August i, 1890.] 
THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTORIST. 
91 
tion, but the undertakers will probably do wisely to 
restrict their first attempts to such as may be 
conducted under their own immediate supervision. 
To carry out this scheme the existing syndicate 
must form an allied company, and as to this we 
should say there would not be any difficulty ex- 
perienced. But the whole matter must be held 
to be in suspense until it is pronounced whether 
or no the new chests can successfully supersede those 
of wood. 
It caused me surprise to hear this week that 
the reply to the foregoing question is to be ex- 
pected rather from the home traders in tea than 
from your planters. The verdict is dependent 
upon the opinion expressed on this side as to how 
the teas shipped in the new boxes have arrived 
in this country. It is not likely this verdict will 
now be long deferred, for advice of the first 200 
chests shipped has already been received. Of 
course, as I told you, experimental chests have 
before been received from the Mariawatte estate, 
the contents of which were delivered in per- 
fect order and with the boxes themselves as 
sound as when sent out from the home makers 
to Ceylon. If equally satisfactory results are 
obtained with the first shipment made on 
any extensive scale, you may expect to see all 
the anticipations I have mentioned to you realized 
before long. The opinion hoped for has been some- 
what strongly anticipated by a London firm of tea 
dealers, which was so pleased with the boxes that 
it purchased the first 400 obtainable for rebulking 
and distribution to the retailers throughout the 
country. This purchase certainly justifies to a 
large extent the very confident hopes felt by the 
members of the Syndicate. 
The specimens of the grassboard forwarded to 
you with my last letter had not, you must bear 
in mind, been subjected to pressure. When that 
has been applied, as it is to all millboards, by 
hydraulic power of an extreme character, the 
soft, pliable paper will become harder than wood 
itself. A specimen of the material made from 
waste newspapers was shown to me this week which 
was so hard that the surface could hardly be 
scratched. It is expected that the mana grass 
will yield an equally dense board, and be so 
superior in this respect to straw, that J inch in 
thickness will suffice for tea boxes instead of the 
J inch strawboard now used. It is estimated 
that, whereas the latter now costs the syndi- 
cate about £6-10-0 per ton, the mana grass 
board will cost even when made in this country, 
under £5 per ton, and of course materially 
less when worked up on the site of its growth. 
The board made from old newspapers that has 
been mentioned is sold in London, it has been told 
me, at £5 per ton. 
During the week the pleasure chanced to me of 
meeting with Mr. Charles Shand after an interval, 
probably, of some 25 years. It would be absurd 
to pretend that during that period no observable 
change was to be noticed in him, but if signs of 
increased age may be omitted, there remains but 
little apparent to indicate any effect from his 
long residence in a tropical climate. Mr. Shand 
tells me he had not been many days in London 
before he managed to catch a chill owing to riding 
outside of an omnibus, but he recovered quickly 
through the immediate use of quinine. He recognises 
the danger of his residing here during the winter, 
and proposes, if he can conclude the business for 
which he is paying his present visit to us, to 
return to Ceylon before that season commences 
here; having also before his view thd object of 
releasing his son after his twelve years of work 
in Ceylon for a much-needed holiday and run 
hniae. I diaosusied with Mr, Shand the question 
ofpulpfrom Ceylon fibres, a subject so cognate to the 
matter above discussed, and he tells me that the result 
of experiments made by himself was to prove that the 
grass or plant growing in your island which can 
be made to yield the largest amount of fibre is 
the Yucca gloriosa, which gives about 12 per cent 
of finished fibre out of the grossgrown weight. 
Other plants and grasses, Mr. Shand told me, 
would not furnish above 2 per cent. Perhaps 
therefore it would be as well to send some of this 
Yucca rjloriosa home for trial at the new board 
mill when established. It may be mentioned that 
Mr. and Mrs. Shand, with their son and daughter- 
in law, are living in the Comeragh Koad, West 
Kensington. 
Tea has hitherto not afforded any food products 
save in the form of an infusion, but it has 
reached me that a patent has now been taken out 
for a beverage termed “ Sparkling Tea.” Indeed 
the manufacture of this has been commenced, but 
as yet my knowledge of it is confined to a sight 
of emptied bottles and the result of my smelling 
them three days after their contents had been 
drunk. Even after that interval the scent of tea was 
quite apparent. The new drink is said to class as one 
of the many so-called temperance drinks, that is to say 
that it is quite non-alcoholic, while it is so briskly 
effervescent that it is said it might delude a 
reformed toper into the idea that he had relapsed 
from his bettered principles and gone back to the 
days of champagne drinking. It appears that the 
patent has been taken out by Mr. Wrightson of 
St. Olave’s Warehouse, who is also a co-patentee of 
the new tea chests. Probably opportunity will be 
afforded me of learning more about this “ sparkling 
tea ” before next writing, and of being able to 
record for your information my own tasting of 
and verdict upon it. We hear that it can only 
be produced satisfactorily from teas of a high class, 
those hitherto used having been of Ceylon growth. — 
London Cor. 
■ -¥ 
CEYLON TEA IN 1889-90! 
ANNUAL EEPOET OF MESSES. WM. JAS. & 
HY. THOMPSON. 
We extract the portion of the Annual Eeport 
of the above well-known firm of Brokers, referring 
to Ceylon. They deal with the twelve months 
ending 31st May 1890 for India and Ceylon, corre- 
sponding to the Indian Tea Season closing in 
Calcutta on 30th April, which ought to be the 
date adopted by the Colombo Chamber of Commerce. 
Here is the Eeport on Ceylon : — 
Ceylon. — The rapid progress made by this branch 
of the Industry is again the feature of the year. 
Notwithstanding temporary checks and disappointment, 
caused at one time by drought, at another by ex- 
cessive rainfall, the estimated increase in Production 
has practically been realized. It has been accompanied 
by an almost equal increase in Consumption, to 
which the stimulus was imparted by the low prices 
ruling last summer ; when quotations rose in the 
autumn the high standard of quality then reached 
kept the movement going, which has been steadily 
maintained ever since. 
A noticeable modification in the scale of values 
has occurred, not in the average result, but in the 
direction of a narrow range of quotation — which seems 
to be the expression of a feature which marks the 
Ceylon Tea of today, viz.i a more uniform character 
predominating throughout than used to be the ciso. 
There is now less tea of specially fine quality than was 
at first made, and a scarcity of the rich mellow liquoring 
varieties peculiar to Ceylon. On this and other points, 
what we have written under the head of Indian is 
equally applicable; and Ceylon, being a younger in- 
dustry, can still less afford to risk the reputation 
