August i, 1891.] 
THE TftOPiOAL AGRICULTURIST. 
X29 
CEYLON TEAS IN LONDON. 
A good mauy people are expressing the opinion 
that priOBS have now touched bottom aad that the 
up-grade has been reached. They are partly induced 
to believe tliis because the Ceylon printed IleturuB 
have arrived, and these 9how onlv 0,200,000 ib. shipped 
during April, instead o( the 7,000,000 lb. which had 
previously been telegraphed. Others, however, there 
are who are not so hopeful. 
Westhall Estate, Oejlon, had three boxes each con- 
taining 5 lb. of Golden Tip, iu one case, duty paid, at 
auction on Thursday, This was one of the fancy linos. 
The biddiiiR-, however, only reached £1 23 6d, which was 
declined. It will probably jiever get auy thing like as 
good a bid again. This Faacy Market is a ticklish one, 
and no pnce over good value, such as 5s a lb. should 
be refused. The mistake mads in thiaoaae was that of 
being greedy. The Westhall Kstate appears to have been 
governed by the idea that it would send plenty aud get 
the fancy pricea for a deueut quantity, fifteen pounds 
was gre^idy- '-Thu-j as £30 was the last top price paid per 
lb., the nejtt advertising bidder, to create hid sensation 
must top that bid, and the buyer of the £30 per lb. 
tecs must try aud protoofe his £30 bid or his position at 
top. So to bej.6 record the ueit fancy line (if they are 
not already tired of the gamv), is not liktly to soli at 
less than £35 par lb. Now 5 lb. at £30, the last top 
price, is oidy £150 for the adveriiaemt-at. But 15 Ib. at 
£35 would be £525, ^together too dear a price for the 
advertisement. Had WoatlsKll Eitsto been oontouted 
with seuiiiug over 5 lb., it is not irnprobable that it 
would have realized £35 per lb. or £175 for the 5 lb. — us 
against the bul of £1 2i 6d, or £16 17s6dfor the i5;i. 
wnich they deobnsd, and which they are not likely to 
see anywhere approached rigain. Rather a eevera 
blow this. One can understaud that at first starting 
the bidding for a " Fancy Tea," after vyhat has passed 
of late, several "starting " bid.< may havo been made 
by parties who had nat the slightest intention of 
buying the tea at such pricea, bat who jokingly oierely 
lifted it along, to start it on the record-breaking track. 
Take the advertisement value out of the tea aud it sinks 
back to commercial level, aod 7.-! 6 i becomes a fancy 
price for it, and 53 good vulue. Beiny; such a simple 
matter of calculation, a very slight knowledge oi the ad- 
vertising world should have sufficed to caution people 
from expecting £525 for such an advertisement as 
this; Thece is a limit to its value. That limit I 
should put at £150 to £200, originiUy, bub it is de- 
preciating with each sale iu my opinion. Others may 
dift'ar from this view. Certainly much of the sensa- 
tion of novelty has becoma dulled, and the public are 
beginning to detect the quackery and to laugh at it. 
Nevertheless, it would pay today, to buy one lb. at 
£100, for several reasons, aa e.g., among others, it 
would be a cheap advertisement at the price, and it 
would not be likely to have its record beaten for 
some time, owing to this class of adTertisemeut being 
almost pJjiyed out ; so the record w .'uld probably be 
BU enduring one, though it should ba borne iu mind, 
that aa it is tba total coit of the purchase, which 
governs the price paid, there is no reason why, if 
this class ot aiivortisamant is not played oat (or is 
not deemed to be by these buyers, which amounts to 
the same thing), we should not find these fancy prices 
should not be paid p^r ounce, instead of par lb. so 
soon as the price per lb, becoaioH so extravagant as to 
be prohibitory from the advorfcisera' point ot view. 
