Nov. I, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



CJ) ■ 



style of the uew season's imports, we cannot positively 

 say, as both circumstances have happened simultane- 

 ously and as it by accident ; but of this the dealers and 

 those who daily inspect the teas are pretty sure, that 

 the supplies of Indian descriptions now contain a larger 

 proportion of inferior and badly made sorts than they 

 did in either 1885 or 1884, with the natural con- 

 sequence that both qualities and value are markedly be- 

 low those in preceding years. 



To what then shall we attribute the real cause of the 

 deterioration of business in Indian teas? Is it from 

 necessity or choice, and are the tea-planters in India 

 sacrificing quality to quantity, by gathering the teas 

 froji their gardens before they have had proper time 

 for becoming matured and full-conditioned? If so it 

 may be a serious matter for them in after years, as 

 ihey have powerful rivals against them in the growers 

 of Ceylon tea, who are rapidly advancing in public es- 

 timation, and may wrest from the importers of Indian 

 as well as China teas the special advantages of the 

 market generally, which they are supposed to hold over 

 and above all other competitors. India up to this 

 time has successfully contended for the approbation 

 and support of her tea industry in the British niarket, 

 and for many years has displaced large quantities of 

 China productions from the annual consumption of the 

 country ; but from the facts already stated, it can hardly 

 be denied that at this moment Indian teas have not 

 the same name and reputation for richness and strength 

 which they had formerly. The home trade them- 

 selves, however are the final judges of what Indian, no 

 less than other teas, are or should be in the cup, and 

 as they determine by their rejection of, or preference 

 for, this or that kind of tea, so will the planters every- 

 where shape their course and regulate the process of 

 cultivation and the mode of preparation and manu- 

 facture from time to time. We believe that the ques- 

 tion of profit is the secret of all the changes that are 

 taldug place in the tea trade just now, and not till 

 this is fairly decided will it settle down into a steady 

 and healthful condition throughout. 



" In considering the position and prospects for 

 Indiiui teas, it is also desirable to entertain a 

 broader view of the whole situation of the tea trade 

 in general, if only for the purpose of pointing out one 

 great inconsistency which prevails therein at the present 

 season more than at any other we can remember — that 

 is, the outcry against rubbishing and ill-prepared teas 

 bein-- imported here, and the coolness and indifference 

 of the reception which fine and superior qualities meet 

 when they arrive. To illustrate our meaning more fully, 

 we will remind our readers that in February last re- 

 monstrances and warnings were addressed to the Tea 

 Guild of Shanghai, against the careless and imperfect 

 preparation of China teas for the London market, and 

 assurances were thereupon given that in future more 

 attention should be bestowed upon the teas grown and 

 shipped from the Celestial Empire ; but with what re- 

 sult? The new season's teas, it is true, came to hand 

 in all respects better than those in 1885, but, as we 

 obssrved in the 6'rocer only a fortnight ago, ' tho dealers 

 often will not look at them, and many highly respect- 

 able houses are beginning to consider whether it is not 

 a complete farce to have choice teas to sell, when no- 

 body appears inclined to purchase them at any price.' 

 If preferable teas— whether from China, India, or 

 Ceylon, does not signify in the least— are thus at a 

 discount, what encouragement is there to make them 

 and send them across the seas? And if the trade are 

 supplied with the improved article which they ask for, 

 why do they not patronise it when it is placed at their 

 disposal? These are questions which the importers are 

 almost sure to put to the trade the next time com- 

 plaints are made of the inferiority of China or even 

 other teas, and unless the wholesale dealers can an- 

 swer them satisfactorily, it will be in vain to expect 

 any but common and poor trashy teas to find their way 

 to the United Kingdom one season more than another. 

 To be quite con.sivtent, if the trade cannot afford to 

 pay the necessary price for good tea shey should not 

 order it: and if, instead of the desired article, they get 

 a weak substitute, they must take it and say nothing." 

 — Hmne anil Oulonial J/ai/. 



