jiruuARY 2, 1885.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST., 



(>4$ 



touch tea from China in the early part of last year, and 

 at no time during the year were they active buyers. Mr, 

 Alabaster, who disputes the assertion that China teas are 

 not so good as they were, admits that they "do not hold 

 the position they once did, compared with their Indian 

 rivals." After all, however, the China grower will still 

 have an almost unlimited market in his own country, if 

 Mr. Alabaster be correct. The tea consumed in foreign 

 countries constitutes, ho states, but a very small pro- 

 portion of the quantity grown ; for, putting the estim- 

 ate of the native population much lower than usual, 

 they still far outnumber the tea-drinkers abroad; and 

 tea-drinker fur tea-drinker, they require at least twin- 

 as much per man. 



TEA CULTIVATION IN NATAL. 



We learn by the Times of Natal that a meeting was 

 held in the Maritzburg Town Office on Monday afternoon 

 for the purpose of considering whether the tea industry 

 can be developed in the neighbourhood of the city. 



Mr. K. Topham, in opening the proceedings, said that 

 if the amount was expended on the soil of the colony 

 which was generally expended in other plaees, it would 

 render it the most productive country in the world. They 

 had met that afternoon to consider whether it would be 

 desirable to develop the cultivation of the tea plant in the 

 neighbourhood of the city, and with that purpose would 

 call on Mr. Hulett to give tin- met ting the benefit of his 

 experience. 



Mr. Huli'tt said that perhaps it would be better for the 

 meeting to put questions to him. He was a firm believer 

 in the industry, and, as was well known, he had invested 

 his all in it. He had already 74 acres under cultivation, 

 and would make it up to 100 acres in the course of two 

 or three months; and two or three neighbours had gone 

 into the trade, and there were now over 150 acres under 

 cultivation. There were tens of thousands of acres on the 

 coast where tea could be grown. It was, of course, a quest- 

 ion whether tea would grow as well in the upcountry lands 

 ns on the coast. That he could not say ; experience only 

 would show. There might be advantages accruing to the 

 formation of small tea gardens in the neighbourhood of 

 the city which they on the coast did not possess. There 

 might be considerable benefit to be derived in the picking 

 season by the employment of young children, of whom 

 there were so many in the city who could be so employed, 

 both European as well as others. Further, the cultivation 

 might be cheaper than on the coast, where they had to 

 depend on manual labour only, and near the city much 

 might he done with machinery. He thought also there 

 would not be the same difficulty with regard to weeds. It 

 was likely that a less amount of leaf would be obtained 

 than on the coast, but it might still be made a paying 

 industry, and if successful would become second to none. 

 He had that morning visited Wilgefontein, where he had 

 sent a sack of seed. He had found the seed in the nurs- 

 eries coming up very well. While there, he saw a large 

 tract of land which would grow tea well if they did not 

 have more frost than they say they did. It had been said 

 that he- had a monopoly of the tea trade; but the more 

 tea there was grown the sooner would the price go down 

 to export rales. He did not believe in working for one's 

 private ends in a Country like this. Several questions were 

 then put to Mr. Hulett, who gave answers which are embodi- 

 ed in the following. He had no frost on his land, so 

 that he could not say for certain how many degrees the 

 tea plant could stand, but in China it bore a very large 

 amount. 



Mr. Topham said that tea plants which had been given 

 him by Mr. Hulett had thoroughly stood the frost of the 

 present winter, which was the most severe he had known 

 for 20 years. 



Mr. Hulett, continuing, said that he did not say there 

 would be less leaf from the up-country districts than from 

 the coast; but on the latter the spring came earlier and 

 the summer lasted longer, and therefore he thought they 

 would get more leaf than upcountry. If in the neighbour- 

 hood 'I the city they got as much leaf as he did. there 

 woidd be no question as to the success of the enterprise. 

