November i, 1882,] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



393 



Tannic acitl or taiiniu forms nearly one-fourth part of 

 the chemical properties of tea. It is a powerful astrin- 

 gent, and is remarkable as being entirely absent in coffee. 

 Some attribute to this element the dyspepsia from which 

 ardent tea-drinkers suffer ; others believe that it aids diges- 

 tion, but its true physiological action is still a matter of 

 doubt. 



The above is a specimen of the exhaustive information 

 to be cuUed from the book before us. Part II. is devoted 

 to a description, illustrated with handsome plates, of the 

 insect enemies of the tea plant and the best methods of 

 their destruction. These are '* rust, mosquito-blight, the 

 tea-grub and the red spider." We have never heard of 

 the plantations in this coimtry being ravaged by these 

 pests, whom doubtless some people engaged in the trade 

 would not be sorry to see introduced for a season into 

 China.* They never fail to have a material inlluence on 

 the production in lutUa, and without them oiu- rival would be 

 still more fatal. The details of their ravages and the 

 different methods of combating them are highly interest- 

 ing, as arc the chapter on choice of ground for tea 

 cidtivation, and the various processes of planting, curing 

 and packing adopted in different gardens. We almost think- 

 an opening for an enterprising " tea-man " presents itself 

 in India to introduce the Chinese system of bulking, which 

 appears to be entirely unknown there, and which necessi- 

 tates the bulking in the Loudon warehouses of all Indian 

 tea. This process, piu-sued at the termination of the voyage, 

 is doubtless the cause of the bad keeping qualities of 

 Assam tea. The tea is, as is well known, after being for 

 some time exposed to the Loudon air, replaced in the 

 chests, the lead lining of which has been partially destroyed, 

 and which it is never attempted to re-solder. In China, 

 the leaf from many gardens is brought up in small 

 quantities and in its natural state by the so-calU'-d teamen, 

 who erect or hire packmg houses in the centre of a district, 

 and then bulk their purchases into chops of 500 to 2, 000 

 chests before packing. Thus a wonderfully homogenous 

 tea in merchantable quantity is placed upon the market, 

 and, until it reaches the consiuner, but a small proportion of 

 its bulk needs subsequently to be exposed to the atmosphere 

 for the purposes of sampling and taring. Whether a 

 similar undertaking in India would afford a safe investment 

 of capital remains to be proved by experience ; but we 

 cannot but think that such a di\-ision of labour would 

 prove acceptable at least to the smaller planter, who 

 would thus be enabled to realise his crop immediately on 

 the spot and be absolved from the risk attending the sub- 

 sequent stages of manufacture and sale. 



Another chapter is devoted to Brick tea, in which our 

 Indian neighbours ai-e ambitious of emulating Hankow in 

 the commerce with Thibet. 



The question of labour, long tables of satistics, the relations 

 of planters to the government, the various items that go 

 to swell the cost of production, are all fully treated of. 

 For the purposes of comparison it would be most interesting 

 to be placed in possession of similar statistics of the China 

 growth. These are unfortunately imobtainable in the 

 present condition of the country, but the time will doubt- 

 less come when the foreign advisers of the government 

 will shew them the necessity of tloing all in then* power 

 to facilitate the obtaining of information and to improve 

 the methods of culture. 



The competition of India is becoming more serious each 

 year, and. handicapped as China tea is by greater dis- 

 tance and by an export duty of fifteen to twenty per 

 cent ad vahrem, it seems to be only a question of time 

 when it must succumb to its more favoured rival. Science 

 against hand-to-mouth methods must prevail in the end, 

 and with, in India, such ardent intelligence and progressive 

 knowledge devoted to the subject, as iUustrated in the 

 work before us, China, so long as no need of improve- 

 ment is felt, must ultimately, take second place. As long 

 as European merchants continue to buy freely all that 

 the t'hiuese produce, this need will not be felt ; but the 

 signs of the times point to the coming exerci.*5e of a com- 

 pulsory reiicencc on their part, tot-filly alien to the ancient 

 and still prevailing traditions of the trade. Hard facts 



* It is prol»able they are present, although scarce in 

 proportion to the scattered patches of cultivation. Is there 

 no description of the tea plant and its culture in Chinese, 

 in which insect or fungoid pests are mentioned ? — Kj). 



will have to bo faced and their logic may produce a 

 change which the most lucid reasoning has hitherto been 

 powerless to elfect. 



