Aug.  r,  1895.] 
03 
THE  TROPICAL 
COCOA. 
Mr.  Alexander  l.eckie,  St.  Geoif'e’.s  llou.se,  Kastelieap, 
K.  C.,  a;jeut  for  Van  llouten  <fc  Zoon,  gave  some  inter- 
esting evidence  la.st  week  regarding  the  cocoa  trade.  He 
■stated  that  of  the  2,500,000  lb  of  prepared  cocoa  annually 
imported  into  the  United  Kingdom,  over  2,250,000  lb.  comes 
from  Holland,  and  more  than  half  the  total  imported  is 
\’an  Houten’s  cocoa.  The  proces.s  for  making  this  soluble 
cocoa  is  not  patented,  but  is  kept  secret.  An  essential 
part  of  it  is  the  removal  of  a portion  of  the  fat  from 
the  seeds.  Fifty  per  cent  is  the  average,  and  Van  Hou- 
ten’s-contains  between  26  and  33  per  cent.  The  witness 
was  examined  at  great  length  regarding  what  the  public 
consider • cpcoa  to  be  and  from  his  experience  he  said 
would  not  recommend  any  prohibition  of  the  sale  of  mix- 
tures of  arrowroot,  cocoa  and  sugar,  or  of  soluble  cocoas. 
He  was  also  rpiestioned  as  to  how  the  latter  arc  pre- 
pared, and  as  to  the  addition  of  alkali.  Replying  to 
the  latter,  he  said  there  was  no  cocoa  in  the  British 
market  which  contained  any  alkaline  substrince  whatever. 
If  could  not  contain  alkali  without  spoiling  the  cocoa. 
Mr.  Leckie  was  then  questioned  as  to  the  desirability 
of  the  standard  for  cocoa,  and  as  to  the  law'  in  foreign 
countries.  He  explained  that  Belgium  has  passed  an  edict 
declaring  that  cocoa  which  had  been  deprived  of  part  of 
its  fat  could  not  be  sold  as  genuine  cocoa,  although  it 
might  be  sold  as  cocoa-powder.  It  further  stated  that 
cocoa  which  had  in  it  any  increiise  of  mineral  constituents 
whatever  should  be  called  alkaliiii'tse,  and  if  there  was 
moi-e  than  3 per  cent  it  sliould  not  be  sold.  It  was  to 
have  come  into  force  on  April  1st  this  year,  but  he  had 
heard  nothing  of  it.  'I'here  had  been  no  prosecutions. 
Van  Houten  had  a large  trade  in  Belgium,  and  they  had  taken 
steps  in  the  matter,  and  had  put  the  case  before  the 
Ministry,  and  had  askeil  them  to  take  steps  to  say 
whether  the  edict  applied  t(.>  Van  Honten’s  cocoa.  The 
Belgian  authorities  had  issued  an  explanation  which  showed 
that  alkalinUc  applied  to  free  alkali. —C/teou'sf  and  Druggist, 
May  25th. 
CEYLON  TEA  IN  AMERICA. 
We  Itave  leceiveil  a long  letter  from  Mr.  El  wood 
May  on  tlie  subject  of  !iis  revived  “Ceylon 
Planter.s’  Tea  Coiiu»any  ” in  New  York  and  the 
advantage  of  our  planters  backing  up  his  work 
of  advertising  and  distributing  their  teas.  Mr. 
Elwood  May  must  understand  now  finally,  that 
the  day  for  the  Ceylon  planters  supporting  any 
Company  or  individual  separately  in  the  tea- trade  is 
altogether  over, — tliat  their  money  (the  Cess)  is 
meant  to  be  spent  for  tlie  benefit  of  all  dealers  in 
Ceylon  tea  in  Ametica, — ami  that  (for  good  or 
evil),  to  Mr.  Wm.  Mackenzie  as  sole  repre- 
sentative and  Commi.ssioner  has  been  delegated 
all  power  under  certain  instructions  from  the 
“ Committee  of  Thirty.”  It  will  be  therefore  a 
mere  waste  of  time  to  address  letters  to  Ceylon 
on  this  particular  suhject. 
Another  correspondent  e\|nesscs  his  great  sur^ 
prise  at  finding  that  Mr.  IMcchyndcn,  tlie  .Agent 
for  the  Imlian  Tea  planteis,  has  been  empowered 
by  Mr.  Mackenzie  to  sell  or  give  out  Ceylon 
tea  but  without  distincti\e  Ce.ylon  labels,  .so 
that  India  gets  credit  for  a tea  much  better 
suited  to  the  American  taste.  This  seems  a 
grievous  offence  in  the  eyes  of  our  correspon- 
dent and  especially  for  the  reason  that  the  Cey- 
lon planters  so  emphatically  refu.sed  to  unite 
with  their  Indian  brethren  at  Chicago.  We  arc 
not  going  , to  defend  the  consistency  of  our 
))lanten-  ; but  otherwise  to  us  it  seems  a small 
matter  which  country  gets  credit  long  as 
Indian  and  Ceylon  teas  suiiersede  China’s  and 
Japan’s.  Let  it  be  all  India,  or  all  Ceylon, 
yet  both  countries  equally  benefit  by  the  relief 
to  the  London  market. 
