562 
THP tropical P.QRIGULTUR83T. 
[February 
1892. 
period of iiine; but it Deed not go to waste even 
then, for if it be not sweetened it can be wed for 
expressing oil. 
We have hear l very liltle of coconut leaf dieoane 
during the past year ; but we are assured that this 
is not due to its absence, but io a desire by esiafee 
proprietors to lieep tho matter to themselvep. With 
reports of a disease with a fatal tertniiiatton in Jamr ica, 
we think the wiser plan will be for proprietors to boldly 
face it and with the assistance and advice of the School 
of Agriculture devife me&aa to overcome it. 
OiNNAJION. 
The prayerful wish of all cinnamon planters must be 
that they will ne t pass through such another year, as re- 
gards prices, as 1891. Though Ceylon has the monopoly 
of the cinnamon market,* yet she has not been able to 
devise means to control it. Oombination amongst 
cinnamon growers is impossible. One of the first aotfl 
of the now defuuot Agricultural Association was to 
resolve that tho antiquated system of quarterly sales 
of the spice m the Lane be abandoned and monthly 
sales substituted. There was lothing revolutionary 
in this change, for all other products are sold once 
or twice a week, and every other spice but cinnamon 
is sold weekly. The change met with a most deter- 
mined opposition by the buyers, whose chief com- 
plaint moat strangely was that the change would affect 
prices prejudicially ! We believe that this is the first 
instance on record in which buyers expressed a dis- 
inclination to buy in a cheap market. The fact is 
that the only opponents of the monthly sales were 
the middlemen, who are the principal buyers and who 
lay by stocka for the intervals between the quarterly 
sales. They feared that their occupation would bo 
gone if it became possible for the consumer to satisfy 
his requirements at frequent sales. Those who initiated 
the change on this aide were looked upon by ths older 
cinnamon plantew as youthful enthusiaste with 
more enthusiasm than discretion, and their lead 
was followed under protest. The opportunity to 
revert to the old system was eagerly seized when 
at one sale buyers refused to bid. The com- 
bination was thus broken up and the bsfcter prices 
which the "old hands" expected would be coincident 
with the reversion to the quarterly sales have not so 
far been realized. Indeed prices have been steadily 
receding. An attempt to arrest this was made by 
Mr. Jardine summoning a meeting of cinnamon 
planters to discuss the poasibility of abandoning the 
scraping of cinnamon chips and thus lessening pro- 
auction. An undertaking 'on honor " "was signed by 
growers representing about two-thirda of the acreage 
under cinnamon not to scrape chips. How much this 
undertaking was respected cam be inferred from the 
fact that the export of chips was not diminished 
during the twelve months that the undertaking was 
supposed to be observed 1 During the past year the 
scraping of chips was resumed. 
At the May quarterly sales only about one-third of 
the cinnamon offered changed bauds. There was no 
enquiry whatever , for the finer qualities. Agents and 
brokers in England suggested as a remedy that only 
cinnamon of inferior make, for which only there 
was enquiry, should be shipped but under another 
mark, so that the old iweil-ostablished brands should 
not be imperilled. Very few estates we believe 
followed that advice. The next quarterly sales in 
August showed no better results, the finer qualities 
being as before neglected. 
As the year was closing came the results of the 
last quarterly sales in November. They are such as to 
eausQ the gravest anxiety. There has been a further 
drop in the prices of the liner qualities, and no 
cinnamon but that of Goluapokuna, which seems to 
be in special demand in Bpain, the chief consuming 
country, fetched higher than 1b per lb for its best quality. 
This is very nearly one- third of tho prices ruling 
IT) to 20 years ago. To add to low prices, cost of 
manufacture has iucrcaHed and the yield per acre has 
decreased by about 20 per cent owing to tender sticks 
only now being cut for the finer quality of cinnamon 
^ Only for the tlner sorts : lu coaiBo kiuds China U a 
formWuljlc compeliliur.— f!ii>,,Z'i/l> 
now manufactured. Cinnamon planters fervently 
hope that the bottom, as regards prices, has now been 
touched and that the new year on which we have 
entered will reveal to them a turning in that 
long lane of low prices through which they have 
been painfully traversing during a good many years. 
