TFIE  TROPICAT 
AGRICUT/rURIST. 
23 
July  i,  1896. 
I’fjANTlNCf  IN  I'KUAK'. 
Froiii  l!ie  Matang  iiioMbiily  rftport  for  Mardi, 
printed  in  the  Perak  Goueriiiiiant  Gazctle  of  May 
Stli  we  take  tlie  following: — • 
On  the  Gveniug  of  the  2 1st  I went  to  Kanipong 
Dew  and  went  alt  round  the  Yim  Seng  coffee  estate 
with  Ifi'.  Boyd,  the  Minager.  It  h^.s  been  very  well 
drained.  Nothing  is  ])lauied  as  yet,  but  there  are 
some  very  fine  nurseries  of  coffee  plants  wiiirh  Mr, 
Boyd  hopes  to  commence  to  plant  out  within  the 
next  fortnight. 
On  the  23rd,  Mr.  Boyd,  who  had  come  back  with 
me  on  the  22ud,  left  for  Sungei  Tinggi  to  select  a 
block  of  filO  acres  of  land  for  coffee  cultivation  for 
himself  and  Mr.  Aylesbury. 
On  the  27th  the  Assistant  Magistrate  and  Mr. 
Hamilton  returned  from  Sungei  Tinggi  in  the  lauiich, 
bringing  Mr.  Boyd  with  them.  The  latter  gentle- 
man came  to  see  me  about  the  land  which  he  has 
selected,  and  with  which  be  seemed  to  be  well  pleased. 
The  opening  of  tliese  estates  at  Sungei  Tinggi  will 
be  a very  good  thing  for  the  place  and  will,  no  doubt, 
give  employment  to  many  of  the  natives  there,  who 
arc  very  poor. 
TEA  IN  AIISTHALTA. 
A moderate  business  has  been  done  in  China  tea, 
sales  beiTig  reported  of  .350  half-chr.sts  common  at 
4}d  to  4§-|,  a small  line  of  fine  p niyong  at  8yd,  150 
half-chests  common  kooloo,  100  half-chests  kooloo  at 
7id,  .350  quarter-chests  buds  at  .5d  to  5}d  (beside.s  a 
large  parcel  of  buds)  and  850  quarter-chests  S.O. 
pekoe  at  .5i|d  to  G|d  Ceylon  teas  liave  been  moder- 
ately active,  sales  covering  over  700  packages  at 
prices  ranging  from  Gid  to  Ild.  At  auction  on 
Tuesday  a catalogue  of  282  haif-chests  and  8 29 
quarter-chests  China  tea  was  offered,  and  sales  were 
made  of  282  half-chests  common  congou  at  311  to 
Id,  and  655  quarter-chests  common  buds  at  4|d  to 
7Jd.  At  the  auction  sale  on  Thursday  Indian*  teas 
met  with  keen  co.mpetition.  Some  of  the  better 
grades  realised  an  advance,  while  other  grades  rea- 
lised full  late  rates.  The  quantity  offered  was  2,576 
chest.s.and  571  half-cliests,  all  of  which  were  sold  as 
follows  Orange  iJekoo.  591  chests  and  173  half-chests 
at  G:F1  to  9.U1  ; pekoe,  1,638  chests  and  229  half- 
chests,  at  .5|-d  to  lO.lid;  pekoe  souchong,  347  chests 
and  169  half-chest.s,  at  5.td  to  7ld.  Of  C-y'on  tors, 
590  chests  :md  101  half-ciiests  were  offered,  but  the 
bidding  for  thes-c  was  .i ail,  an.l  pcices  Wore  slightly 
easier,  especially  on  common  grades  and  dnstly  broken 
pekoes'.  Sales  amounted  to  308  chests  and  101 
quarter-chests  as  follows  : — Broken  orange  pekoe,  11 
chests  and  42.  lialf-chests,  at  9d  to  14.td’;  broken 
pekoe,  183  chests  and  62  half-chests,  at“G  l to  94d  ; 
pekoe,  at  6Jd ; and  pekoe  souchong,  at  5?d  to  6]iT. — 
AuAirakisian,  May  9. 
THE  AMERICAN  TEA  CAMPAIGN. 
