October i, 1891,] 
THE TROPICAL ACRIOULTURIST 
*37 
NOTES BY ‘‘WANDERER." 
Aug, 6tb. 
Weatusb ooDtinaes damp, «o the factories are 
auythieg bat busy in the high distrioU, or even over 
8,000 ft, Qood tea is now beiog made, uud every 
planter seems determined next year to have plenty 
of withering room, and (aoilities where possible, to 
have the moiature taken off the leaf in oold showery 
weather. The great desideratnm however is to have 
a sufficient number of oooliea to overtake the rush 
of leaf iu the showery weather that follows the dry 
months of January, February and March. The London 
2'j».rs is cabled as having thundered forth the neces- 
sity ot “England sitting tight to Egypt." The tea 
planter must “ait tight to Ramasamy," and our Govern* 
moiil must be prepared to give assisted passages to our 
coolies by any rente they ohoose to come to Ceylon. 
Hralth is not very satisfactory among Europeans 
just now. Colds so severe as to warrant their being 
called attacks of intlueiisa gut bold of the bigb- 
countryman, and fever, rheumatism Ao, worry the 
lowcouutry planter. We do not bear ot the influenza 
epidemic ainoeg oooliea ns we did last year, bnt 
some ot the half-starved coolies don’t get lu touch 
with their surroundings in Ceylon, till they have a 
few Btomsob .aches, and kindred ailments. 
PnANTma.— The weather could not have been better 
tor the new clearing and supplying man, if bo bad 
gut it made to order. A great deal of arrears in 
supplying has been made up, and little additions 
to cultivated area of tea have been completed in the 
older districts. Except on the Uva side of Nuwara Eliyn 
and tbo lowconntry tburo basnot been any large addition 
to the area nndtr tea llie Ooverumuut is quite right 
ill not patting up more laud fit for tea onllivatinn to 
public sale. We bear of long continued drought in Uva 
and UdapuBsellawn. One wonders how Ibo tea bmhes 
will stand these droughts as they get old. Will rod 
spider then get very troublesome, and rust hasten 
decay f Vanng o ifee could stand drought even in 
Dinnbara, but as it grew old it Huccambed. How will 
a thirsty plant like tea ataiid 3 months' draught ? 
The Oevlon Govrhnment Kailwav is beginning to 
be a well abused institution. Oh fur tho days of a 
Kobinson and a Strong ! ! We b ar constantly of 
badly working brakes, runaway engines and trollies, 
discontented servants, and engines not in safe condi- 
tion. The faet is we want a real adminiatra'or for 
our Chief Maniger, wh ise salary would bo sufficient 
to attract a first-class man from home, to uuderlsko 
the difficult job of railway adniinisiration. Tho salary 
given to tUs Governiiiout Agents of the Norlh Central 
or Westsrn Piovinces would not be too large tor a 
good adminiat-alor. 
Ceylon Tea Companies.— How to get 15 p.c. on a 
block eapital of opqned tea land per acre of £30 will 
puzzle some of onr ir.auagers at present prices even 
with pre.seut fuvucaUo rales oi exchange. Te.-! oents 
alb. is about the profit on an estate yieliliug 350 lb. 
ail acre oil the hills or 35 rupees an aoto prutt'. IF 
tea goes down to eiglilpeno". tbo eompiiuy manager 
will have to eorauh his head all the more I However, 
il I'eyloii tea is ever to bo cheap, now is the time, fur 
no duuht it is getting into coiisiimpUuii with a 
veugoauce. It is all rot about the i.nii kiepiiig quality 
I f 0,1 lou tea except in the mouth ot Ai.nl, Slay and 
Jui‘ 0 . Slid we will soon be able to dodge even this-, 
months by improvemi-nts in with, ling and firing. 
Te.x M.vciiinlsts ahe Aweul Ohauueus — The 
eavaliw at B ilaoli va we'o not in il with ihes3 worihi s. 
