June s, 1890.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
Surely this is a profit which should more than satisfy 
any retailer and one that may be reasonably called 
large. But it depends on the locality. In some dis. 
tricts the price of tea ia cut so fine that tihe profit is 
small, and out of all proportion to that obtainable in 
others, but in too many cases the retailer makes a 
large profit if he knows bow to blend and "fetch up" 
his tea, and sell it by the " haporth," although since 
India and Oeylon teas have been in demand it is more 
difficult to'make these large profits. 
Will the erower benefit by the reduction of duty ? 
We think this very unlikely. The duty on cheap teas 
has been proportionately much higher than on dear 
teas. The market prices, apart from the duty, have 
been averaging on Ceylon teas about elevenpence, on 
India teas tenpence, and China teas sevenpence per 
pound. Now the sixpenny duty was consequently nearly 
100 per cent, on the Ohina teas, whereas it was only 
50 per cent, on India and Ceylon teas. The question 
now asked in the " Lane" is — " will the reduction of 
the duty by making the cheap teas cheaper cause a 
greater consumption of them ?" Yes, and in that 
case it will be the cheap Ohina teas that will mainly 
benefit by the reduction. — H, 6; G. Mail. 
THE TEA TRADE IN AMEEICA. 
Brief mention was made in our last issue of changes 
in the relative consumption of beer, tea and coffee and 
which deserve further consideration. The use of malt 
liquors increases steadily from year to year, having 
risen in five years from 10'6 gallons per capita in 1884 
to 12'4 gallons per capita in 1889. If we study the 
imports of tea we find that the per capita consumption 
is decreasing and is less than five years ago. In 1889 
it was 1'23 pounds per capita, against l - 36 pounds in 
1888 ; T46 pounds in 1887 ; 135 pounds in 1886. For 
the six years 1884-89, it averaged 1 '27 pounds, against 
1-36 pounds per annum from 1878-83 and 1-34 pounds 
from 1870-75. 
Ordinarily, the cheaper an article the greater the 
consumption, but as regards tea, we find a lower per 
capita consumption when prices are low than in former 
years, when tea paid a duty, and subsequently when 
prices were nearly double those now ruling. 
Taking the average import price at the point of 
exportation, let us compare the per capita consumption 
of tea for a series of years, as follows: — 
Pounds 
Year. Cents. Per capita. 
1880 ... 27.4 139 
1881 ... 25.7 1.64 
1882 ... 24.6 1.46 
1883 ... 23.5 1.28 
1884 ... 20.2 1.10 
1885 ... 19.5 1.15 
1886 ... 19.6 1.35 
1887 ... 18.7 1.46 
1888 ... 15.8 1.36 
1889 ... 15.9 1.23 
This table indicates lower prices, poorer quality, de- 
creasing popularity. The per capita consumption of 
coffee in 1870-75 averaged 6.9 pounds, against 8.7 
pounds per annum during the six years 1884-89, 
a gain accomplished in spite of a rise from a period 
of low to high prices. The use of beer, as previously 
shown, has also increased per capita. Why, then, has 
the use of tea declined ? 
Largely we believe because retailers have pushed the 
sale of cheap tea. They do not appeciate as they 
ought the value of flavor in the cup, paying too much 
attention to style in the hand. The result is disgust- 
ed consumers, a dwindling trade,smaller profits. The tea 
department should hi' one. of the most profitable connect- 
ed with a retail grocer's business. It is useless to argue 
that people will not pay for a good article. The con- 
sumption cf tea was on a larger scale fifteen nr twenty 
years ago than now, although the genernl c nditions of 
business were far leRs fnvorablethan at present. Wages 
were, lower, food of all kinds more expensive. We were 
passing through a period of unusual depression, the result 
ot the Civil War. Iu 1873, line prices of Japan tea 
ranged from 30 cents to $1.15 per pound ; Oolong 
from 28 cents to $1,10; Young Hyson from 30 
cents to $1.20. The best grades sold at retail for $1.50 
per pound. And that year the per capita consumption 
of tea was 1.53 pounds. In 1889 the average price of 
medium to tine Japan tea was 13§ to 19 cents; choice 
23 aBd 24|- cents per pound, the range from 15 cents 
for common to 50 cents for finest; Oolong ranged from 
15 to 60 cents; Young Hyson from 14 to 65 cents. 
