432 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1884. 



undisturbed. The factories in Bengal (Sikkim Oinehona) 

 only obtained 50 per cent, and the Neilgherry factory 64 

 per cent, of the alkaloids from the barks, while Messrs. 

 Howard obtained 100 per cent. It is, therefore, beyond 

 question that to Government it is financially more ad- 

 vantageous to dispose of bark in London than in India, 

 as the febrifuge sold here virtually loses half its com- 

 mercial value in manufacture. In forwarding the minute, of 

 which the above is a precis, the Secretary of State in- 

 formed the Government of India that he had under consider- 

 ation the question whether it was desirable to place upon a 

 permanent footing the existing system of manufacturing in 

 London, and asked what should be done withlarge existing 

 stocks. The question of the local manufacture of Sikkim febri- 

 fuge has been referred to Professor Armstrong, and Pro- 

 fessor Lawson will doubtless be required to submit a 

 similar report on the Neilgherry produce. Pending final 

 settlement the Secretary of State proposes to revert to the 

 former system of sale by auctiou of the bark sent home 

 from India. From the large stock at home the Secretary 

 of State proposes to send to India the quinine and fehribuge, 

 and suggests that the latter be distributed freely at a low 

 price in malarial districts, in view to making its value 

 widely known. Professor Lawson, with reference to the 

 general question, reported that although the market is at 

 present nearly glutted, still in a few years' time there may 

 be not only no increase, but even a considerable decrease. His 

 reasons are that many plantations have been badly selected, 

 and the result of the crops must prove failures. Also that 

 the present fall in prices now prevailing will deter persons 

 from opening out new plantations or will induce present 

 cinchona planters to turn to more paying products. He 

 accordingly urges the establishment of a local factory, 

 either by private speculators or by Government, or by Gov- 

 ernment assisting capitalists. The suggestion of the Secret- 

 ary of State to distribute the febrifuge at a low price will 

 develope a large demand which Professor Lawson would 

 meet by local manufacture in future. 



The Government of India has accordingly adopted the 

 Secretary of State's suggestion, one-half of the stock of 

 febrifuge being sent to Bengal, and the remainder being 

 divided between Madras and Bombay. — Times of India. 



OUR TEA PRODUCING COUNTRIES. 



The war between France and Ohina brings into promin- 

 ence our other sources of supplies for tea. The object 

 of this article is to place before our readers as succinctly 

 as we can some few particulars and statistics of the tea 

 production of India and Ceylon. A quarter of a century 

 ago some small consignments of Indian tea were placed 

 on the London market, amountiug in all to about one 

 week's supply at our present rate of consumption. At first. 

 from their great strength and astringency, they were rather 

 •autiously received, but they rapidly grew in favour among 

 eur leading dealers. Through the price being so high, and 

 the quantity so extremely limited, they were unable to be 

 used in any but the highest-priced blends, and then only 

 in small proportion. During the next ten years the supply 

 gradually but surely increased, until in 1S70 it reached 

 13,500,0001b. per annum. From that date the " tide of 

 affairs " of tea seems to have changed. Indian growths 

 got more and more into popular favour, and the increasing 

 supplies were all taken for home use, to the great detriment 

 of the China trade; for, although the consumption of tea 

 has gradually gone on increasing with our increased popul- 

 ation, and was last year 46,000,000 lb. more than thirteen 

 years previously, the consumption of China tea has re- 

 mained perfectly stationary, or fluctuated only some 1 

 or 2 per cent. As we see from the subjoined figures, 

 in 1870 the proportion of Indian to the total amount of 

 tea consumed was under 10 per cent., in 18S0 it had risen 

 to 28 per cent., and last year to 34 per ccut., the increase 

 beiug more marked in the past than during any previous 

 year. 



Ohina. Indian. Total. 