The tinker w! o m, d d one hole snd hruke two 
is no doubt ihe m e* SL r ul the Oe; 1, n mn,-hini,t. I 
heli'iVO his future aw.ird wi i he to he 1 .t 'Usn iiig 
iu the niii of l’> dro for two lUia, 'h..n cou eyed in 
a tea leaf cart In sinie siiitahl, t..o:o'‘y iu ibo ueigli- 
houihood (if NiJwara Ellja wlu n Ini will lo allow, d 
to wither on a col.l damp l.,i for tl.icr uhjs, then 
to ho rolled iu Barber’s to I, v for halt an hour and 
Jaukson’s rapid lor sui.thLr hour. After lliul l.t* vvil 
have two niinut, a each in the thtio psUnt r.,|l 
breake.B. lie will then he roasted m me sirocco cnl 
Brown’s desiccator, and to effoct a pirteot cure, so 
that he may have bowels of oompossion on his bene- 
factor, the tea planter, ho will then be put in Jack- 
sou’s cutter and sorted in Walker & Greig’s sifter. 
Ho will then be sent to Colombo to be sold by auction 
and there have to listen to tfce feeble jokes of the tea 
buyers of our maritime capital. I believe this last 
process will be the most paioful of aoy of the others 
described previously. 
THE “HEATHEN CHINEE" RIGGING 
THE CHINA TEA MARKET. 
The Fooohow correspondent of the HongHng TeU- 
graph, writing on the 8th, tells the following tale of 
the alarm there:— Wc jast found ont today that mnoh 
of the excitement was dne to shrewd work on tho 
part ot some tea spsonlators. The crop this season 
openM fairly well and targe shipments wore madn to 
Boudon. Here on account of competition from Amoy, 
India and Ceylon, the market wsa very flat and every 
sale of Fooohow enUiled heavy loss, running from 20 
to 55 percent and averaging 40 per cent on the lot. 
Ibis meant ruin to many hongs here and a worse 
^anoial condition than has ever prevailed in the 
mstory of the place. Borne of the people who are 
heavily mtereetfcd resorted to an old Wall Street ruae 
aud cabled home that no nprising had began, rioting 
was imminent and all tho tea-hongs wore to be burned 
to the ground. The 2’iniss, Ttlegraph, Standard and 
the minor dailies swallowed the bait and publiahed the 
news as well as e itorial paragraphs npon the nuexpeoted 
trouble. As such a riot as dneoribed involved the de- 
struction of the present crop and the cessation of 
ehipments for the rest of the year, the London mar- 
*‘‘d prices rose quite bsndsomely. Those 
who d< spstohed the tclrgraras hare oloareJ a good 
pront and probably recouped their IcsFea. No harm 
has beoii done to suybodv, but there will undoubledly 
be an elephantine roaring and growling when the 
editors st home discover how they have been imposed 
“P®"' As a matter of fact, the Foochow natives are, 
and have always been docile snd peaceable. The 
only ugly elements are 1,500 ilisoharged Honan soldiers, 
who ate peiiniTess and ready to rob and pilfer at every 
opportunity. On tho other hand there ate over 8 000 
troops here well-disciplined snd armed who could sup- 
press any riot in a half hour. The authotiiies at Peking 
are slarmed at the indemuilies already demanded from 
the langtze district and have sdrisoil tbo generals 
hero by trlegrapb and proclamation lo prevent the 
slightest disorder snd to behesd any one giiilly of 
seditions conduct nr even ii.flammalory language. It 
la safe to lay 50 to 1 that there will be no serious 
trouble this aeaanu at least.— A.-O. Herald, Aug. 2lBt 
COLONIAL [NATALI TIMBER FOR 
RAILWAY I’UKPOSES. 
Commission Appointed. 
.Some iiiteiostiiig iiaper-s relative (o the testing of 
tho valuu ns tiinbc-r of certain exotics grown iu the 
oloiiy.auch as ihe lucnlyptus, watlle, Ac. 'The 
gCKSTtoN Pinsr Anosg 
through the Maritzbiirg Botaiiio Sooiety drawing the 
Gcvornuieut atteutiui, to ifie tolluwiiig poiuls ; — 
1. To the oxtceiiic i npor nnoc of tceiing the value us 
r.iiiberof the exotic*, sinli as the euoulj plus, watlle, 
dre ,BO frci I;,' giown in the colocy. 
2. To th ■ ci'cuiii.-ta ee* that tiiiro is, at the pre.sent 
mom. nt, a v ly Urge .|uaiitity ol «aoh exotiosof such an 
ago ss to lic ready f r lollicg. 
3. To tin (ao:. that, owing lo tho iibsenoe of any such 
test, there is n pr-jodieo on tho part of the users of 
timb.'r a|.a list our exotics ; aud 
■1. That tbo recent artiv.il of the Cmaerv.itor of 
I'urestp, appoars to sngge.st tin, pccsont as a suiUbla 
lime tor taking up this question. 
