Dec. I, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURiSt. 



427 



The Largest Gas Well yet is described in an 

 American paper as being started in Western 

 Virginia on Oct 8th: — Natural gas was struck at 

 Fairmont, W. Va., today. When the gas was struck 

 the force was so great that all the tools were blown 

 from the well and stones thrown from 100 to 200 feet 

 high, tearing up part of the deri'ick. It is said by 

 experienced gas men to be the largest well in the 

 country. The noise from the rush of the gas can be 

 heard from six to ten miles. 



Tea Seed in Assam is likely to be scarce this 

 year to judge by the following extract from the 

 letter of an Assam planter: — "I don't know what 

 has made the seed so bad this year; it is a great 

 disappointment to me, but can't be helped. Am 

 making very good tea just now, and have re- 

 ceived good valuations from Calcutta." Fortu- 

 nately there is a considerable quantity of good 

 seed available in Ceylon now and there should be 

 less risk in using local seed. 



Rubber iv Brazil.— The following extract from a 

 sketch of the physical geography of Brazil, lately pub- 

 lished, gives a new idea of the importance of nihbir : — 

 " Amongst the immense stores of valuable veget- 

 able productions of this great forest, the india 

 rubber tree figures pr°-eminently. It exists in such 

 vast quantities, and the collection of the juice 

 is so very lucrative, that it has attracted to even 

 the most remote rivers thousands of adventurous 

 Brazilians. Eubber is doing for the' Amazons 

 what gold did for Australia and California ; 

 although most other industries on the Amazons 

 are neglected and paralyzed, rubber has enabled 

 Para, Manaos, and other riverine cities to make 

 unijrecedented progress. It has covered thousands 

 of miles of rivers with steamers, and spread a 

 vast population over vast areas that would other- 

 vise have remained dormant for many many years." 

 Pests on Tea, — We hear of an insect shew- 

 ing up rather extensively on a field of tea in the 

 low-country and our informant considered he had 

 very bad news, indeed in giving us the informa- 

 tion. But taking the worst view of the case of 

 such pests, it must be remembered that there is a 

 vast difference between tea and coffee or almost 

 any other field product. In the case of tea, very 

 strong measures — such as burning or stripping off' 

 all the aff'ected leaves — can be rccorted to with 

 little prejudice to crop prospects — with simply the 

 effect of a pruning. For fighting pests— should 

 pests really come, in any force, and no branch 

 of agriculture is entirely free of such— tea affords 

 greater advantages than almost any other tropical 

 product. In the present case, probably treatment 

 with lime will entirely dissipate the bug. 



How TO CoUNTEEAC'f OsER-PRODrCTION OF TeA 



IN Ceylox. — We call attention to the letter of 

 "C. S." (page 40'>) on this subject, to which 

 we had appended the following note: — " IJy 

 all means, let our correspondent persevere in 

 his criticisms and suggestions, which others in- 

 terested will carefully weigh, and give their reasons 

 for adopting or rejecting the systems recommended. 

 Of course, it is the net and not the gross returns 

 from the application of manure on which calcul- 

 tions of profit should be founded and in the case 

 of the system of fine plucking recommended, there 

 can be no doubt of the saving in packages, local 

 transport, freight etc., resulting from its adoption. 

 The question then is as to the theory that fine pluck- 

 ing is more exhausting to the plant than ordinary 

 medium harvesting of leaves as well as buds." On 

 this " C. S.", having seen the above in " proof " wrote: 

 — "No, the question is whether a lingering death 

 from fine plucking, or a sudden one from aban- 

 donment is preferable: we are told that tea-drink- 

 ing, and smoking are injurious; fortunately people 

 on't mind being killed imperceptibly." 



