THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June j, 1892. 
9 io 
TEA GKOWING IN ENGLAND. 
" J, B." writes Irom Loedon to a local eon- 
temporary : — 
I have latfly been Belling tea plants raised in this 
country from imported seed. When I first saw those 
ten plants, I waa much struck with their flue and 
healthy appearance. They have been so caret nlly 
roared by Mr. Seoton and gradcally hardened at Ine 
noraericB at Koebamptou that I can quite believe what 
one man told me — that he had been trying expcii. 
menta with the single specimen which bo ba«, and 
bad often put in ontside his window in town on some 
of the ooldeat days last winter and it leotdd not kill. 
It certainly looked very far from being killed, or of 
having anything the matter with it when ho shewed 
it to me. The tops of three uf the plants were cut 
off last August, and put into a pot and forced, and 
the reanlt, which was shewn to me io February, waa 
a splendid show of leaf, and a really beautiful lot of 
blossom. I heard of a lea bush sumo years old at 
Kow;aa went down there. I waa disappointed to find it 
had been allowed to grow almost wild, the result being a 
weeping-willow-Bort of tree some six or seven feet bigb, 
giving an entirely erroneous impression of a tea bush in 
bearing, there being not a sign of flush on it. The 
British public naturally oonolnde, as indeed the roan at 
Kew thought who showed it to me, that tea is 
made from the ordinary leaf with whirh the tree 
is covered. I wrote the directors of the Royal Gar- 
dens offering to go down and to prune this tree, nnd 
said that, if they won d put it into a hotter house, 
I was certain 1 could make some tea from it very 
soon. I had a courteous reply from year old friend, 
Mr. Morns, the assistant director, but he said they 
were afraid to risk any experiments with their tea 
tree, as it was the only one they had. 
Uaviog onoo got the idea of malting some tea in 
this country from English-grown leaf, I went out 
to Mr. ffectou’s nnrseries at Roehsmplon again, and 
mads a selection of some of the plants for spooi.l 
treatment. I have not had much of a flush yet, bnt 
from yonng “ hangy " leaf and some tips have pro 
duoed an article which has been reported on not 
unfavourably by ton experts. It is not easy to mani- 
pulate such a very small quantity, and such leaf as 
I have yet been able to pinck will scarcely roll 
properly or ferment. My earoplee passed muster, 
however, amongst a lot of six or eight, and I hope 
very soon to produce a sample which I shall not 
be afraid to pnt along with anything you are send- 
ing home just now, and I am very sure your '• tup 
penny " will not be in it! I am ourions to know if 
Myono elae has over tried ten-makiog in this country 
from tea grown here; perhaps some of your readers 
can give me information sa to this. It would not, 
of oourse. pay to grow tea in this ooentry. and it 
can never bo produced here at 3d a pound. My first 
pound will have cost quite a fabulous snm, and I 
doubt if it would pay to sell it at even the fancy 
price put on the pound or two of tips which made 
such a noise last year; still, the first pound of te. 
made in this country from leaf grown in England, 
say in London, would not be without its own value, 
and would certainly be of interest to many. 
As 1 pointed out in a letter to the St. James’s 
Gasstte lately, referring to an article on Indian and 
Ceylon tij. China teas which had appeared in that 
iouroal, it is a ontioua fact that, in 1880, when I 
opened a lOO acre clearing for tea in the Kelani 
Valley and advertised for plants, 1 could not get 
any at any price, ai.d had to pot ont seed at stake, 
while this year I am advertisii g tea plauta for sale 
in London, and many grocers and tea-dealers haw 
those plants now growing in their shop-win.lows all 
over the oonnlry. They make a popular and attrac- 
tive adverlisomont in the window or on the counter, 
and there is evidently an increasing demand for them, 
as 1 have had applioations for dozens, for hundreds, 
and ever, lor a thousand of them at a time, and 
for seodliugs and seed by the thousand. If this sort 
pt things gous on, I suppose, we shall soon be able 
to bay Ceylon tea at a penny a pound as good as 
we pay a penny an ounce for now. Who would not 
with snob, prospects, be a ten planter I All the same 
1 would say : make hay while the sun shines, and 
keep your name up for qualify. Do not try to com- 
pote in choapnors or in low prices, and give up seml- 
iug borne “tuppenny teas." 
