46o 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
IJan.  I,  1896. 
RegartUng  the  policy  of  encouraging  \oca\ 
sales,  I think  the  planting  interest  as  a wliole,  by 
the  elt'orts  they  have  made  and  are  still  making, 
realize  the  importance  of  o])cning  np  fresli  markets 
to  deal  with  the  increased  suiii)ly  the  island 
will  be  producing  in  the  near  tnture,  and  tluis 
prevent  prices  declining  to  an  nnr  emunerative 
point.  I claim  to  be  in  a po.sition  to  give  an 
opinion  upon  this  point,  the  result  of  personal 
experience,  and  I am  convinced  there  is 
one  way  .and  one  way  only  of  doing  this 
and  that  is  by  making  Colombo  a re.al 
representative  market  where  colonial  and  foreign 
buyeis  may  feel  assured  of  having  tlieir  orders 
properly  executed.  No  real  expanse  may  be  looked 
lor  in  the  foreign  develojunent,  however  mucli 
money  the  Planters’  A.ssociation  may  spend,  until 
tliis  IS  done;  for  buyers  abroad  will  not  realize 
tlie  advantage  of  buying  Ceylon  tea  in  Ijondon, 
plus  l^d  per  lb.  Freight,  Dock  and  landing  charges 
when  tliey  can  import  direct  and  satisf.actorily 
botli  China  and  J.apan  teas,  without  any  sucli 
import.  I trust  I may  be  forgiven  f<rr  .saying 
that  I feel  sure,  the  wiser  metliod  of  employing 
the  Cess-tax  would  be  to  distribute  it  amongst 
planters  selling  locally;  for,  in  this  way  it  would  do 
some  good  and  planters  sharing  it,  would,  in  ad- 
dition, obtain,  year  in  and  year  out  distinctly 
better  prices  than  London  rates  and  do  more  than 
anything  yet  done  to  open  u]>  the  World’s  Market 
for  Ceylon  Tea. — Yours  faithfully, 
AKTlll'Il  LAMPAIII). 
THE  LOST  ART  OF  TEA  MAKINO; 
A REPLY  TO  “ UPCOUNTRY.” 
December  8th,  1895. 
Sir,—  In  reply  to  Upcountry,  who  by-the-bye 
might  have  given  us  his  name,  it  would  be  inter- 
esting to  re.ad  some  of  the  reports  of  “A  Lost 
Art  ” that  he  h.as  in  his  ]>ossession.  As  regards 
tea-tasting,  I maintain  we  never  had  bettor 
men  in  Colombo  than  at  present.  I don’t  allude 
only  to  Brokers,  but  to  the  Tr.ade  generally. 
“Upcountry”  is  quite  wrong  when  he  .asserts 
that  “ since  the  home  m.arkets  got  weak  ’’  the 
Colombo  Brokers  have  developed  “ a keenness 
of  vision  ” etc.,  etc.  Loc.al  teas  and  reports 
are  b.ased  on  local  prices  and  demand,  and 
have  now-a-days,  very  little  to  do  with  the 
home  market.  If  a man  requires  a report  for 
London  he  gets  it  and  to  the  best  of  our  ability  ; 
but  it  is  no  more  possible  for  the  local  Broker 
to  value,  not  report,  teas  sold  live  weeks  hence 
in  London  than  it  would  be  for  the  Loudon 
Broker  to  value,  .say,  for  Australia  or  Russia. 
