192 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



troughs in which they are worked about by 

 hand and squeezed, and pressed, and finally 

 wrung until they part with most of the contained 

 water. The mess is then thrown upon mats or 

 boards and trampled under foot until it is re- 

 duced to a waxy pulp. It is now of a very pale 

 olive green colour, has an acid smell and a bit- 

 terish taste, and is fairly well lumped together. 

 Pickled tea is also prepared by steaming the 

 rolled leaves in perforated pots superposed upon 

 others containing spring water. The steamed 

 leaves, when cool, are placed in well-lined 

 pits in which they are trampled down and 

 covered up until required for sale. The fer- 

 mentation following this interesting treatment 

 begins directly the pits are closed and the 

 pickle is said to be ready for use in from ten to 

 fifteen days thereafter. It may thus be dug up 

 and sold at any time from and after the first 

 fortnight. In some localities the tea is prepared 

 by steeping the leaves in water until they begin 

 to ferment and decompose. 



Packing for Export. 

 It is then packed in the baskets in which it is 

 sold. The bamboo baskets in which the tea is 

 exported are very stout and closely woven ; in- 

 ternally they are thickly lined with dried leaves, 

 bamboo bracts, bamboo slips, or other suitable 

 material at hand. The prepared tea is dumped 

 into them, tightly rammed down and bound up 

 with bamboo slips. In packing the tea, two 

 baskets are used, a lower truncately conical one 

 with the smaller and truncated end so made as 

 to rest securely when placed on the ground, the 

 upper a four-cornered circular one which, when 

 filled, is inverted over the lower. The bamboo 

 lips binding the two together pass over the 

 upper and into the lower, the packing being 

 considered complete only when each upper 

 basket is further compressed on the top by a 

 thick wooden stake about two feet in length. 

 This stake is pressed down laterally across the 

 middle of the inverted base of the "basket and 

 is held in its place by two pegs and some string. 

 The package when ready looks cleft at the top 

 for the uppermost third of its height from the 

 ground. The sides of the inverted basket bulge 

 out far over the rim of the conical lower and 

 serve to balance the weight of the package. Two 

 such packages are carried by a bullock, the 

 means lof transport employed. The gross 

 weight of a packet varies from 30 to 35 viss 

 of about 3^ pounds each, the case alone weigh- 

 ing from 6 to 7 viss. 



The Price. 



The wholesale price paid the Shans per 100 

 viss delivered in Mandalay varies with age and 

 quality from R30 to R65. Brokers who buy it 

 for merchants there, charge a brokerage of K'2-8 

 per 100 viss. The circumstance that the pro- 

 duct does not keep in the packages longer than 

 two months from date of delivery is a matter of 

 some moment with dealers in it who often 

 clear stock at a moderate profit. But under 

 normal conditions, it sometimes amounts to 

 as much as Kf> per 100 viss. The retail 

 price of pickled tea in Mandalay varies from 

 10 to 12 annas per viss. Should the pickle show 

 signs of decay at any time, the packages con- 

 taining it are immersed iu water, usually in a 

 jumping stream or, if possible, under the bed 



of a river. Pickled tea, in the plains of Burma 

 as well as in some of the hills themselves, is 

 looked upon as a great dainty and delicacy 

 by every indigenous class of the population. 

 Without it, the greatest religious ceremonies, 

 the most sacred feast the highest social func- 

 tions are regarded as incomplete; with it, on the 

 other hand, every unction and status is believed 

 to be secured the giver. It is, in fact, the "cake" 

 of the country. How such importance and so 

 much significance have come to be attached to a 

 putrescent mass of smashed up leaves which is 

 bitter to the taste and offensive to the smell is a 

 question into the discussion of which the writer 

 does not propose to enter. Suffice it to say that 

 with sesamum oil, sesamum seed, fried garlic, 

 some salt with or without grated green ginger, 

 it forms a most remarkable concoction eaten 

 daily by thousandsin Burma.— A. M.S. in Capital. 



CEYLON GOCONUT PRODUCE. 



Exports for First Quarter 1909. 



Owing to large shipments of oil and copra 

 from all producing countries in 1907 and 1908, 

 the New Year opened with congested markets 

 in Europe and America, and hence a low but 

 steady market, but with a weak demand for the 

 quarter, all crushing centres being well sup- 

 plied. As far as Ceylon was concerned, ship- 

 ments of all but oil have been heavier than ever, 

 during the quarter, and so the local prices have 

 been as a result very low. It is only now that the 

 home markets for oil seem to have an upward 

 tendency ; prices will probably harden towards 

 mid-summer, by which time the heavy stocks 

 will have been worked off. 



The shipments of copra for the quarter show 

 an increase over any previous year, the total 

 for the quarter boing some 31,500 cwt. over our 

 record year, J 908, when during the three months 

 Ceylon shipped no less than 11-2,873 cwt. Copra 

 is now being largely used in the manufacture 

 of a new edible fat in Germany where they are 

 turning it out in very large quantities. We con- 

 clude that this can be little else than the Ceylon 

 Tea Plantations Company's famous " Edfa,'* the 

 manufacture of which was discontinued ; but 

 once the rancidity and non-keeping difficulty is 

 got over, there is no reason why our local oil 

 mills should not yet be able— with our cheap 

 labour— to lay it down in both London and New 

 York, cheaper than the German Factories can. 



The year started off with very brisk work at 

 most desiccated coconut mills, and by the end 

 of February the figures showed a great excess 

 over any previous year; but strange to say at end 

 of March the excess over previous years was 

 only 134,179 lb. If the demand is fair we should 

 not be surprised, after the winter stocks are 

 worked off— an immense quantity being used 

 now for biscuit-making, if mills work full blast 

 when this year's export should reach a good 

 •29,000,000 lb. while it was only some 13,000,000 

 lb. in 1898 and 15 years ago only 5,500,000 lb. 



The quarter was a good one for nut crops, 

 resulting in more coming in at desiccating mills 

 than Ceylon over had before ; and while those 

 who pretended to know predicted that the supply 



