722 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
[April i, 1891. 
To the Editor. 
LINING POE TEA CHESTS: ME. MAIT- 
LAND KIR WAN'S PAPER: VERY LOW 
PRICES. 
London, E. 0., Fob. 191b. 
Dear Sir, — I notice from certain corrospondeoce 
in your Overland edition that some misconception 
has arisen as regards the price of my new tea 
paper, and I fear I myself may have been to blame for 
this mistake in not showing euffioienlly clearly 
the price of the paper alone apart from the chest. 
Let me now explain clearly that the paper itself, 
sufBcient to line a 100 lb. chest, costs 8d, say 
cfiy/itpejtce, f.o.b. London, as against sayls3|d cost of 
lead. The paper is supplied in three pieces, one to 
go round the chest measuring 28 by 87 inches, 
and the other two for top and bottom, mea- 
suring each 17'' by 12''. A further consign- 
ment leaves next week and can be procured from 
my agents in Colombo. Will you kindly give 
this letter publication in your next edition. — 
Yours faithfully, 
J. M. MAITLAND KIRWAN. 
P. S — Planters desirous of trying the paper can 
be supplied with sufficient for a small consignment 
free of charge. — J. M. M, K. 
WOODCOCK IN THE FORESTS OF THE 
EASTERN LOWCOUNTRY OF CEYLON. 
Trircomolee, March 4. 
Sir,— Noting your correspondent_“B. L.’s” letter 
regarding woodcock in Ceylon, i may mention 
that I flushed one in Nov. last, a few miles off the 
Mahaweliganga, in the forest of Tambalagam Pattu 
about 10 miles inland. I saw it clearly, as it 
flaw off from near my feet, and it was not the 
wood snipe. A jack snipe was shot at Kantalay a 
few years ago by Mr. Colls, P. W. D., and the 
range of our Scolopacidre probably varies greatly 
in special seasons. H. N. 
CACAO CULTIVATION IN CEYLON : 
MR. J. H. BARBER’S EXPERIENCE. 
Colombo, March 5th. 
Dear Sib,— The enclosed letter from my agents 
Messrs. W. H. Davies & Co., coming so soon after 
your publication of Dr. Trimen’s letter to tbe 
Colonial Secretary, may bo of interest to cacao 
growers. . 
Throughout the last season my agents dealt with 
criollo or Caracas alone, from my properties near 
Kandy. But last week I sent them a small con- 
signment from the grove Ukuwela which is planted 
entirely with the “Forastero” varieties. You will 
see that, although they obtained the same price for 
the one variety as for the other, yet those most 
interested in the trade, and therefore best qualified 
to speak to the market value of the rebpeoiive 
varieties, are far from inclined to come to a decision 
on their intrinsic qualities and claims, from the 
mere prices obtained for them just now, as Dr. 
Trimen has done. In fact they eeem to think very 
difierently. . , , t 
1 have also to touch on nnolher point advanced 
by the writer. There is a paragraph in Dr. Trimen’s 
letter raising a doubt regarding Mr. Morris’s state- 
ment that Ceylon is indebted to the Dutch for the 
introduction of the Gfiollo cacao. It may be interest- 
ing to have more light thrown on this point. For 
instance the reasons for the statement of the one and 
the arguments for the doubts raised by the other. 
Bo.h are so v/ell qualified to enter into the inves- 
tigation that it would be a pity to let the matter 
rest in doubt- As regards one of the statements 
however made by the latter, that the earliest record 
to hand dates so late as 1819, i.e., twenty years 
or so after British occupation, there is this much 
to be said, that when the British came in, it did 
not follow that the Dutch vacated the island. So 
that the island was not solely populated by the 
British and the natives. Nor could we trace back 
the date of the introduction or planting from the 
date of the existeuce of a tree, so as to say with 
justice or truth, “I believe it to have been then 
quite recently introduced.” We are talking in 1890 
or 1891 of a tree said to have existed in 1819. Who 
can undertake to say without further evidence on 
tbe point, which certainly has not been placed 
before the public, that tbe tree referred fo was 
not 20 years old then, and tbe cacao, after it 
has attained maturity, is of all trees one about whose 
age there might bo much eptcu ation without 
certainty. What may be worth inquiring would be 
as to how much the British nation was interested 
in the cultivation of the cacao plant in other 
colonies in the first and second decaUe of the XlXth 
century, so as to have known its value as an 
industry. It may be also germane to the issue to 
ascertain whether cocoa was esteemed as a beverage 
in Great Britain, about that time, or whether it 
was purely a Continental drink. 
The names Criollo, Forastero, &c. point to the 
adoption of the plant by the Portugu se ; and when 
we remember the fact of the Portuguese having 
been in Ceylon before the Dutch, we can account 
for the knowledge in Ceylon of the value of the 
plant oven in those early times. — Yours truly, 
JAS. H. BARBER. 
Colombo, March 5th. 
J. H. Barber, Esq , Kandy. 
Dear Sir, — We beg to advice having sold your parcels 
of Forastero and Caracas cocoa, ii-jm Ukuwala and 
Kandy lespeotively, at E 63 per cwt. We may point out 
to you thattiaracas is most preitrred by London buyers 
on account of its superior qua'ity, though Forastero is 
oeoasioualiy sold at good prices, as in the pre eat in- 
stance, owing to its fine appearance. We are, however, 
informed by those most interested in the trade, that the 
latter would not letch anything like the price of Caracas 
if shipped in large quantitiei. Kindly note this. — Yours 
faithfully, W. H. Davies & Co. 
CLARKE’S PATENT PAPER LEAD LINING. 
Gartmore, Maskeliya, March 9th. 
Dear Sir, — Pbrhaps the best testimony in favor 
of *■ Clarke’s Patent” Paper Lead Lining for tea 
chests as yet received, is the following : — A break 
of 7,000 lb. of Arslena tea packed in this lining 
was shipped in the ” Nepaul.” It was considered 
like the other lots of tea to be so damaged that 
the Insurance Company paid up the full amount 
of the insurance. I now learn from Messrs. Qow, 
Wilson & Slanton, that the tea, alter examination, 
was fit for sale, and that they sold it on behalf of 
Insurance Company for Is per lb. B. Pekoe, lO^d 
Pekoe, and 7|d Dust. 
Your London correspondent’s friend is mistaken 
in saying a planter had complained of the exces- 
sive cost of “Clarke’s Patent” Lining. I have 
always said it was necessarily dearer than lead 
alone, but tho cost is only a few cents more per 
chest.— Yours truly, T. 0. ANDERSON. 