The  London  con-espoadent  of  the  local  “ Time.s  ” 
writing  hy  the  last  mail  says  : — 
'riii''  week  I iiavm  had  the  opportunity  in  several 
directions  of  learning  something  about' the  clianoes 
of  successfully  pusliing  Ceylon  and  Indian  teas  in 
the  American  m.arket.  My  coavor.satio  is  have  in- 
cluded tho.se  in  the  Indian  as  well  astlie  Ceyloji  tea 
interest.  More  tlian  one  gentiem.iri  who  has  dis- 
cussed the  position  of  onr  staj)le  w'itli  Mr.  ,\I  icken- 
/,ie  lias  given  me  .all  that  could  he  roiaeiu!>.-n'ed, 
and  I liave  myself  met  your  delegate  more  than 
oiieein  Nortimmi)orlind  .Avenue  just  as  iie  w.is 
going  into  the  ,Metro])o!o  aml^  eise'-vliere.  The 
dwellers  in  the  States  <lo  nob  seem,  unfortunately, 
to  be  the  teadrinker.s  we  Bricishers  are.  Toe  lirst- 
rate  coffee  to  be  uro.nu'cd  generally  i/i  tlie Scares  is 
.as  palatable  as  ever  it  w'.as,  fi'om  rheir  infancy  up, 
to  a large  portion  of  the  cosmoi>o!itan  mixture  th.at 
makes  u|)  the  full  total  of  the  population  of  the 
United  States.  There  are  10,(X)i>,0()'J  (deriiiaus, 
5,000,000  Scandinaviaii.s,  Danes,  and  Roles, 
••i.OOO.ffXI  Cub, an, s.  and  7,0  0,000  Negroe.s  who  don’t 
*1  ' Indians  and  you  <-ot  about 
halt  ot  the  population  nou-tea-(lrinke'r.s  "Next  wp 
come  to  the  green  tea  drinker.s.  There  is  a con 
sumption  of  fifty  million  pounds  of  green  tea  in 
t )c  States,  and  uj)on  that  con.su mj)tion  -we 
are-  making  no  imip.-ession  wiiatcver.  It  stands 
hcroreus  a huge  iinpeuetrahle  wall,  ma.ssive  and 
nnsurmountal.le.  Me  h.ave  been-  more  successful 
in  t!,e  attack  upon  the  litteen  or  twenty  million 
pounds  ol  black  tea  consumed,  and  also  upon  the 
partly  tenuenbed  teas.  Bub  it  seems  from  what 
[ tl»r  Mr.  Mackenzie  leans  ,„„re  d7a,.,ls  2; 
endeavour  to  supply  the  American  dealers  and 
the  American  public  with  what  they  do  want 
than  by  .advertisements,  expenditure  and  strong 
e lorb  to  make  them  take  what  they  do  not  ivant 
One  of  the  grievances  of  the  Uitlanders  in  the 
iransvaa  is  the  quality  of  the  dynamite  thev 
are  forced  to  use.  Ih'esident  ICriiger  has  Mven  “a 
monopoly  of  the  article  to  Dutchmen  and  Gel  nian.s 
and  he  grimly  tells  those  complaining,  and 
others  whom  it  m.iy  concern,  “Your  dynamite 
requirements  must  he  bent  to  the  sort  of  (I'vnamite 
iny  friends  supply.”  Ceylon  tea  manufacture  to 
obtain  on  outlet  m America  must  be  bent  to 
blie  sort  of  tea  tbe  Americans  require.  Donbtle.ss 
whilst  .such  excellent  jirofits  are  beinc  secured 
trum  a certain  manufacture,  f.e.,  of  lilack  tea,  the 
p.aiitors  of  Ceylon  will  require  .some  leverao'e 
1)0. ore  they  will  give  tune  to  opening  up  a ore?n 
tc;i  tnnle  witii  America.  The  stinuilu,*  of  neces- 
sity IS  nob  hearing  he.avily  upon  (hem  at 
lu-asent.  .Smiicient  to  the  day,  perhap.s.  is  the 
e\il  theieot.  Bat  if  it  rs  good  enough  for  the 
Ceylon  lea  llanbations  Co.,  Limited,  to  look 
w'ell  anead  to  a day  that,  perchance,  may  conic 
when  tea  is  down  in  the  depths  and  coconut  pro- 
iierby  jogs  placidly  along  at  a slow  hut  steady 
pa'^e,  It  ought  to  he  good  enough  for  the  planting 
hotly  to  look  ahe.ad  during  the  years  of  plenty 
and  perfect  itselt  in  tea  mannfacture  in  every 
iorm  tnab  the  m:u'kets  of  the  world  demancl 
xiiere  are  a good  many  men  iiere  who  can  re - 
member  so'iie  few  years  spent  in  tiie  endeavour 
to  get  C 
•ylou 
tea  p’ure  drunk  by'  the 
masse, s. 
Examine  toe  packed  teas  oii  die  shelves  and  the 
hyise  te.a  in  die  canisters  of  the  grocers  of  the 
United  King.lom  today,  and  see  how  much  of 
iL  IS  not  “blended”  tea.  That  endeavour  was 
swimming  against  tlie  tide,  ft  was  slow.  Swim- 
ming with  the  tide  is  easier  and  quicker  I am 
told  the  difliculty  of  introducing  Ceylon  ^reen 
lea  wouM  be  far  less  than  the  task  of  gettiim  our 
black  teas  into  consiimjition. 
TIIR  UNCKKTAIN  QUALITY  OF  ilUITLSH-OROWN  TFA 
The  next  difficulty  is  the  olijection  the  bia 
buyer.s  have  to  the  breaks  and  uiicert.aiii  quality 
ol  Bntish-grown  te.as.  You  can  qiii(.e  understand 
that  dealers  who  have  been  accustomed  to  place 
an  order  for  next  year’s  requirements,  even  nn 
to  .3,000  aalf-chests  at  an  order,  to  closely  fol 
low  what  diey  are  supplying  to  their  connec- 
tion, ami  to  z(,  vGw  with  dismay  the  idea 
of  embarking  in  a Ceylon  and  Indian  trade  and 
will  imt,  unless  forced  to  do  so  by  the  stromi-est 
pre.ssiire,  raise  a haml  to  taste  the  numbeides* 
•s.imples  of  tea  requisite  to  produce  a reo-ular  and 
even  blend.  ” 
GRTTING  TOO  MUCH  FOR  THEIR  jMONE\L 
One  more  trouble  is  the  dealer’s  objection  to 
pay  something  apiuoaching  3d  per  lb.  all  round 
extra  by  adopting  British-grown  tea  and  yet  o-eb 
no  better  profit,  for  the  retail  price  must  Sob 
be  alteieil.  Unless  forced  by  tlie  strongest  pres- 
.sure  he  will  not  forsake  the  tea  he  gets  the 
