January i, iSgi.] 
THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTURIST, 
523 
aiay be possible for ine to send you reports fully 
conclusive as to the future of the maua board 
industry which we hope to see cumtnenced among you. 
Just as this pleasing solution of its puzzling difficulty 
has reached the Stanley- Wrightson Syndicate, it has 
been in receipt of further most satisfactory testimony 
as to the efficiency of its tea chests lately arrived and 
now arriving home with tea from Ceylon and India. 
There has been shown to me this week a letter from 
Mr. Rutherford which informed the Syndicate that 
the tea belonging to the Ceylon Tea Plantations 
Company — a lot from far-famed Mariawatte — which 
had been received at home in its special chests, 
had sold this week for lO^d at the auction 
as against lOd for similar tea from the same estate 
which had come home in wooden chests. If such 
a result could always be relied upon, there would 
be no need to consider the extra cost of the patent 
chests in comparison with those of wood. This 
important testimony by no means stands alone, as 
other recipients have written that the tea reaching 
them has arrived in splendid condition in the Ibyndi- 
cate chests. You will see that from both the above- 
mentioned circumstances, the prospect before the new 
tea boxes is brightening materially. A few improve- 
ments in the details of putting the chests together 
is all that seems to be now wanted to insure a really 
brilliant success. 
Nothing seems to have been heard of Mr. Rogivue 
since he started again for the Oontiuent and Russia. 
Doubtless he is by this time once more in St. 
Petersburg, and our sympathies are fully with him 
in his endeavour to secure co-operation with the 
Russian Minister who has taken the initiative in 
official action respecting the iutroduotion of Oeylon 
tea. During the present week I met an old friend 
just home on a brief holiday from Shanghai, and on 
my asking him how he was getting on with his 
trade in Ohina, he said : — “ Last year was something 
too awful; but this year we are doing a really good 
trade.” On my asking him how that could be 
with the English market fur China tea so de- 
pressed, he remarked : — “ We don’t want the London 
market in the least ; Russia is taking every bit of the 
good tea we can send her and at good prices.” When 
told by me of Mr. Rogivue’s Mission, and of the 
recently reported action of the Russian Minister, my 
friend seemed to be considerably taken aback. After 
a few minutes of thought — evidently not pleasant 
thought — he observed: — “I don’t believe the Russians 
will ever take to drinking the teas either of India or Ceylon. 
They can never suit the Russian palate, nor, even if 
they could do so, will the Russian system of making the 
infusion in samodvats, admit 01 either of those two power- 
ful teas being used. 1 predict a Russian would at once spit 
out any Indian or Ceylon tea so infused.” My an- 
swering remark was that time alone could show; but 
that at all events the arrangements sought for by the 
Russian official indicated a want of satisfaction with 
their present supply of Ohina tea. On this my friend 
remarked that he should go to St. Petersburg him- 
self, and see what was going on. He had evidently 
taken the alarm, in spite of his protestation that the 
growths of Oeylon and India could never prove ac- 
ceptable to the Russian people. 
BARK AND DRUG REPORT. 
(From the Chemist and Druggist,) 
London, Nov. 27 th. 
CiNOHOXA.— Nearly 2uu bales of Guayaquil bark were 
included in today’s sales, and a considerable proportion 
of this sold, with fair competition at steady rates : Fine 
thin quil Is 6d ; good stout short and mossy Is Id to 
Is 3d; mossy chips, mixed with quill 9id tolljd; ordi- 
nary rusty and damaged, from 9d down to 3d per lb. 
Several lots of Loxa also found ready buyers : Good 
bright quilly is 7d ; fair broken ditto Is 5d ; small and 
broken yd to Ud j very mouldy and dull, from 2fd to 3d per 
lb. Uf South American Fiat Calisaya, 78 bales bright, but 
rather small were bought in. For the sound bark Is tid 
per lb is wanted, and an offer of Is per lb was not 
outertaiued. There wore also lU bales (k,0S6 lb) 
cinchona from the West Coast of Africa (St. Thomas) in 
fa rly good druggists’ quills of a Calisaya character • the 
I f :t lot of this sold at 7fd per lb. For oases very 
fine strong bold Java druggists’ quill (Suecirubra) 8Ad 
was refused, though 9d would be accepted, while 38 cases 
good short East Indian druggists quill were bought in 
at the nominal price of Is per lb. 
Cinnamon. — At the quarterly auctions which took 
place on November 24th about 3,000 bales were placed 
in sale. The market was quite flat, and only about 
925 bales found purchasers, at a decline of fully Id per lb 
on good cinnamon, and from id to Id per lb on ordi- 
nary grades. 
Bssbhtiai, Oil.— At today’s auctions 20 oases Citro- 
nella in tins sold at |d to 13-16ths d per oz and 4 cases 
of Winter’s Lemon grass oil were bought in at 2|d per oz. 
Quinine.— Prices have been easier this week, and we 
hear of sales of sbout 40,U00 oz. of German bulk quinine 
on the spot at lijd to Hid per oz. ; while the Bruns- 
wick agent is s i I to have sold 25,000 oz. for April- 
March delivery uu 12d per oz., but has now no more 
available at that price. The other German agents quote 
Is Id per oz. as the lowest price. 
CROPS IN INDIA 
BASON TELEGKAM TO THE GOVERNMENT OP INDIA, 
REVENUE AND AGEICU ITUBAL DEPAETMENT, CALCUTTA. 
Week ending 29th November. — Rainfall nil in Northern 
and Ceded Districts, Kurnool and South Canara ; 
good in Tanjore and South Arcot ; elsewhere very 
Blight. Standing crops generally good except in parts 
of Neliore, Cuddapah, North Arcot, Chingleput, South 
Arcot, Tinnevelly and Malabar, where they are 
withering. Coffee affected by leaf disease in Nilgiris. 
Want of rain greatly felt in North Arcot, Chingleput 
and Tinnevelly. Locusts appeared in parts of the 
Ceded Districts, North Arcot, Neliore and Chingleput, 
but very little damage reported. Outturn of groins 
generally middling to average. Prices rising in eleven 
districts, falling in nine. 
THE CRY OF THE CEYLON CACAO PLANTER, 
How long shall w© suffer supinely 
And bear the diurnal disgrace, 
Controlling our passions divinely 
And wearing a smile on our face ? 
Shall we palter with procrastination. 
Obeying Humility ’s rules, 
And suppressing our just indignation. 
Be set down as— fools ? 
Is it right we should wait any longer 
In hopes we have suffered the worst ? 
Think justice will prove herself stronger 
Before we are utterly curat ? 
Can we hope lor decreased degradation 
While decently docile and dumb, 
When there settles on every plantation 
This criminal scum ? 
Shall we hope with intelligent natives 
That Honesty soon shall o’erspread 
The people : the code legislative’s 
Penalties all become dead P 
May we trust that the deep concentration 
Of thought shall control every thief. 
And keep him outside the plantation ? 
It passes belief. 
Already too long we have tarried. 
There must be no further d elay. 
For the lawless ruffians have harried 
Estates by night and by day. 
We cannot compete against numbers. 
For even Jupiter nods : 
While the worn-out manager slumbers 
They prey on his pods. 
If fear were true wisdom’s beginning 
Wo might have some hope. 
But Justice to strangle their sinning 
Has no proper scope. 
She threatens, in case of detection 
In thieving and fraud, 
0 cachfehu her fullest protection. 
Free lodgings and board .' 
