April i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



733 



following quotations of the highest prices realized in the 

 two seasons 1870 and 1884, for teas from a few of the well 

 known districts: — 



1870 1884. 



Suey Kut ... @ 2s Id per lb. @ Is 3d per ft. 



Kaisow ... „ 2s lid „ „ Is 10|d „ 



SarYune ... „ 2s 2d „ „ Is Id 



Pan Yong & Hok Oan „ 2s Ud ,, „ Is 8d „ 



Paklin ... ., 2s 5d ,, „ Is 7d „ 



TougPongTong... „ la lOd „ „ 0s Ud „ 



These figures speak for themselves : it is not from any 

 falling off intthe demand for fine and finest Tea which is 

 greater than ever, as can be proved by the rapid increase 

 in the consumption of Indian teas which maintain their 

 superiority in quality. In 1870 the quantity of Indian tea 

 consumed in Great Britain was 13,477,000 lb. while in the 

 year ending 31st May 18S4 it had increased to 00,469,000 lb. 

 and it must be added that the production is increasing 

 every year in like proportion, so that it is no exagger- 

 ation to say that in a very few years, unless a great change 

 is made the trade of Foochow will dwindle down into a 

 small export of common congou. It is not that the taste 

 for tine Foochow teas has gone out of fashion : on the 

 contrary we have the assurance of the whole trade of Eng- 

 land that, given the " old quality," the demand will be 

 greater than ever, and this is con firmed by the fact that 

 the few so called finest teas produced this season have 

 realized on the London Market relativelj much higher 

 prices than, quality considered, were paid for teas from 

 Hankow. A further strong proof is that in former years 

 the Russians, who are noted for using the finest tea ob- 

 tainable, drew most of their supplies from this port ; now 

 they only take Brick tea, their fine teas being sent from 

 Hankow. 



The next point to be considered is the cause of deterior- 

 ation in quality, and I fear it is apparent to every one that 

 the greed of the growers in their eagerness to produce 

 quantity has sacrificed quality. Probably this point is 

 more prominent this than any previous season, for not only 

 have the native merchants produced with a much smaller 

 amount of outside capital a larger supply of first and 

 second crop leaf than last year, but whereas by universal 

 consent not only in China but also in London, the quality 

 of this season's crop supplied to the Hankow market has 

 been declared decidedly superior to last year's the quality 

 of the teas brought to our market has been Jas freely con- 

 demned, showing conclusively that the falling off of the pre- 

 sent season cannot be attributed to unfavourable weather, 

 but must be charged to faulty cultivation and improper 

 preparation. We have abundant proof that the producing 

 shrub has been allowed to grow into a tree of some G to 

 10 feet in height, and with the soil unfertilized for years 

 it may be said to have become a wild uuc:ired for tree 

 instead of the tenderly nurtured plant of the past,. the 

 young leaves of which were carefully gathered, while now 

 they are in most cases literally scraped off the tree. 



What is to be the cure for this is the next point for con- 

 sideration, and the first step would apparently be that the 

 trees in the present plantations should be at once cut or pruned 

 down to some 3 feet in height and the ground properly and 

 richly fertilized. If the high officials would issue an edict 

 ordering a proportion, say 5 per cent of the old trees in each 

 plantation to be destroyed each year and new shrubs planted, 

 it would tend very much to the improvement of quality, but 

 the only permanent remedy will be when new gardens, where 

 the soil is not exhausted, are planted with young and vigor- 

 ous plants. 



The native grower will doubtless argue that the expense 

 will be too great and that the production will be much dimin- 

 ished: so it doubtless will be for the time, but if truly tine 

 tea is produced the enhanced value will more more than com- 

 pensate for the smaller supply, while if nothing is done in a 

 few more years their whole trade will be ruined. 



It appears to me that these facts are so patent that it is 

 almost unnecessary to draw the attention of the high author- 

 ities to what must be to them a matter of theliighest import- 

 ance viz. the question of the revenue collected from this article 

 alone, but there can be no doubt that unless they take up this 

 question with the vigor and determination it so imperatively 

 demands it will year by year steadily decrease until at last it 

 arnouuts to but a tithe of the proof the present sum. 



