Dec.  2,  1895.] 
TPIE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
429 
MIL  J.  II.  RENTON  ON  CEYLON  TEA 
IN  AMERICA. 
Reluf-as,  Mailiilkelle,  Nov. 
iSiu, — Ahliou^'li  eiiclo.seil  is  a priNato  letter, 
I tliiiik  tlie  iiitormation  coiitaiued  is  sulHciently 
interesting-,  coininj;-  from  an  inde|)en(!ent  source, 
to  warrant  its  puldication. — Yonrs  trnly, 
A.  MELVILLE  WHITE. 
New  York,  Oct. 
My  Dear  White, — I have  been  some  six  or  seven 
weeks  in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  making 
myself  personally  acquainted  with  the  conditions  of 
the  tea  trade  and  write  to  you  to  say  how  very 
pleased  I am  with  all  that  MacKenzie  is  doing  for 
us.  He  is  doing  his  very  best  with  the  small  funds 
at  his  disposal.  Six  thousand  pounds  go  a very 
little  way  in  this  country,  but  the  lines  he  has  ad- 
opted are  the  right  ones,  and  I do  most  sincerely 
hope  that  for  the  sake  of  Ceylon  he  will  continue 
to  act  as  our  delegate  for  another  year  or  two.  He 
has  got  in  touch  with  the  men.  and  now  that  he 
knows  the  ropes  it  will  be  a great  pity  if  he  were  to 
leave  and  some  new  man  take  liis  place. 
I think,  however,  that  the  Ceylon  Planters  might 
do  more  themselves  to  help  the  introduction  of  their 
•teas  into  this  inai-ket.  Eirst,  by  placing  much  more 
on  the  Colombo  market.  The  American  Imycr  would 
prefer  to  buy  direct.  He  does  not  like  tne  idea  of 
idaying  second  fiddle  to  Jjondon.  He  buys  direct  in 
China  and  Japan  and  docs  not  see  wliy  he  should 
not  do  the  same  in  Ceylon  ; but  as  long  as  the 
J.ondon  market  remains  at  a penny  a pound  below 
the  Ceylon  market,  he  does  not  see  the  force  of 
sending  out  any  direct  orders,  and  the  general 
complaint  is,  that  direct  orders  are  not  executed, 
owing  to  the  lack  of  supplies  of  the  ]n-oper  kinds  of 
tea  for  this  market.  The  only  advantage  which  the 
American  buyer  receives  by  buying  direct  at  pre- 
sent, is  that  he  gets  his  packages  in  good  order.  I 
have  been  into  several  warehouses  and  am  perfectly 
ashamed  at  the  condition  in  which  the  Ce5’lon 
packages  arrive  from  London.  i)0  per  cent  are 
broken  and  tied  up  with  bits  of  rope  and  hoop- 
ironed  all  over.  This  is  the  result  of  the  teas  being 
re-bulked  in  London. 
Second. — '\\'hat  the  Americans  want  are  well-made, 
well-twisted  leaf,  light  in  cup,  thin  liquor  and  lla- 
vorj-.  I know  that  it  is  difficult  to  make  Pekoes 
and  Pekoe  Souchongs  of  this  description  for  America, 
while  the  Hi-’okeu  Pekoes  must  be  made  differently 
for  London  and  other  markets  ; for  llroken  Pekoes 
are  almost  unsaleable  here.  The  teas  most  suitable 
are  Pekoes  and  Orange  Pekoes. 
Third. — I bear  great  complaints  about  our  paclcagcs. 
Our  chests  are  too  bulky  and  clumsy  for  inland 
trauspoit.  The  American  pi-efers  the  Japan  pack- 
ages and  there  is  a great  deal  in  this  complaint, 
when  you  consider  the  immense  distances  that  they 
have  to  travel  in  the  States.  The  .Japan  packages 
are  made  of  Momi  wood  and  run  as  a rule,  23  in- 
ches long  by  15  broad  by  12  deep.  These  are  covered 
with  matting.  Now,  as  we  import  an  immense 
number  of  Jajjan  packages,  is  there  any  reason  why 
we  should  not  import  packages  of  a size  suitable 
for  this  niaiket  ? We  can  import  the  same  wood  as 
what  the  .Japanese  use,  viz.  ;!-8tli9  inch  and  the 
matting  to  cover  packages  of  this  reditced  thick- 
ness. f think  that  if  we  could  give  them  1st,  more 
teas  ; second,  teas  of  the  qnalitj'  they  w’ant ; and  third, 
in  the  packages  they  want ; there  can  he  no  doubt,  we 
should  do  a much  bigger  business  in  Ceylon  teas  with 
A,meiica. — Yours  very  truly,  J.  H.  RENTON. 
A.  Melville  White,  Esq.,  Chairman,  Planters’  As- 
sociation. 
n C A C M r Q Q essay  describing  a really 
ULnlnLuOi  genuine  Cure  for  Deafness, 
Hinging  in  Ear.-  vYc. , no  matter  how  .severe  or  long- 
standing, will  he  sent  post  free. — Artilicial  Ear- 
drums and  similar  appliances  entirely  superseded. 
