July i, 1891.] 
THF TROP'CAL AGRICULTURIST, 
39 
seen the limit at which advertisement oi that kind 
may be profitably made. Having thus for wiitten 
my letter, my eye caught a paragraph in the Times 
of this morning which informs ns that at the sale 
room yesterday Messrs. Gow, Wilson A Stenton 
sold a small lot of golden tip Oeylon tea from the 
Gartmore estate to the Mazawattee Oeylon Tea Com- 
pany at £26 lOs the pound 1 Well may the Times 
remark as to this that it is ” a price whioh has 
never yet been approached." It will be unsafe to 
hazard even a oonjeoture if at this rate we have 
reached the economic limit and whether the 
advertisement marltet will prove now to be glutted 
with these abnormal preparations of tea. It is 
certainly singular that no tea of this kind 
has been sent from India. Oeylon as yet 
stands alone in the supply of it, and tho 
fact of course gives exceptional prominence to your 
produce in all conversations arising out of these 
extraordinary sales. — London Cor. 
♦ 
TEA AT il7 AND £25 lOs. PEll POUND. 
The recent sales of Ceylon tea nt £17 and £25 10s. 
per pound have attracted a good deal of attention 
from the English newspapers. The London and 
China Express says that there appears to bo " no 
limit to the price whioh tea dealers ate willing to 
Pay for the fancy parcels of Ceylon tea whioh have 
of late been put upon the market. It will soon 
equal in value gold dust itself." A description is 
given of the sale of the Haviland parcel on the 5tb 
inst. nt £17 per lb., the bidding begiuning nt ten gui. 
neas and rising by lialf orowns and crowns to the sum 
for whioh it was ultimately knocked down and 
which is equal to n guinea an ounce ; and with 
regard to the sale two-days later when £26 lOt 
per lb, was paid by the Mazawattee Oeylon Ton 
Company for ‘‘ golden tips” from Gartmore it is 
stated that the price beginning at 10 guineas was run 
up within a minute to £20 when it proceeded by 
crowns and half sovereigns till the £25 10s wns 
reaohed. During tho sale tho room was packed to 
Bullocat on. The Financial Times has a pro- 
minent article on the sale headed "Worth 
Nearly Half of its Weight iu Gold," and the 
liaihj Neips and Ilaihj Chronicle have also skotchos 
of tho exciting scene in the auction room. 
Announcements regarding the purchase by the 
Mazawattee Co. also appear iu the advertisement 
columns, and altogether there is perhaps at tho 
present moment n't) artiole of commerce whioh is 
kept more prominently before the mind of tho 
Dritish public, than Ceylon ten. f rom the GZofie of 
May 8tb wo quote tho following paragraph— ".dpropos 
of the high prioo paid tor ten yesterday — the record at 
present stands at £25 10^ a pound — a oovrespondeut 
writes to suggest that Mr Gosthen should consider 
the advisability of employing tea leaves as one 
pound notes. Wo oil, r this Golden Tip to the 
Liianoellor of tho Exchequer tor what it is worth." 
WYNAAD PLANTING NOTES. 
CeFFKR OUee I’ROSPEOI’J— LinSBIiN cdfker. 
whioh is most pvomiuun'lj furoiag 
notice, I must ooinnieiioo this letter 
with the wiaiher. Ihia has been most ur.u.situl, and 
1 some respects aati.'taolory, us our very early pliowera 
‘1 just eutlhduntly, and then hu.l the grace to hold 
on long enoiigli to allow tho l>los,som to set. This 
occurred on four distinct occasions, so 
a moflt of us have ha 1 four separata blossnni.s on 
tir tree". All last month thunderstorms and rain 
were so ooutinuous that the climate has become 
more like that of the monsoon, than what we might 
expect in an ordinary “ hot weather” season. The 
nights, early mornings and evenings are pleasantly 
cool, hut there is a steamy beat in the middle of the 
day whioh brings onr men folk in from the field 
panting fur any sort ot cuoliiig beverage. The country 
is ns green and Insb iu growth, a* if it were Sep- 
tember instead of May. The oefiliu looks splendid. I 
have 111 vor seen the berries such a size, so early in 
the Seaton, but wo are rather quaking at the thongbt 
that all this extra moisture is not unlikely to bring 
on again nur dreaded foe, leaf disease. At present, 
it is simply marvellous how the estates have re- 
covered thoraselves, whioh some months ago seemed 
aim 'St positively doomed. 