Thirdly,  we  have  an  interesting  letter  from 
Miss  Anna  Ballard,  the  well-known  lady 
writer,  Avho  lived  for  some  time  in  Ceylon  and 
w hose  services  we  know',  Mr.  Mackenzie  wished 
to  utilize,  in  writing  descriptions  of  Ceylon  tea 
plantations,  preparation,  v'vc. , »S:c.  for  the  American 
press.  Miss  Ballard  adds  : — 
“ I have  just  obtained  a good  point  from  a Scots- 
man, New  Zealander  of  T4  years,  on  a visit  to  his 
, lelatives  io  CJjicag'o^  mi  Scotland.  He  told  we  that 
AGRICULTURIST. 
New  Zealanders  prefer  the  Ceylon  tea  to  Indian. 
They  like  the  Ceylon  tea’s  flavour  and  delicacy. 
They  find  the  Indian  tea  rather  strong.  He  said 
that  Ceylon  tea  needs  no  pushing  there;  for  New 
Zealanders  have  already  adopted  Ceylon  tea  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  that  is  raised  in  any  other  country; 
—anywhere.” 
LIBERIAN  COELEE  IN  CEYLON  NOT 
ECLIPSED. 
{From  (I  Kandj/  Corrc-n/toiuteni.) 
From  time  to  time  I observe  statements  of 
marvellous  growth  and  bearing  powers  of  Liberian 
Coffee  in  tlie  Straits,  Sumatra,  Travancorc, 
Borneo  v^'c. 
The  general  effect  of  such  reports  is  to  .show  how 
degenerate  Ceylon  is  bj' comparison.  The  flavour 
of  brag  is  upon  all  of  tliem. 
The  last  I saw  was  that  on  a 20-month  old 
clearing  a Liberian  tree  had  attained  tlie  height 
of  58  inches  and  a spread  of  50  and  one  of  60 
inches  with  a sjiread  of  54  indies. 
Tlie  paragraph  ended  witli  tlie  \ery  slirillest 
of  Cock-a-doodle-doos. 
In  reference  to  this,  my  attention  w'as  called 
to  a clearing  of  18  months  old  in  Matale.  The 
hidiest  .specimens  were  6 feet  .‘J  inches  high  and 
5 feet  3 inches  spread — wludly  beating  the  size 
of  those  mentioned  as  .something  very  e.xtra- 
ordinary  in  tiie  Far  East. 
I do  not  think  that  correct  impressions  are 
conveyed  by  taking  measurements  of  isolated 
trees  in  clearing. 
I wish  I could  elicit  from  other  growers  ot 
Liberian  Coffee  whether  my  belief  is  shared  by 
them  as  to  any  improvement  in  Liberian  Coffee 
h'om  its  acclimatisation  here,  and  wdiether  it  is  not 
a niuch  earlier  bearer  than  it  used  to  be.  The 
cultivation  has  been  going  on  now  for  some 
little  time  and  we  slmuhl  be  hearing  something 
about  the  new  openings  unless  the  silence  is 
that  of  people  who  have  found  a good  thing. 
[As  one  indication,  we  had  a planting  visitot 
from  a high  district  the  other  day  who  said  he 
was  going  in  for  a Liberian  'Coffee  clearing 
in  the  low’country  fortliwith. — Ed.  T.A.'\ 
^ 
CURRENT  notes. 
{1>H  an  Old  Fla.nlcr  loiifi  1‘cskiatt  in  a.  A^orlhaiL 
Olstrkt. ) 
The  last  Ohsen-ers  just  to  hand  arc  very  interest' 
iiig  tome;  first  of  all  and  of  most  importance  to  the 
Ceylon  Tea  Planters  we  have  the 
TAMIL  LABOR  QUESTION 
brought  before  us  full  of  all  sorts  of  complications 
and  puzzles.  To  meet  the  present  scarcity  of  labor  ori 
many  tea  estates  in  (ieyloii,  I would  venture  to  suggest 
FREE  STEAMER  PASSAGES, 
for  a Jew  months  only' ; some  Companies  joined  by 
sundry  estate  proprietors  might  make  private  arrange- 
ments to  convey  coolies  free  to  Colombo  from  Tuti- 
corin  to  their  estates ; small  steamers  might  be  em- 
ployed to  bring  these  coolies  : and  the  present  general 
aiTangeraciits  need  not  be  in  any  way  interfered 
with.  There  «;e  e.sfd/c.')’  and  estates  in  Ceylon.  Some 
tea  estates  will  always  be  favourites,  with  the  Tamil 
cooly,  others  quite  the  reverse,  except  the  Superintend- 
ents hold  out 
SPECIAL  INDUCEMENTS 
for  the  cooly  to  locate  011  them.  Roomy  and  solid 
and  well-built  Hues,  small  gardens  allowed,  and  en- 
couraged, and,  more  than  all,  a/i  the  protection  to  the 
working  cooly  the  superintendent  can  possibly  give  him, 
by  keeping  his  account  in  the  admvice  book  in  detail 
and  saying  practically  to  his  kangany  “ Nauds  oft',  no 
unjust  or  extortionate  interest  on  this  estate  if  you 
please.'  Some  tea  estates  are  healthy  for  the  cooly; 
others  quite  the  reverse — some  are  steep,  rather  so  I ! 
OthetB  level,  and  easily  worked  and  greatly  liked  by 