« 
STANDARD TEA COMPANY OP CEYLON 
LIMITED. 
The first ansua' meeting of this company was held 
at the offices, 25, Feuobnreh Street, on April 12. The 
I'irectors present were .— Mr. Alex. Broike in the chair, 
Mr. Peter Moir, and Mr. Robert Kay Shutlleworth. 
The shareholders present included the following names: 
well known in Ceylon ; — Messrs. Thomas S. Origson, 
Normim W, Grieve George Johnston, nnd J, L, 
Austruthor. 
After the usual formalities, the Chairman said that 
the report was pretty well ooiiflned and had re- 
ference almost entirely to the working of the one 
estate— 81 . Leonard’s, the company’s first pnr- 
obaso ; that the shareholders were aware that, in 
anditiou they now owned the Eskdale and Liddesdale 
estates of some 1,085 acres in the same distriot Uda- 
punilawa, and within snob a diatanoe as to be workable 
together ; but that these were only taken over as from 
Jaoiiary let, 1892; and the report and aceonuts dealt 
wiib the company’s existence to Decemher 31st 1891, 
The results tu that date oumjpared favoniably with the 
promie (.3 in the proepeotus. The quantities of coffee, 
cinchou I and tea acconnted for to tlio company, in each 
case well exceeded the estimatis of the prospeotus. 
The geiicr.l result of the crop 1891 had been a net 
profit of £1,070 78 9J. The company bought the St. 
Leocard'e estate as from March 1st, 1891. It was one 
uf the ounditioDB of pnrobaae that they had the benefit 
of the crop from that date ; but, as they were not 
111 a condition to pay for the place immediately, they 
had to pay interest, which, at 5 per cent., amounted 
to £345 17s 8 d. Out of the balance the directors 
proposed that a dividend sbonld be paid fur the four 
aud a-balf months of 1891 at the rate of 10 per cent, 
per annum on the first issue of shares, absorbing £668 
13s lid., and that the balanoe, after paying some small 
sum to them, the directors, towards expenses and trouble 
in forming the company, should be oarried forward — 
say something over £600; for it was early days for the 
oompany yet aud the bulk of the income forl891 wsalrom 
Coffee, now a somewhat speculative souroe of income, 
even in the moat favoured diatriots. The company’s 
tea is still youug, and in these high districts it takes 
longer to come into maturity than in the low 
oountries. The two new oitates, Kekdalo and Lid* 
desdale, give great promise for tes, both in quantity 
and quality. At present the leaf is cured on neigh- 
bouring estates; but a good factory is being built on 
St. Leonard's, designed when oompleled to manufac- 
ture as much leaf ao is likely to be reqnired. 
Exchange is favoniable for planters at present, and 
seems likely so to contiune, for awbile, at all 
events, if there be no Government tinkering with 
silver- The Ametioans, by legislating to raise the 
price, so sucoeeded for a season as to stimulate pro- 
duction to an excess. The inevitable reaction and 
fall in [irioe followed, until we now see silver lower 
than we have ever before seen it, viz. : bar silver, 
Loudon standsrd, below 39id per nz. Had they left 
the article to find its own level, its price ore now 
probably would have been almost satisfactory to 
those whose meddling bronght about what they 
now BO umob deplore; bnt the riso in price wonld 
have been gradual, and mneh loss saved to many, 
inolnding a Urge, hardworking, deserving body— the 
planters of Ceylon and India. Let na hope that 
silver will now be left to natural oauses, for the 
planters have natural troubles enough of their own. 
P..r the moment, at all events, exchange or silver 
(lor here they ore almost synonymous) is in favour 
of the company, cheapening outlay on the estates, 
and leduoing the coat of factory and coolie lines. 
