'^EB i, 1902.] tHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
523 
It vill be shown that there is ample room 
for displacement of green tea in consumption. 
It would lessen the objections to the Cess, 
were all distributions from it made to the pro- 
ducers or shippers in Ceylon on a publicly an- 
nounced basis, and not to the ultimate dis- 
tributors in secrecy, at the discretion of one 
individual.— We are, dearsir, yours faithfully, 
McMEEKIN & CO. 
CEYLON TEA ON THE EUROPEAN 
CONTINENT. 
On the rule of audi alterayn partem it is 
well to see what a gentleman of Mr, 
Marcel's continental experience and interest 
in Ceylon has to say on Mr. Renton's 
work in trying to extend the demand for 
our tea. And in the letter which we print 
elsewhere today, Mr. Marcel makes not a 
few observations which are both pointed 
and pungent, and which may be useful in 
reference to the future guidance and action 
of the " Ceylon Tea Commissioner." But 
we are certainly not prepared to go with 
our correspondent in his general condem- 
nation of the Continental Tea Campaign. 
No doubt France is one of the most diffi- 
cult of European countries in which to 
gain much support for our tea ; but there 
should be far less difficulty in Germany 
and still less in Russia, where tea is already 
so well-known and popular By the-way, 
cannot Mr. Marcel show us how the fact 
that Russia— the special ally of Prance— is 
a great consumer of tea, could be utilised 
to win over the French people to this 
average. If he would do se, Ceylon planters 
would, indeed, reckon our correspondent 
among their benefactors. But in the letter 
before us, there is too much of criticism 
and censure, and too little of alternative 
suggestion. If Mr. Ronton is going the 
wrong way to work, in his " degustation" 
eysteni, what would our correspondent 
propose as a substitute ? No doubt, if 
the notables— and especially the ladies 
—in each town could be gathered 
together to a " five-o'clock tea," and a 
suitable discourse on the virtues of Ceylon 
tea, the immediate result should be more 
satisfactory. But we must not despise the 
masses— the lioi polloi—nov the benefit of 
inculcating a taste for Ceylon tea by a free 
distribution in the cup ; for in our experience 
from successive visits to Vichy and other 
parts of France, " tea " was regarded as a 
medicine and until within a few years back 
we were generally referred to the pharmacist 
when wejwanted to purchase any of the 
fragrant leaf. That being the case, if Mr. 
Kenton can only help to get the French 
people, even of the lower classes, to see from 
their own experience, that Ceylon tea is 
really a pleasant and refreshuig beverage, 
the money voted should be well spent. But 
if Mr. Marcel will only suggest a more ex- 
cellent way of going to work, we can pro- 
mise the fullest consideration. As to the 
Continental Campaign generally, there ought 
certainly to be no slackening in the support 
of Mr. Renton, so long as his engagement 
lasts. When that comes to an end, it may 
necessary to recousider the whole posi- 
tion of the necessity for a Ce&s and its ex-, 
penditure in the light of what mercantile^ 
firms in the tea trade, experts with Con- • 
tinental and American experience, have to 
tell us, and we certainly count Mr. Marcel 
among the number. For ourselves, we should 
be inclined to close the American campaign 
— it has lasted a good many years— save, so 
far, as the payment of a bonus on •' green 
teas " at this end is concerned, and to 
continue the Continental Campaign for some 
years longer, with such modifications in the 
working iis experts may recommend. 
. ^ — 
INDIAN TEA AND OTHER TRADE 
WITH KASHGAR. 
Mr. George Macartney, Special Assistant 
for Chmese Affairs at Kashgar, gives a 
rather gloomy account of the trade between 
India and Chinese Turkestan. One of the 
causes of the depression is an enhanced 
duty on charas,and some difficulty is caused 
by the exchange question in converting 
tengas into rupees and vice versa. With a 
view to improving the trade Mr Macartney 
suggests a system of bounties on Indian ex- 
ports, the development of the tea trade and 
the mule traffic and the importation of 
Kashmir opium. With regard to the tea 
trade no care is shown by the British traders 
in considering the requirements of the 
market, for which Kangra Valley tea m 
its present form is unsuited. A tea similar 
in taste and shape to the brick tea from 
China is required, but care will have to be 
shown in avoiding collision with the Chinese 
traders from Hunan, The mule traffic from ■ 
Turkestan to India is also of special im- 
portance as the Commissariat and Ordnance 
Departments have great need of a regular 
supply of these animals. Mr Macartney says 
that a fair number could be obtained annually 
at Yarkand if it became known in the out- 
lying districts that we would purchase them. 
— London Times, Dec. 18. 
■i' 'Mr- ...t' 
MANGABA: OK MANGABEIRA RUBBER. 
On the Para side of the Tocantins and Araguaya 
rivers, between the Itacayuna and the Tapirepe 
there is in the campos (land covered with lower 
vegetation) a shrub, the " niagabeira," which gives 
a milk more or less similar to that of the Pararubber 
tree, but which does not coagulate so easily and no* 
at all through the smoking process. The raanga- 
beira is never to be found in the forest ; it is only 
in the campos, where the vegetation is not hi»h. 
It is about 7 or 8 inches in diameter ; the average 
height is 16 feet ; it is not very resistant and 
perishes quickly when overworked. It gives 
quite enough milk, yet as the stuff has at present 
no great commercial value, this advantage dis- 
appears. Among the Rio do Somno, which is one sf 
the places of production, 33 pounds are sold at less 
than 20 milreis [^-equal l8;4.40,gold, with exchange 
at l\d, per milreis] and in the town of Para itself 
the value is seldom double. As the milk is 
abundant, the production is equally so. A man 
gets easily 11 pounds per day, but as the price is 
low, this industry is not so advantageous for the 
working man. Something like 5 milreis per day is 
Bod very much in such a place wheie a, mau has 
