74 u;.\ 



of the wholesale houses it will be necessary to ha\v 

 several pounds drawn from different packages. 



The morning following day of sale, the agents, or repre- 

 sentatives, have before them samples of all the purchases. 

 These are tasted and various lots selected as being suit- 

 able for the district. The grocer to whom the pick of 

 the basket is then offered has the satisfaction of knowing 

 that his requirements are being well looked after, and 

 if lis knowledge of tea is only meagre, yet he will not 

 go far wrong in his purchase. 



Anyone who has studied the position of the single 

 shop grocer must have been impressed with the diffi- 

 ciiltius with which he is surrounded. This condition 

 can be greatly improved if the up-to-date grocer pays 

 more attention to his tea trade. He may find it desirable 

 to buy his teas in original packages and do his own 

 blending, or, on the other hand, he may decide to kivp 

 Mnulk-r stocks and be satisfied to purchase teas already 

 blended. Whatever course he pursues it is greatly to 

 tlir advantage of the grocer, if he knows something about 

 the tea he is selling, and how value compares with that 

 offered by others. 



An expert in tea tasting is guided in forming an 

 opinion by certain indications w r hich can only be gained 

 by experience, whereby he is able to recognise if a blend 

 is up to a certain standard or not. It is, however, 

 difficult to tabulate these signs in writing, but a natural 

 instinct will often help one to reach a correct deduction. 

 Let it be assumed that a blend has been prepared for 

 retailing, say at 2s. The result will most likely satisfy 

 the grocer, yet the public, for a reason that cannot be 

 defined, prefer to purchase its teas elsewhere. As a 

 rule, customers do not really know what they want, 

 but they do know what they like, and therefore the 

 obvious position to take up is to follow the line of least 



