Nov. 2, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



3i;7 



THE AGRICULTUKAL POLICY OF THE 



MADRAS GOVERNMENT. 



Extract from Gov. Order dated 10th February 



1SS5. 



The proposal was revived hist year on the ground 

 that all othtr educational charges were charged to 

 " Provincial— Educational." The Director of Public 

 Instruction was consulted, and in paragraph 4 of his 

 reply (printed in G. O., Report, 27th July 1883 

 No. 919), ativocated the separatiou of the functions of 

 Principal of the School ami yuperintcudent of Govern- 

 ment Farms. The views of the Board and Director of 

 Agriculture were then called for on this and other 

 matters. Thoirreplies are recorded in G. O., 7th Janu- 

 ary l!-84, No. 3. Mr. Wilson, with whom the P.oard en- 

 tirely agreed, was of opinion that an Agricultural Re- 

 ptrter could not travel about and makebimself acquainted 

 with the agricultural conditions of the presidency 

 so long as his connection with the School of Agriculture 

 rentaiued uuspvered. He showed .tlso that the school 

 had been a failure chiefly btcause it was impossible to 

 give the students that careful and individual training in 

 practical Ijirming, which was an indispensable prelimin- 

 ary of the scientific course, ami which in otiier countries 

 is given beforehand by independent farming their 

 own properties. His prcr^ -ed remedy involves the 

 separation of the school^, om the Agricultural 

 Department, and the L"^'-nng of the latter 

 into more practical and ^^"iniate relations with 

 the agriculture of the couutr^ he'Veci.sely as contemp- 

 lated by the Government of India'. Under his scheme 

 the School of Agriculture would be purely scientific, 

 and the Agricultural Department nothing if not 

 practical. After a while, it would be made a condition 

 precedent of admission to the school that the candidate 

 should have studied practical farming tor two years. 

 For the purpose of affording this practical training, 

 Mr. Wilson at that time contemplated the establish- 

 ment of Government example farms. But this idea he 

 seems since to have abandoned. His Excellency tlie 

 Governor in Council concurs entirely with the latest 

 expression of the views of the Director of Settlement 

 and Agriculture. With regard to the future agricultural 

 policy^ of the Government, His Excellency the Gov- 

 ernor in Council proposes in the first place to abandon 

 the Sailapr-t Farm on its present .scale as a practical 

 failure. The work there has excited some general 

 interest among the agricultural population in improved 

 agriculture machinery, but little more than this 

 has been accomplished. The farm is too small for 

 stock breeding, its soil is unsuitable and our 

 knowledge of Indian crops too limited as yet 

 for useful experiments. No new farma will be 

 instituted, but experiments will, where nece,s.sary be 

 carried out, with the assistance of private agency 

 under the general supervision of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment. Meanwhile, native .agriculture and the analysis 

 of districts willbe carefully studied by the Agricultural 

 Reporter with a view to introduce better methods where 

 they are wanted, hut theyareonly. Further than this 

 the Government are not at present disposeil to go. To 

 assist- the Agricultural Reporter in investigation, the 

 (government propose eventually to entertain a small 

 body of District Agricultural In.'.poctors, whose salaries 

 will be met from the savings which will accrue from 

 the abolition of the farm. These men will, previous 

 to their eutertainment, have undfrgone a course of 

 traiiiing at the Government Agricultural School. 



The further propos.al of the Director of Public In- 

 struction to attach some 30 or 4i) acres of land to 

 the college, as a farm annexe, as a field for practical 

 demonstration and training for the students of the 

 college is approved ; the management of this laud will 

 be under the control of the educational Department. 

 The necessary details of administration of the agri- 

 cultural school, and the course of instruction to be 

 followed therein, will receive consideration in the Educ- 

 ational Department, to which department these papers 

 ■will be now communicated.— J/arf)-«s JIail. 



PROFESSIONAL TEA TASTERS. 



MEN WHO SIP THE CUP TH.\T CHEERS AS A BUSINE.SS 

 PURSUIT. 



