702 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April 1, 1904. 
"How do you propose to sell this tea — will it be 
exported ? " — " No, it will all be sold locally. The 
bnsioesB of the Company is intended to be confined 
to the treating, bnlking and packing of teas for various 
iirms and estates in the island." 
" Do you intend to sell these machines V " — " No, 
I will not do that, at last for some time. My inten- 
tion is to float another Company in Paris beside 
this Company, and to rent and control these machines 
throughout Europe. Later, I will proceed to New 
York, where I will float another Company and rent and 
control machines in America and Canada." 
"Are these machines useful for packing any 
other articles ? " " Besides tea, they will pack any 
cereals. " 
ITS EFFECT ON THE MABKET. 
''What effect will it have on the market ? " "I' 
will considerably reduce the cost of packing, and 
will, of course, cheapen the market to a great ex. 
tent. Its great advantage will be in enabling us to 
compete with China and Japan, where they can pack 
so much cheaper than we can with our native labour, 
and I can say that it will quite 
REVOLUTIONISE THE TEA TRADE," 
" You think the machine is sure to grow in pnpn 
, larity " ? — "Quite, I have had from several firms in 
Europe applications for machines to pack various 
products, such as oatp, rice and other cereals. The 
Americans have shown the greatest interest so far, 
. and there is a great future for the machines in 
America." 
"When will a commencement be made with the 
. bnilding operations ? " " Tenders for the buildings 
will be called for within the next month." 
Mr. Webster goes direct to Paris, from there he 
proceeds to London, and later on will visit New I'^ork 
and St. Louis. 
^ 
THE VITALITY OF SEEDS. 
(From the •' Standard" Feb. 22iid^and 2oth, 
1904 ) 
SlE, — Witli reference to the recent correspond- 
ence, which has been appearing in The Standard 
on the ' Vitality of Seeds,' 1 feel sure the follow- 
ing will be of interest to your readers. During 
last year a collection of vegetable and flower 
seeds, specially packed in a sealed tin box, came 
.into my possession ac Dawson, Yukon Territory. 
The box and its contents, which had been given 
10 a missionary in 1895, bad been left unopened 
by him on leaving the Klondike in 1900, and for 
years these Seeds lay amongst a lob of rubbisli 
subjected to a Winter temperature ranging as low 
as 68deg. Fahrenheit below zero, followed by as 
much as 90d6g. Fahrenheit each summer, Pianted 
by me 1903, these seeds grew perfectly well, a 
circumstance which not only tlirows light on the 
vitality controversy, but testifies to the fact not 
generally, I believe, realised by people in this 
country, that Dawson, situated as it is in a 
portion of Canada almost within the Arctic Circle, 
is yet not entirely a barren waste from a horticul- 
tural point of view. 
lam. Sir, your obedient Servant, 
C C CHATAWaY. 
Reading, Feb. 23. 
Sir, — Will you allow me to supplement Mr 
Chataway's letter appearing in ' The Utand.ird, 
of yesterday's date ? It seems important that it 
should be understood thai; the seeds 1ih mentions 
as having Iain exposed from 1895 to 1903 to tem- 
perature ranging between 68Jeg. Fahrenheit below 
zero eacb Winter to 90deg. Fahrenheit each 
Summer, and which he found to germinate freely 
last yera- on opening the tinl;ox containing them, 
only enduied those vicissitudes in consequence of 
special treatnifnt. Some five and-t wen ty years 
since I read a Report, written early in the Nine- 
teenth Century, from an [adi;in Government 
official, calling attention to the fact that he had 
.seeds raised by his ^ i rdeiier in his Knglish 
country home for his use iu India ; that while some 
of the.'e seeds had proved excellent, others were 
absolutely wor tliless. On enquiry he found that 
in the one case the pods containing the seeds had 
been hung up in the chimney corner of the 
kitchen of the English mansion for some time 
and the seeds placed (while warm) in bottles and 
sealed. The seeds that had failed, although dried 
in a similar way, had not been bottled for a con- 
siderable time afterwards. This hint was 
sufficient to start me on a long series of experi- 
ments, having for tl;eir oljject the s-afe elimination 
of the excess of moislure which all seeds contain 
as harvested in the Enslish climate, however dry 
they appear when handled. This moisture has been 
a cause of very great trouole when English seeds, 
packed in hermetically sealed boxes, passed 
through the tropics, where the heat iu the ship's 
hold caused the seeds to sweat and become 
niou'dy. Naturally, I found there was a very 
great diversity in the amount of such moisture 
contained in the different varieties of seeds, and 
that, while some seeds could safely lose an 
amount of moisture equal lo ten per cent of their 
weight, others could not part with more than five 
per cent without injury ; consequently, the degree 
of dry heat to whicii seeds conld be safely exposed, 
and the proper duration of such exposure before 
packing, varied very much, while some seeds 
required much more gradual desiccation than 
others. But before the experiments were com- 
pleted, knowledge on these details vvas acquired, 
with the result that there seems hardly any limit 
to the period during which the germination of 
seeds may be conserved if they are properly 
prepared by drying in a suitable high temperature, 
and hermetically sealed in that temperature. For 
many years past, seeds thus packed by my firm 
have been suceessfully used in all climates, and 
the box Mr Chataway mentions was one of those 
which every agent of the Church Missionary 
Society, the London Missionary Society, and the 
Baptist Missionary Society receives annually, 
containing seeds for his personal use in Mission 
Gardens from the Tropics to tlie Arctic Circle. 
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
MARTIN J. SUTTON. 
ME. L. DAVIDSON ON EUBBER IN THE 
STRAITS. 
Ml' L Davidson who has just returned from 
the ^Straits, to a contemporary's reporter, said 
that the growth of rubber in the Straits is 
considerably better than it is in Ceylon. The trees 
attain a larger growth at the same age and 
although he cannot speak from definite knowledge, 
he would say that, owing to their larger size, they 
will give more rubber than in Ceylon. Ceylon has 
an advantage in that it can make more profit 
from tea while planting the same land with rubber 
also. With their rubber planted in the tea, Ceylon 
planters can get a better prnfit than the Straits 
planter can with his rubber planted in the Liberian 
coffee. Land is cheap and easy to get. There is 
no difficulty and none of the delays people have in 
