142 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Aug. 2, 1886. 



Tea. — The intelligence from home by tele- 

 graph is rather more encouraging for our staple : 

 doubtless the tea dealers in the North of Ireland, 

 where much of our tine teas go, have more confidence 

 in their business, now that "Home Rule " h shelved if 

 not for ever laid in its extreme form. It is pointed 

 out to us that many of the London broking houses 

 are largely interested in Indian tea estates and teas, 

 and therefore their judgment on the young and 

 vigorous Ceylon rivalteas must be accepted cum uraiio. 

 Indian j-x. Ceyi.on Teas. — Of last week's sales 

 of Indian and Ceylon teas the Produce Jfarkets' 

 lici'iew says : — " The demand for Indian tea has 

 been less active, and owing to the poor quality of 

 most of the supplies, lower prices, with few excep- 

 tions, have been established. The better descriptions 

 of Indian teas are now in a much smaller com- 

 pass, and remain comparatively lirm. More espe- 

 cially has this been the [case with good Broken 

 Pekoes, for which there is brisk competion. The 

 market has been largely supplied with Ceylon teas, 

 and although they have met with a good enquiry, 

 prices generally have been favourable to buyers. 

 With a continuance of large supplies from Ceylon, 

 the values of fine Indian .teas, notwithstanding 

 their comparative scarcity at the moment, are not 

 likely to advance further, as the briskness, strength 

 and growing similarity in flavour of some of the 

 Ceylon sorts, make them generally excellent substi- 

 tutes for Indian teas. 



Sugar ix British Guiana. — The weather since 

 saihng of last mail has been too dry for j^lanting 

 operations, but yesterday and today rain lias 

 fallen in abundance all over the countries gladden- 

 ing the hearts of our planter friends. The grow- 

 ing crop in this country are described as very 

 line and above an average. The same may be 

 said of Esseqnebo, but Berbice has suffered severely 

 from drought, and the rain have come too late 

 to admit of making up lee way. Nothing much 

 doing in way of sugar making lieyond a few 

 pieces to give plants and the juice is poor in 

 sacharine. Strange to say with complaints rife 

 of want of work on the part of transcient labourers, 

 we hear great complaints from planters of their 

 planting work being kept back for want of hands 

 at fair rates of wages. Some put tliis down to 

 the very liberal wages which are paid by those 

 prosecuting the minor industries. AYhere si^ dollars 

 lier acre is readily paid for cutting down an acre 

 of sage ready for fire stick and the fork and $10 

 per acre is paid for forking an acre of ground 

 all over ; (and this work can be done in a fort- 

 night by an able-bodied man, which means $8 per 

 week), the cane planters have indeed formidable 

 opponents to compete with.— Royal Gazette. 



Coffee : — Brazil Crops axi< Incre.\sed Con.suaip- 

 TioN. — Say James Cook k Co. in their H'cehli/ Des- 

 patch, July 2nd: — The total *rxport for crop year (1st 

 July to 30th June') is telegraphed as follows: — 

 For Europe ' 1 051,0(10 bags Kio ) 



„ United States 2,440,000 ,, „ V3,614,000 Bags 

 „ Elsewhere 114,000 „ „ J 



., Europe 1,175,000 ,, Santos j 



„ Uiiited States 475,000 „ ,, \ 1,658,000 Bags 

 „ Cape, &c. 8,000 „ ,, J 



The Brazilian crops for the three seasons ending 1883-4 

 average 5,.'i30,26!) bags, and ii estimates are correct, 

 tlie average for the three seusons ending lSbC-7 will be 

 somewhat above 6,000,000 bags. This appears, perhaps, 

 beyond current views, but friends adhere to there estim- 

 ate of Santos of about 2,800,000 bags, aud reckon the 

 quantity left in the interior of 1585-0 »t 200,000 bags. 

