532 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb.  I,  1896. 
this  city.  The  terms  were  accepted  by  the  agent 
for  Messrs.  Tettey  & Co.,  the  agent  for  Appleton, 
Machiii  and  Smiles,  by  “ The  Ceylon  Tea  Co.,”  owners 
of  the  “ Siva  ” brand,  and  by  Mr.  JE  M I’ayue,  owner 
of  the  “ Dariuna  ” brand— four  in  all. 
TUK  TEA  BOOTH. 
The  show  opened  on  ihe  evening  of  the  ‘2ud  Oc- 
tober and  as  the  building  wa.s  opeiie.l  for  the  erec- 
tion of  booths,  on  the  morning  of  the  1st  we  had 
to  work  very  hard  to  get  all  in  readiness,  which 
we  eventually  did.  VVe  Lad  harder  work  than  most 
people  having  no  contractor,  as  I looked  after  the 
work  myself,  and  as  our  booth  is  always  one  of 
some  pretensions  to  stjde,  and  is  made  well  and 
strongly  to  admit  of  seating  people  who  lean  back 
against  it  and  so  on.  I will  have  the  pleasure  of 
sending  you  a photograph  of  the  booth,  which,  as 
yon  will  see,  is  on  the  same  lines  as  we  have  always 
adopted,  the  doors  and  windows  following  the  style 
of  Indian  architecture.  Seats  ran  round  the  four 
sides  and  the  door  stood  at  one  angle  and 
the  counter,  where  tea  was  made,  at  the 
other,  giving  the  booth  a novel  appearance.  The 
whole  was  draped  with  Indian  goods,  and  hung  in- 
side and  out  with  photos  of  tea  manufacture,  as  well 
as  the  different  ornamental  signs  of  the  firms  whose 
teasl  we  exhibited  and  the  charts  of  the  rise  of 
British-grown  teas  in  the  London  Market.  Within 
the  booth  in  the  centre  stood  a large  square  table 
4'  by  4'  upon  which  a round  table  with  revolving  top 
was  placed  and  the  whole  piled  up  with  packets  of 
the  different  teas.  Over  the  windows,  inside,  ran 
shelves,  on  which  also  the  teas  were  displayed,  and 
over  the  counter  there  was  a bracket,  from  which  the 
name  of  the  tea  being  exhibited  was  hung  and  changed 
daily. 
THE  ATIEND.ANTS. 
The  staff  in  the  booth  consisted  of  two  sales-ladius 
and  two  coloured  girls.  The  latter  stood  behind 
the  counter  and  made  the  tea,  which  was  handed 
by  the  sales-ladies.  We  had  in  addition  for  the  latter- 
half  of  the  show  a young  man  dressed  in  the 
turban  and  scarlet  chapkan  of  our  khitmatr/ars,  who 
stood  at  the  door  and  invited  people  to  enter  and 
try  the  tea.  After  the  first  few  days,  when  the 
crowded  period  began,  his  duties  were  more  to  try 
and  keep  undesirable  people  out,  and  put  up  the 
cords  at  the  door  when  the  place  was  full,  regulate 
the  number  coming  in  to  the  seats  available,  etc. 
The  salesmen  of  the  different  firms  we  had  interested 
were  in  attendance  each  evening  in  turn  to  try  and 
catch  grocers,  take  orders,  etc.  , , 
Visitors  on  being  admitted  were  seated,  the 
sale=-ladies  supplied  them  with  tea,  gave  them 
the  printed  matter  sent  down  for  distribution 
by  each  firm,  of  which  I send  samples,  and  then 
tried  to  tell  them  about  the  qualities  of  tea,  sell 
them  packets  and,  failing  that,  samples.  Each  firm 
sent  a supply  of  samples,  Tettey  and  Appleton  using 
well-made  tin  boxes  enamelled  in  colours  with  their 
trade  marks  and  the  other  two  firms,  being  new  to  the 
business,  used  small  baskets  fr-om  China,  miniature  tea- 
ts  etc.,  more  expensive  and  less  effective  than  the 
others  Visitors  desirous  of  booking  orders  through 
° ocers  could  do  so,  and  these  were  handed  to  the 
Salesmen,  or  were  sent  up  to  the  offices  next  day. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  show,  when  the  management 
ant  nervous  that  it  would  not  be  such  a great  success  as 
thev  had  expected  it  to  be,  I was  able  to  arrange  to  be 
allowed  to  issue  invitation  cards  aud  secured  the  un- 
naiial  nrivilege  of  these  cards  being  accepted  at  the 
pate  in  lieu  of  the  regular  tickets  of  admission.  We 
iRRued  1 000  of  these  cards,  each  admitting  two  persons 
and  sent  them  mainly  to  tea  importers  and  jobbers. 
“HIGH  TEAS.’ 
\t  this  show  an  enterprising  lady  organised  what 
u onlled  '*  Hi«h  Teas”  and  succeeded  in  interest- 
S a number  of  charitable  and  other  societies  in  the 
Inatter  A large  hall  within  the  building,  separate 
from  tiie  immense  Exhibition  hall,  was  set  apart  for 
fhis  nurpose  ; the  room  was  handsomely  decorated  by 
r number  of  the  firms  dealing  in  art  furniture  by 
of  advertisement  and  some  of  the  leading  caterers 
f the  city  lent  their  names,  and  in  some  instances, 
Jctually  supplied  the  tables,  serving  what  Wati  m 
reality  a Icblc  d’hote  dinner,  for  which  a charge  of 
one  dollar  a plite  was  made.  The  ticket  for  the 
dinner  gave-  admission  to  the  room,  which  was  nicely 
laid  out  in  the  manner  of  a good  class  restaurant. 