It  can  only  be  done  approximately,  and  quite  near 
enough  for  .advances  against  shipment.  Cert.ain 
marks,  both  here  and  in  London,  have  their  oivn 
supporters  and  will  always  upset  any  calculations 
as  to  v.alue.  My  experience  of  late  has  been 
that  the  teas,  both  high  and  low  giown,  are  in 
many  instances  (mite  as  good,  and  .some  better 
and  the  market  only  not  the  teas,  must  be  blamed  for 
results.  Another  point  I should  like  to  draw  atten- 
tion to,  “ Upcountry”  says  “ Selling  Brokers  in 
Colombo  are  also  buying  Brokers.”  WelT,  of  course 
they  are.  God  help  them  if  they  wei'e  not,  at  times, 
but  so  are  all  the  leading  selling  Brokers 
in  the  Lane  from  the  king  (W.  .1.  & Ily.  T.)  down- 
wards. Surely  a man  must  be  very  dense  if  he 
does  not  .see  or  understand  the  "pall”  his  teas 
get,  protected  by  good  orders.  His  Brokers  will 
always  “ (ind  out”  his  own  te.as  first  and  fill 
up  his  orders  from  his  own  catalogue  where 
suitable,  and  failing  that  he  goes  on  to  Ids  brother 
Brokers  and  there  will  always  be  far  less  “ taken 
out.”  There  is  no  “ blue  funk  ” about.  Only 
since  August,  with  the  advent  of  one  or  two 
new  buyers,  some  tall  orders  from  places  outside 
the  “little  village,”  and  a low  exchange  local 
prices  have  been  about  ld-2d  over  London,  and 
now  when  orders  .are  filled  for  the  moment 
and  buyers  are  thrown  back  on  home  rates,  the 
usu.al  wail  comes  and  Brokeis  are  told  they 
don’t  know  f/tciV  busine.ss!!! — Yours  truly, 
A.  H.  THOMPSON. 
THE  LO.ST  ART-“TEA  MAKING;”  AND 
THE  WORK  OF  BROKERS. 
Sir, — When  teas  deteriorate,  some  one  must  be 
blamed,  and  ‘Upcountry’  vents  his  rage  on  the 
Colombo  Broker — the  man  whose  personal  interest 
it  is  to  keep  prices  u|),  to  keep  the  market  up 
and  to  satisfy  as  far  as  he  is  able  his  consti- 
tuent, the  seller. 
He  infers  that  we,  tea-tasters,  report  on  an  in- 
voice .as  inferior  to  the  previous  one  in  make. 
li([uor  A'c.,  when  we  find  the  market  is  weak. 
This  of  course  he  says  in  ignorance,  but  as  every 
tea-taster  who  h.as  had  a practical  educ.ation  in 
Mincing  Lane,  knows  as  a rule  jn'ices  fall  when 
teas  deteriorate. 
For  instance  a buyer  purchases  a tea  this  week 
.at  a cert.ain  ]uice  and  in  a fortnight’s  time  the 
.same  estate's  tea  is  oll'ered  which  he  t.astes  with 
.a  view  to  “ follow  ing  ’’  his  previous  pureh.ase. 
Me  buds  it  Id  ]ier  lb.  inferior,  and  w h.at  does  he 
dov  He  either  leaves  it  .alone  or  bids  Id  less 
than  the  price  he  paid  before.  The  Rlanter  who 
has  m.ade  the  tea,  posssibly  thinks  the  invoice 
equal  to  the  Last  and  assures  his  agent  th.at  it 
c.annot  be  worse,  because  he  has  not  altered  his 
manufacture  in  any  respect,  forgetting  perhaps  a 
change  in  the  weather  .and  ignoring  the  various, 
though  j)erhai>s  trivial  matters  whieh  cause 
differences  in  (|uality  and  character  of  te.as,  .and 
which  the  “ all-seeing  ” eye  c.an  and  does  detect, 
but  which  slight  though  important  change  may  not 
be  apparent  to  .an  unprofessiou.al  t.aster.  Jfut  no  ! 
— it  is  the  Colombo  Broker’s  fault  ! The  clim.ate, 
the  tea,  the  Superintendent  are  in  no  w.ay  to  blame !! 
If  your  correspondent  will  look  at  the  local 
tea  circulars  published  in  August  last,  he  will  find 
such  remarks  .as  these  “ the  quality  of  te.as 
generally  show's  improvement  ; ” “a  large  propor- 
tionof  good  teas  were  offered”  &c;  and  in  many 
tea  reports  he  will  find  the  same.  But  to  s.ay  now 
that  the  invoices  offered  last  week  were  gener.ally 
better  than  tho.se  sold  5 w'eeks  ago  would  be 
incorrect  and  misleading,  though  doubtless  it  would 
please  the  eye  of  illused  “ Uii-co>intry.”  His 
un|)rovoked  .assault  on  the  commerci.al  mor.ality 
of  Colombo  brokers  is  unworthy  of  a reply.  The 
auctions  .are  public,  and  every  one  interested,  can 
see  and  judge  for  himself  if  he  suspects  his  teas 
are  ‘ called  down”  or  th.at  they  do  not  re- 
ceive fair  and  open  competition. — Yours  truly, 
TEA-TASTER.' 
[Te.as  m.ade  after  ])runing  .and  during  very 
wet  weather  must  necessarily  be  inferior. — 
Ed.  T.A.] 
DOMINICA  AS  A FIELD  FOR  CAPITAL. 
The  Grove,  9th  Dec. 
Dkar  Sir, — Referring  to  Mr.  Philii)  Tenij)ler’s 
letter  .about  Dominica  .as  a held  for  Ceylon  Plan- 
ters I now'  enclose  a cutting  from  the  Financial 
News  of  ‘2.5th  Septcmt>er  last  [(| noted  on  page 
■l()f.— Ed.  'J'.A.]  forw.ardcil  to  me  b^  my  Agents 