It may not moreover be out of place to remind or probably 

 inform the Chinese authorities that Poochow teas are handi- 



capped by heavy inland and export taxes which the 

 moil popular Indian tea is entirely free from, and that a 

 higher standard of quality is consequently necessary to cover 

 the revenue requirements of the native government; also 

 that cheap as labor is in Chiua, it cannot compete in 

 the matter of carriage with the system of railways rapidly 

 being developed throughout the producing districts of India. 

 These are additional considerations which should spur them 

 on to remove the abuses, fatal to themselves no less than to 

 us of which we complain ; and I would venture to suggest 

 that it might be well to urge them not to forget that India 

 is much nearer Europe than China, and that tea grow- 

 ing is there entirely in the hands of English planters who 

 clearly understand the requirements of the largest tea 

 market in the world, viz. : the capital of their own native 

 country, and who are straining every nerve to increase the 

 popularity of the product. 



Again asking your most strenuous exertions to maintain 

 the trade of the port. 



It thus appears that a large proportion of the tea 

 growers in the districts whence Foochow derives its 

 supplies have abandoned their former careful and 

 scientific systems of pruning and manuring and have 

 allowed the tea trees to grow wild. 



Ou 2nd December the Consul replied : — 

 I am happy to be able to inform you that the Viceroy 

 has entertained your views on the matter in the most 

 favorable light, His Excellency assuring me in a despatch, 

 dated the 28th ultimo, that every effort will be made by 

 the method of proclamation and otherwise to induce the 

 growers to adopt a new system of cultivation and to 

 renew their plantations. I earnestly hope that the steps 

 now taken may lead to good results and be the means of 

 retrieving the reputation of Foochow teas. 



The United States Consul had previously written : — 

 Upon the facts presented by you as to falling off in 

 quality &c. of tea coming down to this port, Mr. Wingate 

 wrote to H. E. the Governor General sending also a copy 

 of your memorandum translated. A reply has now been 

 received saying that H. E. the Governor General finds that 

 the facts seem to be as stated, that orders will be sent 

 into the tea producing districts to have some plan devised 

 for putting things in a butter state, and that the growers 

 will be notified to take more pains about planting and 

 cultivation, ;< to bring in prosperity and find profits." 

 Enclosing the Chinese text of the more important part of 

 the reply, with translation. 



Translation. — Tea is the great product of Fokien. That 

 tne steady falling off in consumption of late years is, as 

 you say, on account of lack of fineness in quality and 

 flavour seems to be the real fact in the case. 



It, naturally, becomes my duty to direct the tea produc- 

 ing districts to devise some plan of setting things to 

 right and to notify growers to bestow added care in 

 setting out and cultivating, so as to bring in prosperity 

 and fine profits. 



Besides sending orders (in this sense) to the Commis- 

 sioners and Intendants of the Fokien Board of Trade, of the 

 Lekin Bureau, and of the Board of Provincial Administration 

 that they in observance immediately without loss of time 

 send (out) orders for action to be taken accordingly and 

 report returned in reply, I therefore, &e., &c. 



Let our readers fancy the Indian or Ceylon tea 

 planters needing the motive of Government commands 

 to cultivate their product after a proper fashion. The 

 fact seems to be that Indian teas are pushing even 

 the (iue leaf of Foochow' out of the English market. 



We add what follows from the ' hinn Frade Up- 

 port : — 



THE FOOCHOW TEA TRADE; 

 The following translation of a Ohiuese circular addressed 

 by the foreign merchants concerned in the tea trade at 

 Foochow to the Chinese tea hongs and tea growers has 

 been supplied to us by a correspondent signing himself 

 G. M. O.:— 



As heaven has its motion so matters affecting mankind 

 have also their changes. Now, we, the foreign merchants, 

 who have been trading many years in China, have come 

 to the conclusion that tea is an important article of trade, 

 I and that before the reign of the Emperors Hsieu-feng and 

 Tung-clii foreigners and Chinese alike had made enorm- 



