CH. Ill] TEAS 63 



Green tea, made in the same general way as black, but 

 withered by means of steaming, and prepared without ferment- 

 ation, is graded as young hyson, hyson No. 1, hyson No. 2, 

 gunpowder, and dust. Green teas are mainly made for the 

 American market, where the common black teas made for the 

 English and Australian markets are not popular. 



Until about 1900 the price of tea fell fairly steadily, and 

 cheapening of production did not keep pace with it, so that the 

 profit also fell off. That it has not continued to fall must be 

 attributed to two causes, the cessation of extension of the culti- 

 vation, and the increased consumption in markets outside of the 

 United Kingdom, such as Australia, Russia, America. This has 

 largely been the work of the export cess formerly levied by the 

 Ceylon Government at the request of the planters, and applied 

 to advertising Ceylon tea in new markets. This cess was 

 30 cents of a rupee (or 5d.) per cwt. of tea exported, too small 

 an amount to be noticeable, but making a very handsome total 

 upon the whole export. 



The whole history of the tea industry is thus a con- 

 spicuous instance of the success of good methods and modern 

 machinery against primitive hand methods, such as are still 

 employed in China, a country which, though possessing the 

 cheapest labour in the world, has been quite unable to hold its 

 own against the competition of India and Ceylon. Somewhat 

 the same story has been enacted in the cases of cinchona, 

 coffee, and cardamoms, and is now about to be enacted in the 

 case of rubber. 



The general tendency in the case of tea would seem to be 

 towards the further cheapening of production by grouping 

 together of estates and opening of very large factories, towards 

 the further opening up of important foreign markets, such as 

 America and Russia, perhaps by the manufacture of oolongs and 

 other special kinds of teas to suit their tastes, and towards the 

 abandonment of areas which have proved, now that the great 

 rush is over, quite unsuitable for the cultivation of tea. Agri- 

 culture in the tropics has in the past been conducted too 

 much at hazard, and the suitability of the soils and climates 

 to the production of particular crops has been too much 



