July i, 1S91.J 
THP TROPICAL AQRIOULTURI8T. 
37 
MICROPHOJ^ES, 
ETIRX ONI Uia own HIOBCPUOME MIXSB. 
Mr. J. J. Smilbi diaoourBicg to the membera of the 
Ohemiats Asaiatanta' Aaaootalion, pointed out that 
It ia eaa7 for thoea who are diapoaed to amuse them- 
aelvBs in this wa;r to make an instrument which 
would render audible the (ootatepa of a fly. The 
little apparatus eonsiala of a box with a ebeel of 
atraw paper atretehed on its upper part. Two 
earbons, separated by a morao of wood, and 
eonneoted with the two eirouit wires, are taatened 
to it, and a carbon pencil, plaoed eroaswiaa between 
the two, ia kept in this position by a groove made in 
the latter. A very weak battery ia then, we ate 
aeaured, auQlaient to set the instrument at work, 
and when the fly walks over the sheet of paper 
it produces vibrotiona strong enough to react 
energetically on an ordinary telephone. Mo doubt 
the young generation will be disposed to try its 
hand. — London Daily Meio«, April 2'lth. [There ia 
nothing to hinder thoao who have eleotrie lights, tele- 
phonea, Ac., to make one of those small microphones 
and turn them to praclical accouat.— Oor.] 
CEYLON, INDIA AND CHINA TEA. 
(From the Financial Times.) 
There is now so small a qaantily of China tea 
left for diiplacemeul that a still larger home con- 
sumption ot dry tea in the future is regarded as 
inevitable. At the same time, the rate ot exchange 
tends to check aupplius from Chins, as we hare 
previonsly explained, and the Indian crop is about 
ten millions of pounds below the original estimate. 
These causes, combined, have produced the higher 
prices recently recorded. Other diagrams in 
Messrs, Qow, Wilsou and Stanton's circular etaow 
the consumption of tea in various lands in the 
periods 16811.4 and 1885-9. From these it is 
seen that Great Britain is far ahead ot all 
other ooiintries as a tea drinker, the Uuileil States 
ooming next, then Jtussia, then the Austraiasian <Jo- 
lonies, aud then Canada. Of the countries of the 
Kuropesu Ooutiueut, Holland la the largest tea 
eonaamer, the quantity it disposed of being about 
throe hundred thonaand more pounds io the latter fire 
yesra than in the fire pcecediog. In the other Oon- 
tiuontal ooantiiea the taste for this bererago makes 
little faosdway; The enterprising brokers, from whose 
oiroulars this information is derired, seem to glow 
with a patriotio seal for the popularity of the India 
and Ceylon laas as British prodnets, and what they 
ehow as to the anpeiiority of the article, both io strength 
aud iu quantity of supply, would almost suggest "Bti- 
tannia rales (ha tea market " aa a future national 
anthem, 
with oolourod diagrams which Messrs, 
Gow, Wilroo and Stanton issue every now and then 
may bo said to form (be pictorial literature of the 
tea-trade. The charts are Ingeniously contrived, and 
show at a glanoe the nature of ail important more- 
raeuts. In one just isaned we are able to see, 
from the arrangement of blocks ot varied hues, how 
(he quantities^ of India, Ceylon, and China tea eoa- 
sumed respoctirely in Great Britain have varied, not 
only aa regards the weight of dry tea from those 
oountries, but also, roughly speaking, as to the num- 
bers ot gallons of liquid tea drunk. A report of the 
Board of Customs bus shown that Icdiao tea goes 
half as far again as Ohiuesa tea, so far as depth of 
colour and fulness (not delicacy) of flavour are ooii* 
eerned. Thus, while one pound of Chinese produces 
Are gallons ot tea, a pound of Indian will produce 
seven aud a-half gallons. Basing their caloulaiioua 
on this estimate, Messrs. Gow, Wilson and Stanton 
show (hat in proportion as ludiaa has snpplanted 
Oeylon tea in the market the oonsumptiou of the 
beverage has increased, and the extent to which it is 
demonstrated to have douoeo is ueouaearily eoormoua, 
on the principle of reasoning adopted. While io I860 
wo got less tea from China, and more from India than 
in 1889, the displaoement was not nearly so great 
ae in tho preceding years. Thus the inoreasiog 
demand of the population tor the " oup that cbeocs 
without inebriating ” ooidd not be met, as it had beeo, 
by mere substitution of a strong tea for a weaker 
one, aud tho result was a larger aggregate uie of the 
dry leaf. 
INDIA AND CHINA TEA. 
To the Editor of tho Financial Times, 
Sib,— In your interesting artielo which appeared today 
upon tho growth of the trade in Indian and Oeylon 
tons a printer’s error baa crept iu which might cause 
injury to ooa of those industries. 
Our report from wbiob you quote is said to show 
that "in proportion as Indian has supplanted Ceylon 
tea in the market the oousumptiun ot the beverage has 
inoreased, etc., the word Ceylon being inadvertently 
used instead of Chins. China lea has dunog many 
years past been largely displaced by the stronger 
teas from India and Oeylon. 
^ We feel sure that, iu justioe to the Ceylon tea 
industry, you will kindly iuserl this letter in your 
valuable journal.— Wo are, Ao., 
Gow, Wilson and Stanton. 
13, Kood-lane, London, E.C.. 
10th April 1891. 
CEILON TEA IN AMERICA; MR, ELWOOD 
MAY AND THE LONDON CEYLON A.SSO- 
CIATION ; FAVOUR.VBLE RECEPTION 
—MR. RUTHERFORD'S SCHEME— 
CEYLON AND INDIAN TEA 
COMPANIES. 
, A.unoo.-», iviny otli. 
Mr. Blwood May has had the opportunity during 
the present week of conferring with many mem- 
bers of the Caylon Asaooiation in London on tho 
aubjeot of those proposals of his which have been 
so widely debated and so strongly otilieized. On 
Monday last Mr. May mot at the Asaooiation rooms 
tho following gentlemen, and it is a matter of 
muoh regret to mo that it ia impossible for me 
to inoiude my own name in tho list. There were 
present on the oooaaion mentioned Messrs. J, 
Hamilton, W. J. Thompson junior, T. Stretch' 
J. L. Shand, W. Haslam, W. Bentham, W. w' 
Mitohell, A. O. Stanton, A. L. Hutcheson. T. 
Gray, \V. 0. Bodhe, H. K. Rutherford, J. F. 
Churohill, }, Capper, 0. J. Soott, J. Anderson, 
S. J. Wilson (of Messrs. Wilson, Smilhett A Co ) 
and B. A. Cameron. It ia not in my power to 
give you a detail of all that was said at the 
iutervtew bad by Mr. May with these gentlemen, 
whom you will acknowledge to have oouitituiod 
a very effiaieni representative of the tea industry 
of Ceyiou. Tho nett result, however, of the dia- 
ouaaions whioh took plaoe I am fully oom potent 
to afford you knowledge of. 
It may at the outset bo stated that Mr. 
May oaino to tbiR meeting with viewd very 
materially modified as compared with those 
he submitted in his letter to tho Ceylon Association 
to which a previous letter of mine made referonoe. 
He acknowledged to the meeting that his experienco 
gained since his arrival in London had made him 
recognise the fact that it must prove futile to 
endeavour to carry out that section of his pro- 
positioDB to whioh iu my previous notices of this 
subjeol the term " cornering " has been applied. 
This had been foreseen by all of us aa what must 
bo the gonviotioa to be ultimately forced upon Mr. 
May ; though at the time oI my last writing he 
