554 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb. 1, 1901 
hibitive duty on French champagne. I say 
nothinj^ of the total absence of discretion and 
good taste in speaking in siioh terms of 
our respected Am b assail or, nor of threatening 
reprisalo to a friendly nation. This is .ill part 
and parcel of the new diplomacy. I will only 
•remark that a few <lays after these pessimistic 
views were expressed 1 was able to inform you, 
upon the best authority, tliat the French Govern- 
ment were about to fiive us entire satisfaction 
and that a bill was in preparation for continuing 
the duty as at present existing. 
I wonder if tlie incongruity of tiie situation ever 
strikes the Ceylon PubTic. Here we have agentle- 
man drawing a large salary, accredited to all the 
important Uritish Embassies abroad, wh* calls him- 
self the Ceylon Commissioner in Europe, a title to 
which he has no right whatever, who ought to 
knov/ everything and who knows nothing; who 
tells us it is as good as settled that the tea 
duty is going to be doubled in France on 24th 
February next, and that it is ail up with our 
trade, and it is left to me, a private individual 
who does not even enjoy the barren satisfaction 
of receiving a courteous acknowledgment from 
the " Thirty Committee " or anybody else, for the 
service he rendered in exposing the favouritism 
and extravagance of the management in Paris 
last year, it is left to me, I say, to inform the 
public that these doleful forebodings are ground- 
less, ond that no alteration is going to be made 
in the duty on Tea in France next year. — 
Yours faithfully, J. J MARCEL. 
CEYLON GREEN TEAS IN CANADA. 
Toronto, Dec. 28, 
DiCAR Sirs,— We re-Ad Mr. Rosling's letter 
to the Ceylon Association in London with 
very much interest, •specially the figures 
showing the rapid increase in the production 
of Ceylon f/refji tea. We, the "Salada'' Tea 
Co., have "been enthusiastic about these teas. 
They were first introduced to oitr notice by 
Mr. Mackenzie in 1898, in which year, we 
notic« by Mr. Rosling's figures that there 
■Were 1.3,.302 11). shipped, all of which came to 
ourselves. In 1890, 86,327 lb. were shipped, 
practicallj' all of this, over eighty thousand 
pounds came, also to us. Unfortunately our 
sales are notkeepir.g up in proportion to the 
output of green tea, but they are enormously 
increasing and we are as enthusiastic today 
about these teas as we were some years ago, 
and we will always look with pride to the 
fact that we were the first to recognise their 
merits and to put them before the public. 
Wishing you the compliments of the season 
•—we are, yours truly, ' 
P. C. LARKIN & CO. 
SALT JN AGRICULTURE. 
Dear Sir, — I rememher reading in the 
Observer, and afterwards in thai; invaluable 
comi)ilation the I'roplcal Agriculturist, which 
I have been filin<? from No. I, that the 
husk of the Coconut is rich in Salt and 
Potash. It was, of course, afterburning the 
husk that the constituents were registered 
Mr. C t'l'itn. Can you or any of our 
great Manure Merchants or their Analyst^ 
tell me, whether the Salt and Potash are 
latent in the husk and so may be evolved by 
decay, or whether the agency of fire is neces- 
sary to secure these important soil consti- 
tuents ? I have seen great heaps of coir 
dust, obtained from the husk, lying idle, 
and have been told they nave no mnnurial 
value. If mere burial of the coir dust will 
not secure salt and potash from it, why is 
it not l)urnt, if the ashes have a high 
manurial value?— Yours trulv, 
IGNORAMUS. 
[We shall deal with this subject later on. 
-Ed, T.A,] 
RUBBER IN SABARAGAMUWA. 
Sir, — With reference to this Government 
advertisement, it would be interesting to 
ascertain who the lessee is and what he 
paid, it being a public property ? 
MERCHANT. 
Tenders will be received up to noon of Decem- 
ber .31, 1901, by ;he Government Agent, Province 
of Sabaragamuwa, at his office at Kutnapuia, for 
the right to lease for the period of twelve months, 
renewable at the end of each year for a further 
period of twelve months, if conditions stated 
below are observed, of the Government rubber 
plantation, situated at Edangoda, near the 12tli 
milepost on the cart road from Katnapura to 
Nambapana, in the valley of the Kalu-ganga. 
The plantation is 27 acres in extent planted with 
Havea rubber, aged from 9 to 11 year.", and con- 
taining 2,800 trees. The lessee will be bound to 
keep the said plantation free from jungle growth 
or encroachment. The lessee will be entitled to 
collect latex or seed, but in doing so should any 
rubber tree be killed, he will be liable to a fine of 
RlO for each rubber tree so killed or damaged 
beyond recovery. That no rubber tree shall be 
felled or uprooted without the special consent of 
the Assistant Conservator of Forest)=, who shall 
at all times be at liberty to inspect tlie said 
plantation. 
[A question should be put in the Legis- 
lative Council. — Ed. T.A.] 
PLANTING IN ZANZIBAR. 
Friends' Industrial Mission, Pemba, Zanzibar, 
1st January, 1902. 
JjEAR Sirs, — I am greatly interested in The 
Trepical Agricidtvrist, and find it very useful. 
But the seasons in Ceyl»n are evidently quits 
different from liere in the Southern hemisphere. 
Ginger and other things are, in " All about spices" 
and other papers, recomended to be planted in March 
and April. 1 have tried it and it does not do at 
all. I have now planted Ginger, Arrowroot, &e., 
in October and November, and find that a much 
better time. 
1 am sending you some Meteorological Observa- 
tions which I have taken here, thinking they may 
be of interest, as no one else has taken a coutinuous 
record in this island. 
The clove crop both in Zanzibar and Pemba has 
been small this year, hut I am glad to say that on 
this plantation we have had the best crop on record 
as far as I am able to discover. After about five 
years' experience I can say that free paid labour 
