862 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June 2, i8qo. 
THE TEA TRADE. 
New York, March 23rd 1890. 
Editor American Grocer. 
In commenting on your article concerning the tea 
trade in your issue of Feb. 26th, I am inclined to think 
that your conclusions regarding the falling-off in con- 
sumption, are not entirely carried out by the figures 
given; in fact, it is hardly safe to base any conolusiona 
concerning the trade on statistics obtained in relation 
to a free article, as such statistics must necessarily be 
more or less unreliable. But even on the figures you 
give, I notice that while 1889 apparently shows a slight 
falling of, 1888 was above the average of the past ten 
years, and 1887 was, with the exception only of 1881, as 
large as any mentioned. 
These figures, while hardly showing a falling-off, cer- 
tainly do not show an increase in consumption, a fact 
which I think is fully accounted for by the figures in 
your table of prices for the past ten years, the tendency 
of late years being more and more in favor of " tea for 
price," regardless of quality. Consequently, the claim 
of the Ceylon planters is somewhat true, that good tea 
does not come here from China ; but will good tea con- 
tinue to oome from Ceylon ? oertainly not for any 
longer period than may be necessary to give it a foot- 
ing in this country ; then it will join the ranks of " tea 
for price," and eventually only the low grades will 
come forward. 
It is quite evident that China teas cannot, with the 
present heavv inland taxes and export duty hold their 
own here in the competition for price. The final out- 
come of this must surely be that China teas will be 
driven to the wall. Thus it is that we see the result 
complained of in the report of Mr. Hart, inspector of 
Customs at Peking, 'that England takes India teas, and 
America takes 50 per cent, of Japans.' This falling off 
in both quantity and quality of China teas becomes 
very apparent when we ask what has become of those 
crack chops of Moyune Greens from the Shanghai dis- 
trict and the formerly well-known chops of Oolongs 
from Foochow. The former have been displaced by the 
inferior products of the Ping Suey district, now so 
much in favor here, and the latter have become so much 
reduced in quality as to no longer resemble the original 
article. 
Therefore, it cannot be surprising that Japan teas 
should have come so generally into favor, when we 
consider that even the lowest grades of these are goad 
and wholesome, whereas the best of Ping Sueys are 
really unfit for use as a beverage. 
As to the cause of this demand for'poor tea, I think it 
can be traced directly to one source namely that 
crockery-dealing nuisance known as the " tea store." 
The grocers themselves are not responsible for this 
wrong, but have been forced into it by the competition 
of these prize distributing concerns, and until consum- 
ers acquire sufficient wisdom to see the folly of famish- 
ing their pantries at the expense of their stomachs, 
there can be little hope for any improvement in quality. 
It is rumored that Congressional Legislation is about 
to be invoked in favor of a chemical test by the Custom 
House examiner of teas, and should this measure be 
passed, we certainly would be freed from much of the 
wretched stuff that is constantly being poured in upon 
us from China, under the present loose system of arbi- 
tration by merchant appraisers. But to materially in- 
crease the importation of good sound tea, the Govern- 
ment should impose an import duty of 12c per pound 
which would render the importation of very low grades 
much too risky for safety, and this would also put an 
end to the absurdity of retailing tea at the rate of 3 
pounds for $1, which, when compared with the present 
prices for coffee, is entirely unnecessary, and destined 
in the end, to prevent any increase in the consumption 
of tea. R- B. 
rrhe above expression of views comes from one of 
our importers. Wo believe a tax on tea desirable. 
The statistics we quoted sre from Government reports, 
which are sworn to. Wo find that the records of 
private statisticians vary slightly from those of the 
Government. It is a step in advance that the Chinese 
authorities and tea men are fully acquainted with the 
KtepB necessary to secure an increased export of fine 
teas. It has beea brought to their attention that 
methods of preparation must be improved and that 
the taxes must be readjusted. Sir Robert Hart in 
his report says : 
Qualitv, however, is a very important factor and 
all that is said about it merits serious consideration. 
Although quality necessarily differs from year to year 
and with the producing localities it is nevertheless 
true that preparation has much to do with it ; care in 
preparation may possibly convert indifferent material 
into reasonably good tea, but carelessness will assuredly 
spoil the very best l°af. Comparing the tea of present 
and former times, the defects the merchants complain 
of are these : 
1. Too long an interval is allowed to elapse between 
picking and firing; the firing is inadequate; and while the 
tea is deficient, in strength and loses its flavor, it 
also does not keep. 
2. Spoiled leaves are not rejected but are packed with 
the good, and the consequence is that the good are also 
damaged. Too much dust is put in each box, and the 
whole is sometimes further adulterated by the inter- 
mixture of the leaves of other plaDts. 
3. The boxes in which tea is packed are not strong 
eeough or well enough made foi its protection. 
4. The tea when delivered is often not up to muster. 
The remedies recommended are as follows : 
1. There ought to be a sufficient depth of soil where 
the tea shrub is planted, and the ground ought to be 
weeded and manured. 
2. The tea shrub ought to he well cared for ; pruning 
ought not to be neglected ; aged shrubs ought to be re- 
moved, an! young ones planted instead. 
3. All the leaves should not be removed from the same 
shrub at the same time, but only such as are ready for 
gathering. Thp leaves which are readv n U ght to be 
picked from all the trees in the plantation at the same 
time, and each picking ought to form a separate chop. 
The leaf ought not to be picked tooRoon or too late : 
although a ten days' overgrowth gives an increase of 
25 per cent in weierht, it causes a decrease of 35 per cent, 
in value. In India there are as many as sixteen pick- 
ings ; that is, each shrub contributes sixteen chops. 
4. After the leaves are picked, the subsequent pro- 
cesses — withering, ro'ling, fermentation, firini; — ought 
to be at once proceeded with. Th» greatest care 
should be exercised at each step, and the leaf ought 
to be well protected from the weather, especially just 
after picking and while awaiting the other processes. 
5. The inner and outer cases in which tea is packed 
ought to be more solidly made and more securely 
closed. 
6. Musters ought not to be sent on ahead of the 
chops. 1 
« 
TWO CEYLON PLANTING COMPANIES: 
Coffee — Cocoa — Cinchona — Tea. 
In the home papers by the present and previous 
mails, our planting enterprise has come rather 
prominently under notice through the publication 
of the Reports and proceedings connected with 
meetings of the Ceylon Tea Plantations and 
the Eastern Produoe and Estates Companies. 
Both of these associations are possessed of very 
extensive interests in Ceylon, and the results to 
their working indicate very clearly the progress 
and prosperity of the tea industry which now forms 
the staple enterprise of this island. The conditions 
under which the Reports of these two important 
Companies had to be drawn up, differ very widely. 
In the ease of the Tea Plantations Company it 
was possible for the direotors to announce that, 
for the third successive year, its shareholders 
would be paid a total dividend of 15 per cent. 
Thus within the short space of three years, the 
fortunate investors in this speculation will have 
received by way of dividend a sum closely ap- 
proaching to fifty per oent of the amount of their 
investment. When we turn to the other Company, 
that by which the old Ceylon Company has been 
