53 
he would read the resolutions he had drafted. 
(Attached Rpsolutions read.) Mr. May added that the 
OoDspmy had given a guarantee to the Association 
iD Oey Ion that they would not blend — that they would 
Bell only pure Oeylon. (Oorre^pondence read between 
the Plantera' Association and the Ceylon Planters' Tea 
Company.) In the course of conversation Mr. May 
remarked that he had been paving all his own expense* 
in connexioa with the Company, He knew that 
Ceylon tea cinld be made a tremendous aaccess in 
America — not on the Jfinglish plan, nor on the 
French plan, but on a plan that would meet the 
peculiar characteristics of the American people. 
A great deal was done ir America because it 
was fashionable. The Company could sell a large 
quantity of tea at a sovereign a pound, and still more 
at 12s and 8s. These prices were for teas that would 
in England fetch only 5s, Ss 6 J and 2s 6d rpspeotively. 
Asked why the orig'nal Company had not been success- 
ful, he said that they took a shop at R4,o00, having 
really no plan or system at nil. He did not wish to 
make any reflections upon them, but to his mind they 
went to work in the wrong way. They tried to get the 
tea into the hands of the merchants, and this was a 
mistake. They should have gone to the consumers 
direct. 
WATEESPOUTS OFB THE COAST OF CEYLON- 
Anent your recent renaarks about watersp'iuts in 
connection with the remarkable escape of the S. S. 
" America," a well-informed friend reminds me that 
in November 1863 or 1864, the schooner " Adee Let- 
chimy'' was caught in a waterspout between Paura- 
ben and Mannar with a party of immigrants on board. 
Her sisfer ships on the same vojage were the " Sa- 
rah Armitafje" and the " Geraldina Alesandrina 
Roche," both wellknown crafts in Colombo, the latter 
owned by Roche Victoria — bat they happily escaped 
the fate of the " Adee Letohiniy." It appears that 
the tindal, though warned by soma of the passengers, 
was apparently ignorant of the dan?er impending and 
neglected to take the necessary precautions for the 
safety of the vessel in his charge. The result was 
most calamitous. The schooner according to the tes- 
timony of the survivors was a(5tually lifted out of the 
water, coming down again with such fearful violence, 
that she became a total wreck. Upwards of 20 of the 
crew and immigrants perished. Portions of the wreck 
were picked up near Kalpitiya. — Cor. 
BAP.K AND DRUG BEPORT: 
(From the Chemi.'it and Druggist.) 
London, May 7fh- 
Cinchona.— The supply of bark offered at Tuesday's 
auctions was a moderate one, consisting of :— 
Packatfes Packages 
Ceylon cinchona ... 478 of which 4S2 were sold 
East Indian cinchona 1,188 do 1,188 do 
Java cinchona 203 do 203 do 
South American cinchona 196 do S9 do 
Total ... 2,065 do 1,872 do 
It Will be seen from these figures that nearly 91 per 
cent of the bark offered was disposed of, a proportion 
much in excess of the usufil percentage. The assort- 
ment of bark was not a very superior one, the bulk of 
the parcels consisting of Sucoirubras, and there were 
scarcely and gond Ledger barks. Competition throughout 
the sales was well maintained, and prices advanced from 
10 to 15 per cent oa the previous auction rates, the unit 
ranging from lid to IJd per lb., the latter price being 
paid for some of the richer lots of bark. 
The following are the approxim xte quantities purchased 
by It e principal buyers : — 
Agents for the Mannheim and Amsterdam works 
„ Brunswick works 
„ Frankfort olW. and Stuttgart works 
„ Auprbach works 
Messrs. Howard & Sons 
Agents for the American and Italian works ..i 
,, French works 
Sundry druggists 
Total quantity sold 
Bought In or withdrawn 
Total quantity offered ,.. ih 
Lbs. 
9 4,, 7 -39 
92,202 
70,312 
52,167 
40,-570 
39,525 
,33.065 
16,847 
439,427 
34,050 
173,477 
It should be well understood that the mere weight of 
bark purchased affords no guide whatever to the quinine 
yield represented by it, firms who buy a sm 11 quantity 
of bark by weight frequently take the richest lots 
and vice versa. 
Quinine. — The market is a^ain decidedly stronger, 
and shows a'l advance of about id per oz. since our 
last report. On Tuesday there were buyers of German 
in bulk at lO^d per oz. This morning a sale of 5,000 oz. 
B & S quinine (second-hand), May delivery, was reported 
at lojd per oz. ; and later on in the day one of 6,000 oz. 
at lid per oz. 
Spicks.— Cinnamon : A parcel of 51 bales Ceylon, 
imported in 1889, was offered without reserve this week, 
and sold at 7^d to 8d for first, and 7id for second 
quality. 
CLEARING THE UNIVERSE: 
RARE PLANTS. 
In one issue of a newspaper the other day we 
remarked three paragraphs. The first announoed. 
that " the most prized of our orchids are reported 
to be rapidly disappearing from their native 
plaeeg " ; the second, that "the only hope of 
preserving the fur-seal from extermination is said 
to be to stay their slaughter for six or seven years " ; 
the third, that " uearly all the principal animals 
indigenous to the United States are either sub- 
tantially exlmct, or in immediate danger of becom- 
ing so," These are the v/ords of Professor Lingley, 
head of the National Zoological Park at Wash- 
ington. Three such statements, published side by 
side, as it were, upon auihority, give food for 
thought. Incontrovertible in themselves, their sig- 
uiiicanee might be strengthened by endless illus- 
trations. A3 regards orchids, Messrs. Steves 
announoed last month, at a public sale, that the 
Government of Ceylon has forbidden the gathering 
of a certain species — Bendrohium McCarthy ce — for 
an indefiuile time, to preserve it from extinction. 
Another, the loveliest of all, as some think, Lculia 
clegans, would have vanished from this lower sphere 
had not some few specimens found a lodgment 
on cliffs absolutely inaccessible, where the Indians 
eye them with vain longing. Of the grand variety 
of Lrelia purpiirata, which enthusiasts call the 
"true," nut a plant remains in its native seat. 
The commonest of fine orchids half a century 
ago were Catileya's Mossire and Triancc, as we per. 
ceive by the great quantity still surviving in our 
greenhouses. At this time, they are classed among 
the rarest in Caraooas. The best variety Odonto- 
glossuiii crisjmm was found along the Pacho iliver 
in such profusion that early collectors pronounced 
the supply inexhaustible; ilv3 Journd des Orchidaes 
states that "only a few plants are now left." 
Not to prolong the list, it may be declared that 
every species, _ in every part of the world, for 
which there is a great demand, begins to fail. 
They cannot be replaced unless Government in- 
terfere — and vigorously too, for the profils of smug- 
gling, while they last, would be enormous. 
Orobida will become a royal fashion, indeed, when 
they cease to be weeds in their native home. 
Among the hundreds of skilful horticulturists who 
have tried again and again in the last half century, 
but one has been successful in raising any mem- 
ber of the great Odontoglossum family from seed ; 
this happy individual is M, Leroy, gardener to 
M. Edmoad de Rothschild, and his plants have 
not yet flowered, Oiher genera less intractable 
demand five to sixteen years of most careful cul- 
tivation before they produce a bloom. Which 
means, in brief, that the grower would ask their 
weight in gold for his nurselings. 
But orchids are commonly regarded, even now, 
as luxuries in which the general public has no 
iuterest. That is a grievovia mistake, but may 
