732 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April i, 1885.] 



would be very happy to give any informatiou on the 

 subject. I was the first to introduce it into England. 

 I have got large quantities in my garden. It grows 

 to a bush about 3 feet high. It should grow beauti- 

 fully on the hills here, much better than it grows 

 in England. It is a very valuable plaut : in Japan 

 it is considered of great value. Lacquer is the juice 

 from the bark. It is just like the indiarubber, 

 which is the milk from the rubber tree, so lacquer 

 is the sap drawn from incisions in the bark of the 

 lacquer plant. I think it is a plant which might 

 very well be cultivated here."* 



\ I Si: FOB THE JUNGLE LANDS BETWEEN BATTICALOA 



AND BADULLA. 

 The conversation then naturally led to the rubber 

 tree and its cultivation here. "Rubber will never- 

 pay to be cultivated," was Sir Samuel's opinion ; " if 

 the Government would sell all that jungle laud be- 

 tween Batticaloa and Badulla at 5s an acre and the 

 whole of it was planted with rubber it would pay. 

 I do not mean to cultivate the rubber, but just stick 

 the trees in as jungle plants and let them take their 

 chance. That the only way it would pay. It will 

 never pay to cultivate them. It would be very easy 

 to clear the chena ground and put the trees in and 

 then just leave them to take their chance." 



TEA : SMALL BREAKS. 



The Indian Pollers' Guzette of Feb. 3rd has the fol- 

 lowing leading article : — 



We are not surprised to see that all small breaks are in 

 future to be disposed of after the big breaks sales are over, 

 and it seems to us, that a good feeling in bringing this de- 

 sired end about has beeu shown throughout by both classes, 

 buyers and sellers. It may seem hard lo some of our small 

 factories out here that this fiat has gone forth in London, 

 but they ought to remember that they have the remedy 

 in their own hands in bulking their invoices. We have 

 no doubt that auy garden which consistently bulks its tea, 

 and continues a uniform assortment throughout the sea- 

 son, with of course due care bestowed on its manipulation, 

 will in a very short time have a pull in prices. Every 

 year that passes is moulding the Indian tea trade on more 

 strictly commercial lines. Like all young industries, a 

 good deal was put up with, until the trade assumed the 

 enormous proportions it has recently attained. There are, 

 perhaps, no move enterprizing men in any industry than 

 tea, and we feel assured, now that it is put before them in 

 an undeniably stubborn way, that the old practices must 

 give way to a better system ; they will rise to the oc- 

 casion, and it is to be hoped that during 18*5 more bulk- 

 ing, at anyrateof small iuvoices, will generally obtain than 

 heretofore. It is true that up to date the appliances at hand 

 have beeu of the rudest kind ; but we are glad to say that those 

 estates lately opened out cannot complain of these, as a 

 vast amount of capital has been laid out by many firms 

 in not only introducing skilled European labor to erect 

 pucca tea houses, &c, but also in giving the very best 

 appliances that engineering skill can produce in the way 

 of machinery to manipulate the crop. We are fully aware 

 that many small concerns labor under disadvantages, but 



* The Lacquer Manufactures of Japan,— Dr. Dresser con- 

 tributes to the Globe an article on the above subject, from -which 

 we quote b few sentences :— Lacquer is the corrosive juice of a 

 tree known to botanists as Elms vcrniafera, which flows from 

 the lactiferous vessels of the plant. It is a substance somewhat 

 resembling india-rubber and gutta-percha, but is neither soluble 

 in spirit nor acted upon by any of the weaker acids, eveu resist- 

 ing the action of boiling vinegar and hot acetic acid. What 

 we know us the lacquer wares .of Japan, such as trays, bowls 

 cabinets, kt., arc generally objects formed of wood, covered with 

 the juice of the Kims plant. While eleven or twelve coatings 

 .,1 lacquer arc given to the best class of work, onlv the first 

 two or three contain earth dust, the latter being either pure or 

 lacquer mingled with some finely-ground pigment. After the 

 earthy coalings the subsequent grindings are effected by uhar- 

 coal of different degrees of hardness. Thus prepared the object 

 is ready to reoeive the pattern, and this it does by the figure 

 being drawn in tine-outline on a flexible fibrouB paper with lac- 

 quer used as a paint. 



in a great measure the managers can assist themselves. 

