August i, i8qi.] 
fHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
129 
CEYLON TEAS IN LONDON. 
A. good mfttiy pooplo are exproAsing the opiuiou 
that prioes have now touched bottom aod that the 
up-grade baa boon reached. They are partly induced 
to boUovo thii because the Coylou printed Keturna 
have arrived, and these show only 6,200.000 lb. ahipped 
during April, instead of tho 7,000,000 lb. which bad 
previously been telegraphed. OtberK, however, there 
are who are uoi so hopeful. 
WesthaU Estate, Oeylon, had three boxes each con- 
taining 5 1b, of Crolden Tip, in one case, duty paid, at 
auction on Thursday. This was one of the fancy lines, 
ihe bidding, however, only reached £1 2i0d, which was 
declined. It will probably nuyer get any thing like as 
good a bid again. This Fancy Market is a ticklish oue, 
and no price over good value, such as os alb. should 
be refused. The mistake made in tbitoasc was that of 
beiuggr. edy. The Westhall Estate appears to have boon 
governed by the idea that it would send plenty and got 
tho fancy pricea for a docent quantity, tifteen pounds 
was greedy. Tim-* ss £.*10 was the last top prioo paid per 
lo,, the next advertising bidder, to create hi« sousation 
must top that bid, and the buyer of the £30 per lb, 
t«a must try cud protoot his £30 bid or his posiliun at 
top. jJo to bo it record the uext fancy line (if they are 
not already tired of the guiuo), is not liki ly to sell at 
loss than £35 per lb. Now 5 lb. at £30, the last top 
for the advLruaem»*iil. Hut 15 lb. at 
*-30 Wuuid be £525, altogMh r t*»> dear a prion f tho 
®’'.*^^^^*-^etneDt. Hh(I WLdthad Kit^te been couteutod 
with seudiug ovor 6 lb., it is not improbable tir t it 
would havoroaliz«d£35 pvr lb. or £176 fur the 5M.— is 
ageust the bid of £l 2i 6 1, or £15 17s6dfur the 
wuioh they deolmed, and which they are not likely to 
eo anywhere approached agaiu. Jlfither a aeViTO 
♦ ufiderataud that at starting 
he bidding for a “ Fancy Tea,’’ atter what has passed 
late, several utartiiuj *' bids may have been inadu 
y parties who had not the slightest intoiitioo of 
j.yy'JK the tea at such piicos, but who j okingly merely 
ted It along, to start it on the record-breaking track, 
ake the aJv* rtisemout value out of tho tea aud it sinks 
ack to commercial level, and 7s 6 1 booomos a fancy 
Pfice for ii , aud 53 good value. Being such a simple 
of calculation, a very slight knowledge of the ad- 
’tiftibing world should have nuflicod to caution people 
*foio expeoling £625 for such an advortisoment as 
this; There is a limit to its value. That limit I 
SQould put at £150 to £200, origmilly, but it is de- 
with each sale in toy opinion. Others may 
iiier Irom this view, CorUiuly much of tho sensa- 
oQ of novelty has become dnilod, and tho public aro 
tguiinng lo detect the quackery and to laugh at it. 
pay today, to buy one lb, at 
^ several rna.'ions, as e.g., nmoug others, it 
advortiaement at the prioo, and it 
- not be Ukoly to have its record beaten for 
fcirv, ' owing to this class ot adrortisement being 
ust played out ; Ro tho record would probably bo 
though it should bo borno in mind, 
ir,... ** iJ of the parohase, which 
th; pfmo paid, there is no reason why, if 
jdvt riisement is nof played oat (or is 
tiiR these buyers, wbiob amounts to 
should not find these fancy prioes 
anZl. t ® i“8te.d or por lb. no 
li« .. M bocO'miB so oxtrsvagBot as to 
-dvprtiB.ra’ point of viaw. 
