August i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



3 57 



THE HEALTH EXHIBITION: TEA. 



Thia is bo numerously represented by tho growers 

 themselves, in the case of Indian teas, and by their 

 agents, and also by importers and dealers in the article, 

 that a few notes of the more original and more varied 

 collections of the planters and their agents are all that 

 wo shall be enabled to notice at any length. In the 

 Indian court on the west side of the buildings the 

 Dstiict Association of the Kangra Valley lifts a very 

 complete assortment of thjherb, grown in the country 

 in which the undertaking in question is established. 

 It appears that there are between 300 and 400 different 

 varieties, or perhaps more correctly speaking flvvours, 

 as flavour will vary more from soil, shelter and alti- 

 tude, and are more appreciable than any differences 

 caused by variety, time of picking or subsequent 

 m imputation. Here are found about twelve distinct 

 varieties of manufactured tea from Kangra, placed in 

 glass-covered boxes where it is possible to note such 

 differences as form, size and oolour, the intelligent 

 Hindu in charge being most obliging to answer any 

 questions the visitor may put to him respecting them. 

 There are also on view a portion of the trunk of a 

 tea shrub of about 4 inches in diameter, equalling 

 therefore that of an old Gooseberry bush, say of 

 twenty years ; tea seeds, photographs representing views 

 in the district of Kangra, operations in the cultiv- 

 ation and manufacture, very English-looking square- 

 towered churches, and dwellings in Sylhet, Cachar and 

 Assam. Taking out the mountains in the distant views, 

 and substituting short-petticoated Irish garden-women 

 for the semi-nude Kangraites, we might take some of 

 the photographs to represent the regularly planted small 

 fruit farms of Kent, so much, too, do the bushes re- 

 semble them. On this same stand are to be found 

 a f-w samples of Mysore, Tellicherry and INcilgherry 

 coffees ; and a case containing samples of indigo from 

 places far distant from each other, as Java, Ouilh, 

 Madras, Bombay and Benares, and several with quite 

 local appellations. Specimens of tea growing in p.its 

 are also ou view ; these consist of the wild species 

 of T. sinensis and T. yiridis, T. assamica, as well as 

 some hybrid forms possessing mostly creamy variegation 

 on the leaf. Another Indian bazaar near this was 

 tenanted by Hindu attendants, and an Englishman, 

 Mr. Bowden. The construction and fittings are as 

 completely Indian in appearance as materials, and a 

 knowledge acquired by long residence in the country 

 can make them, the native women in their costume 

 adding much to the idea desired to be conveyed. 

