : "I am not in favour of 
preferences, especially when they tell against the 
produce of oar colonists, as ia the case with tea com- 
pared with other articles. The tea consumed in the 
United Kingdom is now mainly supplied by India 
and Ceylon, and yet it is taken from 80 to 100 per 
cent of import value. The rise in duty of 2d per 
lb in 1800 was an efiectual check to increased consump- 
tion at a time when it was most needed'to absorb the 
larger output from an extended cultivation. British 
tea producers have in consequence turned to foreign 
countries and have spent large sums in opening new 
markets. Statistics show that foreign countries tre 
taking larger quantities of British-grown tea, while 
the United Kingdom is taking larger quantities of teas 
of foreign growth — e.g., China, Java, etc. Should the 
petition for a reduction of tea duty be again ignored, 
it is not to be wondered at India and Ceylon producers 
follow one who promises Colonial preferences and a 
transfer of tsxation to tbe produce of other countries 
instead of as at present — a heavy taxation of British 
product." 
GROCEKS AND TEA. 
Two letters appear in the last issue of the Groce^ 
about tea. "Expert" puts in a plea for better-class 
tea. He says : " The modern grocer has been a 
little too smart in cutting his prices, produciua 
among his fair customers a craze for economy whion 
is now taken up as a hobby. The lady having been 
led to expect good tea at Is 4d or Is 6d, now looks 
upon that standard of beverage as a criterion, 
But the husband, as he comes home, weary, 
would fain be refreshed with something both grate- 
ful and comforting, instead of an insipid infusion 
which needs brandy to ' fetch it up ' to a pitch 
of appreciation. I am convinced that if grocers were 
to recommend to their best customers high-class 
tea it would be resorted to gladly, as there are always 
lovers of the fragrant ' pick-me-np ' that are willing to 
pay for something gratifying and satisfying. How 
seldom we meet with the old-fashioned names Ooufah, 
Foochow, Oolong and Paklin being brought into requi- 
sition 1 We are all patriotic enough to favour Ceylon 
and Indian growths, aud now that the choicest plants 
of the world are being transplanted on almost native 
soil, surely we ought to procure an element of the old- 
fashioned tea, which is too often lacking in the blends 
of today. And if people were willing to pay 8s per lb 
for tea seventy years ago, when money was scarce 
surely in these days we ought not to mind paying 3s 
per lb for something really worth drinking. 
So much was I struck with the acumen of such 
deductive reasoning [as Gospil gave lately in the Daily 
Mail.—E-D. CO.], says A Tea Traveller, that I was 
inspired to send the following answer : 
(To the Editor of the Daily Mail.) 
"Sir, — In reply to Gospil, can anyone deny the follow- 
ing facts ; (1) Babies are very prevalent in England. 
(2) Sweets have been consumed in -England for very 
many years. (3) Babies are on the increase in this 
country ; so is sweet-eating. . (4) Women are more 
freqaently producers of babies than are men. (5) 
Women, in Great Britain at any rate, eat far more 
sweets than men do. Is it reasonable to draw any 
conclusion from this ? And has it any physical bear- 
ing on the subtle connection between cancer and tea ? 
' Epistle.' 
Perhaps, needless to add, this answer has not as yet 
appeared." — B. and C. Mail. 
TROUT IN THE NILGIRIS. 
The Nilgiri Game and Fish Preservation Associa- 
tion have received their first consignment of trout 
ova for this year, and are apparently well pleased wilh 
the condition in which it has arrived and the results 
obtained, namely, 500 hatched out fry from 10,000 
eggs. A second consignment is expected in a fewdiys, 
which, if equally satisfactory, will yield the future 
angler good sport, since the fish thrive admirably in 
Nilgiri waters, though they will not breed— a fact that 
seems at last to be accepted aa the result of experience 
