July  i,  1896.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
now  TO  SECURE  “PURE  01 Y LON  TEA” 
BEING  SOLD  IN  ENG  LAND. 
It  has  struck  a geiitleinan  largely  interested 
in  the  home  tea  trade,  as  well  as  in  the  pros- 
perity of  Ceylon  as  an  old  planter,  to  suggest 
a novel  check  on  the  sale  of  our  tea  in  the  big 
towns  of  the  old  country.  It  seems  that  jmekets 
labelled  “ Pure  Ceylon  Tea”  are  now  very  com- 
mon and  very  popular ; but  our  friend  maintains 
that  the  said  packets  contain  a good  deal  other 
than  “Ceylon”  tea.  It  is  to  check,  expose, 
and  stop  this  blending  system  that  the  pro- 
posal is  offered  and  this  is  how  it  has  been  laid 
before  us  : — 
“Messrs  Cadbury  Bros.,  the  chocolate  and  cocoa 
manufacturers,  have  a system  of  annually  sampling 
the  whole  of  Glasgow  and  other  large  towns  in 
Scotland  and  England.  This  is  done  in  the  interests 
of  their  cocoa  trade  and  to  let  people  see  what  like 
their  pure  cocoa  essence  is.  I am  under  the  impres- 
sion that  a similar  procedure  with  small  packets  of 
pure  Ceylon  tea  would  do  a lot  of  good.  Even  now 
there  are  thousands  upon  thousands  of  our  people 
who  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  have  a cup  of  pure 
Ceylon  tea.  The  packets  must  be  put  up  in  lead — 
and  j oz.  packets  would  be  large  enough,  or  even 
less.  Something  after  the  following  style  printed  on 
the  packet  might  be  adopted; — '■Pure  Ceylon  tea— ash 
your  yrocer  for  ii  and  see  that  yoii  yet  it.’ 
“ If  the  Planters’  Association  will  take  it  up,  I 
will  supervise  it  in  Glasgow  only.  I can’t  do  it 
outside  of  Glasgow.  The  system  of  sampling  is  done 
as  follows  : A map  of  Gla.sgow  is  purchased  and  a 
given  number  of  strong  young  men  with  samples 
600  each,  proceeds  to  sample  a given  street,  which 
at  end  of  every  day’s  work  is  marked  in  red.  And 
so  on,  day  by  day  and  street  by  street,  until  the 
whole  of  the  city  has  been  gone  over.  This  system 
has  been  going  on  now  for  years  and  Messrs.  Cad- 
bury find  that  their  sales  increase  year  by  year.  It 
will  take  six  strong  active  young  men  four  months 
to  go  over  Glasgow.  It  is  undoubtedly  hard  w'ork 
as  the  stairs  are  very  trying  and  six  hours  a day  is 
ait  that  a man  can  stand.  The  probable  cost  W'onld 
run  as  follows: — 
6 men  for  16  weeks  at  ±l  per  week 
Cost  of  5,400  lb.  of  tea  landed  in 
±96 
0 
0 
Glasgow  at  Is  per  lb. . . 
Prime  cost  say  8d  per  lb.  packing  in 
2T0 
0 
0 
lead  and  printing  in  Colombo, 
say  2Jd  per  lb.  duty  on  5,400  lb. 
at  4d  per  lb. 
90 
0 
0 
Clerk  for  5 mouths  ±2-1;  stamps  and 
stationery,  storage  &c.  ±19  say 
44 
0 
0 
±'500  0 0 
If  you  think  the  above  plan  or  sketch  would  be 
worth  submitting  to  the  Planters’  Association,  please 
do  so.  I believe  myself  that  a great  deal  of  good 
can  be  done  by  such  sampling.  As  you  are  c„wa  e, 
our  trade  does  not  lie  in  this  direction,  so  th.t 
directly  we  shall  drive  no  benefit  although  indirectly 
we  may  do  a little.  My  experience  is  that  there  is 
still  a fairly  large  quantity  of  cheap  Indian  tea 
mixed  with  Ceylon,  and  the  whole  sold  as  puie  Ceylon. 
The  population  of  Glasgow  is  800,000. 