Undoubtedly there has been a general decline in the 
cost of tea, but if there had been no depreciation in 
average quality the consumption should have increased 
as it has with coffee and beer. 
In 1870-72 nearly one-half of the tea imported at 
New York was Ohina green, the relation of hediffernt 
kinds comparing with the exports to United States and 
Canada in 1889 as follows : — 
Green 
Black 
Japan 
1872. 
' 19,998,339 
16,135,194 
12,500,000 
1889. 
14,750,000 
25,250.000 
40,000.000 
Total 
48,633,583 80,000,000 
In the Chamber of Commerce report on the tea trade 
in 1889 we read that the higher lines of true Moyunes 
and Teenkai chops were scarce,and that prices advanced, 
while the balk of the stock was unattractive and freely 
pressed at auction. As to J*pan tea, it says: " Con- 
sumption appears to be leaving the higher grades of 
Japan tea more and more, and becoming concentrated 
npon ' tea for price, 1 the average buyer having little 
use for tPa above 20 cents, and aiming chiefly to secure 
best possible value at or under 15 cents." 
As to Oolongs, we read that Formosas above 20 cents 
(cargo pnee) were scarce in New York. In short, fine 
teas in this market were scarce throughout the season. 
The desire of jobbers to purobase " tea for price " is 
the result of the retailer's demand for " tea for price." 
There is a mania for a fifty cent tea'or one: of less cost. 
Dealers push the trade in cheap tea and the result is 
dissatisfaction and a lessening of the number of con- 
sumers. A few keep the best teas the market affords 
and cater to people with a fastidious taste, making tea 
at $1 a pound their leader. This is the true polioy— 
Quality not price. Let strength and flavor be the two 
considerations ; eschew and never put in stock dam- 
aged tea and do not keep cheap teas. Those who have 
been the most successful in ' building up a tea trade 
never put a Poor tea in stock. Even in tenement house 
districts the better qualities are the ones most sought 
after. A grocer who is a good judge of tea always com- 
mands a large trade in the article. 
Grocers, your competitors, the planters of Cey- 
lon and India, understand this. They are pushing for 
the tea trade of the United States. And how? They 
crowd the sale of tea at $1 25 per pound and em- 
phasize the point that one pound of good tea at that 
price will go as far as the same amount of money 
spent in a 50-cent tea. They advertise that: "Good 
tea does not come from China or Japan ; the good teas 
of those countries do not come here." That is a 
partial truth, for good tea does come from China 
and Japan, but the bulk of our imports are of the 
lower grades, because grocers crowd their sale and are 
injuring the business. The Inspeotor-General of 
Customs at Peking, Mr. Robert Hart, in a report on 
tea, savs: " Not only is China the native place of tea. 
but Chinese tea is superior in flavor to all other teas." 
And yet England takes Indian teas and America 
50 per cent of Japan, because Ohina teas are not pre- 
pared with care, the gardens not properly cultivated 
and the curing and packing carelessly done, and the 
lower grades made the bulk of the exports. 
The grocer's tea trade will rise or fall as the grade 
or quality is high or low. If he is not a good judge 
he can secure the services of an expert and maintain 
a high and uniform standird of quality. A high 
price always carries with it a guarantee of quality, and 
therefore tea at $1 per pound will make more trade 
than tea at 50 cents per pound. That is the true wav to 
meet the competition of the dealers who give awav 
diamonds and watches with tea or who connect any sort 
of prize system with the tea department. Quality will 
always win and is the only thing which will secure a 
permanent trade in the article. — American Grocer, 