\Yesihall K.tsto w now safiforing forits Isok of grasp 
I'*® has 
a * immbor of lbs. by 
'I"'"’. “‘® ‘'P’’ therefrom. It has not 
boeii altogutber a o..e ,o this f.ilaro, as there are 
fioiMvl" r°°' ‘'“■T® '®« the governiug 
v?ew t/''"" “'''“ftisers’ (parohaser’s) point of 
w. T'. oollapea „ooreat and 
Iwonld vJuture to sng- 
BBi.t I OK'iOM of HUaerlative toa being 
Borit hom«, parcel, post, duty paid, just to lest the 
matter. lustrnotious should aooompany it; th.l it is 
to tw sol.l per ounce (being tho Brst tea over so sold, 
a.Jvorti.emoul, and an attrao- 
to buyers, as anything didtiuotly new always s). 
Instructions should also be given that it should bs 
well “puffed,” among the anmpeting advertising buyers 
as some of tho recent “ Fanoy Teas " have been. 
If the craze is not over fay the time auoh a boxarrivei, 
it wontd probably stand an eieellent chance of beating 
record. Another tip to Planters is, that, the first few 
lots of tho “ Fancy Teas ’’ of late were called Qolden 
Tip. The last, ». e., the oee which sold at £30 per lb,, 
was called SUverjf Tip, That struck a new line, and 
of itself was worth a lot to that Tea. There is some- 
thing in a name, after all. Don't under name your 
tess ; it distinctly depreciates them . — London Cor., 
Indian Plantere GaitUe. 
I’AUDY CULTIVATION AND POLICY IN 
TilE KANDi' DISTRICTS. 
An old resident — a European gentleman with 
meet friendly feelings towards the natives, but who 
baa never been blind to their weaknessea, nor to 
the need of a patriarchal administration— onoa 
more addresses us on this subject. Hia 
Bubjsot is the misobiet that will be done, in 
the Kandyan dietriots especially, if an indiscrimi- 
nating “ abolition ” policy is carried out. He 
says it is quite disgusting to one like himself who 
has known the people for thirty years (first living 
m a Kandyan village in IStil) to see tho ignorant 
and yet dogmatio, cx caf/icdrd way in which cerUio 
press writers (tho editor of tho “ Independent " and 
hia corratponaents) discourse on a matter of which 
they can know little or nothing except from hear- 
say ; fur their koowlodge is based solely on what 
soma of them may have seen in the billy parts 
of the Central Province. We extract as follows 
from the letter before us ; — 
“ 1 ha.eas.erted before, and t now again assert, that 
in my opinion, au opiuieu based ou.ilO years’ experience, 
if the padily rent be removed it will (in the Kaudysa 
distiicis) simply resnlt in a proportionately smaller 
area of laud being cultivated. It has several times 
lieeu my lot to see none of the fields cultivated, al* 
though water was abundant, and on my asking why, 
to be told that as their last crop was sufficient lot 
two years, they had no oooaaiou to grow rice during 
that season. 
“What I would suggest is this, — that the Ooveromenl 
Agentaof tho North-Oentral and North-Western Pro- 
vinces bo asked to send in a return showing: — 
“ 1st. — The exteut of asweddumized land left unoulti. 
vated during the whole year although there was a snffi. 
ciency of water. 
''2ud. — The extent of asweddnmUed laud onitivated 
fur only one crop, although there was a suffioiency of 
water for two crops, 
''3rd. — The number of oases where, instead of oaltiva. 
ting aswoddumized laud lying under their tanks, they 
had preferred to cultivate the bods of the tanks, spcci- 
fying those inatanoe. in which the bund of the tank 
bad been out and all the water drained off to begin 
with, se that, should the raius fail, the crops musl 
fail also. 
“ .\ Government Agent would probably be slow to 
admit, but it is nevertheless a fact, that be has no 
opp irtuuitios of seeing the ^oyiyss in their everyday 
life, tie visits a village and is mot by tomtom-beaterr, 
flags are flying, and he passes under a triumphal arch to 
the place where he is to stay. He sees all the men idle, 
but of course that is because they have made a holiday 
on account of his visit. But ho might go M a tourisii 
a Survey or P. W. D. officer for 200 days in the year, 
and still find every man idle. 
“The goyiya feels perfectly safe from the oonsequenoes 
of his own improvidence ; for if he has eonsumed all 
hU rice, and hia growing crop has failed, a relief work 
is at once started at which such man is paid daily in 
rice. One result of those relief works speaKS for itself, 
viz., that all local employers of Siuhalese labour lose 
their coolies, who at onue leave them to flock, to the 
relief works.” 
