March 2, 1891. "j 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
657 
PLUMBAGO MINING IN CEYLON BY 
A NEW COMPANY. 
Mr. A. Y. Daniel, Auctioneer and Commiaeion 
Agent, writes; — “ I have to report sale this day by 
auction of 17 tons uncured plumbago belonging to 
the Gemming and Mining Co. of Ceylon, 
Limited at K185 per ton.” 
^ 
A NOVEL ADVERTISEMENT FOR 
CEYLON TEA. 
Our contemporary of the London Daily Graphic 
must, we should think, have been somewhat ‘‘ cor- 
nered ” for a subject for its illustrations when it gave 
place to what, it must be presumed, was a post 
factum sketch of the scene in the Mincing Lane 
tea-sale rooms on the occasion of the bidding 
tor the lot of Gallebodde tea which has recently 
fetched such remarkable and previously unheard-of 
prices. However, there can be no reason why we 
should decline to welcome such an advertisement 
of our teas. It will, doubtless, have done much to 
attract public attention to the high excellence of 
our island produce, and will almost certainly have 
induced many to give it a trial — a trial which 
we may feel confident will go far towards extending 
the popular taste for Ceylon tea which has 
been of such rapid spread throughout Great 
Britain. 
Nor, while giving prominence to this particular 
instance of pictorial advertisement of a group of 
excited gentlemen all anxious to become the » uyers 
of what is perhaps in itself only a curiosity, should 
we overlook what has become the subsequent career 
of the tea itself. Our London correspondent gave us 
previously a letter to the editor of the Thues 
broaching tie subject, and he has since sent us an 
advertisement inserted in the same journal by 
the United Kingdom Tea Company which was 
the buyer at second hand and at the un- 
precedented price for tea of £5 lOs Od per 
pound, inviting the visit of the curious in such 
matters to view the sample. Both these notices 
cannot fail to receive much of public attention, 
and they must consequently, whilst economically 
advertising the purchasing Company, enlarge the 
borders of the popular estimation in which Ceylon 
tea is held. For all this “much thanks” to the 
proprietors and manager of the Gallebodde estate! It 
must remain, however, a moot point, whether those 
gentlemen will have benefited themselves in any- 
thingj like the same degree that they have benefited 
the industry of which they are representative. 
Our home correspondent quotes to us the opinion of 
a well-known expert on the subject of this lot of tea, 
that this particular lot of tea can only have been 
produced by the sacrifice of the quality of a con- 
siderable portion of the estate production. We 
are informed that the full payment made by tho 
Company above referred to was about £80. At 
the rate of £5 10s the pound it is evident 
that about 15 lb. of this special sample 
must have been brought together, and some 
feel curious to know how large was the bulk of 
tea which must have been depreciated in value 
to obtain this quantity of “ golden leaf.” That 
term may bo used advisedly — though, in a commer- 
cial sense, it may be misapplied, because, on being 
viewed “ tho sample looked like small wiry pieces 
of gold.” 
Altogether, we feel inclined to remark with the 
French General who witnessed tho grand charge 
of tho Light Brigade at Balaclava that “ C'est 
maynijiquc, mais cc n'cst 2>as lu rjiicrrc,” Another 
French saying occurs to us in this connexion as 
aptly applying to this venture, and that is that 
perhaps ‘ Le jcu ne vaut pas la chanclelle." That is, 
however, only immediately a matter for the con- 
sideration of ihe proprietors of Gallebodde. The com- 
munity will be quite content to accept the probable 
good results to our industry without caring to raise 
the question of the purely economic value of the 
act. But lest other among our planters should be 
induced to fMlow their example, it appears desirable 
that we should ask them to bear in mind that 
although this special lot has secured a price 
which will doubtless compensate its growers for their 
trouble and for the depreciation of some bulk of 
their produce, any who might be induced to imitate 
them can by no means rely on future efforts of the 
kind meeting with equal success. It was the 
novelty, no doubt, which excited the strong com- 
petition witnessed to become the possessors of this 
abnormal parcel of tea, and it is scarcely likely, we 
should say, that even a second lot appearing in the 
market would obtain anything like equivalent prices 
or attract the public attention in the way this 
lot has done. 
It is amusing to note the ignorance that has 
been shown at home as to the method by 
which this fine specimen of our tea has been 
piroduced. The Investors’ Guardian has remarked 
with reeprect to it, that “ with connoisseurs in tea, 
able and willing to pay such prices, planters 
should be encouraged to cultivate the finest varieties 
with the greatest care.” All the home papers 
which have noticed this particular sale have written 
of it in somewhat similar terms, and it is 
evidently the widely-diffused opinion at home 
that this tea has been the result of a specially 
careful form of cultivation ; as, also, that the 
price paid for it has been due to appreciation by 
tea drinkers. Both of those conclusions we here 
in Ceylon know to be fallacious. How- 
ever cultivated the taste for tea may be, and 
however appreciative of high merit in the leaf, 
it is not likely that a drink which would cost the 
consumers, we are toldj something like Is 9d the 
cup of infusion would obtain purchasers. This 
lot of Gallebodde tea, as we have said, must be 
regarded only as a curiosity. Multiplication of 
such lots would deprive them of that qualification 
and they would no longer serve the purpose Of 
advertisement, either for individual estates or for 
individual companies or firms. Tea planting must, 
to be successful, be conducted on purely commer- 
cial and not on esthetic principles. To the latter 
class we should assign the classification of this 
curious specimen of Ceylon reS; 
^ 
RAINFALL IN LOWER MASKELIYA, 
ANALYSIS OF EETDRNS FOR TIIEBERTON AND ELFINDALE 
ESTATES. 
Nanuoya, Feb. 10th. 
On tho rainfall map of Ceylon, issued with the 
Sutveyor General’s MeteorologioalEeport, the deepest 
shade of colour marks a oomparatively limited 
space near the centre of our mountain region, if 
we include the scattered “foot-hills” and detached 
ranges in the south and east, where the mean 
annual rainfall is 200 inches per annum and over, 
in this spot, at the foot of Adam’s Peak and along 
the rivers which flow into the Kelani Valley, the 
three recording stations are Theberton with an 
average of 217 inches, Kandaloya 205, and Semba- 
watta 205, The altitudes at which the observations 
on these places are taken are: — Theberton, Mas- 
keliya, 3,315 feet; Kandaloya, Yakdessa, 2,400; 
