208 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST [September" i, 1884. 



locum tenens who influence business. Again, the easy way 

 iu which credits are granted to comparative strangers, 

 and often to the injury ot the bank's legitimate consti- 

 tuents, creates some coustematiou and surprise. If tliero 

 is a good market and the tea can be sold on arrival, 

 the bill drawn against it is taken up, otherwise the un- 

 fortunate bank is sometimes left in possession of un- 

 desirable stock. 



This reveals an unhealthy state of trade and finance. 

 The transactions in Melbourne are thus noticed : — 



Sales by auction show a considerable falling off as com- 

 pared with last season, amounting in the aggregate to 

 3,380,1551b. weight, as against 5,454,770 lb. of China teas 

 in 1882-83, as per details below : — 



SAIES by Auction, 1S83-4. 



s. d. s. d, 



3,9601b. sold at 5 to •"; 

 51,560 lb. do at 6 to u (>j 

 113,960 lb. do at 7 to 7 1 

 64,200 11'. do at 7f to 8 

 46,9201b. do at 8j to 8i 

 151,4801b. .lo at 8j to 9 

 273,1201b. do at 9i to 9£ 

 266,9601b. do at 9; to 10 

 36S.7SH lb. do at l»i to 10* 

 896,880 H'. do at 10} to 11" 

 250,120 1b. do at U 111 to 11* 

 150,560 1b. do at 1 if to 1 

 179.1601b. do at 1 01 to 1 0.V 



1,660 lb. do at 1 0j to 1 1 

 140,520 lb. do at 1 11 to 1 1J 

 115,8401b. do at 1 If to 1 2 



lb. do at 1 2i to 1 21 



72,680 lb. do at 1 24 to 1 3 



143,2351b. do at 1 3j to 1 1 



132, lid lb. do at 1 4 > to 1 5 



72,5401b. do at 1 5| to 1 6 



45 lb. do at 1 Bf to 1 7 



47,11-', 11,. do at 1 71 to 1 8 



27,000 lb. do at 1 8-j to 1 10 



9,8101b. do at 1 l"i t.i 2 



g,8 ",155 lb. 



N.B. — All damages and resales by auction are, as far as 

 known, excluded from this list. 

 Or say, 



2,038,480 sold at 5d to Is per lb. m bond. 

 1,341,675 sold at Is0|dto2s per lb, in bond. 

 This large difference between season 1882-83 and 1883-84 is 

 made up in decreased sales during this season of teas sold 

 at 4d to Is per lb , but this season there is an inei i 

 over 300,000 lb. weight of tea sold by auction over Is to 2s 

 per lb. as compared with season 1882-3. 



Though the sales by auction show this large falling off, 

 this has been made up to a considerable extent by consi- 

 derable private sales and speculative purchases. 

 Theu it is staled : — 



The first four months' imports of China teas are sa>,s 

 he, aud probably the best all round in quality seen 

 here for many years past, but the scarcity of commoD 

 grades led to Injudicious speculation, causing arise in some 

 instances of fully 50, perhaps 75, per cent, on low qual- 

 ities ; whilst bringing neglected rubbish to the front, and 

 a large influx of unsaleable and undesirable stock from the 

 other colonies and London. How of ten have we repeated 

 our warning that, to- those who desire them; spurious 

 ins, Macaos, and other akin stuff, are nearly always 

 available to those who wish to deal iu them. More es- 

 pecially is this so when the flushing of the tea plant is 

 nearly over, aud labor iu quantity available and fully em- 

 ployed for a time in re-making up once used, damn] 

 other rubbish, with stalks, tea seeds, &c, picked out from 

 other tea, but always kept for emergency, instead of being 

 thrown away. 



