March 2, 1885.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



C6z 



gloomy as regards Indian tea, our Ceylon product is 

 thus noticed : — 



Ceylon. — There has been a marked increase in the 

 supply, and as last year's good quality has been fairly 

 maintained, the teas have met an active enquiry, buyers 

 finding them mist useful for mixing purposes. The 

 average price of 15,701 chests sold since 1st August, 1884, 

 is Is 2Jd per lb. 



Considering the very low prices generally, the average 

 of la 2jd per lb. is encouraging, but we are rather 

 staggered at the remark that our teas are found 

 most useful for mixing. We had hoped, and we still 

 believe, that the Ceylon teas will make their way on 

 their own intrinsic merits, as combining exquisite 

 flavour with fair strength. Java is advancing in the race 

 of competition, and recently she has again tried the Aus- 

 tralian market, which by right of contiguity ought to be 

 hers. This is what Messrs. Stenning,IneUipp & Co. say of 



Java. — Efforts have been made, with some degree of 

 success, to imitate in appearance the finer Indian makes 

 but the disparity in value of liquors is still evident. 

 Prices have receded to a low point owing to the fall in 

 Indian and China Teas. 

 We quote what is said of plucking, sorting, &c. : — 



Plucking. — The tendency in many gardens this season 

 seems to have been to pick too freely, resulting in an 

 undue proportion of Common to Medium Teas, and a 

 low level of price. We may also point out that many 

 estates have produced Pekoes much too twisted and* wiry 

 in leaf, and with a large quantity of stalk, such tea 

 throwing a weak pale coloured liquor. 



Sorting.- — An improvement is noticeable, the number 

 of breaks in Invoices being less than heretofore ; as a 

 rule four, or at the most five, are all that are really 

 needed, viz. : — Orange pekoe, or broken orange pekoe, 

 pekoe broken pekoe, broken pekoe souchong, and pekoe 

 souchong, with an occasional lot of tannings and dust, 

 such an assortment should be practicable if the leaf be 

 plucked moderately flue. "Where a garden is producing 

 but a small quantity, there should be as few different 

 kinds as possible, with a view of avoiding small or non- 

 sampling breaks. 



Bulking in India. — Little advance seems to have been 

 made; many invoices being marked as ''bulked'' which 

 on inspection, prove to be so irregular in quality that 

 bulking here, to make the tea merchantable, is imper- 

 ative ; buyers require that any one package of a break 

 should be identical with the remainder, and if this were 

 fully realized on gardens, bulking here might be done 

 away with altogether, except when putting small lots to- 

 gether to make a fair sized break. It cannot be too 

 strongly urged upon Factory Managers that to reap the 

 full benefit of bulking in India, and nett weighing here 

 the necessary conditions must be rigidly adhered to viz. : 

 thorough bulking at the garden and an equal quantity packed 

 in each cltrst of the break otherwise the labour aud cost of 

 bulking at the Factory will have been to no purpose. 



Weighing Nett. — This system has made fair progress, 

 but there is ptill a want of exactness, the variation often 

 much exceeding the limit of 1 lb, either way, i. e. above or 

 below. We reprint the rules from our review, for 1883. 



Weighing Indian Tea. — The following are the amended 

 regulations which came into force with the New Year, 1834. 



The weight of Indian tea for duty may, if desired by the 

 importers, be ascertained under the following regulations: — 



1. The packages on arrival to be weighed to ascertain 

 the gross weight of each package. 



2. With each entry the importer to give an endorsement 

 orstatement of the nett contents of each package. 



3. To test the accuracy of the endorsement or statement 

 of the nett contents 10 per cent of each break to be turueil 

 out and weighed nett, but in no case should less than 3 

 chests be turned out. 



4. If the variation in weight of the test packages be 

 found to exceed 1 lb. the whole parcel to be weighed out. 

 When the averages of the packages weighed nett amount to 

 so many pounds and a half or more, the half or more will 

 be charged as a full pound; when the fraction is less than 

 half-a-puund it is to bo rejected and disregarded. 



It wdl be evident Unit the only system that i.^ satisfact- 

 ory to the trade is that of " average -"," most buyers 

 objecting to teas that have been turned out to obtaii' separ- 



ate weights. 