We  doubt  if  the  s.ame  system  of  sampling  can 
be  apjdied  to  tea— as  fo  cocoa— and  tills  seems 
borne  out  by  the  information  gathered  in  “the 
Lane”  as  to  the  difficulty  experienced  even  by 
“experts”  sometimes,  in  identifying  dillerciit 
teas.  Buying  to  blend,  being  also  so  great  a 
p.art  of  tlie  business  done  in  Mincing  Lane,  it 
is  doubtful  if  earnest  supi»ort  could  be  looked 
for  from  experts  in  that  quarter.  At  the  same 
time,  if  “Eure  Ceylon  Tea”  is  advertised,  only 
Ceylon  tea  in  common  honesty  shouKl  be  sup- 
jdied  and  it  ought  not  to  be  impo.ssible  to  ensure 
this;  for  there  is  some  point  in  the  further 
remarks  of  the  writer  quoted  above  wdien  he 
says  : — 
“ It  all  the  tea  sold  as  pure  Ceylon  was  really 
15 
Ceylon  tea.  the  price  in  the  London  market  would  be 
pence  per  lb.  more  than  what  it  is.  The  sooner 
steps  are  taken  to  ensure  this  the  better.  Why  do 
we  see  advertised  freely  pure  Ceylon  tea  and  very 
seldom  pure  Indian  tea'}  Why  was  it  India  was  not 
able  to  oust  China  tea.  Because  Ceylon  and  China 
teas  are  sclf-dnnking  teas  and  Ceylon  by  far  the  best 
ot  the  throe— Ceylon  tea  improves  many  of  Indian 
teas,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  India  improves  Ceylon, 
in  fact  they  don’t.  The  consequence  is  that  heaps 
pure  Ceylon.  In  most  cases 
the  difierence  is  as  great  as  margarine  is  from  puie 
butter.  Nothing  ought  to  be  left  undone  to  let  the 
public  know  what  is  pure  Ceylon  and  what  is  Indian 
and  I venture  to  predict  that  the  Ceylon  planter 
. proprietor  well  largely  benefit  thereby.  Now 
that  t/hina  is  out  of  the  running  this  is  really  a 
serious  matter  for  Ceylon,  and  the  sooner  it  is 
tackled  the  better/’ 
We  leave  the  Planters’ Association  and  Chamber 
of  Conimerce  to  .say  if  any — and  w'hat — steps 
should  be  taken  on  the  above  suggestion. 
INTERESTING  NOTES  FROM  CALIFORNIA. 
San  Francisco,  California,  U.S.A., 
^ is96. 
Mv  DEAR  Observer.’’— Your  lately  received  issues 
have  continued  many 
COMPANY  REPORTS 
the  perusal  of  which  must  have  been  most  gratifying 
to  the  lucky  shareholders,  and  some  of  my  friends 
who  have  requested  the  loan  of  your  “Overland’’’ 
from  me,  think  that  “ Ceylon  Tea  ’’  must  be  a veri- 
table gold  mine,  and  certainly  the  number  of  con 
cerns  paying  from  12  per  cent  up  to  50  per  cent 
justifies  them  la  forming  such  an  opinion.  I notice 
a healthy  sign  in  many  Companies,  is  the  desire  to 
build  up  gradually  a good  reserve  fund  and 
this  13  but  right  after  their  big  crops’  and 
low  exchanige.  I wrote  privately,  many  months 
ago,  that  silver  was  going  to  increase  greatly  in 
value,  and  you  must  all  bo  prepared  for  this  I re 
gret  to  see  however,  that  in  conjunction  with  the  rise 
in  silver,  there  is  no  improvement  in  the  price  of  tea 
in  London.  I hope  this  will  come  about  ere  lon^ 
I was  much  interested  in  reading  the  nan»r  on 
‘ National  Defence,’’  by  Lieut. -Colonel  Sir  George 
S.  Clarke  r.b.,  k.c.m.g.  read  by  him  at  Ibo  Doval 
Colonial  Institute  on  11th  February,  the  “Journal’’ 
of  whmh  Society  was  sent  me  by  our  good  friend 
John  Ferguson.  In  the  discussion  which  followed 
fee  reading  of  this  interesting  paper.  Admiral  the 
Hon.  Sir  Edmund  k remantle,  k.c.r.,  c.m  g.  referred  to 
Colombo,  Kandy, Trincomalee  and  Ceylon  generally  and 
term  the  ‘'local  or  narrow’’  way  in 
which  the  so  called  •' 
“military  contribution” 
is  looked  at  in  the  Colony.  The  security  enioved  hv 
every  British  vessel  on  every  sea  in  any  part  of  the 
woi Id,  the  safety  of  our  immense  commerce,  as  alsn 
that  of  our  outlying  and  scattered  possessions  is  en 
tircly  due  to  the  size  and  the  high  state  of  efidcienev 
of  the  British  Navy.  In  tiiiifs  of  trouble  it  is  th^ 
Navy  that  will  be  called  upon  to  defend  oi.r  scattered 
possessions,  and  there  can  be  no  strong  and  pffee 
tive  Navy  without  naval  harljours,  where  snn 
plies,  coal,  and  refits  are  maintaiiud  and  can  he 
had  in  time  of  uar.  Our  “endless  chain,”  Wed 
by  the  masterly  minds  of  former  times,  to  eiiahlp 
us  to  hold  our  supremacy  at  sea,  and,  begimW 
at  Gibralter  tncircJes  this  globe  by  wav  Tf 
Malta  Cyprus,  Egypt,  Perim,  Aden,  Triiicoinalee 
Hongkong,  Esqmmalt,  Halifax,  Bermudas,  with 
branches  to  the  Capo,  and  Australia,  via  St.  Heleiia 
Ac.-this  grand  lino  mn.t  be  f u-  ever  defended  od 
else  we  will  cease  to  lie  ilie  “ Mistrcs.s  of  the  Seac  ” 
our  commerce  dwindle  to  nothing,  and  starvnH^’,, 
stare  the  “bright  little,  tight  littld  Island ’’iif  he 
face.  The  time  will  come  when  closer  federation  of 
the  Great  Empire  will  necessitate  the  “ nooliuff  ” of 
the  immen.se  sum  required  annually  for  defence 
and  when,  with  a larger  and  juster  nnderstandiiig  of 
the  matter,  each  colony  and  community  will  oheerfully 
