7i6 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 18S3. 



THE TEA INDUSTRY OF THE N.-W.-P. AND 



THE PUNJAAB. 



We have to thank Mr. Liotard for a valanble and 

 interesting note* not merely on the position of the Tea 

 Industry in the North-Western Provinces and the 

 Punjab, as its title imports, but also on many of the 

 latest etatistics on the Tea Industry throughont India, 

 and its ojKi.itions in other countries. A table of the 

 exports of Indian Tea to foreign countries by sea shows 

 that this has increased in six years from about twenty- 

 eight niillion to nearly forty-nine million pounds — the 

 latest figures given being those of 1881-82. Another 

 table shows the exports of tea from each of the princi- 

 pal ports of British India. It is inseresting to note that 

 the exports from Bombay have increased 150 ppr cent, 

 in one year, and those from Kurrachi about fifty per 

 cent, in the same period ; but Calcutta has no reason as 

 yet to be alarmed — the exports from both these ports 

 taken together being rather less than one per cent, of 

 that from this port. The exports from British Burmah 

 appear to have fall'n off by half, — viz., from 75,2Hlb. 

 in 1880-81, to 38,71.51b. in 1881-82. Does this point to 

 increased consumption within the province? If so, it is 

 a very satisfactorj' feature. The exports to Australia 

 (which, as it is well known, have increased more than 

 twenty fold in six vears) now occupy a position only 

 second to that of the United Kingdom ; and if the P. 

 and 0. Company would si-e its own interest, it would 

 facilitate by every means in its power so important a 

 development of a great industrj'. Nearly six years ago 

 we were almost laughed at for suggesting that this 

 and America would be important fields for exertion. 

 Now, many of the leading merchants in Calcutta are 

 straining every nerve to work in this direction, — the 

 export to America having increased a hundred fold ; 

 and it is hard to say how much Indian tea goes there 

 from the United Kingdom. It is also a fact that very 

 recently considerable quantities of Indian toa were 

 shipped from London to Australia with satisfactory 

 pecuniary results. The Straits Settlements, in spite of 

 their proximity to China, took last year ten times the 

 quantity they took six Tears ago ; and Persia, strange to 

 say, has taken 5!l,712ib. against 3341b. in 1876-77— 

 Turkey in Asia, and Egjpt, together, having taken, 

 also, 2 1,48Slb. against 8861b. in the same period. Mr. 

 Liotard is of opinion that these are not a tithe of the 

 openings that might be found ; and it is to he hoped 

 that at the AmsterdamExliibition and elsewhere the 

 Tea Syndicate will in no way relax its efforts. The 

 imports of China tea to India have, in the six years 

 also above referred to, increased, about GO per cent. 

 Speaking on this point, we are of opini'in taat the 

 Syndicate might well make efforts to increase the local 

 consumption of Indian tea to the replacement of Chinas, 

 and we feel sure that such organised exertion would be 

 folojwed by very satisfactory results. The re-export of 

 China tea fro;n India shows four times the quantity of 

 six years aj;o — by far the greater quantity g"ing to 

 Persia nnd Tsrkey in Asia. Mr. Liotard thinks that 

 the N.-W. P. and the Punjab might appropriate a good 

 deal of this trade; and from the character of the teas 

 of these districts we are disposed to agree with him. 

 The great increase of export from Karachi shows that 

 this, to some extent, is being done. The costing trade, 

 both in Indian and China teas, has also greatly 

 increased. The amount of land export of Indian tea 

 fro m the Punjab has practically remained stationary, 

 whereas that of China tes has more than doubled. 

 This is a very serious matter for the planters of the 

 Punjab and N. \V. P., and we hope that some efforts 

 may be made to reduce the enormous duty of Kl-8 per 

 seer, or rather more than the absolute value of the tea 



* Note on the Tea Industry of the North-We.stern rroviuces 

 and of the Punjab, by L, Liotard, Eevenue and Agricultural 

 Department. 



itself (without duty) with which the Russians handicap 

 it as eompared with that imported by themselves 

 direct from China. The figures given at the com- 

 mencement of the pamphlet show that the number of 

 plantations in Northern India lias increased lu six years 

 from 8.51 to 1,422, and the area from 4,246 to 7,466 

 acres; the outturn from 1,311,1311b. to 2,271,7731b. 

 These figures speak of great activity in production, and 

 show the necessity for every exertion being employed 

 to open out new markets. A combined Syndicate for 

 all the districts in Northern India, on the lines of the 

 one now established in Calcutta, is suggested. — Indian 

 Tea Gazette. 



THE COFFEE LEAF FUNGUS AND CARBOLIC 

 ACID, IN CEYLON. 

 Messrs. Leechman's Liberian coffee on Udapolla 

 plantation has been experimented on with as much 

 care and attention as could be desired in a fair 

 trial of the carbolic acid remedy for the leaf fungus, 

 and the effect is reported in another column by 

 the manager Mr. Wm. Jardine. We suspect bj most 

 people the unfavourable result arrived at will be 

 accepted as decisive and final in regard to Mr. Storck's 

 remedy. No more experienced nor careful planter than 

 Mr. Jardine could be found in Ceylon to whom to 

 entrust a series of experiments. He and his superiors 

 were favourably impressed with what they had read 

 from the pen of Mr. Storck ; preliminary experiments 

 on a small scale appeared to promise success, and on one 

 point where doubt was thrown on the evaporation of 

 carbolic acid, a series of trials undertaken at Hults- 

 dorf Mills afforded conclusive proof as the following 

 table will shew : — 



Z 'Ao 



■A% 



'A ■ 



gr, oz. gr. oz. gr. oz. gr. 

 •~- 9 315 8 195 6 9 



204 94 



108 e 



f 



The fact however that all the hopes and pre- 

 possessions of the experimentalists (as of so many 

 more of us) were in favour of carbolic acid prov- 

 ing at least a partially successful cure, makes the 

 collapse recorded by Mr. Jardine the more decisive. 

 Topical remedies, one after unotlieii in long succession, 

 have now been tried in Ceylon, but with the same re- 

 sult as has attended so many experiments on the 

 potato disease, the rust in wheat, and the phylloxera 