 The Jttio receipts are now mostly new coffee of smiiU 

 bean. Hantos niarkets very active, Kio strong and ad- 

 vancing. It will be interesting to note at the close of 

 188G what the deliveries have been. The returns of 

 tlie duty payments for 1882 led us to calculate upon 



requirements of 360,000 tons for Europe. If we are 

 right in coufideriuji the present delivery from January 

 to May as actual consumption, we should be inclined 

 now to reckon upon 435 to 410.000 tons as necessary 

 this year for European wants, and America we should 

 assess at 22i'.000 tons, though, so far, the figures point 

 to no reduction. This would place the consumption 

 of coffee for the twelve months, say at 660,000 tons, 

 an increase since 1882 at the rate of 3;; per cent per 

 annum. 



Tea Crops and Prospects. — Writing in June, 

 Messrs. Hulbert & Co. made the following remarks : 

 what is said about exhibition samples and labour 

 of tasting so many samples, deserves attention; — 

 Keports of the New Crop state that most gardens 

 ill Assam and Cachar are backward, but in Darjeeling 

 the weather has been more favoiu'able, and the quantity 

 manufactured to date compares well with last year. 

 Estimates for next season place the available sup- 

 ply of Indian for the United Kingdom at about 72 

 millions, against Imports of 67 millions for 1885-86, or 

 an increase of 7* per cent. If we assess the arrivals 

 of Ceylon for the same 12 months at 15 millions, 

 we have a total of 87 millions for the season, 188C-87, 

 aud allowing 3 millions for anticipated export to 

 Continent, etc., we shall require an average monthly 

 delivery of 7 millions to dispose of this supply, or 

 an increase of Ih millions per month, as compared 

 witli the past season. This we maintain can well be 

 effected by a slight decline in the price of common 

 Teas, by which means a large proportion of low China 

 Congou will be reduced to a point at which it will 

 not pay to import, and the market will be gradually 

 relieved of the over supply. The results of last 

 season were very bad to importers at the begimiing aud 

 the end, although from October to December fair of 

 profits were made ; no doubt our market was inflated 

 at that period, which led Calcutta buyers subsequently 

 to pay high prices, but the quantity of early and late 

 shipments was much overrated, and this we think is 

 responsible for much of ^the wide margins between 

 Calcutta and London prices. On the whole, Assam 

 showed the best quality, but tliis as usual was not 

 maintained when the quantity of leaf to be manufac- 

 tured became much larger. Cacharshave been, with few 

 exceptions, poor throughout ; also Darjeeliiigs, which 

 were lacking both in strength and flavour. Teas 

 from Kangara were generally without point, although 

 a few good parcels were sold in the early part of 

 the season. Dehra Doons occasionally showed im- 

 provement, and we think will be in better demand if 

 managers could make them a little more brisk with a 

 fresh smell to the dry leaf . Owing to the firmness of 

 the common grades during the past season we arejlikely 

 to get a large quantity of low class Teas this year, and 

 we would advise managers not to neglect quality, but to 

 devote their attention to manufacture and endeavour 

 to obtain the best result possible from an average 

 amount of Leaf. We think it most necessary that in- 

 creased facilities should be given to buyers on this 

 market to get through the enormous amount of tasting 

 by reducing the number of samples for public sale. Im- 

 porters would not suffer by bulking the lov.er grades of 

 different gardens when character is equal, as in Tea 

 for price, the garden mark is not of much import- 

 ance, and the Trade have no objection to dividing a 

 line of such Teas into lots of 24 or .SO chests, to 

 suit the smr.ller houses. With the increased supplies 

 fiwii India and Ceylon, unless something is done in 

 this direction it is not unlikely that we all arrived 

 at a deadlock before long. We have noticed the Indian 

 and Ceylon Tea samples at the Colonial and Indian 

 Exhibition, and while much struck with the beauty of 

 their appearr^nce, aud the care bestowed on manufac- 

 ture, we hardly consider that this is sufficient to bring 

 the article promineutly before the notice of the public. 

 Such choice specimens as v,'e have seen do not 

 ■accurately represent the merchantable article, and 

 must only confuse the mind of the beholder ; we 

 should have thought that if a few standard qualities 

 selected from each district were prepared for tast- 

 ing at fixed periods, and the public invited to pro- 

 nounce thoir opinion, it would have assisted to a larger 

 degree in extending a knowledge of the article. 



