October i, 1SS3.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



269 



In that year the very high prices which hud been 

 ruling for Indian tea (and which had been encouraging 

 large extensions being put down under plant), reached 

 their maximum. Very large extensions were made and 

 a very large area put down under plant in the cold season 

 of 1876-77 in consequence. A further large area was 

 planted out in the cold season of 1877-78, aud a con- 

 siderable area was added -in 1878-79. Then came the 

 crop season of 1879, when it was found that 

 38,173,5211b. of Indian tea were valued, nccording 

 to the Government Eeturns, at ouly R3, 05, 10,200, 

 as compared with 34,432,5731b. in 18/8, valued at 

 R3,13,84,235. Thus in 1879 we find a crop of 3,740,948 

 lb. more than in 1878 valued at R8,74,035 less than the 

 smaller crop of 1878. Following up this appalling de- 

 cline in value of Indian tea, we find that in 1880 the 

 crop is put in the official returns at 46,413,510 lb. and 

 valued at K3,05,42,400. Or in other words the crop 

 in 18-0 was 8,239,989 lb. in excess of the crop of 1879 

 and yet its total value was onl3- R32,200 in excess of 

 the latter crop, and this nfter the already severe de- 

 cline in value iu 1379 as compared with that of 1878 ! 

 Naturally then in 1879-80, iind ever since, the new 

 area added yearly has been comparatively very small ; 

 the inducement of high prices having collapsed. 

 Labour of a suitable kiud has also become very difficult 

 to get, and there appears no immediate prospect of 

 my improvement in that respect. 



* » * » 



Thus, if the last large extensions were made in the 

 cold season, 1878-79, it follows that when they come 

 to maturity, say iu 1884, we may expect to find the 

 last seriuUH iuciease in the out-turn of Indian tea for 

 some time to come shown in the returns. The small 

 extensions that have been made since 1878-79 will be 

 handicapped, so far as their increase will aflect the 

 returns, by the yield from old and worn-out cultiva- 

 tion falling oil, and, very possibly, by a certain 

 quantity of new cultivation being abandoned from 

 want of labour and other causes. 1 do not say 

 that the raaxiiuum out-turn will be reached in 

 1884, but until high prices have again induced new 

 large extensions, and until these have had time 

 to grow aud affect the returns, it is not im- 

 possible that unfavourable weather or blight may 

 briug the out-turn of 1885 and subsequent years 

 below that of 1884, provided 1884 has a favourable 

 season. If all that is said against the Ilbert Bill be 

 true, we have additional cause for not anticipating 

 large exteusiuns, but how far the effects of that Bill 

 would prejudice extensions iu the face of any im- 

 portant rise in prices it is impossible at this date 



to foresee. 



* » ^- s 



Ceylon tea promises to become a very serious 

 competitor with some of the Indian tea districts, 

 notably those in AssauL aud Cachar. Ceylon tea has 

 the gceat advantage of being considered suitable for 

 drinking alone, unmixed. Public opinion la a river 

 which digs its own bed. We may occasionally 

 moderate or quicken its course, but it is very diffi- 

 cult to alter it. Public opinion has decided that 

 Assam and Cachar teas require blending, but has been 

 more merciful to Ceylou teas. Were planters in Cey- 

 lon to show sufficient enterprise there is little doubt 

 they could create a supply and a demand th.at might 

 act 3,* auother serious preventive a£;ainst exten- 

 sions being made iu both Assam and Cachar. Verb. 



sap. sat. 



» » * * 



In a paper recently read by Mr. G. W. Wigner, 



F. C. S., F. I. C. (President of the Society of Public 



Analysts before the London section of the Society 



of (Chemical Industry), the following remark on tea 



occur: — "Teals remarkably prone to acquire any 



35 



external odour from the air in which it is placed. 

 It is, of course, well-known that tea is always 

 packed in cases whieh are lined with lead. In the 

 case of China teas the lead is tolerably pure, cast 

 into sheets b}' pouring the melted metal on to one stone 

 and dropping another stone on the top of it. This 

 primitive method produces a sheet of somewhat singular 

 uniformity in thickness, weighing about 2 lb. to 3 lb. 

 to the square foot. Indian teas are packed almo.st 

 exclusively in lead which is sent out from this country. 

 It is not pure. It contains an admixture in most cases 

 of tin, and sometimes a email proportioa of antimony. 

 These are added to enable the lead to be i oiled much 

 thinner, and the weight of it is not more than a quarter 

 of a pound to the square foot. Before any injury caa 

 occur to the tea itself this lead must be either 

 destroyed or perforated, or, at any rate, it must not 

 be iu an air-tight condition. It ia obvious that, except 

 in cases of neglect, all such goods would be packed iu 

 wood which was at any rate fairly well seasi ned. Uuti- 

 recently only one kind of wood has been u ed for pack- 

 ing tea. This is a species known as ' :oou' wood, 

 aud everyone who has ever seen a tea-chest made of 

 it must be familiar with its general characteristics. 

 It is easily worked, does not require tn be stack d 

 long to season, is fres from smell, and not very liable 

 to absorb water. The cases of injury with this wood 

 have been cf only occasional occurrence, aud appear 

 to have been determined mucli more by accidental 

 circumstances than by even an occasional failure iu the 

 character of the wood itself. But of late years the 

 supply of 'toon' wood has run short; the Chinese 

 have had resort to other woods, and in Assam woods 

 are being used at random." The rest of Mr. 

 Wigner's paper was devoted to details of injury to 

 teas, resulting, in his opiuiuu from the wood of the 

 cases absorbing moisture and causing the lead envelope 

 to be attacked, white lead being often fnund in larger 

 or smaller proportion on the wood next to the lead. 



Planters no doubt will see in the abovo remarks by 

 Mr. AVigner a repetition of some of the evidence of 

 the chemists employed on the recent trial. Iu my 

 opinion a very useful end might be served by obtaining 

 information as to whether the i)arcels ol Indiau tea 

 that arrive in an unsatisfactory condition hive been 

 opened lu Calcutta or shipped direct from the factory 

 to England. If it could be proved th-it all such teas 

 had been opened for sampling in Culcutta, it would 

 tend to prove that the source of the evil is the damp 

 absorbed whilst the chests are lying in i he Calcutta 

 godowns, aud doubtless this would lead to the proper 

 remedy of what is now a more or less mysterious cause 

 of depreciation. To talk to planters iu s ich climates 

 as Assam and Cachar, where the most sea^oned woods, 

 even in trausit to the factories, will iibsurb a heavy 

 percentage of moisture from the atmosphere alone, is 

 to lay oneself open to the charge of offerin;,; impractic- 

 able advice. Vet a little care in storing the "shocks" 

 in the driest place available may be found to repay 

 the trouble. The reference to "toon" woo I above, if 

 it refers to the " toon " of Upper India, sometimes 

 called the Indian Mahogany, is out of date, even foJ 

 Upper India ; mango wood in Upper Indi.i, aud teak 

 in Assam and Cachar, being now the wouls of which 

 the largest proportion of boxes are made on the better 

 class of factories. All things being consiilered, teak 

 amply repays its original high coet, bj the safety its 

 use tends to ensure. 



The following is from a Welsh paper :—' 'Sir.— Oh, 

 if you please, Sir. Editor, my brother Bill aud I have 

 had a dispute over something on a bill pu>hed under 

 our door 'about 'given away.' It says— 'Our system 

 of busiuess is to divide the profiis with our 'ustomers.' 

 It tells jou th.at they give a teapot worth 1 s 3d with 

 a pound "of tea at 23 8d per lb, That Is 3d is the cus- 