 In this bazaar are samples of teas of a mure varied 

 description than is seen at the Kangra stall, while 

 the proprietor is an agent for those teas generally that 

 are produced on Indian soil. These are packed in 

 air-tight metal-like paper, but which is a true metal 

 that can be soldered by merely passing a hot iron 

 over the edges. As this is a bazaar proper it is only 

 to be expected that we should find a varied and 

 curious assortment of native wares, such as curries and 

 what they are made of, pickles of the warmest, a 

 preserve made from Physalts Alkekengi, the Cape 

 Gooseberry, said to be superior to that of Guava, in 

 that its flavour and aroma are less evanescent and 

 more delicious ; Trichinopoly cigars made from a 

 tobacco called Lanka ; peppers to stimulate the flagging 

 appetite; and Indian toys for babies brown and « Lite, 

 whose colours are as fait as their own, for they can- 

 not be licked off— an advantage not to be overlooked 

 by owners of infants. Coloured models of Indian fruits 

 of many species form an interesting portion of the 

 items seen at this stall, and we must not forget the 

 toddy gatherer and his wife. As this intoxioting 

 liquid is made from the juice of the fruit-stalk of 

 Borassus flabelliformis, a species of palm that attains 

 a height of 70-100 feet, it is necessary, to get the 

 I' basis," to climb the tree to the top, where the long 



bunches of fruit hang. Those fruits are of the size 

 of medium Oranges, aud it is from their foot-stalk 

 that the liquid slowly drips. A fruit is cut off and 

 a jug hung on to catch the juice, so that there may 

 be several hanging on one bunch. These have to be 

 placed in position in the early morning and removed 

 in the evening, so that our toddy-tapper has quite 

 enough on his hands when hn has ten or a dozen 

 Borassuses on draught. His wife, of course, carries the 

 jars and he does the climbing business, which is done 

 by means of a strap round his waist and by fastening 

 his feet near the ankles with another, so that by 

 leaning back against the waist-strap, his feet being 

 placed against the stem, he can ascend by a series of 

 j erks. — Gardeners' C hronicle. 



CEYLON AND INDIAN PRODUCE. 



The following extracts from the Produce Markets' 

 Review will , we are sure, prove interesting to our 

 readers : — 



The first arrivals of the new season's black Leaf Con- 

 gous are due about Thursday next, and within three weeks 

 from that time the immense quantity of 18,000,000 lb. is 

 expected to reach this market. The stocks here are already 

 superabundant, and the production is increasing rapidly 

 in India, Ceylon, and Java, of teas, which, as a rule, are 

 far stronger and better than the China growths. Really 

 fine Black Leaf Congou of the first pickings of the last 

 crop is now to be had in the London market 9d or lOd a 

 lb. — prices which are probably 6d below those refused for 

 the parcels when they first arrived. Under such circum- 

 stances the average value of China tea in the season about 

 to open, can only be very low, particularly if the supplies 

 are hurried forward, as is now being done. Instead of tea 

 here being cheaper than was ever before known, and of 

 stocks being greatly beyond the wants of the trade, it 

 might be thought that the China Merchants wore hurrying 

 to fill up a great gap in the supplies at highly remuner- 

 ative prices. As, however, we are suffering from a glut, 

 aud not from a scarcity, of tea, the course for the trade 

 to pursue is unusually well remarked out. It is clearly 

 to let the great supplies of new tea accumulate, until the 

 prices reach a low level. 



So long as grocers can buy all but the very finest Con- 

 gous at certainly under Is per lb., and can add any con- 

 stituents these may want from the abundant supplies of 

 fine Indian teas, in what way do the new season's Black 

 Leafs interest them ? On the other hand, if they give 

 more for them than for similar qualities of old tea, they 

 will simply involve the whole importing and distributing 

 trades in another season of loss and constantly-increasing 

 depression. The trifling greater freshness of new teas is 

 of no real advantage, for it is soon lost, aud it can, besides, 

 be little appreciated even at the first by the public, after 

 the addition of milk and sugar. 



Indian teas are selling fairly, and the market is steady 

 for most grades. The few breaks of new Darjeelings 

 offered were scarcely up * to the average, except one or 

 two lots, but as is usually the case with the first arrivals, 

 they attracted attention, and fetched much higher prices 

 thau similar grades of old import. The latest estimate of 

 the Indian crop is slightly in excess of that previously 

 reported, but it is also said that the season is likely to 

 be a backward one ; as there is an ample supply of old 

 teas here, this is not of much consequence. The quality 

 of the new crop is reported to be good, and it is of equal 

 importance that prices in Calcutta have opened consider- 

 ably lower than last year. From this it would appear that 

 buyers in Calcutta are alive to the probable course of the 

 market. At any rate, with larger shipments from Ceylon 

 and Java, there is every probability that a lower average 

 of prices is to be expected than during the past season, 

 and if this is well considered by those who buy tea in 

 Calcutta at the sales, their frequent heavy losses would 

 probably come to an end. At the public sales 7,300 pack- 

 ages of Iudian, including 313 new season'--, 926 of Ceylon, 

 and 7bi of Java teas, were offered. For the former there 

 was a steady inquiry, but the Ceylon growths were eagerly 

 compel i n pHces. The Java teas sold readily, 



at quite former rates. 



