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THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec.  2,  1895. 
Second— The  Products  and  Resources  of  Oeylon, 
Illustrated. 
Third— The  Rise  and  Progress  of  The  Ceylon  Tea 
Industry. 
Fourth— The  manufacture  of  Tea  in  Ceylon,  com- 
pared with  that  in  China,  Illustrated  by  Lime 
Light  Views  and  Diagrams. 
Fifth.  The  value  of  Tea  as  a Dietetic,  and  the 
superiority  of  Ceylon  Teas  over  China  as  such, 
owing  to  difference  in  Chemical  composition. 
Such  a series  of  lectures  could  be  adapted  to  suit  all 
classes  of  Society  from  the  most  scientific,  to  babes 
and  sucklings;  yet  all  the  while  most  interesting. 
One  important  point  al)out  lectures  is  that  you 
could  give  your  audience,  samples  of  the  articles 
avhich  y^ou  were  pushing  either  in  the  form  of  a really 
good  cup  of  Ceylon's  finest  tea  to  wash  down  the 
substance  of  the  lecture,  or  in  the  shape  of  a small 
packet  with  which  they  could  prepare  an  afternoon 
cup  for  themselves  after  being  instructed  by  the 
lecturer  as  to  the  proper  method  of  preparing  same. 
Pamphlets  could  al=o  be.  distributed  bearing  the 
names  and  addresses  of  dealers  in  Ceylon  teas  in  each 
town  where  the  lectures  were  delivered.  Many 
would  willingly  take  up  the  job  to  stump  the  States 
in  the  interests  of  Ceylon ; in  fact  I would  not  mind 
the  job  myself  for  even  less  than  is  quoted  by  Mr. 
McKenzie  for  advertising  in  one  of  the  American 
Journals,  provided  travelling  and  other  expenses 
were  paid,  and  I think  I could  make  some  impres- 
sion on  the  Yankees,  and  get  tliem  to  turn  from 
their  “ evil  ways  ” of  green  tea  drinking  to  the  more 
healthful  Ceylon  Broken  Pekoe  or  Pekoe,  I am  etc. 
EXPERIMENTOM  CRUCIS. 
[We  should  favour  rather,  one  good  lecture  in  each 
town.  Americans  are  too  busy  a people  to  go  in  for 
a course  by  the  same  lecturer. — Ei>.  7'../.] 
VARIOUS  PL\NTIXG  NOTES. 
Tka  Export.S.  — It  is  an  intere.sting  fact  tliat  if 
China  kecpsthis  season  to  a little  less  than  her  usual 
tea  export  of  recent  years,  her  total  exports  will  al- 
most exactly  correspond  with  those  of  India  and 
Ceylon.  Thus  the  revised  estimate  for  India 
gives  Ids  million  (instead  (»f  I40.})  of  which  it  is 
estimated  l“24  million  will  go  to  the  United  King- 
dom. The  Ceylon  exports  are  not  likely  to  fall 
below  1)2  ndllion  and  although  all  the  Indian 
may  not  be  shipped,  the  .aggregate  for  the  two 
countries  cannot  fall  far  below  ‘2d0  million  lb. 
Now  this  is  very  near  what  we  estimate  for  China 
Exports 
Kn.ssia  say  ...  ...  ...  90  million 
IJ.  Kingdom  ...  ...  ...  4o  ,, 
N.  America(l)esides4r)  ndllion  .lapan’s)  .55  ,, 
ThibetandCentral  Asia(Bricktea,  etc.)  15  ,, 
Australa.sia  and  Cape...  ...  14  ,, 
Other  pliices...  ...  ...  ll  ,, 
230  ,,  lb. 
India  l.SSmillion  + Ceylon 92  nullion=  280  ,,  lb. 
Tka  is  the  most  encouraging  and  most  profitable 
culture  in  Ceylon,  writes  a Ceylon  journalist,  who, 
though  his  name  is  Ferguson,  which  suggests  North 
Britain,  does  what  is  generally  supposed  to  be  purely 
an  Irish  practice — to  wit,  he  perpetrates  a “ bull,” 
for  he  includes  precious  stones  and  plumbago  under 
planting  enterprises.  With  respect  to  plumbago,  which 
is  the  only  Ceylon  metal  (ndneral  rather)  of  commercial 
importance,  the  trade  tlierein  is  not  very  prosperous, 
though  between  800,000  cwt.  and  -100,000  cwt.  thereof  are 
shipped  annually.  Most  of  it  gees  to  the  United  States, 
Lonaon  coming  next,  while  France  and  Germany 
have  begun  to  take  increasing  quantities  in  direct 
shipments.  Ceylon  has  been  long  famous  for  its  pre- 
cious stones — rubies,  sapphires,  cat’s  eyes,  and  moon- 
stones—and  these  continue  to  be  freely  found.  The 
digging  and  soiling  are  in  native  hands,  and  the  out- 
put is  largely  carried  away  by  visitors  or  di.spatched 
in  registered  postal  packets.  I'lr.  Ferguson,  omits  to 
mention  that  the  natives  are  in  the  habit  of  selling 
inferior  stones  at  fancy  prices  to  travellers  who 
knoiy  nothing  of  the  yalqe  of  gciffs,  tiud  tluuk  Ihoy 
ai’e  getting  bargains.  This  fact  possibly  justifies  the 
inclusion  of  the  trade  in  stones  among  the  “ plant- 
ing ” industries  of  the  island. — FinaucUd  Font,  Oct.  22. 
