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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February 2, 1885. 



CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES IN THE TEA. TRADE. 



One of the most brilliant and enjoyable gatherings of the 

 season took place on Monday evening last, when the Wor- 

 shipful Company of Tea Tasters entertained a large and 

 representative company at dinner in then- splendid hall in 

 Tea Lane. The entrance-hall and staircase landings were 

 decorated with a rich profusion of tea shrubs in full flower 

 from the establishment of the Messrs. Cooper at Earl s Court. 



The Master said: He was proud to see before him 

 gentlemen connected with almost every interest that had 

 to do with tea, from the planter to the consumer. _ He 

 thought that a friendly interchange of views and opinions 

 might be of great benefit to all parties. Much that was 

 said and done in Mincing Lane would lead an outside 

 observer to think that there was more or less animosity 

 between the different branches of the great tea industry 



How for instance, could the broker or dealer expect 

 permanently to succeed unless tea planting were in a pro- 

 sperous state ? Outspoken folks in Mincing Lane were 

 never tired of crying out that the tea planter pt today 

 was by no means so thoroughly up to his work as he 

 was twenty years ago ; that now he only half-withered his 

 leaf, and overtired it ; in short, that his aim was to get 

 his work quickly done, and out of his hands, utterly regard- 

 less of whether it had any keeping quality in it, or 

 whether it would in a few months time go perfectly nat 

 and stale. Minciug Lane was not always just to the 

 planters, although it must always be admitted that its 

 opinion had a market value which they could not ignore. 

 In conclusion, he begged to propose the toast of Success 

 to the Worshipful Company of Planters," coupled with 

 the name of the Master, A. T. Plant, Esq. 



The Master of the Planters' Company in rising to 

 respond, returned thanks for the kind manner in which 

 his Compauy had been spoken of. Great advances had 

 been made since he first went out to Assam in the year 

 18b'0. Tea planting was then partly of the nature of 

 an experiment, now it was a great accomplished fact. 

 With regard to Mincing Lane he had always gone his own 

 course, and paid no attention to anything that was said 

 there. What did " the Lane " know about tea planting he 

 would like to know. Young boys, fresh from school, paid a 

 premium to get into a brokers's sale-room, and after a 

 couple or three years spent between tea tasting and 

 billiard playing, or looking on whilst others played at either 

 of these pastimes, came out to Assam or Cachar 

 to teach planters what was, or was not, good tea. He 

 admitted that it might occasionally be advantageous to 

 learn from a man of practical experience as to what 

 was likely to be the coming fancy of buyers in the 

 home markets ; but he contended that planters could 

 easily arrive at the information by watching how their 

 own produce sold, and varying it according to the pre- 

 vailing demand. He complained that the prices realized 

 for Indian tea in public sale were sadly inadequate, and 

 blamed the selling brokers for permitting the buyers to 

 combine together for the purpose of securing large 

 breaks under the value, and dividing them out after- 

 wards. He also thought that there was great room for 

 improvement in the management of the bonded ware- 

 houses in London. He counselled his brother planters 

 to remember that tea was made to be used as an in- 

 vigorating beverage, and that they failed in their duty 

 if they allowed consideration? of leaf or appearance to 

 tempt them to forget the teapot of the consumer. In- 

 dian tea had earned a wide-spread celebrity for its 

 strength, which neither China nor Java had yet been 

 able to compete with, and he trusted the day was far 

 distant when they would allow themselves to be betrayed 

 into a competition with either of those countries in the 

 production of what is called "tea for price." 



The Master then referred at some length to the imports 

 of tea into the United Kingdom, and quoted statistics to 

 show what an enormous increase had taken place m the 

 consumption per head of population. He could not hut 

 regret the verv unsatisfactory state into which tea im- 

 porting as a business had fallen. Undue trading on credit, 

 and over-supplying the home market during the summer 

 months, when buyers were away on holiday, were two 

 causes of much evil to the trade. He then went on to notice 

 the very practical remarks of the previous speaker in re- 

 gard to delays in delivery of tea from bond being due to 



its being sold before it was ready. Opinion was very 

 strong in some quarters that the " prompt " should date 

 from the delivery of the weight notes, and not from 

 the day of sale, as at present. They were honoured 

 by the presence of several large importers of tea, and lie 

 gave the toast of "The Importers of Tea," coupled with 

 the name of A. Briar, Esq. 



