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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 1883. 



2. 

 3.' 



4. 



1. 



INDIAN TEA. 



To the Editoi- of the " Home and Colonial Mail." 

 Sir —We have heeu prevented from earlier noticing— 

 as we' had fuUv intended to do— the editorial remarks 

 on Mr Shilliiigton's letter to your journal, which 

 appeared in a recent issue of your contemporary, Ihe 

 Indian Tea Gazette. . . 



Without alluding in detail to all the points raised in 

 the article, we shall, with your permission, confine our 

 remarks to four separate heads, viz. : — 

 References to Mr. Shillington. 

 The question of the staying power of Indian tea. 

 Causes of the deterioration of the product in 

 question ; and, lastly, 



Means at our disposal for obviating this de- 

 terior.ition. 

 ,. Knowing as «e do Mr. Shillington's long con- 

 nection with, and extensive knowledge of, the Indian 

 tea trade in Londou, we cannot but express regret at 

 the spirit of— might we not almost say the aimmis 

 disulayed in— the editorial alluded to Can our Indian 

 friends not see— albeit through the blinding sweat of 

 the brow under which tliey toil in the sultry Easteru 

 clime- that it is our interest (even if we put it on no 

 higher grounds) not only to conciliate and in every 

 possible way gam the confidence of those on whom 

 we are dependent for a market for our wares— the 

 dealers^but also, in placing our tea upon the 

 markot, to do everything in our power to meet 

 their wishes and convenience. When therefore one 

 of their number, well known in " the Lane" and re^ 

 epected on account of hie knowledge and unbiassed 

 Tiews on questions connected with the trade 

 coMie.-i forwad and plainly states facts as to causes 

 which militate against the development^ of the sale of 

 Indian leas, it appears unquestionalJe that he should 

 have a hearing, and that, instead of endeavouring to 

 prove him wrong, we should set about and see bow 

 the faults which he points out can best be removed. 

 And here we would say, in passing, that it seems 

 to us to be a very prevalent popular error to suppose 

 that the interests of sellers and baying dealers are . 

 opposed the one to the other. Their interests run 

 parallel ; for sellers, as for buyers, it is a steady 

 market which in the long run brings most profit. A 

 few .speculators may gamble and make (or lose) money 

 by violent fluctuations of the market, but for the 

 methodical importer as well as for the regular buyer 

 the best friend is a moderately steady maiket. No- 

 thing is more disappointing to importers than a declin- 

 ing market, and the same remark aijplies to buyers 

 who have only reason to regret their purchase of yes- 

 terday, which can be replaced cheaper today. 



The utayinq power of India tea.— This is a much- 

 vexed question, and one on which very varied opinions 

 are expressed. In India we are well aware that planters 

 rarely drink current season's tea, but iirefer one-year 

 old tea, for some drinking. In our English climate, 

 however, it is undoubted (and we have satisfied our- 

 selves of it by careful experiment nnd special tests), 

 that not certainly all, but the greater proportion of 

 our Indian teas, do, after a certain amount of ex- 

 po. -ure, lose their briskness, and more especially flavou.-y 

 teas, their special tiavour. Were the leads of the 

 packages not cut, we doubt not this deterioration 

 would'^ be reduced to a miuimuni— would possibly not 

 tnke place at all— but bo far the greater portion of 

 ,.ur tears have to be thus opened and exposed. And 

 this brings us to. 



3. The cause of the deterioration. —There are fre- 

 quently instances of teas which', owmn to want of 

 sufficiently careful manipulation in manufacture, the 

 impossibility of ohtaining properly withered leaf, &c., 

 are of themselves wanting in the uecessary k-'Cping 

 qualities, and such, even when carefully leaded up, 

 spontaneously deteriorate, ui d proof of this was found 



last year in the poor quality on arrival, in London, 

 of shipments made by sailing-vessels. But the chief 

 cause of deterioration, and that which attacks and dam- 

 ages fine and common, well made and badly manu- 

 factured teas alike — though in different degree — is un- 

 doubtedly the exposure to the atmosphere to which 

 the tea is subjected by reason of the boxes being opened 

 and the lead cut; without being again soldered up, 

 in the London warehouses. The pi'ocess is too well 

 known to need description ; its effects upon our care- 

 fully packed teas are, witliout doubt, most lamen- 

 table. And why not abolish this udiuu.-. and damag- 

 ing system? Because in the case of the teas trom 

 most Indian plantations this course is necessary for 

 two reasons : — 



1st. The out turn of the different chests in the 

 same brenk is so uneven that in order to 

 get a representative sample the tea from all 

 the chests must undergo an equalizing pro- 

 cess of mixing. 

 2ud. 0>*ingtothe great divergence of the tares 

 of the boxes in one bieak, no close approxim- 

 ation to the actual nett weight of the tea can be 

 obtained without turning out and weighing the 

 contents (which is done by a round about 

 system) of each separately ; and now as to 

 4. Tlie remedn for llie deterioration, caused by the 

 London bulking system. This lies with the producer in 

 India. The course open to him is the following :— 



1. To bulk each break carefully and conscienti- 

 ously before packing at the garden. 



2. To pack all the tell of each break in chests of 

 approximately even tare [4Ibs. variation is held to be 

 sufficient by the Customs to admit of an average 

 taring — i.e., opening and weighing only 3 chests in 50]. 



Upwards of a dozen concerns in India — some large, 

 some small— bulk at the factories, and in almost every 

 case— markedly in the case of the tea from the Assam 

 C'o.'s gardens — a preference is given to teas thus treated, 

 both, we believe, on account of reduced deterioration 

 from exposure, and because of the packages, from not 

 being opened, reaching the grocer in better condition. 

 It remains only therefore, to say to those of your tea- 

 growing readers whose eye this may reaok : — " Uo je and 

 do likewise," and there appears reason to expect that, 

 if this course is adopti d and is accompanied by due care 

 in the processes of manufacture, there will cease to be a 

 raiion d'itre for letters such as Mr. Shillington has 

 written, or a necessity for the Calcutta organ of our 

 industry pulling him to pieces.— We are, sir, yours 

 faithfully. O- '^^ * ^'°- 



A "PURE COFFEE" COMPANY. 

 The subject of cofiee admixtures and adulteration 

 was to be brought before the Planters' Association 

 today and iu this connection we call attention to 

 the valuable remarks of Messrs. Patry & Pasteur 

 (a firm that has taken a special interest in the 

 question) contained in their annual coffee review given 

 on our last page. We have a new and promising 

 proposal placed before us today, the object of which 

 is to counteract the evil effects of the prevalent 

 and persistent coffee adulteration iu the United King- 

 don. Mr. Thomas Dickson of London and Edinburgh 

 is the promoter of what he calls a " Pure Coffee " Com- 

 pany and his idea is reported to the veteran Ceylon 

 planter and merchant, Mr. F. R. .Sabonadiere as fol- 

 lows. Writing in January, Mr. Dickson says :— 



"In re 'A Pure Coffee. Company' for the sale of 

 the unadulterated article iu London and throughout 

 the United Kingdom. A board of A 1 people la'pro- 

 mised with all the great Colonial Houses as Patron.«, 



