268 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF TEA. 



add to the size, weight, and cost considerably. I think crates of strong 

 light battens would answer perfectly, and six, or perhaps eight boxes 

 might then be placed in each. However, this is a matter of detail, 

 which experience would quickly decide. To continue the advantages : 



5. Teas packed in these boxes, and so sold, would not be used for 

 bolstering up China rubbish. They would be drunk pure, and thus 

 the great desideratum of teaching the public, both here and abroad, to 

 use Indian Tea by itself, would be, in a measure, attained. 



I do not say that any planter should pack all his Teas in this new 

 way. The mass of Indian Tea, do what we may, will still be used to 

 mix with China. Again, the highest class of Indian Teas are not the 

 ones to commence with. As a rule they are too expensive for the 

 public to use them alone. Ordinary Teas, or perhaps a mixture which 

 could be sold cheaply, and would be a good household Tea, is what I 

 should recommend. It is just this kind which is now such a drug in 

 the market, and necessarily the diversion of some of this into other 

 channels would help us greatly. 



6. A considerable saving in the loss of Tea at the Custom House 

 would result by the use of these boxes, as the following figures will 

 show. To begin with, the trade allowance of i Ib. per package which 

 is now allowed the buyer, and which is of course a loss to the producer, 

 would be avoided ; for this allowance does not apply to any package 

 under a gross weight of 28 Ibs., and these tins with 20 Ib. 2 oz. of Tea 

 in them, will weigh gross only 24 Ibs. i^- oz. 



To make the figures below clear, I must state that the rule of the 

 Custom House is to discard fractions of a pound both in the gross and 

 the tare. But in the gross the number below is written, in the tare the 

 number above. Thus, if the gross weight of a package is 132^- Ibs., the 

 gross is written 132. If the tare of a package is 37^ Ibs., it is written 38. 

 Now to take one extreme case, to show the loss on our ordinary 

 Indian packages: a chest weighs gross, say, 132 Ibs. 15 oz. ; it is still 

 written 132 Ibs. The tare of the said package weighs, say, 37 Ibs. 

 i oz. : it is written 38. The tare deducted from the gross gives the net 

 weight of Tea. In this case 132 minus 38 equals 94 Ibs., which is all 

 the producer is paid for. But the net weight of Tea in the box is 

 132 Ibs. 15 ozs., minus 37 Ibs. i oz., equals 95 Ibs. 14 ozs., and thus on 

 such a package there is a loss of exactly i Ib. 14 ozs. Add to this the 

 trade allowance of one pound, and the whole loss is 2 Ibs. 14 ozs., 

 which is about 3 per cent. 



