June i, 189?,] THi=: TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
ON THINGS IN GENERAL, AND TEA 
IN PARTICULAK. 
The thing that's most "in general" is the weather' 
and about that there's no mistake uow, seeing that 
every afterooon a considerable water-spout Ijursts 
over every estate upcountry. Just when we have 
most flush and want most coolies, the weather 
steps in and stops works over and over again. But 
more than enough about the weather. 
Now about "Lipton"! I wish we all had estates 
like "Lipton's" as depicted in the home papers 
recently to hand. We there see a beautiful lay of 
land, four Europeans looking after thirteen women 
plucking, two more -weighing leaf, and of course 
plenty more inside all the factories. This not being 
"Lipton's" estate, I have to do the work of all that 
lot single-handed, barring, perhaps half-a-dozen or 
so — of whom we see only one — whose work it is to 
attend to the shipping which is only just across the 
road from the factory. But it's of little use asking 
"if there is such an estate in Ceylon." Lipton's 
advertisements appeal to millons while his critics only 
find a few scores of readers. 
Like the man himself, his picture is clever and 
far-reachinsr. He has crowded into one picture all 
that his tea passes through in Cej'lon. He han tea 
fields among the hills, he ha.-: a lot of factories on his 
several places, and he has a lot of suprintendents, 
all told ; and his tea ('.-.■ loaded into ships at Cplpmbp, 
and there are still some elephants in Ceylbii, 
Clever man ! 
Now, thanks to "L D.," this oracle has spoken, and 
has written a letter whichj defies adverse criticism. 
Our brother planter Lipton is a clever man, with such 
a load of business that I wonder he can find time 
to sleep. What his head "counting-house" will he 
like when he has opened retail .shops all over Am-rica 
" from the Atlantic to the Pacific" cannot be very 
easily imagined- I think he must be a good friend 
to Ceylon, while Ceylon continues to produce 60 
per cent of coarse rubbish called Pekoe Souchong, 
Congou, Red Leaf and Dust. Somebody must absorb 
this stuff so long as all Ceylon is mad enough to 
flood the market with it. But how much of our good tea 
does Mr. Lipton meddle with ? Let his advertisements 
answer this question. Here a,re his selling prices: — 
Everywhere : — ^India and China Blend 1/ a lb. 
Ceylon, India and China 1/4 a ,, 
Ceylon and Lidia 1/7 a ,, 
" No HiGHEK Price." 
" No higher price " for wha-t he declares is " the 
finest tea the world can produce," and he adds " these 
, are planters' prices " !! 
Now what do we learn from, and what do we 
suffer from, these world-wide advertisements ? Take 
his highest-priced tea, that at 1/7 per pound to 
the consumer. We know that upon this tea he pays 
duty 4d a lb. 
His outgoings for advertisements 
and all other expenses must, I 
should say, amount to quite 4d 
njoro 4d ,, and 
if he is satisfied with a profit of '2d ,, 
this rjans it up to 
leavipg only a balance of 
lOd 
9d 
as the price paid by hiin for the "finest 1/7 
tea Ceylon produces," and for which the planter in 
Ceylon receives 7^d!! — his own price, according to 
Lipton. My figures for his outgoings and profit are 
haphazard, I know ; but seeing that other retail tea 
men look for and take Cd a lb. profit, they can't 
be far wong. 
Is not Lipton, therefore, the greatest enemy the 
Cevlon planter has ? Great in propoi-tipn as his 
infiuonco is world-wide '! He posing before the whole 
world as a Ceylon planter, -assures all tlie consumers 
in the world that the planter's price for the best 
tea the world pr;)duces is 17, free to their doors, 
tliDOUgh retail dealers. Now wo planters in Ueylon 
— who are not also advertising retail tea-dealers — know 
that if wo get only a fair profit of 2d a lb. on our 
finest tea no consumer could buy it anywhere under 
2/7, ovon if the retailer did not stick on more. 
Ill 
Owing to over-production all retailers are now getting 
their profits out of the planter, instead of legitimately 
out of the consumer. Well, every man for himself 
as so, small blame to Lipton as a retail tea man, 
but bad luck to him as a planter for the bad turn 
he does us in the world. 
But, after all, who gives him the opportunity which 
he is wise enough to seize ? Who out the Ceylon 
planters themselves ? Every ounce of rubbishy tea 
we send into consumption displaces the same amount 
of what ought to be good tea People drink their 
cup of tea as they want it. If good, they are satis- 
fied and pleased ; if bad, they evince disgnst, but it 
has served its turn. No tea ought to be procurable 
under '23 a lb. to the consumer. But, the fact is, our 
over-production of "pekoe souchong" is kiUing us. 
And what is the secret of our flooding the world 
with this grade of tea ? Perhaps I had better whis- 
per the answer to this question, or keep it to myself, 
seeing the hornets' nests I shall disturb. But 
bah 1 who cares ? Whence comes our pekoe souchong 
but from the indigenous and high-class hybrid jat ? 
Isn't that tree a beauty? Doesn't it flush? Well, 
it does, with a vengeance ! If you don't look out 
and get sharp round — coolies or no coolies, weather, 
or no weather — its "tips" will be half opened and 
the other half bangy ; its pekoe leaves a couple of 
inches long and its pekoe souchong leaves as big as 
your hand! Compare it with the smaller hardy 
hybrid and semi- China tree in another field, or not 
unfrequently growing next to it, producing the very 
tea we most want, but neglected by the pluckers, be- 
cause the high-class pekoe souchong leaves of the 
splendid indigenous is so much easier to pluck and 
weighs so much more ! I will return to this subject. 
Broken Pekoe. . 
THE PERUVIAN CORPORATION, 
LIMITED. 
REPORT ON LAND IN PERU SUITABLE FOR 
AGRICULTURE. 
BY ALEXANDER KOSS AND ARTHUR SINCLAIR. 
To the Directors of the Peruvian Corporation, Limited. 
Gentlemen, — In the month of May, 1891 we under- 
took, at your request, a mission to Peru for the 
purpose of selecting and reporting upon land suitable 
for agriculture, but with more especial reference to 
its fitness for tropical products. 
In fulfilment of this mission we left England in 
the same month of May, arriving in Peru at the 
latter end of June ; and, after a sojourn extending 
to December, 1891, we returned to England in 
January, 1892. 
We now have the pleasure to submit to you, in 
the following report, the result of our special ex- 
plorations, our observations with reference to the 
adaptability of the country as a field for the invest- 
ment of capital, and the opinions we have formed 
in regard to the extremely interesting and beautiful 
country we have visited. 
We propose, in making our report, to deal with 
the subject under the following heads, viz : — 
1. Climate. 
2. Soil. 
3. Vegetation. 
4. Routes taken, with short description of the 
country passed through. 
5. Locality and extent of land selected. 
6. Planting, past and present. 
7. Transport and outlet. 
8. Labour. 
9. Peru as a field for Colonization. 
CLIMATE. 
The climate of Peru may be safely said to be 
unique, and whether we regard its influence on vege- 
tation or on human health, it is alike remarkable ; 
tropical, yet temperate ; variable, yet equable. The 
influence of the Pacific (Polar) currents on the one 
hand, and the cool air from the Cordilleras on 
the other hand, are sufticieut to account for this ; 
while the comparative dryness of tlic atmosphere 
tends to abundant fruitfuhiess in the vogotablo king- 
dom, and sufficiently accounts for the marked absenco 
of malarial fever amoui^st the native inhabitants. 
