and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— Jan., 1910. 87 



A. K. B, ShuttlewO-kth, Captain, Offg. His 

 Britannic Majesty's Consul at Kashgar, 

 Tea in Ladakh 1908-9. 

 Lhasa Brick Tea. — A large increase R65.472 

 between 1907-08 and 1908 09 is shown under 

 this head which, as I have said, I put down to 

 the inefficiency of the registration post at Nima 

 Mud and consequently consignments getting 

 entered twice over in the books at Leh. Two 

 new registration posts with a proper stall' have 

 recently been sanctioned for the Tibet frontier, 

 and the returns for trade with Tibet should in 

 future be more reliable. 

 Tea Indian. — The figures are given below: — 

 (1) Exported from British India to Ladakh — 



Mils. Value 



1907- 08 ... 2,374 61.705 



1908- 09 ... 1,110 33,240 



Decrease 1,264 28,459 



(2) Exported from Ladakh to Central Asia — 



Mils. Value 



1907- 08 .. 1,277 34.95; 



1908- 09" .. 546 16.382 



Decrease 731 18,570 



China Tea, via India. — One hundred and ten 

 maunds were exported to Chinese Turkestan 

 against 85 maunds during the previous year. 

 — Indian Trade Journal, Nov. 25. 



TEA CULTURE IN VA RIOUS CLIMES. 



CHINESE AND OTHER METHODS. 

 A most interesting and well-illustrated article 

 on tea culture is to be found in the pages of the 

 November issue of "The Magazine of Com- 

 merce" ; and, although the figures are not in 

 every case correct, it well repays perusal, con- 

 taining, as it does, informative descriptions of 

 the culture and manufacture of the leaf in the 

 various countries in which it is grown. Brick 

 tea, for instance, which is extensively used in 

 Tibet and some parts of Russia, is prepared in a 

 very rough and ready manner, being formed of 

 cheap and coarse teas which, with small twigs, 

 are compressed into blocks. Very little care is 

 exercised in the plucking process, the twigs 

 being literally reaped from the plant. There is 

 no withering or regular fermentation process. 

 The twigs and leaves are at once heated in thin 

 iron pans for a few minutes, and then tied into 

 bundles and sacks, and taken to the factories or 

 " hongs, " where the material is piled in heaps 

 and allowed to ferment. After being dried in 

 the sun the tea is sorted into grades, when it is 

 steamed and finally pressed into a shallow 

 brick-shaped mould by mear.s of a heavy ram- 

 mer. In three or four days the bricks have 

 become quite hard, and, after beii'g stamped 

 with the maker's name or device, are wrapped 

 in paper and made into strong packages for 

 transport. Large quantities, some 20,000 tons 

 per annum, are made at Hankow for the Russian 

 market, which is also supplied with "tablet 

 tea" from the same town. Another country, in 

 which the manufacture of tea does not proceed 

 on what we may term orthodox lines, is Japan, 

 where shado-grown tea, that is, tea grown under 

 horizontal mats, is cultivated to a large extent. 

 None of this, however, finds its way abroad, for 

 it is so highly valued by the Japanese that it is 

 grown exclusively for home consumption. A 

 similar method is practised in South Carolina 



and Java, the bushes being under a covering of 

 jute hessian from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The purest of 

 all tea, that least touched by the human hand 

 in manufacture, is the virgin tea of China. It 

 is prepared exclusively from the very youngest 

 leaves of the shrub, and is used principally at 

 Chinese marriages. So delicate are the leaves 

 that even after prolonged boiling but little 

 tannin is evident. The leaves are tied together 

 with silk thread in tiny bundles. When the 

 tea is to be brewed, a bundle is held by means 

 of a small ivory or silver skewer, in a large 

 clear crystal cup of very thin glass, and boiling 

 water poured in. The leaves slowly unfold, and, 

 changing from a dingy greyish-black colour, 

 quickly revert to nearly the same refreshing 

 greenness which they possessed when plucked. 

 The infusion, as seen through the glass, is of 

 a pale amber colour, resembling that of the 

 finest qualities of cognac. It is drunk directly 

 from the leaves, the aroma and odour being 

 obtained to perfection. The difference in the 

 manufacture of Chinese green and black tea 

 is, it appears, extremely small, the same pro- 

 cess being adopted in both cases, until the 

 rolling has been completed. The leaves in- 

 tended to produce black tea, however, are sub- 

 jected, after rolling, to a much more extended 

 drying process in the open air than the green 

 leaves, and thus undergo a process of ferment- 

 ation which does not obtain in the manufacture 

 of the latter. Rolling, it is to be noted, is 

 done by hand, the leaves being worked and 

 kneaded like ordinary bakers' dough. It is also, 

 when finally placed in boxes or baskets, pressed 

 down by men treading it with their feet, which, 

 says the article, are covered with clean cloth 

 or straw shoes. We wonder if this is always 

 the case. The story of the rise of the tea in- 

 dustry in Ceylon is succinctly but well written 

 up, and the enormous strides made in India 

 are described. Natal is mentioned as the most 

 important tea-producing colony of the British 

 Empire after Ceylon and India, notwithstan- 

 ding the fact that the acreage has not yet reached 

 5,000. This will have to be increased at least 

 threefold in order to satisfy the local demand 

 and capture the South African market. The 

 most productive gardens are at an elevation of 

 1,00L> feet, the land at this altitude being 

 generally of an undulating character, well 

 watered, and the climate sufficiently humid 

 to encourage leaf production. As the tea is 

 of good quality, the industry is of considerable 

 value, despite the small acreage, and should do 

 not a little to further advance the prosperity of 

 the " Garden of South Africa. ' 



AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT 

 IN ASSAM. 



An interesting agricultural development re- 

 ported from the Lushai Hills in Assam is the 

 expansion of valley cultivation in that region. 

 It is stated that the erstwhile svvamp, filling 

 the valley of the Tuipui river, has now been 

 drained and brought under successful rice 

 cultivation. The pioneer of the movement is 

 said to be an ex-Sepoy, who undertook to 

 teach the Lrashais how to grow wet rice, and 

 succeeded admirably. — Madras Times, Oct. 31. 