 Take, for instance, factories turning out 1,000 maunds of 

 tea, and perhaps working at only a small profit, and re- 

 quiring to sell their crop sharp in order to keep down 

 interest charges : it will no doubt appear hard to them that 

 their tens will, if sent in small breaks, have to remain 

 until the larger breaks are sold. To these we say, assort 

 into fewer classes, and then they are on a par with their 

 larger neighbours. For instance, such factories assorting 

 into, say, four classes, Broken Pekoe, Pekoe Souchong, 

 aud Broken tea, wonld only be able to send down to 

 Calcutta about ten breaks of any decent size, whist if 

 assorted into two classes, twenty breaks could be sent for- 

 ward with better results, . simply making a lower class of 

 Broken Pekoe and Pekoe. Some may doubt this, but we 

 are iu a position to say that this is the opinion of some 

 of the leading brokers. There is of course one drawback 

 in assorting these, and that is, that there is perhaps a 

 rather larger proportion of dust made. To any one who 

 has followed the sales, however, it must be apparent that 

 there is not the same iucentive to make small leaf teas 

 as formerly. This season what we might term whole leaf 

 teas have sold considerably better than teas smashed up 

 and made to conform to the China style; and if this is 

 to continue to the end, as we firmly believe it will then 

 the proportion of dust will not be so great as might at 

 first sight appear. This year, too, we may remark, that 

 tor auy thing like good dust, that is to say not exactly 

 powder, the prices have been excellent, and more nearly 

 approaching that of former years than has been the case 

 latterly. In the coal districts in England, about ten years 

 ago, all the dust that was made in India was easily 

 disposed of at remunerative rates, aud we see no reason 

 why these districts and others should not still be able to 

 take it off now, if anything short of powder is sent. A 

 very large proportion of the drinking teas in England 

 nowadays is simply whole leaf Indians, and we would ad- 

 vise our friends in small factories to bear this in miud 

 aud assort accordingly, and we feel confident that those fact- 

 ories would find it a paying result. There is not only a 

 saving in assortment, but the breaks seut forward will be 

 a sufficiently large number of chests to insure their being 

 sampled and sold on a par with the invoices from big 

 factories. Where, of course, factoriesnre favorably situated 

 in the way of appliances for bulking and sending forward 

 large invoices, by all means let them do so ; but we are 

 writing more with a view to assist the smaller gardens. 

 In no case should bulking be neglected, and every care 

 should be exercised in performing it, so that dealers at 

 home may have no chance to cavil at the way that it is 

 done. That they will do so for a time we doubt not, but 

 this will disappear in a year or two. 

 This ia one of a series of articles reflecting the 

 opinions of the London brokers, to whom, no doubt, 

 large breaks are a great convenience. As a matter 

 of fact, however, as far as invoices from Ceylon are 

 concerned, the highest prices are generally paid for 

 small breaks, divided into four and sometimes five 

 descriptions of tea, thus : — orange pekoe, broken 

 pekoe, pekoe souchong, broken tea, and dust. 



THE DETERIORATION OF FOOCHOW TEAS. 



To Mr. Thos. Fairhurst of Foochow, one of the 

 largest tea ports of China, we are indebted for the fol- 

 lowing copy of a paper issued by the Foochow General 

 Chamber of Commerce, 16th October 1884. It is ad- 

 dressed by the Chairman, Mr. John Odell, to the 

 British Consul, and runs as follows : — 



I am aware that owing to political troubles the present 

 is not a favorable time for bringing under the notice of the 

 native officials matters affecting the trade of the port, but 

 the subject I uow venture to address you upon is, in the 

 opinion of this Chamber, of such vital importance both to 

 the Native and Foreigh merchants that I would beg your 

 earnest co-operation and assistance. 



It is a matter too well known to every one connected 

 with the trade that iu former years Foochow enjoyed the 

 reputation of producing the finest tea in the world, but 

 that since the year 1870, the quality has steadily fallen off. • 

 As a proof of this, it is only necessary to give you th 