A few defects it is our duty to point out ere wc quit 

 what has beeu a most interesting study. Some incorrect 

 statements among so large a number of contributors are 

 almost sure to creep in, and notably in regard to China, 

 with the tt.'a-industry of which the writers have probably 

 no practical acquaintance. Here we find such glaring 

 misstatements as these. — " China never sends us her best 

 teas"' — " China, whose people began making tea two thou- 

 sand years ago""' (p. 293) whereas a few hundred years 

 would be nearer the mark: — '*The Chinese destroy the 

 gum by overfermentation " (p. 296). Then we find the 

 idea prevailing among several correspondents that " China 

 tea is more or less adulterated," the fact being that with 

 the exception of a very few low-class teas prepared in 

 Canton, adulteraticn is practically unknown, there being 

 more genuine tea than the packers in the country can 

 absorb.* There is practically no limit to the quantity of 

 tea producible in China, the portion, large as it is, packed 

 for foreign consumption; forming probably but a small 

 proportion of the total yield. 



The hi.'^tori/ of tea cultivation in India forms another 

 most interesting chapter. We learn that the cultivation 

 was originally introduced into Kumaon under government 

 auspices in the year 1835, when two small experimental 

 gardens of three and four acres each were planted with 

 seed sent from China by Mr. Gordon. This was the 

 result of a Committee appointed liy Lord AVilliam Bentinck 

 on the 24th January, 1834, "for the purpose*** of the 

 introduction of the culture in India and the superintendence 

 of its excution." These early plantations appear to have 

 languished imder ofiicial superintendence until the year 

 1843, when Dr. William Jamieson paid his first visit to 

 the Dehra Dun ; and in September of that year a favour- 

 able report was given on the first sample of Indian tea 

 ever seen in England by the celebrated firm of W. J. 

 and H. Thompson in Mincing Lane. Dr. Jamieson had 

 shewn that its culture could be made a commercial success, 

 when in IS50 Robert Fortune was despatched to China 

 to obtam both seeds and workmen. 



We will conclude our too lengthy notice with a few 

 figures extracted from the tables wiiich extend to the year 

 1879. In that year the total area of laud under tea cul- 

 tivation was 200,000 acres, producing an average yield of 

 216 lb. to the acre, making a total production of 

 44,700,000 lb., employing an army of 1,200 Eiu"opeans and 

 300,000 natives, and an expenditure of 250 lacs of rupees. 

 It was then calculated that "when all the tea «o?(' planted 

 out shall have come into bearing, India will produce 

 70,000,000 lb. of tea ! " The land available for the 

 production of the future is practically unhmited. 



A. J. L. 



COCOA AND ITS CULTIVATION 



Considering the large and increasing consumption of cocoa 

 and chocolate, not only in this country but also over a largo 

 extent of continental Europe, it is not surprising that some 

 interest has of late arisen amongst those interested in the 

 supply to consider from whence our future consignments are 

 to come. It is to be hoped that nothing will occur either 

 by disease or other\vise to dimini.sh the cocoa crop.s" in the 

 countries that have been so long famed for the cultivation of 

 this valuable tree; it is, nevetheless, the duty of planters 

 for the benefit of the world at large, as well as for 

 their own pecuniary advantage, to introduce and cultivate 

 in their owni plantations economic plants of widely different 

 character, and the cocoa is one that sh'oukl command a 

 large share of attention in countries where the conditions 

 of soil auil climate are similar to those of the West Indies 

 or South America, and particularly of tho.se districts which 

 are celebrated for the high quality of the produce. 

 Since the successfid iutrodiiction of the cinchona plants 

 into India from their native haunts, in the dense damp 

 forests of South America, oiu* eastern empire lias beeu 

 looked upon as the probable futiu-e home of numerous 



* Much of the lower qualities, if not adulterated 

 are very poor rubbish. Considering that tea sent from 

 China pays an export duty of S^d, how is it possible tliat 

 6d. per lb. or less in England and Australia can pay i*— Ed, 