1800. 75,600,000 1.200,000 76,800,000 



1S70 112,380,000 13,500,000 125,880,000 



1880 111,307,000 43,800,000 155,107,000 



1883 114,9JO,000 59,097,000 174,047,000 



Having thus attempted to show the results by actual figures, 

 a few words may be added as to the principal causes which 



have led to such a state of things. First and foremost, 

 because of the great superiority, both in strength in all 

 sorts and great flavour and quality in the finer kinds of 

 Indian, notably those from the Darjeeling district; teas 

 from some of the more favourite gardens being much sought 

 after, and very long prices paid for the finest pickings, 

 several of the large retailers giving unlimited orders to 

 their brokers to secure them some particularly choicelot 

 Secondly, because of the gradually increasing inferiority of 

 China teas and the " poor value " the better kinds show 

 when compared with the rival teas at the same price It 

 would thus appear that the consumption of Indian tea will 

 only be limited by its supply, and, so soon as we get 

 a sufficient quantity, China tea will gradually but surely 

 disappear from our home -consumption. 



Having thus far treated only on Indian teas, we must 

 proceed to notice a very formidable rival, both to India 

 and China, but more particularly the latter. During the 

 past two or three years small but increasing consignments 

 of tea have been imported from Ceylon, where the un- 

 remunerative state of the coffee trade, induced by blight 

 and other causes, led the planter to turn their attention 

 to tea-planting with every marked and considerable suc- 

 cess, the soil and climate being especially suited to the 

 free cultivation of the plant. Two years ago the amount 

 exported was about 250,000 lb. This year is expected 

 to reach nearly 3,000,000 lb., and there is every pro- 

 spect of a similar rate of increase in the future, for, 

 as a writer in a recently published article on the " Pro- 

 spects of Ceylon" states, "at a not very distant period 

 we shall have 150,000 acres under cultivation, with an 

 annual export of 60,000,000 lb." Remembering what India 

 has done, and bearing in mind the unrivalled climate and 

 all the great facilities for labour and transit in Ceylon, 

 this does not by any means seem an exaggerated statement. 

 All the teas comiug forward at present are eagerly com- 

 peted for, and rapidly go into consumption, oue great 

 desideratum of this kind of tea being that it can be 

 drunk, m its pure state without any blending or mixing 

 with other kinds, and at a moderate cost to the consumer 

 a very good article can be supplied. One great feature 

 both of Indian and Ceylon teas is in the sorting, 

 and the public are fast begnuing to appreciate the 

 great advantages obtained in using what are technically 

 known in the trade as " broken " or " semi-broken " teas, 

 finding that in these descriptions they can obtain the finest 

 teas at less money than they would have to pay for a 

 " whole leaf." In fact, some of our large manufacturing 

 and mining districts there is a large consumption going on 

 of Iudiau tea dust, which is retailed about ljd per oz., 

 and thoroughly liked, although in appearance it bears a 

 strong resemblance to coarse, dry snuff. As was to be ex- 

 pected, in all these gradual changes in the tea trade the 

 larger towns have led the way, chiefly those in tho north of 

 England and in Ireland, where comparatively higher prices 

 are paid for tea by the factory hands and working classes 

 generally than in the smaller and more exclusive towns in the 

 south and west of Euglaud; but, as we observed above, it is 

 after all only a question of supply, and, so soon as a suffici- 

 ent quantity of tea is imported from India and Ceylon, 

 so surely will China tea go out of consumption, or will be 

 only purchased where price is a sine qua non, as among the 

 so-called "giviug away" or "present" shops which have 

 sprung up of late years in so mauy of our towns and villages. 

 — Mommy Pvst. 



♦■ 



.Aori- Horticultural Show and Industrial Exirn:. 

 ition, Kandy, 1885. — We have received a prospectus 

 of this show, containing the names of the committee, 

 the regulations, and the list of prizes. The Exhibition 

 will be he'd at Kandy about the latter end of May 

 1S8.3._ It will ^ceupy two days, and will be opened on 

 the first day at 2 p. m., aud on the second day in the 

 morning. Intending exhibitors may be relieved to 

 know that the Royal Botanic Gardens will not compete 

 for prize-. The following are the classes :— I. Garden 

 Perennials (in puts) ; II. Garden Annuals (in pots) : 

 III. Ferns (in pots) ; IV. Foliage Plants (in pots) ; 

 V. Cut Flowers ; VI. Vegetables ; VII. Fruit ; 

 VIII. Native Products ; IX. Estate Products; X. 

 Arts aud Manufactures. 