 Irrigation would be necessary, not in the winter — as the 

 water would probably turn to ice round the plants— hut 



on days like the present, when the water ami sun would 

 have the effect of a shower of rain. Then they must re- 

 member the system of pruning; if they wanted to get a 

 lot of leaf they must prune in the winter. With respect 

 to the class of tea to be grown, it was a well-known fact 

 that Indian teas were driving the China out of the market, 

 Tin- liking for Indian tea was an acquired taste, and that 

 was the tea being grown by him. They could not get 

 from China plants more than half the amount of leaf (hat 

 they could from Indian, aud that was tin- reason why they 

 grew the latter. With respect to the hot winds, tiny dill 

 not get much of them on the coast, but had never suffered 

 any ill effects from them. With the south-east wind they some- 

 times hail lain, lie had found thai in tie exposed lands 



the edges of (he leaves were slightlj lilaeko 1, He Wdttld 



always advise that trees should be planted at the borders 

 of the fields to break tin; force of the wind. His yield 

 of tea was greater than anyting he had r«td of in India. 

 The first trees that he planted from his own seed were 

 planted in November, 1880. In two years he began to pick, 

 and six months after he took 2501b. weight of leaves. In 

 India 40lbs. or 501bs. would have been a good return. 



Mr. Hulett then read a statement of probable returns 

 per acre, which has already been published in these columns. 



With regard to the value of tea, he believed it could 

 be grown to pay all expenses at 8d. a pound ; but that 

 would not leave much margin. Any company or private 

 person could make it pay at lOd. or Is. a pouud for ex- 

 portation, and he believed that the Natal-grown tea would 

 fetch from Is. to Is. 3d, a pound in the London market. 

 With regard to labour, whatever you do, do not employ 

 Chinamen; they do not know how to make tea. They 

 made it the same now as they did 500 years ago, and 

 Indian tea was forcing the China out of the market. What 

 was wanted first of all was an expert. He (the speaker) 

 made tea, and knew there was something wrong with it, 

 but could not fiud out what it was; but an expert could 

 tell them at once. There was no doubt that kafirs could 

 be easily taught how to pick the leaves. The soil must 

 be good and deep ; shallow, shale laud would not do. 



Mr. Barnes did not see why an experiment shotdd not 

 be made, and with that object would move : " That in the 

 opinion of this meeting it is desirable to test the question 

 as to the development of the industry in and near Pleter 

 maritzburg, aud that steps be taken to promote such ex- 

 periment." 



The resolution was duly seconded, and after a slight dis- 

 cussion was unanimously carried. 



The following commitee was then appointed to give effect 

 to the resolution : — Messrs, Eguei , Chapman, O, Matterson, 

 Barnes, O. Thresh, and Joseph Baynes. Votes of thanks 

 to Mr. Hulett and the chairman brought the proceedings 

 to a close. — Natal Mercury, 



BRAZIL. 

 Repokt by Mr. Consul Stevens on Bahia, fob 

 1883.—" There can be little doubt " Mr. Stevens says, 

 "that the producing capabilities of Bahia are great, I may 

 even say inexhaustible, and it seems regretable to one 

 visiting any portion of the interior to see crops of all 

 descriptions of produce literally rotting for want of roads 

 aud easy communication. I have myself seen cotton, divi- 

 divi (the value of which is unknown here), sugar cane, 

 coconuts, and coffee in an advanced state of decay, having 

 been abandoned consequent on the closing of paths by 

 heavy waterfalls in the season of collection. Roadmaking 

 is almost unknown, aud such paths as one meets are 

 made by clearing the bush which grows again in a few da^s. 

 Few persons care to travel by these insecure paths unless 

 armed, where crime — unpunished in nine cases out of teu 

 — increases as the emancipation of the slaves advances. 

 The hope of proper cultivation and large crops ami due 

 prosperity may be summed up in the following: — I, Courts 

 of Law ; 2, Magisterial Courts with power of summary 

 punishment; 3, Crown prosecution in criminal cases; 4, 

 Koads and more reasonable duties. 1 ' The establishment of 

 sugar factories is to be proceeded with, and eight spots 

 have already been fixed upon where it is proposed to erect 

 premises capable of turning out three to four hundred tons 

 of sugar per diem from sugar cane, for the supply of which 

 arrangements have already been made. It may be open 



