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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1898. 
tea by way of advertising, if the Planters' Associa- 
tion placed a grant, say, of £2,000 at their com- 
mand ’ To enlist tlie interest of Russian tea firms 
would be a great matter. Mr. Christie gives 
us particulars respecting the Consuls who 
assisted him and Colonel Stewart’s connection 
witli Ceylon is specially interesting. There was 
also an officer of the Argyll and Sutherland 
Highlanders who left Ceylon to settle at Odessa 
as Vice-Consul. The varying and heavy differ- 
ential duties show how teiribly our staple is 
weighted in Russia ; but there is certainly a good 
case for a Memorial to try and get the import 
duty by sea and land made uniform at 1/2^ per 
lb. (so getting rid of the prohibitoiy Is lOid 
duty). To try and get the import duty reduced "is 
Mr. Christie’s first recommen iation. His second 
and third we should be inclined to coujjle together ; 
for surely it would in a manner be benefiting 
all retail dealers who handled Ceylon teas, to 
advertise their merits. Altogether Mr. Christie 
gives us a very useful and suggestive Report 
and one that may mark a new era in our Rus- 
sian Tea Campaign. It Avill be observed that 
he is emphatic in his commendation of Mr. Rogi- 
vue’s operations in the )iast on behalf of our teas, and 
we have no tear that the Rogivue Company will 
not benefit Ceylon as well as Indian teas. 
THE HAPUTALE PLANTERS’ ASSOCI- 
ATION. 
How is it that Haputale with about the richest 
soil of any planting district in the Island, is 
behind, comparatively, in its average yield of 
tea per acre ? The total estimated crop for the 
current year is 4 million lb. from 10, 154 acres in 
bearing — total acreage 14,355 — or an average of 
,394 lb. A return of practically 400 lb. an acre 
with good prices, is of course very satisfactory ; 
but we dare say it is going to be with tea as ife 
was with coffee, that the older it gets in certain 
parts of Uva, and especially Haputale, uj) to 10 
or 15 years, the better and richer in crop, it 
becomes. At the same time we recognise the 
fact that Haputale and Uva generally, would do 
with some more rain for tea, although it is 
wonderful what the heavy dews peculiar to the 
Principality, give in flushes of Tea. Alas poor 
Colfee ! — even in its most favoureil home in our 
hill-country, it is rapidly becoming a thing of 
the ]>ast. What about Cacao, Cardamoms and 
Rubber ? Haputale bad an a[)preciable acreage 
in 1895 of all three products, and surely with 
its fine soil and sheltered valleys, some of 
these new products ought to do as well as in the 
Nortliern Districts ? Let Mr. Bisset and 
Mr. Bethune, during 1898 give us a “crumb of 
comfort” in regard to new, even if very minor 
]iroducts. We had fain hoped to see Uva deve- 
loping a goodly acreage of cacao. Roads and 
Labour Supi)ly are by no means perfect, but 
the As.sociation has faith in the Labour Feder- 
ation as a means of amelioration in regard to 
the latter. A good deal ot further useful 
business was transacted ; but the special featuie 
of the meeting was the adoption of the Reso- 
lution moved by Mr. Bethune, seconded by Mr. 
Lloyd— both exiierienced, thoughtful and respon- 
sible TiKiinbers of the planting community, — 
in favour of a Commission to inquire into the 
feasibleness of a sep.arate Ceylon Coinage and 
Currency. This is a very complicated question 
indeed; and we fear now with tie Straits on the 
one side voting for a Cold Sl, ’'ird, .and India 
striving after the same result o.o lie oilier, that 
it will not be easy for Ceylon to go in a silver 
direction. However, a Commission of Enquiry 
may make the matter clear, and cannot possibly 
do harm. 
PRESERVING FRUIT. 
It is perhaps not widely known that frnit may be 
preserved without boiling, heating, or drying. All that 
is necessary is to alternate the fruit between layers of 
sugar. The sugar, however, must exceed the weight of 
fruit by one-half . — Queensland AynculHhval Journal, 
January. 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Coffee in* Netherlands Ixdi.v.— I returned 
from Port Darwin on 29th November last : en route I 
called at Timor Deli — the Portuguese have had 
pait of the island for more than 200 years — 
found the place dull ; no progre.ss ; Government 
on the one hand and the priest on the other 
keep the people down, poor anil ignorant. One 
year, a while ago, 30,000 piculs of coffee were 
e.xported, mostly to Batavia, where it is said the 
Dutch iiiixed it with something inferior. — Cor. 
Tea Packing. — The following remarks are from 
the London Correspondent of the Indian Planters' 
Gazette 
Looking over samples in a broker's office the other 
day, some teas struck me as selling considerably 
above their value. In reply to my query the broker 
said, “ but they have such a good aroma, that fine 
malty-burnt which you so seldom get now,” which 
remark led to a discussion on the firing question. 
He said there was no doubt teas generally were 
tired at too high a temperature, and, consequently, 
to avoid burning, were not thoroughly done, from 
w'hich resulted want of keeping power, and much of 
the dull flat smelling teas met with in the market. 
I have no doubt there is much truth in this, and teas 
would arrive in more satisfactory condition if at least 
the latter part of the firing, as well as the final firing, 
was done at a much lower temperature than is the 
usual custom. To do this thoroughly in all cases 
means a larger consumption of fuel, and in many 
factories would also require more drying machinery, 
but it would, I believe, amply repay the expenditure. 
Prom this we went on to discuss packing, and ha 
said, “An old planter was saying to me the other 
day ; — ‘ I was always careful to solder in my teM 
hot.’ ” |My reply to this was that I was afraid many 
more were not sufficiently careful not to pack or solder 
their teas before they were nearly cool, as so long as 
the tea is hot it continues to give out moisture, and 
it should be allowed to come within not many 
degrees of the atmosphere before it is packed. I have 
not experimented on this myself, but I would advise 
some of your readers to try the experiment of packing 
one chest as it comes off the fire at say 240°, ana 
another when the tea has cooled down to about 100°, 
and opening them some days afterwards to see which 
tea seemed in the better condition. Since I had this 
conversation with my broker friend, a dealer has 
been asking my opinion on the same subject ; as he 
often found some damaged tea on the top of the 
chest, though the rest of it was in good order, and 
this he attributed “ to the tea sweating when packed 
hot.” The importance of the subject must be my 
excuse for drawing attention to it, as though practical 
planters must know more about it than we.in London 
can do, yet there is doubtless difference of practice, 
if not of opinion, amongst them, as how both firing 
.and packing can best be done. In a previous letter 
I drew attention to the question of bulking and the 
necessity of even packing, as well as even mixing if 
the tea was to pass without rebulking here, so need 
not refer to this today. Mr. Lipton is said to still 
continue buying only London balked teas, but I do 
not think many others are following his example. 
