258 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct. I, 1897. 
is a very pretty one. It is dark blue witli medallions 
on tlie sides. Each medallion contains a look- 
ing glass, in tlie centre of which is itainted 
a gold camel and the names of Ceylon and 
India are also printed. There is an elec- 
tric hell under this carriage which never 
stops ringing all the time the waggon niove-s, 
and wherever it stops crowds collect to look 
or to find out where this hell is hidden. 
The driver wears a scarlet coat, and the 
horse is a good one, and altogether our waggon 
attracts notice where it goes. I have it drawn 
up before the store where iny demonstration is 
going on, which of course brings people about 
the door. That pleases the store proprietor as 
well as ourselves, you see. Then if possible I 
get a window, or part of one in the store, 
and that I till up with our advertisements and 
samples. Next I try always to have my table 
or counter, or whatever it is that is given me, 
as near the door as I can, so that I may 
catch the customers as they pass in and out 
and set out with flowers, etc., as prettily as 
po.ssible. Also as yon know everybody is 
equal in America. An assistant is as good 
as his master, and so I pay far more attention 
to the people behind the counter than to the 
proprietors, for it is the men selling other goods 
who will sell our tea. The fir.st thing I do on 
entering a store and taking up my .«tand there, 
I gi\e every assistant in the place a sani|)le 
tin. I toll them whenever they are thirsty just 
to come to the table, and there will always be 
a cup of tea ready for them. At dinner time there 
are always probably some who take their meals 
on the premises, and fur them I make a big 
jug of iced tea, or hot tea just according to the 
weather, or I give them all an afternoon cup 
if they prefer that. Of course these little at- 
tentions please them, and put them in good 
humour, and then when customers come they aie 
willing to help the sales if they can, and push 
our tea a little.” 
“ Now that sounds rather like bribery and cor- 
ruption to me,” I interposed. “ However go on.” 
“It is n’t really,” she laughed back, “but I 
won’t deny I think it helps us a good deal 
sometimes. Well, then, the customers come 
in to buy other goods, and 1 invite them to 
come to my table and have a cup of tea before 
they leave. They are generally (piite |)leased 
to do so and I give it to them with sugar and 
plenty of good cream, or el-e with a lemon if 
tliey prefer it that w'ay, or iced— just as they 
like. There are bowls of crackers (all biscuits 
are crackers over there) and 1 tell them to 
help themselves; they are welcome to just what 
they like at the table. Then I tell them while 
they arc drinking it, how Ceylon tea is made, and 
all the different ]irocesses. I describe the plant, 
and how' it is plucked, the withering, drying, 
firing and all the rest of it ; .and impress on 
them how clean the manufactuie of Ceylon and 
Indian tea is compared with that of China or Japan, 
and how much nice it is whmi done by machinery 
and not hand. They generally ask a lot of ques- 
tions and are quite interested. Perhaps they will 
say they have tried it before, but they did not 
lilce it ; that it tasted tike poison, and so on. 
Then I ask them how they prepared it, and 
very often I am told that a handful of tea 
leaves was |mt in the ]>an and boiled with 
the water, or else that the same quantity was 
dropped into the teapot, ami then the pot allowed 
to stand from two to four hours on the stove. 
I assure you,” she went on, seeing my look 
of incredulity, “ that is no uncommon way of 
making tea in America, ami then they come and 
say they don't like it, it is so hitter. You can 
just fancy what Ceylon tea would taste like 
heated in that fashion. That is my oppoitunity. 
I show them they have gone the wrong 
way to work altogether, and tell them the right 
manner of infusion — how much tea to put in, 
how long to let it stan<l, .and all that, and then 
I wind up by giving them a sample tin and ask- 
ing them to try it. There is enough for twice, 
and I .ask them it they do not like the tea the first 
time to give it a second tri.al. Generally by the 
time, they have done so, they like it, and are 
quite willing to come back to the store and buy. 
But I forgot to tell you that we have other at- 
tractions. Besides the sam]fle tins and our smart 
waggon with the bell always going we have 
a phonograph which sings songs anil talks up Cey- 
lon tea. Lots of people come to hear that. 
Then I always keep a supply of pretty cards 
with pictures about tea making, to give away 
to the children. Every child who comes in, gets 
one, and wherever I go I stick u[) inlhe window a 
big toy camel which wags backwards and for- 
wards, and is <a famous advertisement for our 
te,a. You see in America we have a great de.al 
of ]irejudice to overcome. The peo]de are not 
tea drinkers but coffee drinkers, .and you have 
really to teach them to take tea. Now to show 
you what I mean by that, I went to Beading once. 
That is a coal district, and I found the miners took 
f.ar more tea than any pl.ace I had been in. They 
had never learned to drink coffee, and so there 
was no obstacle to our sales. 
“ And what do you charge for your tea over 
there ? ” 
“tVelkwe start at 60 cents a pound— that 
equals about ’2s 6d — and go up, but I dojj't be- 
lieve there is any more jirofit, for charges are 
as you know, higher with us.” 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
The Tkeatment or Tea in London ‘Warehouses 
— We published a letter last week on this subject 
from “ An Anxious Planter.” It is a matter, we 
know, that exercises the minds of a great many’ 
planters, and one which sooner or later must oc- 
cupy the attention of the Tea Association. Like 
other reformers who cannot understand why certain 
hindrances to the public welfare are permitted to 
flourish, our correspondent is puzzled to know why 
the tea industry generally does nothing to mitigate 
the evils attending the repacking of tea in the Lon- 
don warehouses. He calls attention to the fact that 
machinery for tea packing is in existence, but for 
reasons best known to themselves most of the ware- 
house authorties ignore these machines. It is not in our 
province to advise experienced men of business how 
they should carry on their business operations, nor 
do we wish to infer that in some instances no ear- 
nest desire had been n ade to meet the requirements 
of the trade and the public in the matter. If in 
some of the warehouses antiquated methods are pre- 
ferred, that is the affair of the proprietors of these 
waiehouses. It is our province, however, to give 
publicity to the legitimate complaints of planters 
against those who handle their teas, and to ventilate 
a subject which needs light. There is one point in 
connection with this repacking question which must 
not be lost sight of. It is bound up with the duty 
question. The demand for the removal of duty on 
tea must come from the consumer .say the representa- 
tives of the planters, some of whom are not even in 
favour of abolition. That is a lair way of looking at it. 
