Feb.  r,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICM- 
AGRICULTURIST. 
561 
had  that  any  such  thing  had  taken  place.  Fi-oin  a 
letter  dated  the  10th  December,  1 learnt  that  the 
business,  the  headquarters  of  which  is  now  at  New 
York,  was  more  full  of  promise  and,  having  attaiae  1 
this  much,  that  no  elforts  would  be  spared  to  make 
it  a life  success. 
Unless  the  unexpected  had  happened  between  the 
10th  December  and  the  1-lth,  the  date  of  Mr.  Cock- 
burn’s  tetter,  the  news  of  which  could  not  have  reached 
San  Francisco  so  rapidl}^  tlie  Ceylon  Importing  Com- 
pany of  Davenport  and  New  York  was  at  that  date 
and  is  now  I fully  believe  under  the  same  manage- 
ment. 
Mr.  W.  Mackenzie,  the  Ceylon  Delegate,  in  one  of 
his  earliest  letters,  spoke  of  the  Company  as  “ per- 
haps the  best  friends  the  planters  had  in  America 
and  since  then  he  has  doubtless  had  ample  oppor- 
tunity of  watching  the  work  they  are  doing  in 
pushing  Ceylon  products,  especially  tea.  Mr.  J.  II. 
Renton  when  in  New  York  recently  had  called  at 
the  offices  of  the  Conipanv  on  several  occasions ; 
and  as  a business  man  and  one  actively  interested 
in  the  pushing  of  Ceylon  tea  in  new  markets  he 
would  no  doubt  be  able  to  speak  authoritatively  as 
to  the  work  my  brother  is  doing  in  the  interest  of 
Ceylon. 
I hope  the  C.  I.  C.  will  long  continue  to  push 
Ceylon  tea  without  clamouring  for  extraordinary  aid, 
mangnifying  their  own  efforts  or  crying  down  that 
of  others  in  the  same  direction,  nor  attempt  to 
interfere  with  the  work  of  the  responsible  and  duly 
constituted  authority  who  could  use  his  discretion 
and  experience  gained  on  the  spot  to  push  the  Cey- 
lon products  to  the  best  advantage. — Yours  faithfulhq 
H.  P.  BBLING. 
ST.  HELIERS  TEA  COMPANY. 
Colombo,  Jan.  JOtli. 
Dkah  Sir, — It  may  be  of  .some  interest  to  yon 
and  also  to  some  of  your  readers  to  know  that 
at  a meeting  of  Directors  of  St.  Heliers  Tea 
Company  hehl  today  it  was  resolved  to  declare 
an  interim  di\  idend,  for  the  six  months  eniling 
31st  Dec.  last,  of  10  per  cent,  which  has  been 
paid. — We  remain,  yonrs  faithfully, 
BOIS  BROTHERS  & CO., 
• _ Agents  and  Secretaries. 
COCA,  PARA  RUBBER,  SABA!  GRASS 
COFFEE,  AND  CAFFEINE. 
Jan.  7th,  180(1. 
Sill, — After  receiving  the  IVopieal  Ai/ricullurist  2nd 
Dec.  IsO.T  I digested  the  contents,  and  would  like 
to  remark  as  follows  : — 
Produchi  of  BoUnin  (page  377). — Very  little  is  said 
about  the  Pi'!ithro.i'!ilon  Cora.  I am  following  up  this 
suljjec.t  because  I know  that  there  is  much  to  be 
learnt  still.  I had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that 
I had  introduced  a valuable  drug  into  England  when 
I lirought  in  the  coca  leaf  and  pushed  it  before  Ihc 
notice  of  medical  men.  None  of  the  alkaloid  makers 
supported  rne  until  Mr.  Merck  took  it  up.  I have  found 
out  that  the  large-leafed  variety  from  Bolivia  is  the 
moat  valuable  to  grow.  Farther,  in  testing  the  coca 
loaf  grown  in  .lava,  there  is  hardly  any  crystallizable 
alkaloid ; the  substance  that  comes  from  the  Java 
leaf  is  more  like  a glucoside.  I had  sent  to  me  from 
India  some  coca  leaf  which  had  been  passed  through 
a tea  desiccator  and  its  appearance  when  it  arrived 
here  was  that  of  a curled-up,  dry  leaf.  It  was  pro- 
nounced by  the  authorities  of  the  Pharmaceutical 
Society  to  be  valueless  ; nevertheless  I sent  it  to 
the  works  where  they  are  most  advanced  in  the 
manufacture  of  caffeine  and  they  pronounced  it  very 
fine  and  said  they  would  be  glad  to  take  any  quantity 
that  could  be  supplied,  and,  instead  of  the  price  of 
the  Java  coca  leaf  being  worth  about  3d.,  this 
would  be  worth  about  Is.  The  point  to  be  noticed 
after  reading  these  remarks  is  that  this  coca  was 
grown  at  a high  elevation  in  India,  comparatively 
speaking,  and  the  information  that  I have  given  to 
my  friends  in  the  report  was:  “ Go  up  to  Assam  and 
try  the  coca  leaf  there  (the  large-leafed  variety), 
dry  the  whole  leaf  like  tea,  pack  it  tight  into  bales 
and  send  it  over.  I believe  it  will  then  be  worth 
Is  (id  to  Is  8d  per  lb.  here  for  the  extraction  of  the 
alkaloid.”  In  testing  trees,  either  for  the  leaf  or  for 
the  berry  in  the  instance  of  coffee,  it  is  most  mis- 
leading to  take  the  first  fruit  or  foliage  from  &i/oting 
tree.  We  see  this  specially  with  coffee,  because  as 
the  seed  dries  it  “shrivels”  off  a young  tree. 