The subject of Balata Gum and its capabilities has 

 been attracting increased attention of iate, but wide 

 differences of opinion exist as to the commercial value of 

 this article. As regards the .advantages of growing this 

 product in the West Indies, Mr. James John Daj-, who 

 claims to be tho first European who systematically cul- 

 tivated Balata, states that a company formed by him in 

 1874 to work it came to grief, because the gum was_ so 

 unfavourably reported on by telegraph engineers as being 

 quite unfit for insulating purposes. He warns West 

 Indian planter.'*, therefore, not to waste time and money 

 on Balata. — Indiarahhev and Guttapevch/x Journal. 



New Zealand EdiulE Fungus. — For the benefit of a 

 correspondent who made enquiries of us lately we ex- 

 tract the following from the current number of that 

 excellent periodical, the I'harmaceutical Journal : — " An 

 edible fuugus, which is shown in the New Zeland 

 department of the Colonial Exhibition (Hirneola poly- 

 tiicha) firms an article of considerable export to China, 

 where it is used largely as an ingredient in soups, &c., 

 and also as a dye for silks. It is imported from 

 New Zaland to the extent of about 100 tons per 

 annum. This fact suggests that other • objects of 

 Chinese commerce might be worthy of cultivation iu 

 the colonies, such as the true Gingseng. It bears con- 

 siderable resemblance to the Jew's-ear fungus of this 

 country, which is common on Elder trees in damp 

 shady places." — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



V.viiiKTiEs OF Gneiss. — The protean structure 

 and colouring of gneiss are well known and accord- 

 ing to the Madras Jfail are strikingly exemplified 

 in the crystaline rocks of Vizigapatam district as 

 described by Dr. King, the Indian Geological Survey : — 

 The only original work previously published on the 

 geology of the district was that of Dr. Benza, who in 

 1835 accompanied the Governor of Madras on a tour 

 in the Northern Circars and published his diary in the 

 Madras Journal of Literature and Science. His notes 

 show the almost universal prevalence of cry.stahne rocks, 

 but in some points he was mistaken, as when he sap- 

 posed that the Bimlipatam hill was capped by coast 

 laterite. As a matter of fact it has no capping at all, 

 but consists throughout of quartzoze and garnetiferous 

 gnei.'-s is as a rrde, a very uninteresting rock to the 

 amateur geologist, who, unless he be skilled iu petro- 

 graphy, sees little difference of importance between 

 one gneiss and another. To those, however, who have 

 spent years in the strrdy of the geology of IMadras this 

 is far from being the case, and, just as Mr. Bruce 

 Foote recently made the important discovery that 

 nearly all the gold fields of the Presidency lie in a 

 peculiar formation which he has named the Dharwai- 

 rocks, so Dr. King, when .surveying the Kistna and 

 Godavari districts some years ago, found in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Bezwada a more decidedly bedded and 

 presumably newer form of gneiss than is usually met 

 with in Madras. He then named this rock Bezvvada 

 gneiss, but from the predominance of this form iu the 

 districts now surveyed he is inclined to speak rather 

 of the Vizagapatam gneisses. Amongst the other 

 geological features of the district may be mentioned 

 the Waltair red sands. These consist of bright red 

 deposits of a fine-grained clayey sard . occurring 

 over most of the northern half of the Waltair 

 ridge. Besides its red colour this sand is notable on 

 account of its isolation, there being no visible source 

 from which it could have been derived. But in reality 

 it is only a particularly highly coloured example of what 

 is common over the coastal plains of Southern India. 

 Similar deposits of red sand and gravel ar. common 

 round the hilly regions of the Trichinopoly, Sahm 

 and South Arcot districts, and since they have jielded 

 a number of palaeolithic stone implements they pro- 

 bably ought to be classed amongst the post-pliocene 

 alluviums. The most interesting geological features of 

 the distiict are to be found iu the bands oi eijstalliuo 

 limestone, which occur in the gnei.-s of the hilliract. 

 This limestone may herealt' r be found to have groat 

 economic value but at (.resent the inter, st iu it n 

 chiefly due to the circumstance that it cmtains a num- 

 ber of swallow holes, or caverns, or.e of which is of 

 considerable size and magnificence. 



