704 
THF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[April r, 1890. 
At hia next Sunday tea fight it might be useful 
and instructive to consider the following points : — 
1st. That prices are regulated by supply and 
demand. 
2nd. That ^quahty falls off at certain seasons of 
the year. 
3rd. That as quantity increases and quality falls 
off prices fall too. 
4th. That at present quality is poor, shipments 
are increasing : so prices are falling. — lam, sir, 
_q..e. D - 
TEA., CONDEMNED AS UNFIT FOR FOOD, 
DESTROYED BY HER MAJESTY'S ' 
REVENUE OFFICERS. 
Dear Sir, — In the interests of the English people, 
to say nothing of those engaged in India and 
Ceylon in producing the fragrant leaf as pure 
as it can be made, it is surely high time that 
some light were thrown upon the above important 
matter. The countries guilty of sending such poi- 
son to England for sale should now be named; 
for it would appear that neither seizures nor 
penalties nor present low prices have hitherto had 
any ; deterrent effect on these malpractices. This 
seems nor to be admitted on all hands, and if 
more proof were needed it is afforded by tho recent 
utterances of the Chinese themselves. Ju3t recently 
the Shell Pao, in a very long article addressed 
to those engaged in the Shanghai and Hankow Tea 
Trade, warns both growers and dealers of the 
consequences that will inevitably ensue if they 
persist in sending bad tea to England. It says : — 
" In this la3t season the Chinese black teas 
were the worst that have ever been produced in 
the history of the tea trade, these teas are now 
unsaleable in England and Russia. It behoves us, 
one and all, to try our best to remedy the evils 
that are killing the Chinese tea trade. This year 
will be their last chance : should the tea be as 
bad as it has been for the last three years, the 
trade in black tea with England will cease 
altogether. Five of the large English buyers in 
Hankow and Shanghai have gone out of the tea 
trade.'' 
Now these filthy Chinese teas when they reach 
England are to a very great extent mixed with India 
and Ceylon pure teas, but before this can be done 
they must pass, m their own packages, through 
the English Custom Houses, where the task of 
inspection should now be doubly vigilant. Something 
should be done at once to arrest the filthy stream 
of Chinese rubbish now being poured into the 
London market, for of course as th6 price descends 
the filth increases correspondingly, if not checked, 
indeed it threatens to injure the British Tea En- 
terprise. For some inscrutable reason, the British 
Government has decreed that the English people 
shall not be able to buy pure coffee, and now even 
tea is threatened ! 
If the Ceylon Association in London finds any 
obstacle placed in its way to obtaining the neces"- 
sary figures, say for the past 10 years, separately, 
showing from what countries the condemned teas 
came, then Sir Roper Lethbridge will no doubt 
be able to bring pressure to bear. Taxpayers of 
Gd per lb. are clearly entitled to the information. 
To remove tho duty altogether would be a great 
mistake, for tho consumers of tea must, of course, 
bear the cost of these necessary safeguards! 
On the 7th February 1889 according to Messrs. 
Rucker & Bcncraft's circular of that dato there 
were 40 millions of lb. of China tea in stock in the 
London Bonded Warehouses. One wonders how 
much of this was pure (?) filth. With r gard to the 
China congous, Rucker & Boncraft say these are of 
" really good quality and not the rubbish they were 
formerly" — but this is in direct disagreement with 
the estimate of quality put forth by the Chiness 
Shen Pao, which says the quality is the worst 
ever sent to England ? 
ONE INTERESTED. 
Tka. in Japan: — The Vice -Minister of Aori- 
cultuue and Commerce on Tea. — Mr. Mayeda, Vice- 
Mini3ter of State for Agriculture and Commerce, 
appears to have addressed some very plain-spoken and 
pertinent remarks to representatives of the Tea- 
guilds, now assembled in Tokyo. He invited these 
gentlemen to the Department a few days ago, and 
told them, in effect that it rested with them en- 
tirely to push the tea trade. The cultivator, 
according to Mr. Mayeda, is the person whose 
exertions possess real value. If he is industrious, 
intelligent, and enlightened, the commerce in tea 
is quite safe to prosper. But instead of displaying 
these three qualities, he suffers his tea plants to 
deteriorate, and then when they cease to be pro- 
fitable because their produce no longer tempts 
purchasers; he applies for official assistance or 
otherwise relies on others to help him. What he 
has to do is to help himself. The conditions of 
cultivation are just as favourable as they ever were, 
and the market is larger. — Japan Weekly Mail. 
Prospects op Paddy and Cotton Crops in the 
Madras Presidency. — The report on the prospects of 
the late crops for the year 1889-90 is as follows: — 
" Season. — As stated in the Report on the sowings of 
the late erops, this season was very unfavourable in 
several of the southern districts, aud would have been 
most disastrous but for some good falls of rain in the 
bitter half of December and the first fortnight of 
January which partially sived the crops and also 
helped recultivati-m in tracts where the crops had 
entirely failed. The fo lowing table shows the exent of 
sowing* under each crop and its estimated outturn under 
the f -w divisions prescribed|by the Government of India, 
a 20 anna crop being ta^en as equivalent to a full or 
bumper crop, a 16 anna crop an average one, an 8 anna 
crop a middling crop, aud a 4 anna crop a bad crop : 
Extent Percentage of the area on which 
the Crops are reported to be 
Crops. 
of sow- 
ings in 
acrps. 
Paddy 3,743.000 
G.tton 1,387,000 
Full. 
7 
Average. Middling. Bad. 
37 36 5 19-5 
44-2 383 13-2 
Paddy. — Out of a total of 3,743.000 acres shown against 
paddy 3,444,000 acres were returned by 14 districts. 
The probable outturn for the Presidency will be con- 
siderably below the average. In the four northern 
and in the ceded districts and Kurnool and the west- 
coast districts a fair yield is expected ; but owinur 
to the oomplete failure of the rains in October and 
November, the crop suffered severely over consider- 
able areas in Nellore, Ohin»lepuf, North Arcot, South 
Arcot, and parts of Madura, Tinnevelly, Salem and even 
Tanjore and Trichinopoly. Cotton. — The balk of the 
cotton was raised in seven districts, which together 
contributed an area of 1,279,000 acres out of a total 
of 1,387,000 acres for the whole Presidency. The 
average yield is likely to be on the whole good in 
Belary, fair in Kistna, Cuddapah and Anantapur, but 
only middling or poor in the remaining districts. 
In Kistna aud Cuddapah there was an increase in the 
area due to the great demand for cotton. Tbere was an 
increase in area in Tennevelly due to favourable early 
rains, but the outturn in this district as well as in 
Coimbatore was poor owing to the absence of timely 
rains." 
Kistna 163.000 Acres 
Cuddapah 122,000 ., 
Bellary 271,000 „ 
Anantapur 121,000 „ 
Kurnool 246,000 „ 
Tinnevelly 174,000 .„ 
Coimbatore 182,000 „ 
Total... 1,279,000 Acres 