P.VKA  Rui)bep..— I think  it  will  turn  out  a valuable 
enterprise  to  all  those  who  are  planting  this  variety 
of  rubber  in  Ceylon.  The  trees  can  be  planted  a 
good  distance  apart,  close  to  any  moist  or  wet  ground 
or  on  the  sides  of  streams ; it  will  he  a great  pity  if 
they  are  put  so  close  together  that  they  crowd  one 
another. 
Sabax  Gbass  fob  Papek. — I should  be  very  glad  if 
I could  obtain  some  of  the  seed  of  this  grass  and 
also  a specimen  of  the  paper  which  is  made  from 
it.  I am  writing  to  the  only  clue  that  I can  find  in 
the  article  on  page  401,  viz.,  to  the  Deccan  Paper 
Mill  Co.  for  samples  of  their  paper,  because  it  will 
be  very  interesting  if  this  paper  will  stand  chemical 
treatment  as  well  as  the  Manilla  paper  does ; this 
Manilla  paper  I use.in  largo  quantities,  perfectly 
free  from  any  sizing  and  it  is  40  inches  wide.  I 
should  be  very  glad  to  see  the  Sabai  grass  if  it 
came  at  the  same  price  or  cheaper  and  w'as  equally 
strong  as  the  Manilla.  This  Manilla  paper  makes  a 
beautiful  water-proof  material,  which  there  is  a great 
demand  for. 
Coffee. — I have  lately  been  thrown  considerably 
into  company  wdth  some  of  the  large  coffee  brokers 
and  dealers,  and  they  have  informed  me  of  the  sums 
of  money  which  they  have  collected  to  start  places 
where  pure  coffee  will  be  given,  because  when  one 
asks  for  a cup  of  coffee  one  rarely  gets  it  in  this 
country,  and  hardly  ever  in  Germany.  If  the  hotels, 
restaurants  and  eating-houses  were  once  compelled  to 
give  pure  coffee  when  a cup  of  coffee  was  asked  for, 
people  would  commence  to  know  what  the  flavour 
of  coffee  was.  They  next  w'ould  ask  f >r  coffee 
to  be  made  strong,  and  the  quantity  of  coffee  that 
comes  to  this  country  would  be  quite  inadequate  to 
supply  the  demand.  There  are  exceptional  places  in 
London  and  a series  of  establishments  where  pure, 
first-class  coffee  is  to  be  obtained,  and  tuese  are 
well-known  and  frequented  by  those  who  know  what 
the  flavour  of  a good  cim  of  coffee  is.  The  Liberian 
coffee  which  comes  to  England  is  so  Id  at  a good 
price  becau.se  it  has  great  strength  and  flavour  and 
this  goes  to  the  north  of  England  and  the  manu- 
facturing places,  but  there  is  not  more  than  20  per 
cent  to  30  per  cent  of  coffee  in  the  mixtures  that 
ai’e  sold.  It  is  a great  question  if  the  legislature 
could  not  compel  restaurants  to  supply  coffee  when 
it  is  asked  for. 
You  may  like  to  hear  that  the  caffeine  industry 
has  gone  on  increasing  and  large  quantities  of  tea 
are  consumed.  A much  larger  plant  has  been  erected 
by  the  manufacturers  so  as  to  cope  with  the  demand. 
All  this  industry  has  been  brought  into  England 
since  1888.  To  iirove  how  pernicious  the  action  of 
some  of  the  dock  companies  has  been  of  allowing 
the  Germans  to  have  the  British  made  tea  sweepings 
from  British  warehouses  to  denature  and  send  to 
Germany  to  be  made  into  caffeine,  to  compete  against 
British  industry.  An  American  firm  has  engaged  a 
German  to  start  a similar  set  of  machinery  in  Lou- 
don, and  to  bring  pressure  to  bear  to  obtain  tea 
sweepings,  so  that  the  tea  can  be  denatured  and 
sent  to  America  to  be  worked  up  and  so  compete 
against  British  industry. 
In  conclusion  I am  glad  to  say  that  some  of  these 
docks  and  tea  wharves  who  formerly  allowed  the  tea 
sweepings  to  go  to  Germany  have  repented  and  are 
now  acting  most  honorably  in  sending  the  whole 
supply  to  the  English  houses. — Yours  trul^. 
