THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. 1, 1901. 
horse-power and lave failed to move your in- 
dustry, I advocate the use of 10 horse-power by 
India and Ceylon combined. Will you forgive 
me for [lointing out that your writers are more 
ready to advance objections to any scheme than 
to forward any ideas of their own. 
Your recent Green Tea Syndicate scheme is a 
case in point, and the balance is on the side of 
objections. Mr Fraser shows that the scheme 
is practicable, but doubts whether money can be 
obtained. He says that the Cess should be 
doubled, and this is quite right, and if we want a 
Black Tea fund, the Cei^s must be quintupled. 
Mr Ryan recommends you to be slim, wily, 
and up-to-date; India has been so "slim" that 
it refused to take money from the buyers and 
customers, and Ceylon was so "wily" that it 
restricted the amount taken to an insufficient 
sum. It is " economy " to refrain from spend- 
ing money on Foreign Markets, but it is real 
political economy to get enough for the purpose 
out of the buyers and consumers ; anyhow it is 
the best policy. 
For the future I recommend that everyone 
who enters the discussion shall give his name. 
AVe know the names of the men who speak at 
Association meetings, and by giving names to 
the press we can form an informal Association, 
The weakness of newspaper discussion lies in the 
fact that the whole discussion is not placed before 
the readers. I collected all the "crisis" letters 
to the Indian Gardening and Planting, and made 
a book of them ; it would coat about 400/ to 50 '/ 
to print all this as a pamphlet but the result would 
be great. I have seen all the " pros and cons " 
and I am convinced that the scheme I advocate is 
feasible, The " Pros " are so decided and sensible, 
and the " Cons " so weak and futile, that I have 
no doubt of success if the matter could be' placed 
before Tea men io a condensed form. 1 inter- 
viewf d a few heads of Tea firms in Calcutta and 
found that they had not had time to study the 
question in full, and it seemed to me that with 
time and opportunity I could convert them to 
favour the Cess. 
We have absolute indications that the British 
Tea producer is willing to adopt measures for re- 
form when he considers them sufficient. They 
know that a small Cess is not sufficient and that 
is the reason why they have not spoken of it 
sooner. They imagined that "reduction" was a 
sufficient measure and promptly promisei to re- 
duce 14 millions. It was the insufficiency of the 
measure that stopped your Ceylon growers fiom 
promising their proportionate amount. Now I 
have put before tbera measures which will be 
sufficient, and I have no doubt of success, because 
I do not judge by castles in the air, but by past 
solid facts, and by experience. 
If Messrs. Rosling, Ryan, and Fraser, &c., <1'C„ 
will place any other scheme which has even the 
look of being sufficient, they need not doubt of 
success. You take it for granted that opposition 
comes from men with their eyes open ; try the 
method of discovering whether these men really do 
know all sides of the question to the same extent 
as you yourself know it. 
The fate of the Private Tea Sales should show 
that growers are tired of being fed on chaff, and 
that they intend to get " wheat " somehow. I 
believ*; in your Ceylon men because they have 
done things to secure unity and strength amongst 
Tea growers. I have that sure ground to stand on 
when I appeal to them to go further, and to 20 far 
enough. A. COOKE. 
PLANTING IN BRITISH NORTH 
BORNEO : 
TOBACCO— CARDAMOMS —COTTON. 
Kandy, Aug. 30. 
Dear Sir, — The following news I have 
today received from BritishNorth Borneo may 
be interesting to your readers :— " Our to- 
bacco industry is holding its own. I should 
like to see some one try cardamom planting 
which is such a success in Ceylon. 
" Enquiries are being made regarding land 
for cotton which grows here like a weed. 
Ceylon men might find a good opening here 
as cotton planters. 
" The railway is nearly finished and we will 
soon have many Chinese settled between Jes- 
selton and Beaufort." — Yours truly, 
W. D. GIBBON, 
Agent, British North Borneo Government. 
[Ceylon men had better first see what land 
the Northern flailway is to make available 
in Ceylon, with cheap labour, for Cotton and 
Tobacco.— Ed. T.A.\ 
TOBACCO-GROWING IN NORTH BORNEO 
AND CEYLON. 
Kandy, Sept. 5. 
Dear Str, — Our correspondence regarding 
the merits of British North Borneo and 
Ceylon is of service to both countries. What 
I contend is that tobacco wrapper leaf is 
acknowledged to be a profitable cultivation 
in Sumatra and British North Borceo where 
they have undoubtedly now a suitable soil, 
rainfall and transport facilities. 
1 know nothing about rice or cotton 
cultivation either in Ceylon or British 
North Borneo, but I do know that to- 
bacco wrapper leaf cultivation was a 
ghastly failure in Ceylon, though we had 
Sumatra experts and capitalists on the spot 
to watch its cultivation. — Yours truly, 
W. D. G. 
[Tobacco-growing by Europeans in the 
tropics is surely the most uncei^tain of pur- 
suits — one year giving large fortunes and 
another yielding little or no profit. We 
were in Amsterdam in 1891 when Java 
and Sumatra Tobacco companies were so 
depressed that Dutch friends of our acquaint- 
ance were ready to sell out at a fraction 
of what they had paid in. Since then, 
there has been a great recovery, and 
Mr. Turing Mackenzie now reports 
" £10,000 " or " £20,000 " as a Sumatra 
Company's Manager's Commission in one 
year ! In Ceylon even, we know of 
the grand return Mr. Vollar got from 
one Dumbara crop of tobacco (all used 
as "wrapper leaf"?) but such a hand- 
some return was, we believe, never 
afterwards repeated. We do not, for a 
moment, deny the advantages of North 
Borneo as a tobacco-growing country ; but 
seeing the risks attending the transfer of 
