836 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST [June 1, 1887. 



Caustic Lime is said to have cleared out green 

 bug wherever it has been applied ;on certain coffee 

 Uva estates. 



A Planter infoirus us that the condition of the 

 coffee in the Ooouoor llaviue is simply splendid. 

 The trees appear to be in good heart, and a liue 

 blossom has set. With coffee at 95, this means 

 sometliing. If it isn't, the great bumper, it is very 

 near it. The same favourable prospects attend the 

 tea, which has thrown out a fine flush. — Nihjii-i K.r- 

 prtss, 7th May. 



CoFFKE IN SouTHEKN India. — The Weather at Seegoor 

 and Mussanagudi is said to be simply intolerable. 

 The recent showers have brought out a fine coffee 

 blossom and the intense heat is burning off at least 

 20 per cent. Many of the estates in this locality 

 possess facilities for irrigation. One property brings 

 its water by a channel which cost R15,000, from the 

 Pykara river but does not regret the outlay, as since 

 the channel was made irrigation has rendered the 

 crops more certain. If irrigation could be more 

 generally adopted on the Nilgiris, the doubts and 

 fears of planters considerably relieved. — Nilgiri Ex- 

 press. [We should doubt the success of coffee where 

 it has to be irrigated. — Ed.] 



Tea : Mr. Whittall, representative of 

 Messrs. Mathcson & Co.. London, left today by 

 the B. I. S. S. " Chyebassa " for Madras en route 

 to visit Coorg and the adjacent planting districts. 

 Mr. Whittall who had long experience of tea in 

 China, and who some years ago did not, we be- 

 lieve, regard the Ceylon tea enterprise very favour- 

 ably, is now inclined, we learn, to anticipate an 

 export within a few years far in excess of any 

 figurewe have yet ventured to put forward. Seventy 

 to eighty millions lb. of Ceylon tea exported in 

 a year, say about 1891-2, would certainly bring 

 this colony into prominent notice, and, if Uva is 

 to have her due share in making up this quantity, 

 how in the world is she to manage for transport 

 is a question which may well be asked on her 

 behalf and dinned again and again into Downing 

 Street ears. A gentleman of much experience in 

 India, in tea and other products, tells us that he 

 has never seen tea anywhere, for growth at its 

 age, to equal that which he saw in Udapussellawa, 

 and that he recognised at once beyond Nuwara 

 Eliya, the climate and fine soil peculiar to the 

 very best Indian planting districts. Of course, it 

 remains to be seen who are to ccmsume the 

 80,000,000 lb. Ceylon tea, and whether they will 

 pay for it at a remunerative rate. Much depends 

 on new fields being opened, and it is satisfactory 

 to learn that steady progress is making in America, 

 Italy and France in the sale of good teas. 



Tba.— Mr. Joshua Whitworth writing on the sub- 

 ject of tea, says: — " Why should the great socialising 

 beverage be made the target for catch-price adven- 

 turers ': Tea is now being distributed and advertised 

 in countless mediums and forms. There is the would- 

 be benefactor or compound dealer in tea and dis- 

 penser of presents '; in the shape of toys, china, 

 metal, earthenware, and other devices. Thp system 

 (I will not say principle 1 to my mind is utterly un- 

 English and un-busiuesslike. I cannot conceive any 

 wife or housekeeper, with ordinary intelligence, pur- 

 chasing tea with the primary object of obtaining a 

 bonus in the form of a present. She need only ask 

 herself who pays for such gifts. As a matter of course 

 ahe herself does in the inferior value of the tea she 

 buys- If I go to my tailor and purchase a suit, I 

 neither receive nor expect to be presented with a hat, 

 or even a pair of gloves. The two cases are parallel. 

 Tea is no longer considered a luxury, but a necessary 

 of life, as the increased rate of consumption abund- 

 antly testities. The figures stand thus — the home 

 consumption for lbS2 was lc;4,O5S,O001b for 18SC, 

 l78,S91,0001b,— and I am of opinion that if better 

 grades of tea had been sold by tlie retailers, the 

 iucrease ia coQsumptioa would haTO been still gteate 



Tea is variously and industriously advertised— not- 

 ably by Loudon dealers or retailers who offer to de- 

 liver a given quantity free of carriage by parcel post. 

