494 
THE TROPIOAL AGRICULTURIST. [January i, 1890. 
(d) Oeylon, to sell at 2s 6d or 2s 8d per lb. — finest 
tea— can be bought in chests or half-chests at Is 5d or 
Is 6d and duty, that will not require blending. It must 
be a rich, thick liquoring tea, with quality, that can be 
drunk by itself. 
(«) Ohina and Assam blend, to sell at Is 8d per lb. 
Costing about 
8. d. 
2 parts Soomoo, or Saryune Kaisow, or 
Niugchow Moning ... ... 0 10 
1 pari leaf Assam ... 0 8 
1 part Assam Pekoe ... ... 1 0 
Blended costs lOd per lb., and 6d duty leaves 4d profit 
gross. 
(f) China and Assam blend, to sell at 2s per lb. 
Costing about 
2 parts Soomoo, or Saryune Kaisow, or s. d. 
Niugchow Moning ... .. 0 10 
1 part Assam Pekoe ... ... 1 0 
1 part Assam Pekoe ... ... 14 
Blended costs Is per lb., and 6d duty leaves 6d profit 
gross. 
(g) China and Assam blend, to sell at 2s 6d or 2s 8d 
per lb. 
Costing about 
f Fine Ningchow Moning, s. d. 
Equal parts < or Chingwo Kaisow ... 1 6 
C Assam Pekoe ... 1 4 
Blended costs Is lid per lb., and 6d duty leaves 7dor 
9d profit gross. 
In writing for samples, a few stamps may be en- 
closed to cover cost, as first orders will be small. The 
terms on which a wholesale dealer sells tea are three 
mouths' credit with satisfactory references, and cash 
for duty on delivery. If reterences are not given the 
market terms are aiscouDted for ninety days at 5 per 
cent per annnm on tea, duty of course net. To begin 
with as small a stock as possible, first order for blends 
a, b, c, and may beas follows: — One-half chest Kaiosw 
at 6d ; one cheat leaf Assam (Souchong or Pekoe Sou- 
chong), at8d; one chest Assam Pekoe at Is, and if 
possible one half-chest each Ceylon leaf (Souchong or 
Pekoe Souchong) at lOd ; Ceylon Pekoe at Is, and 
Ceylon Pekoe " self-drinking" tea at Is 5d to Is 6J. 
This, with duty 6 J per lb., involves an outlay of about 
30Z, and if the thing is to be done in such a way as to 
compete with neighbouring grocers and tea dealers it 
canuot well be attempted on asmaller scale. 
If blends a,e,f, and g are used, the minimum quantity 
to be ordered (in addition to the half-chest Kaisow at 
6d, and chest Assam at 8d, for use in the Is 4d blend) 
will be : Two halt-chests Soomoo or Saryune Kaisow 
at lOd, one chest Assam Pekoe at Is, one chest Assam 
Pekoe at Is 4d, and one half-chest Ningchow Moning or 
Chingwo Kaisow at Is 6d. 
Ohina tea is mostly imported in half -chests (56 to 60 
lb. net), Assam in chests (90 to 100 lb. net), and Ceylon 
in chests as Assam, or half-chests (of about 60 lb. net) 
In some parts of England a great deal of Scented Caper 
and Scented Orange Pekoe — especially the former — is 
used, the consumption being large in the West, Mid- 
lands, and North of England. These teas are bought in 
20-lb. boxes, from 7d to Is 6d or more per lb., and may 
be ktpt in stock for use where required, but it is . not 
advised that they be used in the blend as a regular 
thing. Green tea (Gunpowder, Young Hyson, Hyson, 
and Imperial) is rapid ly going out of consumption in the 
United Kingdom, but, it necessary, " Pingsuey" Gun- 
powdtr may be bought in boxes (25 to 35 Jb.), from 8d 
to Is 6d per lb., or " Moyune" Gunpowder (preferable 
in hquor), in balf-chests (about 60 lb.), from 8d to 2s 
6d or more per lb. Assam and Of ylon teas are used 
almost to the entire exclusion of China tea in Ireland, 
aijd many As6ams so u-sed are broken-leaf teas, drawing 
dark, rich liquors. It will be unnecessary ever to buy 
Java or Japan tea, though a little Oolong may be in- 
troduced if the pungent liquor is liked. 