As usual, the Paklums turned out the best in leaf aud, 

 in many cases, in liquor, realizing as high as 2s per lb. in 

 bond. Panyongs, with hardly so pretty a leaf or delicate 

 a liquor, rank next, aud, iu poiut of usefulness, perhaps 

 first. These two descriptions with perhaps a few 

 Packlings, Soo Moos aud Chiug Woe, whilst realizing 

 fair prices at the commencement of the season, have ever 

 since been selling at prices Unit must leave a considerable 

 loss to the importers, and probably the value obtainable 

 by the buyer now and during (he last eight months at Is 

 O'.d to Is 2d per lb. in bond has been unequalled for years, 

 aud it consequently is a length of time since China teas 

 Btood so well iu the estimation of buyers in the Melbourne 



market. Kaisows and other medium district teas lost 

 money early in this season, but ever siuce, with perhapt 

 exception. of the last few months, sold be vend their values 

 partly aided by speculation and partly by tho requirements 

 of the grocers for a tea at a price to follow up the cheap 

 purchases of 18S2-S3. So, whilst the mouth of August saw 

 Pakluuis, Panyongs. Kenyougs, &c, losing money, it also 

 saw tho commencement of tho rise iu value of Kaisows, 

 which often afterwards culminated in higher prices being 

 paid for these teas than for good sterling samples of other 

 kinds worth intrinsically pence per lb. more. The usual 

 result followed, and all the sweepings of the other markets 

 were poured into us. And the damage does not stop here; 

 for, if our information is correct, undertakings have been 

 given by some of the China houses to lay down teas at 

 a price in Melbourne that will certainly keep the Customs 

 officials busy and we shall probably see the lowest class 

 of China teas on our market this season, 1S84-S5, that we 

 have had for many years past. 



No wonder if, in the face of such a state of things, 

 the demand for Indian teas slackened, good China teas 

 being obtained for low prices and China rubbish 

 for about half what it must have cost to produce aud 

 ship it. 



POSITION AND PBOSPECTS OF BEAZIL. 



Sir, — Those who write about Erazil, unfortunately for her, 

 belong to one of two classes — the one that paints her 

 with the most glowing colours, the other that ridicules 

 everything connected with her. Both injure her, albeit it 

 is very easy to avoid these courses by narrating simple 

 facts, which although in some cases they may hurt for a 

 time, as truth often does hurt, cannot fail eventually to 

 benefit her. However, it is to be hoped that in this case 

 Obsequium amicos Veritas odium parit will not, for once, be 

 verified. How very often Brazil is written of as being " sur- 

 passingly fertile!'' Now to suppose a country so geuerally 

 mountainous as Brazil is, with an area of 3,000,000 square 

 miles, to be of equal fertility, requires an ardent imagin- 

 ation, to say nothing of a great ignorance of geological 

 and physical facts. On the other hand, no one could sup- 

 pose a country covered with forest, as a largo part of 

 llrazil is, a country well-watered in some parts, would not 

 have some rich lands. The chief reason, though, for the 

 belief in the surpassing fertility of the land is not based 

 on what it has been known to give per acre, but rather it 

 is the result of an ocular impression at the sight of the 

 glorious green mountains that form the coast line of tho 

 southern half of Brazil. Instinctively, all attribute fertility 

 to forest lands, and to a certain extent this is right, owing 

 to the magnificent alluvial soil found in them, ofteu the 

 accumulation of many a century. But there are forests 

 and forests, and some lands are too dry; and again Brazil 

 is not all covered with dense forests, and even where it is, 

 and where the soil is sufficiently moist and good, the land 

 is not by any means suitable for any other than tropical 

 agriculture. There are myriads of miles of sterile campo 

 land, on which only rank grass grows, and there are miles 

 untold of sandy plains, ou whichonly scrub cork trees and 

 other similar growth will flourish. Brazil is like Europe or the 

 United States, with rich and poor lauds, aud with the vary- 

 ing gradations between these estates; she has some tracts 

 of coffee lauds of the richest soil, red loamy earth 20ft. 

 to 30ft. deep, overlying trap-rock, of which it is a decom- 

 posed substance. There are other rich districts among the 

 granite boulders which crop iqiiusomany parts of Brazil, 

 and she lias lowlands which have a rich covering of soil 

 brought down to them from the hills during past ages, or 

 are possibly the bottoms of vast lakes whose mud only re- 

 mains to show their former existence. 



It is impossible, though, to treat of Brazil in this 

 manner, for what matters it whether in the valley of tho 

 Amazon there are immense tracts of the richest lauds, 

 and that in Para Indian-rubber grows wild, when we are 

 treating of seme specific railway or other enterprize "in- 

 to two thousand miles away? No one thinks of treating 

 Central Asia. India, Australia, or the United States in this 

 way, neither should Brazil be so treated, as there is nut 

 a man alive capable of giving a gonernl idea of the 

 country as a whole. Examining the province of Sao Paulo, 



