September i, 1891.] THE TROPICAL AQRItfULTURlST. 
211 
coudition in which some packages of ten have bron 
left after inapectiou. This, no doubt, is owing to 
the pressure of work ooustqueut upon the anxiety of 
mero'iaats to put their teas on the market too soon 
after arrival, not leaving the warehouse properties 
ButBoient time to fioiah up one parcel before the next 
is put ou show ; and, as the merchant's interest 
ceases direoily tea is sold, he can hardly bo expected 
to look very carefully after the condition of the pack- 
ages when the ownership has passed o^t of his 
hands. At the siime time, the warehouse proprietor — 
who is paid for the careful storage of the tea — ought 
to be careful to see tliat this being a seasitive article, 
should not be exposed to the air and fog a moment 
longer than absolutely necessary. 
The question of railway rates has properly engaged 
the attention of the Committee, and tho Honorary k>3- 
cretsry of the Association has been iu almost daily 
attendauce at the House of Commons, waiiicg to give 
evidence, in conjunction with IMr. R' gers (to whom 
the trade are much indebted for the immense amount 
of time and thought ha has bestowed upon this sub- 
ject.) To us it is a matter of surprise to find so much 
apilhy shown by traders, and the very litt,le resis- 
tance they have made against the proposed charges of 
t je railway companies. As regarus tea, there can be 
no reason why it showld be placed in a higher class 
than coifee ; and in reference to small consignments 
the proposal of the railway companies is most unjust, 
and if it becomes law the carriage accounts of grocers 
■will be enormously increased without any reason, 
It is not too late to oppose the Bills la the House 
of Oomraous, and wo would again urge our readers to 
Btir tliemselves and take a more lively interest in 
resisting the railway companies' proposals. The thanks 
of the trade are due to the Oommittee of the L mdou 
Wholesale Teadealers' Association for their success- 
ful labours during the past year, and we are glad to 
have this opportunity of expressing, on behalf of 
grooers, their, appreciition of the efforts the Oomraittte 
have taken to protect their interests in respect to the 
subjects we have indicated.— /rtcJeare Planters' Qasette, 
^ 
LONDON TEA LETTEE. 
The highest price realized during the week by any 
Indian Tea was Is lljd for 13 chests Broken Orange 
Pekoe from The Assam Frontier Tea Co. The highest 
price realized by any Oejlon Tea (bar the two little 
taocy lots rtferred to below) was Is 8|d for 18 half- 
ohests Broken Pekoe from Glassaugh. The two lancy 
lots, were : — 
Two Boxes, Silver Tip, containing 51b each, net, from 
Beaumont, one Package, Golden Tip, containing three 
boxes, of 51b. each, net, from Salawe. The former was 
"taken out," at 4a 6d the latter was also withdrawn, 
at 6s per lb. 
(Jeylon, not content with touching one extreme of 
the scale of prices, has this week touched the other; 
not with a few lb. of accidentally spoiled Tea, but 
with uo less than 80 half-oheats of Pekoe Fanuings, 
which realized per lb. This triumph has not 
yet been signalised by the usual Illustrated Adver- 
tisements. 
Overheard this week. Scene, a Merchant's Office. 
Persona, A Ceylon Planter— Au ex Indian Planter, 
but unknown to the former as being an old Indian. 
A merchant. Ceylon Planter loq. after a night of fire- 
works illustrating Ceylon Planters' methodb ot manu- 
facture : " But than you know Oeyloa Planters are a 
long way ahead of Indian Planters." 
Merchant, " In what way 'i " 
(Jeylon Plantar, Why in intelligence, and every- 
thing else. It stands to rtason." Then ooiifldently 
" Thoy had all tlio Indian planters' experience, and 
now have their own, plus superior intelligence. Began, 
whore Indian planters lelt olf ; dont vou Know 'i " 
Jlcrcliant, " Oh I yoe, of course; I "see." 
Ex-Indiaa Planter, quietly, " I have always hoard 
that tlio proof of the pudding is in the eating ; it always 
struck me as strange that such adopts at advertising as 
the Geylgu plautere, should leave ths ^YOI^d ia the dark 
as to the dividends their estates pay, us compared with 
Indian Companies. But a few days ago 1 was informed 
that if anyone went to Ceylon and advertised that 
they were about to form a ntw Company, and re- 
quested offers of to4 estates for incorporation therein, 
they wou'd receive by return of posf, offers of 'JO per 
cent of the e tat'is on the island ! Indiau planters 
have a paitiality in favour of dividends. Any little 
vanity they may possess, finds its vent in comparisons 
of dividends, ra'.her than in profitless comparisons of 
profitless intel igence. Good afternoon." 
I bear that Ceylon planters, aa a rule, still perpetuate 
the old custom, which was once the practice on some 
gardens in India, of partially rolling firet, and then 
completing the roll, after other batches of leaf have 
been partially rolled. It Would be interesting to get 
at the truth of the origin, and the cauae of the con- 
tinuance of this practice in Ceylon. I understood 
from my informant, that it is quite a regulation pro- 
ceeding, and he spoke of it as though to change it, and 
roll each charge straight off, were not to be thought 
of. So presumably they think it desirable in the ir- 
terestof quality! So far as I know, it arose in /m?ia, 
not with any idea of its being necesiary at all, but 
because, many gardens in those days had rollers of dif- 
ferent types, and one roller produced a better twist 
than the other ; but not being able to do all the work 
by itself, the lather roller was employed to partially 
roll the leaf, which was then finished in the one which 
produced the better twist. Can it be that those Indian 
planters who went to Ceylon, (may it be said — to 
instruct the Ceylon men — ) took the custom with them, 
and that it is now in consequence the orthodox thing 
to do in Ceylon ? It is about as risky a proceeding— 
especially to Jeavo to a native — as one could invent, 
and as it cinnot of itself improve the quality of tho 
liquor, upon any known theory, it seems to be a super- 
fluous amount of trouble and anxiety, and ristr, for 
some merely imaginary gain. Without great oare and 
attention it spells—" dull in the cup." 
Pekipatetic Planter, 
— Indian Planters^ Gazette. 
[If may do Cejlon planters good to study such 
hostile critioism as the above. But who did our 
enterprise the bad turn of sending the 2id fan- 
ninga to the London Market ?— Ed, T. A.1 
THE MOON AND THE WEATHER. 
(By ail Astronomical Correspoitdent,) 
The folk-lore of old times comes down to us from 
a simple people who but rarely moved away from 
the place in which they were born, and who, as 
regards this subject, soarcely suspected that " other 
parts" simultaneously experienced other weather 
than that which the convenient moon provided 
for themselves. It is, therefore, very marvellous, 
that, in these days ot constant movement and easy 
means of travel, that old moon-lore should have 
survived, and be still so deep-rooted amongst all 
classes of the people, and not alone with the simple 
peasantry ot every country. But so it is. 8o much 
so, indeed, that even among philosophers one now 
and then springs up to do battle for the moon, 
unabashed by the almost silent soeptioism of the 
leading soientilia teachers of the present time. 
Except in occasional passing notes, the " moon and 
the weather" is seldom referred to at all by the 
present generation of scientific men, who, so far as 
they are concerned, consider the subject suffi- 
ciently settled by their predecessors. The " Meteoro- 
logical Society " of our day, too, would not ignore 
BO large a following it it could find reliable 
data to feed them with ; but not only does this 
Society fail to make use of the moon for prognos- 
ticating the weather, but as a writer in Knoiclcdge 
said, not long ago; "On my complaining to the 
Sooiety that not one iu twenty of the forosasta is- 
