\ 
June 2, 1902.] 
THE TKOPIOAL AGRICULTURIST; 
833 
CEYLON TEA IN BOSTON. 
The Ceylon tea estate pi-oprietor who, 
having sent some of his own tea to a friend 
in Boston, received the information in reply 
that " Ceylon tea was unknown there," once 
again sends us an extract from a letter he 
has had by way of rejoinder to the letter 
of Mr, MacGuane of the Salada Tea Com- 
pany. The Bostonian resident who, we need 
scarcely say, has "no axe to grind" and 
probably never heard of the Ceylon-American 
Commissioner or Messrs, Larkin & Co., not 
being in tea, writes to the estate proprietor 
as follows :— 
'• Boston, March 19.— I nuist try and give you 
some answer to the ' Salada ' Tea Manager's letter 
of December 30tli, 1901, which you sent me. It 
is amusing to see how ruflled he is over my re- 
marks. I'still stick to it that Ceylon tea is not 
knmvn in Boston. Mr. McGuane and 1 happen to be 
referring to entirely different sets of Bosronians. 
I referred to the upper classes who reside on the 
Back Bay and who would never, for a moment 
expect to lunch or dine at the Crawford- Woodcock, 
Marstoii's, Crosby's or Cottrell's restaurants. 
These are frequented by business men, shop pirls 
and country people. The Lennox Hotel, I did 
mention in my letter. It is the only first-class 
hotel Mr. McGuane has mentioned in his letter. 
The Tliorndike is a fanp4y hotel— that is, people 
live there in suite>v all the wiuter, like ma.iy 
others of its kind, but we would not think of going 
to lunch there. By iirst-class hotels I mean such 
as would be starred' in ' Baedeker.' The Touraine 
is perhaps, the most noted tirst-rdass hotel, in 
Boston I. have myself asked for Ceylon tea there, 
when lunching with friends, and have been told 
that they did notseiveit. At the clubs too, such as 
the Somerset, the Union and the University, where 
ladies whose husbands are members can lunch and 
dine Ceylon tea is not on the menus. These clubs 
especially the first two— are the social cUibs of 
Boston, and membership in either carries with it, 
admission as guests to the social clubs of Londor, 
etc. I think I have said enough so far to convince 
you that Mr. McGuane and I are talking of entirely 
dilfrent sets of Bostonians. He appaiently daea 
not know my set, and I certainly do not know his. 
So with regard to the tea room. The locality he 
suggests would be patronised by people who would 
dine at Crosby's or Martin's. The locality I sug- 
gested would be patronised in the afternoon by 
Back Bay people. Society people do not shoji 
down town (Washington Temple and Winter 
Streets) in the afternoon. The shopping is all 
donCj in the morning -after which lunch is had 
either at home, or at one of the clubs, or the 
Touraine. What is wanted in Boston, from 
my standpoint, is a nice tea room where 
ladies and gentlemen could go after a con- 
cert, or a visit to the picture galleries, 
or a walk or a drive. Tea at Marston's 
and such like places is served in thick semi- 
porcelain cups, such as one would see in Glasgow 
at • Lockhart's ' dining rooms — not in dainty 
china cups with nice spoons and knives. A* a 
recent ' fair ' I sold Ceylon tea {not the ' Salada 
brand, whatever that may be) and I have had 
dozens of enquiries since "from my own personal 
friends as to where they could get more I One 
lady to whom I gave some of the tea you sent 
j^e — two years ago— asked me the other day if 
I wQuld tell her what tea it w?,?, as slje Qwld 
not get it and had even .sent to New York foi: 
tea at §3 (20/) a pound, hopii.« it might be as good. 
But I liave said enough. My letter to ^ou was 
written entirely in the interests of Ceylon tfea. 
I still stick to it that the article ' Ceylon Tea ' 
is not known well in Boston— whatever the 
special brand called 'Salada' may be. A 
thousand or more such signs as ' Salada * does -not 
advertise Ceylon Tea pure and simple— but a 
special brand of a special company. It is like 
advertising Lipton's tea — which may be a blend 
of every tea in the world and not necessarily Pure 
Ceylon Tea. I hope this will explain matters. 
To turn to another subject. Prince Henry's visit 
was quite amusing. Boston looked lovely in a 
fresh mantle of snow with clear bright skies 
overhead. He passed our house, driving at a 
tremendous pace and accompanied by the most 
awfully mounted cavalry I have ever seen. I 
suppose is tvos hard riding in the snow at such 
a pace, but the men kept falling off their horses 
and rode like potato sacks. It was a humiliating 
exhibition, and the Prince remarked to Admiral 
Bob Evans, who was with him, that men who 
rode like that in (Germany were arrested! I was 
very fortunate in getting a ticket of admission 
to Sanders' Theatre in Cambridge, where Prince 
Henry had bis LL.D. degree given him. I was 
right in the middle of the third front row, so I saw 
him very well. He is a very handsome man, over 
six feet in height, and absolutely thorough-bred 
looking." 
In regard to the tea " reply, our friend 
(" Estate Proprietor ") writes :— 
" I'nj bound to say it is a high-fljing defence : 
has an atmosphere which is death lo anything 
but ' blue blood ' and is redolent of the "hub of 
the universe "! Personally it is the horny-handed 
toiler, that I would like to see attracted to Ceylon 
tea, who would take to it and come again, albeit 
to have it the vogue in Society circles would mean 
a good deal too, for its being in the fashion would 
in time filter from the cla.sses to the masses who 
quickly follow suit.— especially in America, where 
one man is as good as another." 
We think the "Thirty Committee" will 
admit there is enough useful information in 
the above correspondence to justify its 
publication. Evidently there are attractions 
in " pure Ceylon Tea " which ought to make 
it a profitable article of sale among the 
better classes in Boston and why not of 
other New England towns, not to speak of 
New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. 
Meantime, enterprising Mr. Wm. Saunders 
and his supporters might do worse than 
arrange for a "Tea-room" to sell and serve 
pure Ceylon Tea in the West end of Boston, 
U. S. A. 
THE PARASITIC ORIGIN OP PEARLS. 
We have already mentioned the observa- 
tions of Dubois and other French investi- 
gators on the parasitic origin of pearls. At 
a recent meeting of the Zoological Society 
of London, Dr H L Jameson said the pearls 
of the mussel were caused by the larva of a 
parasite allied to the liver-fluke. The larva 
is encysted in the mantle of the mussel, and 
if it dies is calcified, thus forming the core 
of a pearl. There is hope of producing 
pearls artificially by their means,— Cfio &6, 