When a connection in tea is once established it is not 
advisable to change prices, kinds or qualities or propor- 
tions of mixing, without good reason. People who are 
accustomed to one kind of tea usually object to a 
change, even though it may really be lor the better. 
Packages of tea when once opened should be kept ex. 
poeed to the air as little bb possible, as foreign flavours 
and damp are readily absorbed by the leaf, and this 
is of specical importance in the case of a chemist's shop; 
if possible, a small room should be s e t aside exclusively 
for biending and storing tea, which should never be 
loose in the shop. Where the amount of trade warrants 
the expenditure, a tea-mixer should be bought to ensure 
thorough mixing, and a mill (though not so important 
as a mixture win ne found most useful in reducing the 
size of bold-leaf teas, such as Assam and Ceylon Sou- 
chongs and Pekoe Souchougs. Tea-tasting pots and 
cups should be used in buying, and water just boiling 
poured on leat to the weight of a sixpence, six minutes 
being allowed for brewing. The teas should first be 
tasted singly ; and though the chemist may have very 
vague ideas of tea-tasting, he will very soon detect and 
reject any objectionable tarry or burnt flavour, and the 
eye will be sufficient judge of tnickness and richness 
oi liquor. The blend may then be made up from the 
liquors, and tried without and with milk. 
Lead packets are the best for preserving tea, though 
they are most expensive. The lead or foil can be bought 
in the shape of the packets, ana only requiring filling, 
closing up at one end, and labelling with a striking dis- 
tinctive label. Paper packets can be bought in the same 
way, but great care must be taken that the paper is 
not poious and that it has no smell ; and as some skill 
is required to turn out packets either in lead or paper 
in a presentable form unless the lead or paper is already 
supplied in packet form, it will be best, at first at any 
rate, to incur the small extra cost of so purchasing it. 
Paper may be used for the Is 4d and Is 8d blends, lead 
lor the two higher-priced ones. The usual adjuncts 
ot bibs, showcards, transparencies, &c. will be needed 
to bung the merits of the respective blends before the 
public. 
It may, perhaps, in conclusion, be worth while to em- 
phasise the fact that it will be l bsolutely necessary 
to sell teas at prices, below 2s per lb. if success is to be 
attained, except, perhaps, in cases where a chemist 
has a very select clientele indeed. It will probably 
be found that tea will be invested with an additional 
charm if it can be recommended by the faculty as 
specially disgestible, and this may be attained by 
rigidly rejecting, in buying, the more astringent li- 
quoring Assams and selecting softer and smoother 
liquoring teas. Analysts' certific ttes are sometimes 
made use of in this connection. — Chemist and Druggist 
Diary, 
«. _ 
PROPOSAL TO ISSUE SEED PADDY, (AND 
COTTON SEED) TO BE RECOVERED 
WITHOUT INTEREST. 
Galle, Sept. 28th, 1889. 
P. A. Templer, Esq., Government Agent, Southern 
Province, Galle. 
Sir, — Although I have not had the honor of serving 
under you or being known to you personally I feel that 
from the interest you have manifested in the progress 
and advancement of the province under your adminis- 
tration the subject of this communication will be con- 
sidered of sufficient importance to need no apology for 
the liberty I take in introducing it to your notice. 
The subject of agriculture has long engaged my earnest 
attention, and although I have to some extent, under 
the encouragement and support of your predecessor, 
succeeded in establishing the advantages of a system of 
paddy cultivation by means of imported seed, cultiva- 
tors could not be persuaded to patronise the scheme to 
any appreciable extent. The laudable efforts also made 
by Government through the Agricultural School to 
introduce improved methods, whilst they have gone a 
great way to impress the native agriculturist with the 
advantages of modern appliances have not yet proved 
a perfect success, and in a majority of instances to 
the poverty, and not the apathy* of the native 
agriculturist is to be attributed I think in a very great 
* They generally go together. Apathy, too fre- 
quently both the cause and the consequence of poverty. 
Poverty comes as the retribution of apathy, and then 
poverty instead of rousing to effort intensifies apathy. 
The cure lies largely in the exercise of a paternal 
despotism by Government authorities.— Ed. 