A large, somewhat bare looking apartment ; a number 

 of shelves along the walls, like those in a druggist's 

 shop, upon which are ranged row after row of small 

 tin canisters containing samples of tea ; here and there a 

 priut of a scene in the Flowery Land looking dim and 

 feeble, as if exhausted in the eiiort to shed an Oriental 

 glow over anything in the hopelessly mater of fact 

 ocality of Wall street ; in a corner a large ofhce desk ; 

 in the centre of the room a circular table upon which 

 stands a burnished urn, flanked by a diminutive cojaper 

 scales and surrounded by a number of tinyOhiua cups — 

 such is the orthodoxtea broker's oflice in this city. 

 Offices of this kind there are about two ilozeu in New 

 York, that being the number of tea brokers, large and 

 small, engaged in the trade in this city. These offices 

 are chiefly situated in Wall, Water and Front streets. 



TEA TASTING. 



One of the most important figures in the tea broker's 

 office is the professional tea taster. To him is in- 

 trusted the work of testing the various samples and 

 fixing their respective grades and values. The manner 

 in which this work of testing the samples is conducted 

 is as follows: — A silver half dime is thrown into the 

 scale on the one side and enough tea to balauce the 

 coin is dropped in on the other side. The tea thus 

 measured is drawn into one of the little cups, which 

 are capable of holding half a gill. The samph s to 

 be tested having thus been disposed of in the vaiiiUs 

 cups, boiling water is poured npon them from the urn. 



The tea taster then holds each of the cuijs in turn 

 beneath his nostrils to catch the aroma, which is of 

 great assistance to him iu determining rhe quality. 

 When the tea has sufficiently cooled to be not much 

 more than lukewarm the expert proceeds to test it 

 by tasting it. This operation is conducted with much 

 deliberation and even so'emnity, the tea taster clos- 

 ing his eyes as if to shut him.selt away from the 

 outer world and sometimes even insistiitg upon the 

 most absolute silence being maintained by those 

 about him as long as the test is in progress. He 

 only takes a few diinty sips from each cup, ami some- 

 times lie applies himself a second, a third and even 

 a fourth time to the same sample. The tistj having 

 been made, he renders decisi.m as to the quality of 

 the different teas he has sampled and the values at 

 which they should be rated in the market. 



DELirACV AND ACCURACY OF TASTE. 



By many it may be thought that the decision as to 

 the quality of different kinds of tea must depend 

 largely upon individual ideas and tastes. As far as the 

 professional tea taster is concerned this is a mistake. 

 Tea tasting is very decidedly a p^ofe^sion in itself, 

 and has to be karnfd by dint of apidicatiou and e.x- 

 pL'rience. That it is not merely a qu._-st;on of indivia- 

 ual taste is demonstrated by the fact that when, as 

 is often the case, a certain set of samples is submitted 

 to several tea tasters acting indepemh-nt of each other, 

 the various opinions rendered as to quality and value 

 are almost invariably identical. So delicate are the 

 perceptions of the professional tea taster that he not 

 only quickly .and accurately grades the diffi-rent .samples 

 submitted to him, recognizing the most minute grail- 

 at ons, but he is also in many instances able to determ- 

 iiii' the part of the country in which a certain tea 

 w.'is grown. In the same way the judgment of the 

 tea taster purchasing the tea in China for the im- 

 pnrtera here, as a general rule, coincides with that 

 of the tea tasters here. 



PROFITS AND PENALTIES. 



The tea trade in this city in divided into four dis- 

 tinct branches— the importer, the broker, the jobber 

 and the retailer. The wholesale price of lea ranges 

 from ten to .seventy cents* per pound. The importer's 

 jirofit is a moderate but remunerative one. The largest 

 percentage of profit — from forty to sixty per cent — 

 goes to the retailer. When a cargo of tea is received 

 by the importer, samples of the consignment — often 



* Of a dollar, of course. — Ed. 