Fortunately, we have already in Ceylon, an ex- 

 ample of the happy medium, between the process 

 recommended by '-C. S." and the ordinary prac- 

 tice in plucking In the case of a wellknown 

 plantation, which maintains a high average price 

 for its teas, the process adopted has been described 

 as a comparatively light or fine plucking; but not 

 unduly fine, just such as keeps the bushes in 

 good order ; and then the throwing away of 25 

 per cent of the coarser leaves. This secures a 

 very fine regular tea from what remains, and the 

 fourth of what is gathered goes directly back to 

 the soil. This process would suit"C. S." well in 

 the time of "overproduction," when it arrives. 



Tea in America. — That the American peo- 

 ple are in a fair way to learn all about " good 

 tea " is very evident when we find such a para- 

 graph as the following in a Chicago paper :— 



Cheap Tea-Drinking.— The doctors are falling into 

 agreement that the excessive use of tea is working great 

 injury to its consumers. Tea is now set down as more 

 deleterious than coffee, especially when taken hot. This 

 being the case with good tta, it is painful to.think 

 that the article commonly sold and used is in quality 

 far below that which our grandmothbrs were wont 

 to gossip over. The Ohiue.'e have discovered that 

 England and America want cheap tea, and they conse- 

 (lueutly ship over an article which a cooly in Canton 

 would fling into the street. The use of this wretched 

 stutf destroys the taste for really good tea. Yet there 

 are people who drink the latter. Japan, lndia,and Ceylon 

 have become formidable competitors with China in 

 the tea trade ; and there are brands of Japanese tea 

 worth from §15 to §18 a pound. The Russians drink 

 prime tea, and the best which is not reserved for 

 home use is sent to them. A well-to-do Russian family 

 rarely drinks tea worth leas thau iS2.50 to §3 a pound ; 

 and this tea goes much further than the cheap trash, 

 it being true economy to use it. The best grades of 

 tea go far to supply the craving for wiue and liquor, 

 so that a man who consumed the finest Bohea or Peru 

 from the I-baug distiict would soon get into bad odor 

 with his wine merchant. The best Indian teas bring, 

 at wholesale by auction, in England, 75 cents to .SI a 

 pound. From this the quality of our cheap teas may be 

 guessed. 



Tka " Bulked Uxassokted." — AVith reference to 

 the above we do not altogether agree with Messrs. I. 

 A. RuckerandBencraft in their remarks ; from reading 

 carefully their circular it appears they advise all 

 planters to forward their teas as " Unassorted " and 

 to prove their ideas they quote the result of one 

 Garden where, by the teas being sorted, the owner 

 lost nearly £.300 sterliug. They state the sorted portion 

 was divided into six different grades. This multiplying 

 of grades both London Brokers and ourselves have 

 often written against. We do strongly advise for 

 .small gardens just coming into bearing where the Tea 

 is of Medh'.m Quality that it should be sold as 

 " T^iassorted " but Fj(KE from dust ; but for gardea.s 

 that produce exceptionally fine quality teas we advise 

 them to be sorted hito five grades namely : — Orange 

 I'ekoe or Broken Orange Pekoe, Broken Pekoe, Pekoe, 

 Pekoe Souchong, and Broken Pekoe Souchong, with 

 an occasional Dust, where an estate by sorting as 

 above, would be forwarding once a fortnight only 2 

 or .3 packages of each description, we would recom- 

 mend them keeping it back until breaks over S pick- 

 ages have accumulated, even though it may be in 

 some cases six weeks. Messrs I. A. Rucker and Bencraft 

 state that the "proof of the pudling is in the eating' ; 

 this is all very true, but they are only able to state 

 for example one instance out of the hundreds that 

 are sold in London, so we consider the para lei does 

 not hold good. In short where a garden only produces 

 medium Teas such as Broken Pekoes SL-llir g at 1/1 

 to 12, per It). Pekoe lid 1,0 per lb., Pekoe Souchong 

 9^d to 10|d per It)., Broken Tea 8d per Ih., we would 

 advise the invoice being Bulked and s )ld as " Un- 

 assorted," but NOT for gardens producing good qua'ity 

 Teas. — Wifson ^- Co's Fortnightly Tea Eepoi-t. 



