TEA PRODUCING COUNTRIES. 187 



The following is from the report of the Japanese 

 Consul at San Francisco. I should have thought the 

 Americans were too sensible " to prefer coloured Teas :" 



It has however come to my knowledge that in the Eastern States 

 the Tea was analyzed, and adulteration was discovered ; such as the 

 admixture of other leaves and poisonous ingredients which are a used for 

 colouring the Tea before it is exported, and that the markets in the 

 Eastern States being overstocked, no Tea, unless of the best quality, 

 can find purchasers. This is a very deplorable state of affairs. The 

 colouring is made by the foreign merchants residing in Japan, for 

 Americans prefer coloured Tea, and a few Japanese merchants may 

 have imitated them, and exported on their own account. 



The exports of Japan Tea to America have declined 

 from seventeen to fourteen million in one year ! Not strange 

 if all the above is true. 



The following from the Tea Gazette bears out what I 

 say above as to Japan black Tea : 



JAPAN BLACK TEA. 



Mr. Consul Euslie writes from Kanagawa (Japan) as follows 

 concerning black Tea: This has, on the whole, proved a failure, 

 although the production continues on a limited scale. The climate 

 and soil of this country appear unfitted to the growth of plants 

 producing a leaf of the quality necessary to make good black. Teas 

 resembling good leaf congous can be made with good and even 

 handsome leaf, several samples being in appearance very similiar to 

 Indian Teas of pekoe class, but lacking strength, and not being nearly 

 equal to good Chinese Foochow Teas in that respect. A small amount 

 of these Teas has been shipped to Germany on native account, a German 

 financier providing the necessary funds ; but thus far the outcome of 

 these shipments has not transpired. The results generally of 1881 have 

 not proved as satisfactory as those of the preceding year ; the whole 

 crop, and more particularly the first picking, shows signs of hasty 

 and careless preparation. The amount of Tea exported from Japan 

 was decidedly in excess of the requirements of the United States and 

 Canada, and a considerable portion of the shipments for the year had 

 to be sacrificed at prices which did not cover laying down cost. 



