THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1887. 
for a fair number of gardens in each of the districts 
named, are quoted : — a. p. 
Oachar 6 10 
Nowgong 6 11 
Lakhimporc 6 0 
The following figures have been furnished by Messrs. 
Barry & Oo. tor 18 gardens in the Assam Valley and 23 
gardens in the Surma Valley, showing the average cost 
per lb., including sale charges : — a. p. 
1886 " 8 1 
Surma Valley }gg , ;; 7 ^ 
We are further told that all the Deputy Commissioners, 
and those managers who have expressed any opinion on 
the subject, are unanimous in attributing the bad prices 
of 1886 to the supply being in excess of the demand. 
The Deputy Commissioners of Sylhet and Cachar add 
that coarse plucking in some cases, contributed to the 
fall in prices. 
On the subject of brick tea, the Deputy Commissioner 
of Kamroop, in his report on his annual visit to Divan' 
giri, writes : " A few packages of brick tea are brought 
by Thibetan traders, who dispose of them in small 
quantities to Bhootias. From enquiries which I made 
I am quite satisfied that there is no opening whatever 
for Indian teas in Bhootan or Thibet, even if made in 
briok form. In the first place, the method of manufact- 
ure is different, and our teas do not suit the Bhootia 
taste. Secondly, the sale in Thibet is apparently a 
monopoly ; and Indian teas, even if low-priced, would 
meet with no encouragement. Thirdly, carriage is so 
difficult and the routes are so steep that no trade in the 
article of any importance could be established. The 
carriage of four or five hundred pounds worth of brick tea 
would absorb all the available carriage of the country." 
After such a decided expression of opinion, the at- 
tempt to manufacture brick-tea in India, and open up 
a market for it in Thibet, would appear to be well nigh 
hopeless. — Indian Agriculturist. 
NOTES ON PEODTJCE. 
" The supply of Indian tea that has been put on 
the market since the first of this month has af- 
forded an opportunity of forming a tolerable opinion 
of the quality of the present crop," says the Grocer's 
Chronicle. " During July, in any year the arrivals 
are never of sufficiently large quantity to base an 
opinion upon, as experience has always shown a 
considerable improvement subsequently. But since 
the arrival of the S. S. ' Vega,' a very fair selection of 
useful and desirable tea has been brought to market 
with satisfactory results to importers and growers. 
Buyers talk as though they were having to pay an 
advance on previous values, but the quality has 
improved so much over early arrivals that it is in- 
correct to say prices have advanced when the quality 
has also improved to an equal extent. Up to the 
present time the palm has undoubtedly been carried 
off by the teas from the Terai district. Some good 
teas have also been brought forward from the Dooars, 
but the bulk of the arrivals from Assam, Cachar, 
and Sylhet are still of only middling quality. Sylhet 
is decidedly inferior to last year, Cachar barely up 
to last year, whilst Assam varies somewhat, the 
produce of one or two gardens showing a marked 
improvement, whilst that of others is disappointing. 
No doubt this is due to the climatic conditions under 
which each lot was picked and prepared, and there 
is little doubt but the average quality of the pre- 
sent crop will be quite equal to that of any recent 
year. The firmness of the market is no doubt, 
partly due to the diminished export of China tea. 
According to the latest telegrams the total ex- 
ports from all the Chinese ports amounts to 56 
millions, against 85 millions in 1886, and 84 millions 
in 1885. Evidently the low rates at which China 
tea has been selling in thia market for some time 
past are now sufficiently remunerative to induce oper- 
ations on the same extended scale as formerly. But 
there need be no apprehension of a tea famine 
whilst India and Ceylon are likely to furnish over 
100,000,000 this season. In view of the short sup- 
puly of China tea, the position of Indian tea seems 
a strong one, and as the crop gives every indication 
of being quite up to the average as regards quality, 
its continued advancement is assured." 
In a Foreign Office report, issued during the month, 
on the trade of Foochow for 1886, by the British 
Acting Consul, it is remarked, as bearing on the 
adulteration of Foochow teas, that at the beginning 
of the season a large quantity of what is known 
as "lie tea" was offered for sale. The fraud was 
clumsily carried out, and soon discovered in con- 
sequence, and a considerable portion of the spurious 
leaf was seized by the authorities, and afterwards 
burned. Proclamations were also issued by the 
Likin authorities, warning the people of the con- 
sequence of continuing to make counterfeit tea, and 
to place it on the market. Attention has again to 
be drawn to the great development in the manu- 
facture oi brick tea from dust and broken leaf by 
the Russian merchants. In 1886 brick tea has to be 
credited with more than four-fifths of the total in- 
crease in the export of tea of all kinds during the 
year, and almost the whole of it goes to Siberia. 
The export of 1886 is valued by the Russian export- 
ers at close on 900,000 dols. One of the Russian firms 
has employed steam machinery in the manufacture 
for some time, and now another of them is intro- 
ducing it, also intending to make bricks smaller in size 
and more attractive. It is expected that the export 
will again show an increase at the end of 1887. 
The possibilities as regards the extension of coffee 
culture in the Brazils with free labour are indic- 
ated by the following story of what has been done 
by a single planter in the province of Sao Paulo. It 
is quoted from a Sao Paulo paper:— "In 1879 Dr. 
Martinho Prado purchased land in the then almost 
unknown district of Ribeirao Freto for a coffee plant- 
ation. The land had a few coffee trees, but it was 
twenty leagues from the railway, and its resources 
were untried. He at once began clearing the land 
and procuring free labour for the service. Now, 
eight years only have lapsed, and with the follow- 
ing results— a railway has reached that locality ; the 
plantation possesses about 500,000 bearing trees and 
a large number of new trees ; and the present coffee 
crop is estimated at from 60,000 to 70,000 arrobas. 
This same plantation, called ' Albertina,' has a cap- 
acity for about 600,000 trees more, and the same pro- 
prietor is now opening up another great plantation on 
the JMogyguassu, near the station of Martinho Prado, 
on which it is expected that 2,000,000 trees will be 
planted in the next two years." — H. and C. Mail. 
Rubber in Assam.— An Assam correspondent writes 
to us : — 
Rubber has been my business for many years back. 
I shall be glad to give you any information in my 
power about the Assam rubber. The most erroneous 
ideas prevail about it ; for iustance, the Forest Depart- 
ment in Assam have made plantations on the ground, 
whereas the plants should have been put on very high 
trees — the higher up the better — or on steep hillsides ; 
if they were perpendicular for 100 feet or more the 
better. Another erroneous idea is that this rubber 
takes 34 years before it can be tapped. It can be 
tapped in 12 years. I have known a tree yield five 
maunds which was sold at 80s. per maund, but that 
was a very large tree ; three maunds is often got from a 
tree that has never been cut before. I should like to 
publish a letter at borne showing how the rubber is 
adulterated and spoilt in Assam. Could you give me 
the address of any paper at home that would put in a 
letter of this sort ? 
Our correspondent should write to the Zndiarubber 
and Guttapercha and Electrical Trades Journal, 
published in London. 
i 
