362 
THr TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
(November 2, 1891 
notice that the matttriB engaging — as well it may — 
the earnoBt attention of the Ceylon Planters’ Aasooi- 
ation, I have ventured to communicate to the 
Chairman of that Association my willingness, under 
certain guarantees, to dieolose the nature of my 
project, prefeotly assured that it only needs to bo 
known to be undcstood and appreciated, — Yours 
truly, 
W. Q. OARDOZO. 
INSECTS ATTACKING ACACIA 
MELANOXXLON. 
Albion, Nuwara Eliya, Got. 15th. 
SiK,— On page 313 of the Tropical Ayricultiirist 
for November ,889, in Mr. Maiden's letter on 
Wattles, he mentions (hat “in Australia the wood of 
acacias is (xotedingly liable to attacks by the larva 
of certain lepidoptera'’,tto., ,^0. By this post I send 
in a match box 2 small twigs of Acacia meUDwxylon 
out oS and riddled by some poochies, a few of 
which are still in the wood. Last week 1 cut down a 
five- year-old tree as it was looking sick ; the 
accompanying is a specimen of the interior. — Yours 
faithfully, ARTHUR KELLOW. 
[Up till now we have never seen Acacia iimlana.ry- 
lon in Ceylon sufler from any pest except the 
parasitic hminthm, which could so easily be removed 
by a bamboo pole with a knife or sickle attached to 
the end, used for the clearing process. But there is 
no mistake as to the boring by insects of the 
specimen of wood from Mr. Kcllow’s flve-^ ear-old 
tree. Wo have submitted the twigs to our entomo- 
logical referee, and he reports as follows : — “The 
numerous small holes in the wood are made by a 
minute boring beetle, name unknown to me. It 
probably feeds on the wood as it burrows. The 
female may lay its eggs in the burrow, and the larva 
undergo all its changes in it. I am unable to give 
its life history with any degree of certainty.’’— 
En. I. A.-] 
THE LOCAL vs. THE LONDON MARKET EOU 
TEA. 
Central Province, Oct. Kith. 
Deak Sib,— Let me draw the attention of “ Pro- 
prietor’’ to the memo, of Messrs. A. H. Thompson 
& Co. in the “Independent" and quoted in 
the Ooerland Ohaerver, “ Only 1,900 packages sold 
out of -1,623 offered." The Colombo broker thinks 
it necessary to account for this wonderful feature in 
our tiny market, and so he remarks: ‘The market 
was somewhat taxed by the unusual weight of the 
auctions; so a knock out practically occurred." 
“ Buyers,’’ ho continues, “ thowed no inclination to 
buy txcept at verylow rates.’’ The wily Colombo 
buyer wanting to snslUe the grower's produce from 8 
to 3O0. under current value. Now let us turn to a 
circular issued by Messrs. Forbes & Walker. They 
stato that the total sales in Colombo market to 
date oomo to 7 500 000 lb and the exports to Austra- 
lia &o., reach 2,000,000 lb, so that about 5,000,000 
lb. of tl e tea bought in local market goes to England, 
probably Mincing Lane, I know that some of that 
exported tea to other countries than England, never 
is handled by Colombo buyers, so I think I am 
giving the local market every justice in giving the 
buyers in it credit for having bought all the lea that 
is sent to foreign ports. By foreign I mean other 
than London.— Yours truly, 
ONE WHO HA,S TBIED BOTH. 
MB. KELLY’S TEA CHOP ESTIMATES. 
Dkab , Sin, —Two things strike me as vary Bliango 
in connection with Mr. Kelly's speech in Council, 
in reforenoo to the tea crop of 189-f. 
If ho put that crop at 140,000,000 lb. or double 
tbo 70,000,000 expected this year, how was it 
none of the papers challenged an estimate so 
rash, improbable, and calculated to do mischief ? 
Our press is generally alive to its duty in such 
matters. 
Then if Mr. Kelly did not speak of double 
70 000,000 lb., but only of 120 000,000 lb., what 
have tho reporters to say for themselves ? I might 
also ask why Mr. Kelly was so slow about correct- 
ing a mistako of such magnitude— one so vital 
to our interests at a critical time and one so 
opposed to all inferences to b3 drawn from his 
Casllereagh Co.'s prospectus. 
Cur crop certainly shows a wonderful inorc-aao 
this year, but perhaps 6.000,000 lb. of it may bo 
ascribed to I ho abnormal weather early in the year. 
To reach even 120.000,000 lb. in 1894 would mean 
yearly increaECS of 17,000,000 lb. a year in 1892 
87.000. 000 lb., in 1893 101,000,000 lb-, and in 1891 
120.000. 0: 0 lb. 
Supposing we have 210,000 acres bearing in 1894, 
Mr. Kelly’s estimate of 120,000,000 is an average of 
500 lb. an acre. Is there any good reason to 
anticipate such an average ? I think au catimate 
heaving the authority of tho Committee of the 
Planters’ Association would be of much service at 
this juncture. Nothing leas will counteract the 
evil efftola of the reported 140,COO,0001b., as that 
estimate will become current at home, while the 
correction to 120,000,000 lb. io a small para will pass 
unnoticed.— Yours, INTERESTED. 
[Mr. Kelly, in his desire to make out a strong 
case for the oontrilntion of Ceylon tea to tho 
British revenue, may haio been ovet-Fanguino in 
his estimate of 120,000,000 lb. for 1891. 100,000,000 
would probably be nearer tho iiiaik.- Ed. T. A,] 
THE TEA MARKETS OF THE WORLD, 
Colombo, Oct. 24th, 
Dear Sib,— I am about to return to England 
after a stay of three months in your island, during 
which I have devoted my time to the study of tea 
manufacture, going into factories in tho different 
disUiots, learning tho prooess followed in each and 
comparing the results in the cup. 
My visit has been happily timed, lor I have come 
at a point where the many initial dillioulties of a 
now enterprise being over come tbo minds of estate 
superintoedents aie free to consider details, 
ami some after careful experiment have made 
great improvements in mnnufaoturo in tho last 
twelve months. There are many however who 
have yet to learn what has been achieved and 
who continue on tho old linos. Wo arc all work- 
ing together to open up new markets and especially 
to induce Continental Europe and America to 
drink Ceylon Uii ; and oaroful study and rellootion 
teach mo that tlut which will most assist towards 
this end is the new mode of preparation which 
may ho described as “ laiiyer and harder rolling 
with shorter fermentation and with lower firing." 
With longer rolling a fuller liquor is obtained, tho 
liuitiness of which is not impiiirod by tho firing 
now approved, while tho shorter fermentation imparts 
to the liquor mure or less pungency and grip all 
Bcoording us the soil, climate and jiU will allow. 
Compared with China black tea, Ceylon and 
Indian teas have been marked by ahaishness in 
addition to their meritorious qualities of strength 
ftnu tlfwoufj Rnd it is to this barshiuss the 
