June 1, 1904.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUKIST. 
853 
to in Mr Kenton's report, viz., 1901 1902. quan- 
tities received as per French Keturns were 
in 1901 .. 728,815 Kiloa 
in 1902 .. 280,239 do 
1,009,054 Kilos 
equal to about 2,200,000 lb. 
I do not happen to have by nie as I write the 
Indian and Ceylon statistics, but the following 
fi!»uies taken from Messrs Gow, Wilson & Stanton's 
Tea report of 3Ist March last, will serve my pur- 
pose equally well. They represent the quantities 
of Indian and Ceylon teas sent to France from 
all sources, i.e., horn Great Britain as well as 
from the countries of production 
in 1901 India 99,361 Ceylon 422,104^521,468 lb. 
in 1902 India 82,403 Cejlon 330,129=412,532 lb. 
934, 000 lb. 
being considerably less than half. A.s these figures 
include what was sent from Great Britain, the 
quantities exported direct from India and Ceylon 
must be smaller still. If Mr Kenton had given this 
aspect of the question a moment's reflection he 
should have seen that his contention was wrong 
and that Indes Anglaises must mean something 
more than India and Ceylon, However there is no 
need to further discuss the question. I was so 
much struck with these enormous discrepancies 
that I requested the British Chamber of Com- 
merce in Pfvris to elicit an explanation from the 
Director-General of French Customs. The answer 
was that "Indes Anglaises " corapiised all the 
British Possessions in Asia and that all teas in) por- 
ted from Hongkong and Singapore were included 
in that denomination. If Mr Kenton is still 
incredulous, let him consult the courteous Secre- 
tary of the Chamber who will confirm what I say. 
In conclusion, therefore, I repeat most em- 
phatically that the French statistics offer no 
indication whatever of the progress of Indian and 
Ceylon teas one way or the other and that it is 
absolutely misleading to refer to them in that 
connection. 
How much longer are the Ceylon Planters going 
to tolerate that £5,000 of their money should 
every year be squandered by a gentleman who 
has so little to show for it and who makes such 
colossal mistakes ? — Yours truly, 
J. J. MARCEL. 
SULPHATE OF COPPER ANDJEA. 
April 25. 
Sir,— Much discussion has gone on recently 
regarding the advisability of spraying weeds 
among tea by using a solution of sulphate 
of copper. I cannot but think that such a 
practice would prove very detrimental to 
the interests of planters and Ceylon tea if 
taken up to any extent Indeed. I think a few 
practical experiments would soon show that 
the use of sulphate of copper with a " straw- 
sonizer " or other spraying machine is quite 
useless for weed-killing among tea. Mr. 
Strawson invented Iris knapsack sprayer 
for the purpose of spraying and thus 
killing charlock weed among cereal crops in 
Britain, and by experimenting it was found 
that a certain strength solution of copper 
would kill the charlock without damaging 
the other crop. In tea we have a crop very 
different from cereals. It is the young and 
tender tea leaf we wish to encourage, and 
a solution of copper which would effectively 
destroy the strong-growing tropical weeds 
in Ceylon would also, I feel sure, seriously 
check your tea growth, unless you arrange 
to spray the weed only when tiie field is 
pruneol, which won't answer here, I fancy. 
I think it's pretty certain that a solution 
of copper that will not damage the tea foliage 
will not affect the weeds, and certainly will not 
jienetrate and kill the roots. 
There is also the question of arsenical 
poisoning, which I will not touch upon now, — 
Yours, AGKICOLA. 
THORIANITE IN CEYLON, 
April 27. 
Dear Sir,— The occurrence of a new mine- 
ral in Ceylon has been recorded in two letters 
which have recently appeared in Nature, over 
the names of Prof. Dunstan and Prof. Ramsay 
respectively. Prof. Ramsay's letter is of 
exceptional interest ; it nppears that Thoria 
is present only in minute quantities, and 
that the element supposed by Prof, Dunstan 
to be Thorium, consists of one, or possibly 
more, Tiew element^. 
Under these circumstance no certainty can 
be felt as to the commercial value of the 
mineral, which may not exceed that of the 
small percentage of uranium contained in it, 
i.e. some £20 to £30 per ton. Only a limited 
quantity of the mineral has been found. The 
discovery is nevertheless of the highest in- 
terest and importance from a scientific point 
of view, and may prove to be of considerable 
commercial importance as well. 
A, K. COOMARASWAMY. 
CEYLON RUBBER SALES IN LONDON, 
April 29th, 1904. 
Dear Sir,— We beg to advise that at sale 
today the following lots of Plantation grown 
Para Rubber were offered and sold :— 
Ceylon Mark. 
Delwita 
Do 
Halwatura 
Do 
Maddegedera 
Do 
Langsland 
Straits FS «& 
JB 
Do 
Fine Para 
Pkgs. Description. Price per lb. 
1 do 
Co. 
2 cases Fine pale biscuits 5s 
1 do Fair scrap Ss 
Fine pale and fesv 
dark biscuits 53 
Good scrap Ss 
Fine pale and dark 
biscuits 5s 
1 bag Fair scrap (a few lb.)23 lOd 
6 cases Fine darkish 
biscuits 53 
Fine dark biscuits 43 lOd 
Fine dark sheets 
rather thick B'ght. in. 
GooX scrap do 
do 
do 
do 
do 
O^d 
8d 
Oid 
Cid 
1 bag 
4s 82d per lb.— Yours faithfully 
LEWIS & PEAT. 
THE JUDAS TREE. 
May 3. 
Dear Sir,— With reference to C. D.'s letter 
on the above subject in a recent issue, 
I may mention that the tree generally 
known iu Europe by the name of " Judas 