 Now, I contend the provincial grocer or tea dealer can 

 do better than this. He gets his tea direct in bulk 

 from the London Bonded Tea Warehouses at about 

 one farthing per pound carriage, while the cost by 

 parcel post will add pence per pound. The natural 

 infereuco is obvious. To ensure good and nourishing 

 tea, my advice to aU consumers is do not pay less than 

 2s Gd to ;]s per pound, and this rule will be found 

 wise and economical. .Statistics show that the working 

 classes are the largest yjro /■«/« consumers; then how 

 desirable it is that the sons of toil should have as a se- 

 quel to the day's work an enjoyable cup of tea— tea 

 that must soothe, sustain, and cheer. In this question 

 there is a large field for the exercise of women's right ; 

 they should one and all denounce the questionable 

 decoction, aad in assertmg their rights demand pure 

 tea. In conclusion, there is another aspect to this 

 contention — viz., if people would buy better-class teas, 

 I am morally certain that it would prove a further 

 auxiliary in the spread of temperance principles, ir- 

 respective of its health-giving qualities." — H. ^- C. Mail. 



Tobacco and Coffee : the Difference of Policy. 

 — The following extract from Mr. (xoschen's speech 

 shows that although the British Government still 

 apparently refuse to prohibit the adulteration of 

 coffee with chicory and worse, they mean to pro- 

 hibit the adulteration of tobacco with water : — 



There is one error which all parties admit to have 

 been made in the fiscal legislation of late years — viz., 

 the rising of the tobacco duties by 4d. The tobacco 

 duties were raised from 3s 2d to 3s 6d in 1878, and the 

 fiscal result of that has been most unsatisfactory. The 

 first year under the higher duty was expected to yield an 

 increased revenue of £750,0()0,butit only yielded £500,000 

 additional, and in consequent years the result has been 

 still more unfavourable. The increase in the consump- 

 tion of tobacco, which was 11 per cent during the five 

 years between 1872 and 1876, fell to 5 per cent in the 

 period between 1877 and 1881. We checked the con- 

 sumption of tobacco ; and what was the effect upon the 

 quality of the tobacco and upon the smokers ? It will be 

 seen that the consumption has not increased in the ratio 

 of the population. The increase in the consumption of 

 tobacco before the duty was raised was twice as fast as 

 the increase of population, but since that time the con- 

 sumption has not increased as fast as the population. 

 The consumption per head is now less than it was. But 

 there is this most curious fact. It is not quite so 

 certain that people have smoked less pipes or fewer 

 cigars than before. The same thing has occurred with 

 tobacco as with beer. There has been an admixture ef 

 water to increase the weight. The workman pays 3d 

 per ounce tor his tobacco. When the duty was in- 

 creased it was supposed that he would pay S^d and that 

 in that way the dealers and manufactures would be able 

 to recoup themselves. But that is not what has hap- 

 pened. He does not pay more than 3d per ounce; 

 therefore, tobacco had to be produced at 3d. How is 

 this done ? It is done by increasing the amount of 

 water. The purchaser buys a nominal ounce as before, 

 but he really buys less tobacco and more water, and in 

 that way the revenue loses and the smoker loses, be- 

 cause he does not get the amount of tobacco to which 

 he is entitled. The price of 3d is too small to enable 

 the manufacturer to produce the tobacco at a duty of 

 38 6d, and I propose to reduce the duty from 3s 6d to 

 3s 2d. (Hear hear.) That I trust will be a consider- 

 able boon to the working classes, and although it will 

 not affect their pockets they will get a better article. 

 For we propose to prohibit by law the watering process 

 by whicli at present the dealer recoups himself for the 

 extra duty. The natural moisture of tobacco is 15 to 

 17 per cent, and it is increased to 30 per cent in the 

 process of manufacture. I was not aware that 30 per 

 cent of water was necessary for that process. (A laugh.) 

 But now tobacco is often sold containing 40 or 45 per 

 cent of water. In future we intend to make it illegal 

 to sell tobacco containing more than 35 per cent ef 

 water. 