_ Marks on Chests.— Nothing is wanted, or is of any serv- 

 ice here beyond (1st) garden mark, (2nd) description of 

 tea, (3rd) garden numbers, and (4th) bulked (if such be 

 the case); Gross, tafe or nett, are not of the least use, and 

 should be discontinued. 



Small Bbeaxs.— Under eight chests or eight half chests 

 or twenty boxes, are called " small breaks," aud in order to 

 save the time of the majority of buyers such breaks, al- 

 though catalogued, are passed over until the conclusion of 

 the day's auctions. 



Size of Breaks.— Progress can be reported on this head ; 

 but as quantities increase the number of chests should be 

 larger, buyers here paying greater attention to large breaks 



Weight op Packages.— When a gross weight of 12!) lb. 

 is exceeded there is an additional charge of Sd per chest 

 up to 1591b. ; the following scale of charges fully explains 

 this and deserves attention. 



Management rate, per package, subject to 50 per cent dis- 

 count : — 



Gross.— 160 to 199 lb. 4s 4d ; 130 to 1591b. 3s 3d: 80 to 

 129 lb. 2s 7d ; 60 to 79 lb. 2s Id ; 45 to 59 lb. Is 9kl ; 35 to 

 441b. Is 4d; 17 to 34 lb. lOIrt; under 16 lb. 6d. 

 We can understand the deprecation of too free plucking, 

 but we scarcely know what is meant by pekoes being 

 too much twisted: although the qualifications " wiry " 

 and '-a large quantity of stalk" probably explain the 

 objection. But why should the marking of gross, tare 

 and nett weights on packages be of no use ? Surely, 

 after a time, the figures of men proved to be strictly 

 honest and trustworthy ought to be accepted, as 

 well as their descriptions of qualities. But to come 

 to the home consumption of tea in Britain. Figures 

 differ in different statements, but, taking those 

 before us ns correct, the results are, that, in the eleven 

 years between 1874 and 1SS4, inclusive, consumption 

 of all kinds of tea went up from 139,378,000 lb. to 

 1G9, 956,000 lb., an increase of 30,57S,000 lb. The aver- 

 ago for the last three years of the series is almost 

 exactly 170,000,000 1b., against 147,300.000 lb. for the 

 first three years. The increase so shown is 22,700,000 

 lb. The annual increase spread over the eleven years 

 is about 2.761,000 lb. But the spring was great from 

 155,1 14,000 lb. in 1880 to no less than 174,050,000 

 in 1S83. a rise of nearly 19 millions of pounds in 

 four years. But the increase has been entirely in 

 Indian tea. Ten years ago, in 1875, the proportion 

 of China tea taken for consumption was 12G. 508.000 lb. 

 while last year the quantity was only 106,918,000 lb., 

 a decrease not far short of 20 millions, the exact 

 figures being 19,580,000. The increase in the con- 

 sumption of Indian tea in the eleven years has been 

 two-and-a quarter times the amount of the decrease 

 in China. The figures are :-■- 



Consumption of Indian tea in 1S74 ... 17,756,000 lb. 

 T>o do 1884 ... 63,03S,000 ,, 



Increase ... 45,282,000 ,, 

 [n 1S74 the proportion of Indian tea to the whole 

 quantity consumed was only 12j per cent. In 1884 

 the percentage had risen to 37, or considerably more 

 than one-third, while the period is evidently not far 

 distant when India, aided by Ceylon, will not 

 only equal but surpass China in quantity, 

 there being no comparison as to quality, except in the 

 case of very choice China pekoes. While China 

 has gone down as we have shown, Indian tea has 

 steadily increased over the whole eleven years, with 

 the single exception of one j ear. In 1878 the figures 

 bad ris n to "6,770,01 million, and in 1S79 they 

 were only 35,243,000. In 1880, however, there was 

 a spring to 43,807,000. The advance has since been 

 rapid until in 1 SS4, five years subsequently, the 

 figures reached 03,038,000, an iucrease of over 9| 

 millions in five years. But, what is still more striking 

 there was an increas of four millions in the one year, 

 1S84, as compared with 1883, the increase being about 

 equal to the expected surplus of this euason's export 