Indian  Teas  kou  the  Coeombo  Market 
AND  THE  Ceveon  Imi’ort  Dutv.— It  is  a little 
comic.'il  to  read  the  letters  cm  our  back  jiaj^e 
in  the  light  of  actual  facts: — (1)  is  it,  or  is  it 
not  the  fact,  that  Ceydon  jiroduces  some  of  the 
very  worst,  as  well  as  some  of  the  best  teas 
uniier  the  sun  ? [To  blend  our  good  te.as  even 
with  China  or  Jav.a,  much  less  Indi.an,  teas  would 
not  lie  so  bad  as  with  some  of  the  stuff'  occa- 
sionally sohl  in  the  Colombo  market  .and  twice 
rejected  as  unlit  for  human  food  at  Melbourne.] 
(2)  Do  not  the  Ceylon  tea  planters  live,  to  a 
great  extent,  by  the  blending  trade?  What 
•are  all  the  great  tea  sellers  in  London  and  the 
Colonies  but  blenders?  How  is  our  tea  getting 
into  Russia  buc  by  blending  ? Actually,  Ceylon 
and  China  teas  are  .at  pre.sent  .sent  to  London, 
blendetl  tliereanilthensentb.ack  to  Australia  ! Can 
it  be  said  th.at  the  North  Indian  jjlanters  have  not 
worked  hard  to  m iketheii'  teas  known  with  their 
Calcutta  and  Loudon  Tea  .associations?  .and  yet  why 
are  they  not  afraid  to  leave  Calcutta  an  open 
port,  although  sever.al  million  lb  of  Chin.a  te.as 
enter  there  for  blending.  Finally,  it  is  absurd 
to  supi»ose  that  the  grand  Port  of  Colombo,  is 
to  be  shut  off’  from  its  legitim, ate  trade, 
as  the  ])ort  for  Southern  India  and  as  tlie  distri- 
buting })ort  for  Austral.asia.  We  are  told  that 
one  solution  of  the  difficulty  is  for  Government 
to  build  barge  Bonded  Stores  for  blending  pur- 
poses. If  so,  the  sooner  they  are  built  the  better. 
The  Ceveon  Fore.ster  for  October  is  a useful 
number  albeit  m.ainly  t.aken  up  with  a review  of 
Mr.  Broun’s  Forest  lleimrt  for  last  year.  It  would 
be  well  if  the  Dej)artment’s  ex[»erience  .so  far, 
of  the  four  or  live  best  timber  trees  to  cultiv.ate 
at  different  elevations,  were  put  briefly  and  clearly 
before  our  planting  .and  agricultural  community. 
In  reference  to  the  Sessional  Paper  called  for  on 
the  Department,  by  Mr.  Coomaraswamy,  Tamil 
M.L.C.,  we  have  the  following  .satisf.actory 
criticism  : — 
This  return,  as  at  present  compiled,  shews  a loss 
of  R()7,888'70  for  the  .5  years,  but,  as  the  C mser- 
viitor  points  out,  this  is  not  the  true  state  of  the 
case.  In  his  remarks  we  notice,  however,  that 
the  Conservator  has  not  credited  the  department 
with  the  incre.ased  value  of  timber  in  depot  from 
.January  1890  to  December  1894,  which  amounts  to 
R()2,00T61,  nor  does  he  mention  under  the  head  of 
capital,  stores,  &c,,  as  we  believe  this  includes  the 
s iwniill  at  Battiealoa,  which  cost  about  R10,0)X),  wo 
think  this  item  might  also  be  included  in  capital 
expenditure. 
The  figures  are  as  follows  : — 
Total  Expenditure  . . . . 112,199,1)35  37 
Deduct  Capital  Account  ..  ..  200,82ti  74 
Rl,998,808  G3 
Total  Revenue  ..  R2, 131, 801  G7 
Free  Grant  . . 42,005  18 
Value  of  Timber) 
inde|K  t on  Jan.  !-R19(),732  00 
1st,  1890  ) 
Value  of  Timber ) 
in  depot  on  Doc.  - R259,(133  61 
31st,  1891  ) 
Increased  value  of  Timber  ..  62,901  61 
112,246,708  46 
In  favor  of  Department..  11247,899  83 
The  above  figures  shew  that  so  far  from  the 
Forest  Department  not  paying,  the  yearly  average 
revenue  derived  is  equal  to  R49,579'96  for  the  last 
five  years,  which,  considering  the  increased  pro- 
tection given  to  our  forests  should  bo  cpnsiderod  a 
satisfactory  result. 
No(/e8  on  Ceylon  Birds  ttre  continiwU 
