March 2 , 1891 .] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
629 
INDIARUBBEE. 
London, Jaa. 16. 
Unfortunately my knowledge of what has been 
accomplished in Ceylon with respect to the growth 
of indiarubber plants is too restricted to enable 
me to judge whether you might be either prejudi- 
cially or beneficially affected by news reaching us 
from America as to a syndicate composed both of 
Americans and Englishmen having been formed 
with the object of buying up all the indiarubber 
in the world. This syndicate is said to have 
obtained control over fully half of the entire pro- 
duction of Para rubber and that it expects to get 
the entire monopoly. It is intended to extend its 
operation, not only throughout America, but also 
throughout Great Britain and the European continent; 
and if the syndicate should prove successful, the 
price of indiarubber is sure to go up largely and the 
cultivation of the plant on Ceylon ostaies may be 
thereby much stimulated. As written above, how- 
ever, it is not certain in my mind, whether the 
cultivation of the juice-yielding plant has been 
persevered with in Ceylon, or whether it has not 
been altogether abandoned. 
The Ceylon Pioneer in Tea. 
Mr. Leake tolls me that he has received instruc- 
tions from the Ceylon Taylor Testimonial Com- 
mittee to purchase a silver tea service for pre- 
sentation to that gentleman, but that the amount 
of money at his disposition for that purpose is so 
large that ho is completely puzzled how to act. 
Altogether, the subscriptions out in Ceylon and at 
home to this fund amount to about £240. We 
hardly think Mr. Taylor would oare to have silver 
to that amount, and an exceedingly handsome 
service, salver and everything complete, could prob- 
ably be purchased for 90 to 100 guineas. So 
Mr. Leake is, as you will see, suffering from an 
embarras de ricliesse, and the local Committee here 
is somewhat puzzled as to how to proceed for 
the best. I told Mr. Leake it scarcely seemed to 
me to be advisable to put Mr. Taylor to the 
risk of keeping too costly an amount of silver 
in an upcountry bungalow ; but he replied that 
he himself had been married thirty years, had had 
an entire service of silver in use throughout 
his residence in Ceylon, and that up to date ho 
had only lost of it a single spoon 1 All that 
can be said as to this, in my opinion, is that Mr. 
Leako has been an exceptionally lucky man. 
Mana Grass and Paper. 
Discussing with the gentleman last mentioned the 
probability of Messrs. Curtis & Harvey becoming 
large purchasers of mana grass in Ceylon for 
oharooal burning purposes, be mentioned to me that 
he thought it would be most uneconomical to bring 
the grass home for burning, and that if the ohar- 
ooal to be obtained by that operation should prove 
to be of value, we might depend upon seeing works 
specially erected in Ceylon for producing it locally. 
He did not think Messrs. Curtis & Harvey would be 
alone in appreciating the value of the charcoal if it 
should prove to be of a very superior quality. There 
is, Mr. Leake said, a very great and very un- 
satisfactorily supplied demand for exceptionally fine 
charooal tor making the filaments for electric lamps. 
The provision of these filaments is already a very 
large business, and one that is sure to receive very 
great extension. If, as seems to be anticipated by 
experts,— and I believe Dr. Evans is the authority 
for this anticipation, — the result to burning mana 
grass is likely to supply this demand, there will be 
79 
ample inducement for the establishment of a char- 
coal factory in Ceylon. Very special furnaces 
must, however, be required for burning such a 
light and easily-cotJBumed material as this 
grass. Any excess of draught over that absolutely 
necessary for the most gradual combustion would 
flash it away and no charcoal would be left. I 
think I told you that Messrs. Curtis & Harvey are 
hoping to get 2 owt. of charooal from the ton of 
the grass they have received, but at present no- 
thing is known to me of the process of burning by 
which they hope to secure such a large result. 
MESSES J. n. ROBERTS AND J. HAMILTON ON CEYLON 
PLANTING PRODUCTS AND TEA DISTRIBUTION — MR. 
ROBERTS ON EXPENDITURE POE “ NEW MARKETS ” 
POE TEA AS A MISTAKE ; ALL THE CEYLON TEA FOR 
MANY YEARS WANTED IN LONDON — CEVLON VS, CHINA. 
Mr. Eoberts started conversation with the observa- 
tion that he regarded tlie expenditure now irtcun-ing 
by your Planters’ Association upon the disco'-ery of 
newj markets for your tea as mistakably incurred. 
“ The fact is,” he remarked, ‘‘wa want here in Lon- 
don all the tea Ceylon can s- nd us for many years to 
come. I do not hesitate to say that if you wero 
to send us eighty million pounds it would not 
over-tax our capacity for reception. You could not 
do a more unwise thing than to starve the Lon- 
don markets. For every pound Ceylon sends us a 
pound of China tea is driven from the sale. 
Sooner or later, if Ceylon and India send sup- 
plies adequate to our needs, China tea will find 
no place here. Every day sees Ceylon tea more 
appreciated here, and those who have once tasted 
it and liked it will drink no other: even now we 
can barely supply all that is asked for, and we 
want far more than we get.” Mr. Hamilton at 
this point interposed and observed : — “ Though 
that is all true, a larger supply must mean 
diminished prices. The present average all round 
for Ceylon tea is about 10 pence. That is not 
sufficient to properly remunerate the planter; 
To do this as it ought to be done the average 
must be raised to a shilling, and this is only 
likely to be obtained by placing buyers for foreign 
markets in competition. The only question to my 
mind is whether, if that rate were established, the 
present amount of demand for Ceylon tea would re- 
main.” 
To this remark Mr. Eoberts replied “ Certainly 
it would. I feel confident that, so entirely have 
those who customarily drink Ceylon tea made up 
their minds to use no other, that even if they had 
to pay twopenoe a pound more for it they would 
still continue to purchase it.” “ That may be,” 
was Mr. Harnilton’s rejoinder, ‘‘ but it is perfeefiy 
certain that it would check development of use 
and then the increasing production in Ceylon 
would have to seek other channels for disposal.” 
Mr. Eoberts, however, thought that it would be 
better for the future of the Ceylon tea interest to 
supply every possible demand for the home market 
than to obtain a better price by supplying foreign 
countries. There is undoubtedly much to be said 
on both sides. We can well understand Mr. 
Hamilton’s desire that your planters should get 
better prices; but on the other hand we can realizo 
the evil which would possibly follow any curtail- 
ment of the English supply and the consequent 
maintenance of active competition from China, whioh 
would otherwise daily slacken, until it had wholly 
died out. It was singular to see how different were 
the views taken by two partners in the same 
eminent firm on this particular subject. You will be 
better able than myself to assess at their relative 
values thearguements employed by both Mr. Eoberts 
and Mr. Hamilton,— London Cor, 