Crop prospects, therefore, may bo generally re- 
garded as very fairly fwoorable; and a corresponding 
cheerfulness would reign amongst us could we all 
fed that our future was as secure ns our next crop. 
But there is no use in attempting concealment in 
a matter whioh is every day becoming more patent 
to llio rxporienced oolleo-iilautor. The death warrant 
of Arabiea has gone forth, and it must he only a 
matter of a few years, when its place amongst ui 
will know it no more. The old fields hold on where 
the borer does not finish them, but the present 
hejvy crop will probably shake many of them beyond 
recovery. The disheartening fact is that it is the 
young plsntiugs on which wo should naturally rest 
our hopes, and these are proving a constitution sc 
nndtrmiucd by leaf disease that it is not probable 
that even the most promising of them can bo 
lasting. I do not think from what I can gather that 
the idea of grafting ccITee is regarded as feasible in 
the Wynaad. The general oiiinion is that it could 
not bo encocssfnl, and would only be a throwing away 
of mimey, which nias I is none too plentiful amongst 
us iiow a-dnys. Liberian coffee is now decidedly, first, 
favourite. There can he little or no doubt that in vigour 
sill general hardiness it very far excels Arsbica. 
Tho thickness of its leaves apparently defy the fungus ; 
and it is as hearty a- an evergreen all the year round. 
In fact, it la evergreen. Tho masses of crop do not 
Ru.-m in the very Ica-st to effect iti lusty growth, 
and tho fact that the blossom sets iu one day, is 
gioatly in its favour. No one but a planter knows tho 
h art-sick feeling caused by the dconchiug downfall on 
open blossom, which is so often to be witnessed in the 
case of the Arsbica flower. 
A yei y great deal of Liberian is being planted in this 
d'strint. It has the disadvautaj ,'0 of course of being 
longer in reaching nmtnrity, but it wo osn hold on with 
our remnants of Arabics until the Liberian comes into 
lienriiig, wo may hope lor belter times before ns yet 
'There is mueh depression felt on account of tho 
shookingly bad price given us for Is.st sssann’s oinobona 
I nk. A great quantity wss despatched from tho 
distriut iu the hope of replacing some of the losses 
iiiouired by the failure inourooffee crops. Hulas ill. 
luck will have it the Biles have proved generally so 
iiurumunerative that it is absointoly hardly worth while 
h icviB'ing our bark. This of ooiirse is very rough on 
us. But we should be ussd to such disappointments. 
UiTui'Uinatoly not being constituted like eels, we find 
f r 'l disappointment comes down upon ns more like an 
ii’i'l asant surprise than an habitual oconrrence. A 
g io1 deal of buMnesi is being done in timber, and our 
r lagnifloi nt Hlaokwoorts aro paying tho penalty of thsir 
lives for onr necessities. This is likely to be an 
improving trade. Very Urge qnsntUiis of “fancy 
l, locks " aro iu demand for the Oontiuent, and one 
thinks with regret ot the glorious timber which lay 
r-.tting incur fields, or became fuel (or onr coolies in 
tliBgo'jdold times, when wo saorifiosd tho most valuable 
trees, simply beoauro we naiitod the laud, and had do 
rosds by which to transport tho wood to the coast, 
tisrtaiuly we are butter off in this respect, and our roads 
are, some of them, becoming a plossiire to travel upon. 
Well, we will not dospair, as long as Liberian, xispper 
and lea aro left iis, tlioiigli the latter does not ms yet 
make miioh ptogress. Everyone seems afraid to begin. 
Or possibly tbo cost of tho "plant," for such a new 
