Aug. 1, 1901.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
105 
of the mattter in a broad sense, and the London 
school of Directors have been forniany years gra- 
vitating towards the Governmen- style ©f volu- 
minous reports and tsbles of statistics that take 
a long time to insike up, and are practicnlly nulli- 
fied for this very reason. Therein no reason \\ hy 
a manager should not have the question put in a 
fair and square way.— How nuich tea can ynu 
make at such and such a hgure, and how much 
profit would you expect? or, Can you do better ? 
it so, we are wi;iiiig to entertain your views. It 
is abso ute'y absurd a man in an armchair in a 
Lond(m office saying, Oh ! that's all nonsense, 
you must make >o much tea per acre, and at so 
much, and unless you do this we will get another 
man. What is the result ? The poor manager must 
try, and, as must be the case, he either makes his 
tea 'at the price named, and drops a penny per 
pound ; oi 'le falls far short of the quantity, 
aiming to keep quality up, and ;?ms— gets the sack. 
Until^the London Ajgents and Directors leave a 
little more to the judgment of their local managers, 
and treat them as sensible human beings, doing 
their utmost for their employers, so long will we 
have rubbish to contend with in the market, and 
the only ones to blame will be the Agents and 
Directors, more especially at Home, as those in 
Calcutta understand the position and often them- 
selvps slirtre, in the mud thrown at the manager. — 
Indian Planters' Gazette, June 22. 
. 
A DISTINGUISHED GERMAN COLONIAL 
BOTANIST. 
HIS VISIT TO CEYLON. 
We have omitted to make special referenc^ 
to the departure of Dr. Stuhlmann, a dis^ 
tinc'uished German Botanist who has been visiting 
Ceylon and who left for East Africa via Aden 
in the "Hamburg" on the 24th inst., after 
having travelled all over India, collectins.' informa- 
tion which might be of use in the German Colonies. 
Dr. Stuhlmann had visited Java as well, buying 
seeds and plants for experiments to be started by 
the Government at Dar-es-Salaam, the promising 
capital of German East Africa— Dr. Stuhlmann 
is not only a prominent botanist, but also one 
of the leading officials in German East Africa, 
He iias even been Acting Governor there. Dr. 
Stuhlmann is one of the few, if not the only one, 
remaining of the first generation of pioneers in 
German 'feast Africa, his time of service extending 
over 14 years. He accompanied the well-known 
Emin Pasha on an exploring expedition into the 
interior of Africa, on which he afterwards wrote 
a book of world-wide fame, 
RICE CULTIVATION AND PRACTICAL 
EXPERIENCE. 
We are indebted to Mr. Elliott for giving 
our readers the results of his experience as 
re"-ards one important department— the sup- 
ply of water— in paddy cultivation. Irriga- 
tion Engineers would no doubt be all the 
better for a course of training in the actual 
growing of paddy. They have something to 
learn in regard to the best means of utilising 
water, and Mr. Elliott questions if the grow- 
ing paddy or rice plant can have too much 
water? He instances the case of Burma with 
its abundant rains and heavy crops ; but we 
14 
suspect the latter are due even more to the 
rich alluvial soil than to the heavy rain. 
Still, a full water supply is undoubtedly 
necessary, and it is well to have the result of 
Mr. Elliott's personal experience as a rice- 
cultivator. 
AFRICAN MARKET FOR CEYLON TEA 
INTERESTING INTERVIEW WITH 
SIR HARRY JOHNSTONE, COM- 
MISSIONER FOR UGANDA. 
RELIEF FOR THE OVER-BURDENED 
MARKET : SUGGESTION TO 
EXPLOIT PORTUGAL. 
A FIRM BELIEVER IN TEA-DRINKING AND THE 
PERMANENCY OP THE TEA-INDUSTRY. 
On the O.R.M.S. " Orizaba " at Naples, 
19th June, 1901. 
We arrived here early this morning. The 
weather is lovely now, the sea like a mill- 
pond all the waj^ from Port Said, and it is 
expected we shall reach London about 21st. 
I had an interesting chat with Sir Harry 
Johnstone, Governor of Uganda, who joined 
the ship at Port Said en route to England, 
on furlough. His ideas on the tea industry 
are distinctly refreshing in "these times, and 
I think worth consideration. 
To begin with, he takes a keen interest 
in planting, studies the Tropical Agriculturist 
and the Observer, and has tried growing 
various products, including tobacco and 
tea ; this last with but small success. In 
his opinion this depi'ession in the tea trade 
will not last, it cannot last, and when it 
passes over, as assuredly it must, tea will 
be in as sound a position as ever. Moreover, 
if he had money to invest, he would have 
NO HESITATION IN INVESTING IN CEYLON 
TEA PROPERTY. 
Regarding the question of over-production, 
Sir Hariy declares that Africa will be a 
gr?at tea-drinking country — already the 
native tribes are taking to it ; and provided 
tea is good, cheapl and easy to get, Africa, 
now only in its infancy, will do away with 
the fear of over-production ; and there will 
be no question, he believes, of glutting the 
market with "India, Ceylon or China teas. 
Africa, for various reasons, will never com- 
pete with recognised tea-producing countries, 
like India, Ceylon, and China. 
Talking of the " Thirty Committee," why 
on earth, he said, do they not 
EXPLOIT PORTUGAL ? 
There is a good field there for tea shops. 
Portugal, unlike Spain and France, is not a 
coffee a:id chocolate drinking country. It 
drinks tea, and drank tea long before we 
did ourselves, but tea is dearer there than 
it ought to be. Then Morocco is another 
country where tea is drunK all day long, 
and the "Thirty Committee" would do well 
to turn their attention to it. The other day 
IN SOMALILAND 
he stopped at a caf^, and asked for some 
coflee ; they told him they had only tea, 
and he was served with a. delicious cup of tea, 