Address  THOMAS  KEMPE,  ViCTOlUA  CllAM- 
UERs,  19,  Southampton  Buildings,  Holborn 
London. 
A DAY  A.MONO  THE  COCO-PALMS. 
And  such  palms ! YVe  can  well  say  after 
wandering  among  the  edassie  groves  of  Mirigaina 
that  “the  half  was  not  told  us.”  “CTas.sic”  in 
the  sense  of  being  almost  historic  as  well  as 
most  interesting  ground  in  connection  with  Ceylon 
planting  ; for  who  has  not  heard  of  “ the  Squire 
of  Mirigama  ” and  his  famous  work  among  the 
coconut  palms? 
After  being  a successful  coll'ee  planter  in  Dnm- 
hara  so  far  hack  as  the  “ thirties”— (’twas sixty 
years  ago  !)— Mr.  Wright  took  charge  of  Pera- 
deniy.-i  and  there  oi>ened  up  Held  after  Held  with 
coffee,  ami  (^ualiHed  as  well  as  horticulturist  in  the 
forties  and  early  fifties.  Thence  he  went  as  pioneer 
coffee  planter  to  East  Hapntale  in  the  fifties, 
sixties  and  se\  enties ; and  then  we  Hnd  Mr. 
YYriglit,  after  some  years’  residem^e  in  town, 
renewing  his  youth  and  showing  both  young 
and  old  coconut  planters  “ how  to  do  it,”  by 
opening  and  cultivating  tliis  model  plantation 
of  2.10  acre.-i  in  the  vicinity  of  Mirigama.  Its 
name  “ Kand.vngomuwa  ” means  the  ])lace  where 
tlie  trunk  of  a beheaded  man  was  buried — be- 
headed and  buried  lU)  doubt  “by  order  of  the 
King”  of  Kandy.  Not  far  away  is  the  beheading- 
place  itself,  and  the  locality  being  near  the  Kegalla 
frontier  ^\llero  thei-e  was  often  lighting  between 
the.  Kandyan  forces  and  their  enemies,  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  the  punishment  of  both  traitors 
and  pri.-<oncrs  was  more  common  here  than  in 
other  jiarts  of  the  country. 
The  slaughter,  however,  which  has  taken  place 
on  and  around  Kandangomuwa,  during  the  past 
ten  years  has  been  of  the  enemies  of  the  coconut 
palm,  'i’liese  are  principally  in  the  shape  of 
beetle.s  and  against  them  and  especi.ally  the 
kandapaaniwa  or  red  beetle,  Mr.  YVriglit  has  waged 
deadly  war,  not  siin])ly  on  his  own  plantation, 
hut  al.-;o  tliroughout  the  countrj^-side  around 
his  plantation.  The  leason  for  this  is  very 
obv  ious  when  one  lememhers  the  terrible  foe  this 
beetle  in-oves  to  young  coco  palms  and  tlie  ditH- 
cutty  of  knowing  that  they  have  found  a lodge- 
ment, until  their  work  is  almost  fatally  done. 
It  is  generally  too,  the  most  luxuriant  and  jiroinis- 
ing,  because  temler  and  .succulent  jialmtliat  the  red 
beetle  pounces  upon,  and  only  after  he  has  burrowed 
down  to  tlie  heart  and  utilised  the  life-hlooil  for  his 
offspi-ing,  do  tlic.signsof  theattackliei-ome  externally 
visible.  Occasionally  the  mi, scliief  is  jierceived  be- 
fore the  plant  is  vitally  affected,  and  if  the  beetle 
is  got  at  and  dug  out  at  once  ami  the  tree  pro- 
perly treated,  recovery  is  jiossihle.  Rut  where 
the  beetle  has  hail  time  to  make  Ids  deposit 
and  rear  his  fandly,  it  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance that  the  tree  should  he  cut  down  and 
utterly  hnrni  before  the  swarm  of  beetles  gets 
away.  A single  tree  neglected,  in  -what  is  too  otten 
the  native  fashion,  until  it  becomes  a perfect 
nursery  of  the  kandapanuwa,  is  enough  to  affect 
a whole  district  of  jdantations.  In  our  walk 
through  Kandangomnwa,  we  saw  hut  one  palm 
affected  by  red  beetle  and  it  was  being  iiromntly 
and  effectually  dealt  with.  But  -what  would  be 
the  use  of  Mr.  YVright’s  watching  carefully  over 
his  _ 250  acres,  or  some  17,000  palms,  if  in  the 
native  gardens  all  round  him,  no  care  were  taken 
to  deal  with  trees  affected  by  the  beetle.  Per- 
haps there  is  no  more  striking  illustration  in 
all  the  history  of  agriculture  than  this  of  how 
a careless  owner  may  damage  liis  neighbour’s 
propertjL  I n Australia,  a Thistle  Act  was  passed 
to  enable  careful  cultivators  to  clear  up  neigli- 
houring  properties  of  a wilderness  of  thistles,  if 
such  were  neglected  by  the  owner,  at  his  ex- 
pense, and  in  Ceylon  in  the  old  coffee  daysi  a 