Mr. Briar rose to return thanks on behalf of himself 

 and his brethren, although he admitted that as a rule he 

 was not in the habit of consulting them on matters of pro- 

 cedure. He totally dissented from the opinion that delays 

 in getting delivery of his tea from bond arose in any 

 way from failure on his part. He admitted that some 

 importers printed tea for sale before the ship had arrived, 

 but as a rule he wished his tea to be weighed and ready 

 before the catalogue was issued. He had no no doubt but 

 complaiuts of delays were very frequent with other im- 

 porters' tea, especially when protective theories were fol- 

 lowed ; but he had always endeavoured to carry out the 

 policy of — No protection, No reserve, and No profit. Still, 

 for pure philanthropy he continued to work on, and hoped 

 no one would follow his example unless they were prepared 

 to sacrifice everything, and incur the ill-will of all oppo- 

 nents. 



The Master again rose and expressed his great 

 gratification at the free and open manner in which 

 the various speakers had responded to his call. There 

 was yet one department, and an important one, too, which 

 they would be pleased to drink success to before they 

 separated, namely, the Tea Dealers' Company, coupled with 

 the name of the Prime Warden, Sir Robert Sedgwick. 



Sir Robert said, on the subject of warehouse management ho 

 should say that the haste with which importers pressed their 

 tea forward for sale rendered the work of the warehouse- 

 keeper very difficult t» do well. Bulking in many cases 

 was very carelessly done. Complaints were frequently 

 arising, which showed plainly that the old practice of in- 

 spection by the selling broker was now little more than a 

 matter of form. — Home and Colonial Mail.* 



Cinchona Tkimeniana. — At a recent meeting of 

 the Linnean Society, a paper was read by Mr. E. 

 M. Holmes on Cinchona ledgeriana as a species. The 

 author expressed the opinion that under the name of 

 G. Udgeriana a number of varieties of forms, and prob- 

 ably some hybrids of Cinchona calisaya, are now under 

 cultivation in the British colouies. He believed that 

 if more attention were paid to the characters afforded 

 by the bark of the trees, taken in conjunction with the 

 other botanical characters of flower and fruit, these 

 varieties and hybrids would be more eas'ly defined 

 and recognized. He c nsideis that the plant published 

 under the name of G. ledgcriana by Dr. Trimtn was 

 probably reiet able to Weddell's Cinchona calisaya, var. 

 pallida, as a horticultural form, for which the author 

 proposed the name " Trimenian.i."— Athenaum. 



Concrete Walks. — An engineer tells how to make a 

 cement or concrete walk requiring no great skill in pre- 

 paring materials. These are. water, lime and gravel or 

 ashes, or both. The gravel and ashes are put in a heap 

 and wetted. One barrel of the water lime is mixed with 

 sharp, clean sand, dry, being shoveled over back and forth 

 several times to get a thorough mixture. A portion is 

 then mixed wjth water into a thin soft mortar and five 

 parts of the wet gravel or ashes are well mixed with it, 

 so that every fragment is coated with the combining mortar. 

 This is important for obvious reasons. This concrete is 

 spread on the graded walk and beaten down with a 

 rammer until the moisture gathers on the surface. Some 

 of the dry sand or cement is then scattered over the sur- 

 face to absorb the moisture, and the surface is smoothed 

 over with a plank rubb r having a sloping handle to work 

 it back and forth. In a few days this is hard and be- 

 comes harder with time. By making divisions of thin strips 

 of wood or tarred paper the cement may be laid down 

 in blocks, squares or diamond sliaped, and for extra good 

 walks the blocks may be colored by mixing the finish coat 

 with brown or gray or other colors alternately. — Florida 

 Disjxitch. 



* Our readers will, of course, detect the imagination 

 involved in this Christmas report. — Ed. 



