November 2, 1.891.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
339 
to those who know how to wait. It must not be in- 
ferred that ten nlwaj'B pays like this, very much the 
other way. But this is an iusfcauoe of wh.at tea in ex- 
perieuce.i hands and uader exoeptioual advantages can 
do. This extraordinary profit has been made in tea, in 
the face of the enormously increased outturn and con- 
sequently heavy fall in prices which has marked the 
last decado. It by no nieaua follows that every planter 
with a few year's experience and local knowledge can 
tafee np a grant oflaud, open out, and do likewifle. A 
good many have tried and failed. Nothing succeeds 
like sucoeps ; the few succeed, the muny fail. But it 
liiifl been done, and it will be done again ; and though 
cent per cent is not to be looked for, as in this one 
special case, still tea as a business will make, aa big, 
it not bigger, profits than any industry under the sun. 
— Englishman. 

MR. JAMES TAYLOR'S REMINISCENCES OF 
THE TEA AND CINCHONA ENTERPRISE. 
Mr. Baker of the Assam Tea Company, mentioned 
by Mr. Taylor, was here during the heavy rains 
of the north-east moDsoon o£ 1874 ; and thoy made 
suoh an impreesion ou his mind that he told us 
he could not see how, with so wet a climate and 
no winter, tea could flourish in Ceylon. The 
result shows how even experienced and aoule 
observers may be mistaken. And so as regards 
climate. Our visit to Darjiling was in March 1877, 
at the culmination of seven months of drought ; 
and we might, ss our good friend Mr. Gammie 
of the Moungpoo Cinchona Plantations said, have 
formed the impression that it never rained on 
the Eastern Himalayas; while Mr. Taylor^ judging 
by Ms opposite experience, might have reported 
that it never ceased raining. The late Mr. Criiwell 
acoompanied Mr. Taylor on his trip to Darjiling and 
wrote a very interesting account of the Sanitarium 
and the tea estates for the Observer. Mr 
Taylor's experience of aolual tea ouUivation and 
manufacture at Darjiling must have been of great 
value to him. Mr. Taylor's giatitude to those 
who have recognized his services in first manufactur- 
ing Ceylon tea in appreciable quantity and of good 
quality is very creditable to him. But his own 
bashfulness, which he describes as of even more than 
ordinarily Scotch intensity, might have induced him 
to spare the blushes of another notoriously modest 
man, Mr. George Wall. This gentleman is notorious 
for never regarding difierenoes from his opinions 
as criminal. When people assert opinions dif- 
ferent to his he merely says, like Mr, Toots, "It 's 
of no consequence." How distressed this model of 
modesty and self-depreciation will feel at being 
supposed capable of permanently ooeupyiugthe chair 
of the Planters' Association. Charles Lamb said he 
could sit against anything except a hen or a 
tailor; but Mr. Wall bears no resemblance to a 
stdent Butldba. There were great generals before 
Agamemnon ; and Mr. Robert Boyd Tytler and 
" Sandy Brown" were for many years the 
lite and soul of the Association. Statistics 
of the various crops in Ceylon, which we fur- 
nished to Mr. Tytler, were embodied in the 
paper announcing the formation of the body 
which has done so much for the planting enter- 
prise and Oeylon. Then tho Birds, or Byrdes 
as they now call themselves; and others, notably 
Mr. Loake, and now that Prince of Secretaries, Mr. 
Philip, bavo rendered good service, which Mr. 
Wall would be as ready to acknowledge as Mr. 
James Taylor must bo. Gratitude is a fine quality 
even when expressed rather gushingly ; and we 
are all grutotul tor the work done for the colony 
by Mssais. Jumes Taylor and Gtorgo Wall. But 
others have done thoir part, amongst whom Mr. 
James Taylor, if he had not exhausted the EDglish 
language in glorifying his special idol, might bave 
mentioned the conductors of the Ceylon Ohservcr, 
but for whom Mr, Taylor's merits would not 
have been so well-known to the world as 
is the case. But returning from this digres? 
sion, necessary in the interests of impartial 
history, let us express the hope that Mr. 
James Taylor may live long to enjoy the well 
deserved honours conferred on him by his brother 
planters, not for introducing either tea or oinohona, 
but for the service rendered to the colony by a 
series of intelligent, careful and successful ex- 
periments in the cultivation and preparation of both. 
THE TAYLOR TESTIMONIAL. 
The Secretary of the C. P. A. sends us the fol- 
lowing correspondence : — 
Copy. Secretary's Office, No. 42 King Street, 
Kandy, 19th August 1891. 
To James Taylor, Esq., Loole Condera. 
Dear Sir,— I am reqaested by the Oommittee of the 
Planters' Aasooiation to inform yon that the Silver 
Tea Service which forms part of the Testimonial to 
be presented to you has arrived from London and I 
am to ask you whether you would prefer to have 
the testimonial presented to you at next meeting of 
the Planters' Association or to have it handed to you 
privately.— I am, dear tir, yours faithfully, 
(Signed) A. Philip, 
Secretary to the Planters' Association of Oeylon. 
Copy. Loole Coadera, Aug. 2l8t. 
A. Philip, Esq., Secy., Planters' Associitioa, Kaudy. 
Dear Sir, — Your letter of 19;h current received. I 
am very muck obliged for lli3 suggest'on that the Tea 
Service Testimonial <5an bo handed to me privately. 
I would much prefer that Lourse and I would write 
a letter of ackcowledgnjeut to jou and thanking the 
subscribers, &o. and giving eodqq short and general 
account of our btginniiig of the Tea industry. Were 
the testimonial to be presented at a meeting of the 
P. A. I should have to speak Eomethieg of that 
nature. It would be my first attempt: at "public 
speaking" for which I am certainly rot fitted, and 
I would rather be al'owed to write what I should 
try to say, — Y'ours failhfully, 
(Signed) James TayloH, 
{Copy) Secretary's Office, No. 42, King Street, 
Kandy, Aug. 3Ist, 1861, 
To James Taylor, Esq., Loole Condera. 
Dear Sir, — I beg to acknowledge receipt of your 
letter of the 20th instant and have now only to perform 
the pleasing duty of handing you on behalf of the 
subscribers the accompanying tea and oofi'ee service. 
Ou the silver salver is engraved the following inaorip- 
tion : — 
"To James Taylor, Looleoondera, in grateful appre- 
ciation of liis auceeHsful efforts which laid the founda- 
tion ofjthe Tea and Cinchona Industries of Ceylon 1891." 
and no words are needed to express the hearty and 
representative nature e.f the testimonial. 
You are doubtless aware that a portion only of the 
"Fund" subsoiibed has bceu devoted to the silver tea 
set ; a cheque for tho balance will be sent to you so 
600U as the accounts have been received and closed. — 
I am, dear sir, yours faithfully, 
(Signed) A. Philip. 
Secretary to the Planters' Assootion of Oeylon. 
(Copy.) Loole Condera, Sept. 28th 1891. 
To the Secretary Planters' Association, Kandy. 
Dear Sir, — In aobnowledging receipt of the Testi- 
monial I feel that I do not know how to cxptcaa my 
thanks for the honour End reward it gives ms for my 
original successea in Tea makiug and Cinchona 
cultivation. It b.ad been publicly mentioned ou several 
ocoasiouB that I wis tho first suoneasful tea-maker in 
Ceylon or in the beginning the most saocesslul. I 
wan fully salisfitd vviih that, nod it was a startling sur- 
prise to me when I siuv mentiou mado in the news- 
papers of this teatimouial. 