That their hopes may be realized is our hearty wish, 
for the trade in cinnamon is one of historic interest 
and is supposed to go back to the time of SolomoH 
and even to the period of the Patriarchs. 
CEYLON TEA FUND. 
Minutes of proceedings of a meeting of the Standing 
Ooromittee of the Oeylon " Tea Fund" hold at Kandy 
on Monday, tho 4th day of January 1892, at three 
o'clock in tlie afternoon. 
Present : — Messrs. Giles F. Walker (Chairman, 
rianters' Assooiatioa of Ceylon), A. T. Karslake 
(Kandy), W. D. Gibbon (Kandy), T.O. Owen (Kandy), 
A. G. K. Borron (Kaady), A. W. Stopford Saokville 
(Chairmac, Blaskeliya Association), James H. Barber 
(Kandy), Dr. V. Duke (Kandy), Mr. J. Anderson 
(Kaudi and Matale West), Her. L. H. Kelly, m.l.c. 
(Kundy), Mr. A. Philip, Secretary to the Planters' 
Association of Oeylon (Kandy). 
The notice calling the meeting was read. 
The mioutes of proceedings of a meeting of the 
Standing Committee held at Kandy, on Friday, the 
11th day of December 1891, were read and were con- 
firmed. 
Ceylon Tea at the Wobld's Exposition at Giii- 
CAQo IN 1893.— Read letters from Mr. J. J. Grinlinton 
(1) conveying Lis thanks for the mark of confidence 
placed in him by the resolution passed requesting him 
to aot as a Commissioner to represent the planting 
interests at the Chicago Exhibition, and intimating 
that should His Excellency the Governor appoint him 
Commissioner it will be his duty as well as pleasure to 
give the planting interests his unremittiing attention ; 
(2) trREsmi'ciing a memorandum of information given 
to Mr. Grinlinton by Mr. Erskme Phelps, late Ohairmaa 
of the State and National Exhibition OhioaEO. 
Read letter from Mr. Chaa. Stouter, Colombo. Ee- 
Bolved : — "That the letter be acknowledged," 
The Chairman introducted Mr. Grinlinton to the 
Standing Committee of tho " Tea Fund," and Mr. 
Grinlinton explained his views and urged the neceesity 
for prompt action. 
Ceylon Tea in Qebmany. — Considered the question 
of a subsidy of Oeylon tea to Mr, Schrader. Eesolved : 
— "That the Standing Committee of the Oeylon Tea 
Fund do giant to Mr. Scbrader 5,000 lb. of Oeylon tea 
in two instalments for free distribution in Germany, 
the Committee understanding that Mr. Schrader is 
prepared to purchase an equal quantity of Oeylon tea 
on his own account, " 
Oeylon Tea in Russia : Mb. Rooivub's Repoet and 
Accounts. — Read letter from Mr. Rogivae, Moscow, 
transmitting his Report, together with accounts, 
ia reference to his mission to Eusaia to make 
known and push the sale of Ceylon Tea in that Em- 
pire. Resolved : — " That ia acknowledging Mr. Rogi- 
vue's letter he be informed that the Standing Com- 
mittee of tho Tea Fund trusts to receive further 
accounts showing an increasing sale of Ceylon Tea in 
Russia during the present year, when the Committee 
will be prepared to consider what further assistance 
they may bo in a position to give Mr. Rogivue at 
the next Fair at Nijoi Novgorod," 
Ceylon Tea in Bwitzeeland and Austria. — Read 
letter from Mr. Charles Osawald, Winterthnr, on the 
snbjeat of introduciog Oeylon Tea into Switzerland, 
and also making further proposals in regard to Austria 
es indicated by Mr. J. Ferguson's letter to the Ceylon 
Observer. Eesolved (1) :— " That a grant of 500 lb. 
of Oeylon Tea delivered free at Trieste duty paid 
bo made to Mr, O. Osswald for gratis distribution in 
Vienna by Mr. Weiner ; (II) that Messrs. Whittall&Co , 
bo asked topnrohsse the Tea." 
Ceylon Tea in Vienna, Pbagub, Karlsbad, &c.— 
GoDtiidered Mr, JQhn Fergnson's eoggestioDS ia n 
