54 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1882. 



With regard to black teas for the American market, 

 Mr. Sibthoip writes on the 13th January :— 



" A black leaf tea with a flavoury liquor, like a good 

 Kancra Valley Pekoe Souchoug, will sell most readily 

 here." Tippy teas are. not cared/or, the tips being looked 

 on as more or Icsn a drawhark to the appearance. The 

 leaf should be small and even, agsimilating as nearly 

 as possible to a China congou, to be easy of sale 

 Kough souchong teas and broken leaves are very hard 

 to deal with, and reddish looking or mixed teas are 

 also difficult of sale. Time and knowledge of our teas 

 will, no doubt, overcome many of tliese prejudices, but 

 at present they are very strong." 



A telegram dated 24th ultimo from this gentleman, 

 at New York, las been received as follows :— " Good 

 auction 250 packages. Can sell equal quantity weekly 

 tillJuly." 



This is very ealisfactory as a commencement of 

 operations in that Market, 'and as the total shipments 

 of the Syndicate to New York amount to 3.299 pack- 

 ages, there is about a three months' supply for our 

 agents to deal with. 



Mr. Sibthorp's report upon j the tea trade of the 

 United States and Canada has no doubt been 

 read with interest, but the I'ommittee think it 

 well to draw your special attention to his remarks 

 upon the style of package most liliely to prove 

 attractive to buyers. " Before I close, one thing 

 I would like to impress strongly on those who take an 

 interest in working up these foreign markets is that the 

 present style of packing consider.ibly retards the tale 

 of Indian teas. Large paclcmjes are unscdeahlc, except at 

 a considirnbly reduced price: Iiatf chests containinrj 38 to 

 5 Ihs. mit will .tell mod rapidly. They should be neatly 

 finished and marked, so that, instead of being, as they 

 are considered here, an eye-sore in the retail dealer's 

 shop, they would pre.ve an at'ractive ornament. There 

 is a strnnijei- feeling here against rough packing (of any 

 kind of goods) than I can give you any idea of. A 

 retail dealer will not purchase a rough package, as he 

 calculates it would be likely to keep customers out of 

 his 'store.' One reason I think why the Japanese have 

 got such a strong hold on these markets is the remaik- 

 ably neat, way iu which their packages are made up ; they 

 are neatly matted and papered with a stylish label, 

 setting forth the class they claim to contain. I cnnnot 

 see wliy we should not vie with the Japanese iu this, 

 and that the trouble taken would be well repaid I have 

 not the slightest doubt." The size of the cliest should 

 be the same as that rtcommeuded for Australia, viz., 

 V. 5" X 1' . 5" X 1' . 3". 



The Committee would also draw particular attention 

 to the style of tea most in favor, as reported above by 

 Mr. Sibthorp. It is possible that other gr.ides may be 

 found saleable, as our teas become better known in the 

 Americtin market, but it is imposeible to express any 

 more decided opinion on this point at present, and it is 

 only by judiciously iryiog the market that we cau ascert- 

 ain the probabilities of other classes attractiny buyers, 

 as they have done in Australia. 



The advice^ which have lately been received from 

 New York show that most grades of Indian black 

 teas have met with a favourable reception in that 

 market. The exception is bioken tea, for which 

 tliere appears at piesent to be little or no demand, 

 bur our agents think that tins may be developed in 

 time, as has been the case iu Melbourne. They write 

 very strongly as to the desirability of keeping the 

 New York market supplied with our good liquoiing 

 blak te^s during the next few months, when the 

 scarcity of t'hina congous must increase, 'o that the 

 dealers may look to Indian tea-i for their supply of 

 early tine teas next season instead of to China teas, 

 as hitherto. 



MociiA Coffee, while still considered the most 

 delicately flavored, has the merit of being the parent 

 stock from which all other coffees, except Liberian 

 and some other A'rican and a few East India sorts, 

 have sprung, its superiority being in all probability due 

 to the excellent soil and even climate of that part of 

 Arabia.* — Merchants' Review. 



Planting in Burmah.— The local Gtovernment is try- 

 ing to induce people to take up waste lands in theTavoy 

 distrirt for planting coffee, tea, cinchona and spices. Th« 

 terms on which tliese grants will be given are ad- 

 vertized in the Rangoon Gazelle, and they are suffici- 

 ently liberal to attract settlers, except perhaps that' 

 the Government reserve all minerals and metals under 

 and within the lands granted. It would be better, I 

 think, to allow the grantee to get any metals, or 

 minerals which he was fortunate enough to find, on 

 payment of a royalty. In the recent cases for com- 

 pensation on account of land taken up for the Kokhine 

 water-works, the Government wished to assert that 

 even brick-making was not allowed on land they had 

 granted freehold for ever, and, under the conditions 

 advertized, planters would, perhaps, find that they 

 were infringing the rules, if they made bricks out of 

 the clay on their grants tor their own dwellings. As 

 regards payment of revenue, the terms are liberal, ten 

 years being given rent free, provided hotid fide steps 

 to cultivate a reasonable proportion of the land are 

 taken by the grantee. The lands are said to be at 

 altitudes varying from 100 to 6,800 feet above the sea, 

 with a rainfall of from 190 to 220 inches a year. 

 Government will further pay to the first four grantees 

 who begin bond fide planting operations K1.5 per head 

 for every Indian or Chinese cooly, male or female, 

 over 16 years of age, who may be settled or housed 

 on their' pkantations before the 1st March 1885.— 

 Friend of India. 



Tea. — At a recent meeting of the Society of Arts, a 

 discussion took place as to the relative cost of producing 

 a pound of tea in China and iu India. We are not in a 

 position to speak of the cost in China, but we think 

 that there is more recent data fo fixing the cost in 

 India than the figures of 1879. According co the gen- 

 eral opinion of the meeting, the average cost in China 

 wasSJd., while in India and Ceylon it wa^ lOJd., the 

 extremes of figures presented to the meeting running 

 from 4|d. tols. 4d., the average of China .and India 

 taken together being fixed at about did. As we said 

 before, we do not feel competent to challenge the figures 

 for Chim, but we believe those for ludia are very near 

 the truth, always, be it remembered, for 1S79. If an 

 enquiry were made into the presentjcost of manufactur- 

 ing a pound of tea, we think it would be found to be 

 about SIX annas, all charges included, up to the time 

 when the tea leaves the factory. A further charge of 

 two annas lands it in the London warehouse, and as the 

 shipper iu India gets the advantage of the difference 

 in exchange, this sum of eight annas is really equal to 

 tenpence, which is the cost of a pound of tea laid down 

 in London. The average price realized is as near as may 

 be one shilling and sixpence, so tliat, given a properly 

 managed garden, tea ought to pay and pay well. The 

 great anomaly is the vast difference between the price 

 realized by the grower and that paid by the coiisumer. 

 The average price realized at the Mincing-lane sale being 

 1b. 6d. makes the entire cost to the tea mercbant, with 

 duty added, 2s. per lb., and this is very much less than 

 the average price paid by the consumer. We do not 

 grudge the grower bis profit, .as he has to risk his 

 money, and frequently suffer losses from bad seasons 

 and other causes, but tiie middleman gets the lion's 

 share. — Friend of India ■ 



* We need scarcely remind our readers that cofiee 

 found its way to Mocha, or ratker the ranges of Arabia 

 Felix, from Abyssinia. — Ed, 