The  luena  i ichuL  d certain  brands  of  coffee  and  of 
tea  put  in  by  way  of  advertisement. 
I put  up  a Pooth,  reaching  the  roof  of  the 
room,  some  ‘2U  feet  high,  15  feet  long  and  1 feet 
deep,  in  the  most  commanding  place  in  the  room.  It 
was  hung  w ith  lu.lian  goods,  which  I had  to  buy  from 
Tellory  A Co.,  out  got  them  at  wholesale  prices. 
The  booth  looked  well  and  I had  one  American 
and  o..e  Coloured  girl  here  dressed  in  native  costume. 
HELl’  EKOM  THE  SOCIAL  PUUITANS. 
When  there  was  some  doubt  of  our  taking  part 
in  the  show,  I had  arranged  with  .Mrs.  Grannies, 
the  head  of  the  'National  Social  Purity  Organisation, 
to  supply  her  at  a booth  she  had  with  sample 
packets  of  Indian  teas,  w-liich  she  was  to  sell  for  her 
society’s  benefit.  This  arrangement  I carried  out.  I 
was  able  in  addition  to  assist  Mrs.  Grannis  in  various 
ways  and  have  made  a firm  ally,  on  whom  I couut 
for  assistance  in  the  future. 
I should  have  said  above  that  we  had  our  cards  aud 
the  tea  displayed  ill  the  refreshment  room  attached  to 
the.show  in  return  for  the  tea  we  provided  the  caterer. 
We  were  only  able  to  secure  one  day  at  the  Cook- 
ing lectures,  which  are  great  features  of  these  shows, 
when  we  served  tea  and  where  Mrs.  Tipton  gave  a 
short  talk  to  the  ladies,  who  are  practically  the  only 
ones  who  attend  there. 
Cautoons. 
During  the  show  certain  special  advertising  was 
done  by  Mr.  Mackenzie  in  the  newspapers,  copies 
of  which  were  sent  you  at  the  time.  One  of  them, 
it  will  be  remembered,  was  in  allusion  to  the  tea 
booth  at  the  Exhibition  and  as  they  were  “ display” 
advertisements  with  cartoons,  they  could  not  fail  to 
attract  attention.  The  majority  of  these  advertise- 
nieuts  were  topical  aliusious  to  subjects  of  the  day — 
Mayor  Strong  and  the  Tammany  Tiger ; The  race 
between  t'alhjrie  aud  Defender,  with  Junks  in  the 
background;  Crocker  and  Platt  (Tammany 
leaders'i  drinking  China  tea  and  coffee,  dis- 
turbed by  Roosevelt  and  Public  opinion  with 
Indian  and  Ceylon  teas.  These  c-xrtoons  appeared 
regularly  every  Saturday  during  the  time  the  show 
lasted,  and  in  my  further  reports  I will  allude  to 
the  form  in  which  they  have  sub.sequently  appeared. 
Ill  this  report,  as  it  is  already  so  long,  I will  con- 
fine myself  to  the  Food  Show  and  write  of  other 
matters  separately.  The  Indian  Tea  Association's 
share  of  the  whole  expenses  apart  from  the  adver- 
tising, for  which  separate  arrangements  were  made 
between  Ceylon  aud  ourselves,  will  be  approximately 
|250,  for  which  small  sum  we  have  had  a most  ex- 
cellent advertisement,  aud  done  more  good,  both 
directly  and  indirectly,  than  we  could,  so  far  as  I can 
see,  have  done  by  any  other  means  with  double  the  sum. 
lu  calculating  our  share  of  the  expenses  I deduct  the 
amount  paid  by  the  tea  packers  to  the  joint  fund. 
— Indian  Tea  Planters’  Gazette,  Jan.  4. 
The  “Cevi.on  Fohesteu  ” for  November  and  De- 
cember has  reached  us.  The  contents  of  the  No- 
vember nnmber  are  as  follows  : — Forest  Conservancy; 
Extracts,  Notes  and  Queries;  Botanical  Notes  ou 
Trees;  Notes  ou  Trees  and  Plants  used  for  Drugs, 
Dyes,  Oils,  etc.  in  the  N.C.P.;  Ceylon  Woods;  Di- 
mensions of  a Banyan  Tree  at  Admiralty  Ilouse, 
Trincomalee  ; Acknowledgments ; The  Relative  Price 
of  Timber  and  other  Minor  Produce  in  the  Differ- 
ent Provinces;  Ratos  Paid  for  Timber  <tc.  in  the 
Sabaragamuwa  Provinco ; Notes  on  Ceilon  Birds; 
Government  Gazette  Notifications  ; and  Result  of 
Auction  Sale  of  Ebony  held  at  the  Central  Timber 
Depot  on  7tli  November  The  contents  of  the 
December  number  are  as  follows  : — Estimates  for  ISiHi; 
The  Working  of  the  Forest  Department;  Botanical 
Notes  on  Trees;  Schlich’s  Manual  of  Forestry;  Notes 
on  Trees  and  Plants  used  for  Drugs,  Dyes,  Oils,&c. 
ill  the  N.C.P.;  Weight  of  iialniille;  The  Mammals 
of  Ceylon;  Shikar;  Notes  on  Ceylon  Birds;  Acknow- 
ledgments; and  Government  Notifications. 