Westhall Estate is now suffering for its lack of grasp 
of this oommon-Bense view of the situation, and has 
reduced the value of a good round number of lbs. by 
having withdrawn the " tip " thorefroru. It has not 
been altogether aloue in this failure, as tliare are 
Brokers too, who have failed to see the governing 
faolora, from the advertisers' (purchaser's) point of 
view. This ersze may ODllapse at any moment aud 
wnata the effort, otherwise I would vonture to suj?- 
gufit ft tin box of 10 ounces of superlative tea being 
sent homn, parcels post, duty paid, just to lest the 
matter. Instructions should accompany it; that it is 
to be sold per ounce (being the first tea ever so sold, 
would of itaulf bo a great advertidemeut, and an attrac- 
lioii to buyers, as auythiug diatiuotly iwio always s). 
Instructions should also be given that il shonld b> 
well "puffed," among the competing advertising buyers 
as some of the recent " Fancy Teas " have been. 
If the craze is nut over by the time saoh a boxarrivei, 
it would probably stand an excellent chance of beating 
record. Another tip to Planters is, that, the first few 
lots of the " Fancy Teas " of late were called Qolden 
Tip- The last, i.e., the one which sold at £30 per lb,, 
was called Silver;/ Tip. That struck a new line, and 
of itself was worth a lot to that Tea. There is some- 
thing in a name, after all. Don't under name youf 
teas ; it distinctly depreciates them. — London Cor., 
Indian Planters Gazette. 
» 
PADDY CULTIVATION AND POLICY IN 
THE KANDY DISTRICTS. 
An old resident— a European gentleman with 
most friendly feelings towards the natives, but who 
has never been blind to their weaknesses, nor to 
the need ot a patriarchal administration— onoa 
more addresses us on this Bubjeot. Hia 
subject is the mischief that will be done, in 
the Kaodyan distiiots especially, if an indisorimi° 
nating " abolitiOQ " policy is carried out. He 
says it is quito disgusting to one like himself who 
hag known the people for thirty years (first living 
m a Kandyan village ia 1861) to see the ignorant 
and yet dogmatic, ex cathedra way in which certain 
press wi iters (the editor of the " Independent " and 
his correapotidents) discourse on a matter of which 
they can know little or nothing except from hear- 
say ; for their k.iowledge is based solely on what 
some of them may have seen in the hilly parts 
o£ the Central Province. We extract as followa 
from the letter before us : — 
" 1 ha/e asserted belore, and I now again assert, that 
in my opinion, an opiniou based on.30 years' experience, 
if the paddy rent be removed it will (in the Kandyaa 
distiicts) simply result in a proportionately smaller 
area of Itind teing cultivated. It has several times 
been loy lot to see none of the fields cultivated, al- 
though water was abundant, and on my asking why, 
to be told that as their lasi crop was sufficient for 
two years, thoy had no occasion to grow rice darinn 
thut season. 
''What I would suggest is this, — that the Government 
Agents of the North-Oentral and North-Western Pro- 
vinces be asked to send in a return showing: — 
" Ist. — The extent of asweddumized land left unouiti* 
vated during the whole year although there wasasuffi" 
ciency of water. 
"2Qd. — The extent of asweddumized land cultivated 
for only one crop, although there was a sufficiency of 
water lor two crops. 
"3rd. — The number of cases where, instead of caltira- 
ting asweddumized land lying under their tanks, they 
had preferred to cultivate the beds of the tanks, spaoi- 
fyiug those instances in which the bund of the tank 
had been cut and all the water drained oS to begin 
with, se that, shonld the rains fail, the crops must 
fail also. 
A Government Agent would probably be alow to 
admit, b:it it is nevertheless a fact, that he has no 
opp jrtunities of seeing the goyiyas in their everyday 
life. Qe visits a village and is met by tomtom-beaters, 
flags are flying, and he passes under a triumphal arch \a 
the pUoe where he is to stay. He sees all the men idle, 
but of course that is because they have made a holiday 
on account of his visit. But he might go as a tourist, 
a Survey or P. W. D. officer for 200 days in the year, 
and still find every man idle. 
"The goyiya feels perfectly safe from the oonsequenoea 
of his own improvidence ; for if he has eonsamed all 
his rice, aud his growing crop has failed, a relief work 
is at once started at which such man is paid daily in 
rice. Cue result of these relief works speaks for itself, 
viz., that all local employers of SinhaleKe labour lose 
their coolies, who at ouee learo them to flook to the 
relief works." 
