CH. Ill] TEAS 65 



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 neglected, but 

 in the future this will have to be more carefully regarded. 



Other directions in which improvement is to be looked for 

 are in the general application of green manuring, in the more 

 scientific use of bulk manures for flavour, in the selection of the 

 best seeds for propagation, and in the manufacture. 



Mate or Paraguay Tea. This plan \4Ilex paraguayensis) 

 requires a brief mention here, as it grows within the tropics 

 in South America, though mainly cultivated in Paraguay. The 

 trees are about as large as orange trees if left to themselves. 

 Their leaves contain theine, like those of tea, and from them an 

 infusion is made which is very popular in South America. The 

 Argentine Republic, some years ago, consumed this drink at 

 the rate of 13 Ibs. a head a year, and the total consumption is 

 said to be 135 million Ibs. The drink has never become 

 popular in Europe, though every now and then introduced 

 there. 



w. 



