328 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1887 
sity for new tea machinery, and there were rumours 
of one or two startling inventions, which were to do 
all) kinds of things and cost very little. I have been 
on the look out for these wonderful machines but 
have not seen anything of the kind. The old and 
tried machinery keeps the field, and, no doubt, de- 
servedly so, but at the same time I think inventors 
ana manufacturers would do well to consider the 
requirements of planters with a view to economy. 
Cheap machinery is wanted, and the firm who can 
give us anything simple and effective at a low cost 
will have no reason to repent the time spent in 
thinking it out. I say this without prejudice to the 
existing machinery [and makers, who, clever as they 
are, do not give attention to the economic side of the 
question.— Yours truly, Golombo. 
~» 
THE JUBILEE OF INDIAN TEA. 
It is estimated that ninety million pounds of the 
present season's Indian tea will be imported into the 
United Kingdom. As the total quantity consumed in 
the year will probably fall short of two hundred million 
pounds, our Indian empire will thus contribute almost 
exactly one half of the whole. This is gratifying proof 
of the development of a trade which was established 
just fifty years ago, and which, having already con- 
ferred great benefits upon our merchants and upon the 
natives of India, promises to attain proportions that a 
quarter of a century back were undreamt of. 
In 1821 it was discovered that the tea plant was in- 
digenous in India, but some time elapsed before a 
serious attempt was made to cultivate it, and it was not 
until 1838 that the first parcel of the product was sent 
to England, the quantity then exported being five hun- 
dred pounds. From that time the industry has 
advanced so rapidly that in the home market the 
growers have nearly, if not quite, overtaken the pro- 
ducers in China, and are threatening to beat them out 
of the field. The rate of progress made in the last 
decade has, indeed, been remarkable. Ten years ago 
less than twenty per cent of the tea consumed in the 
United Kingdom came from India, and now, as we have 
said, the percentage is about fifty. Where will it stop ? 
This is the question that has been forced upon the at- 
tention of the Chinese officials. England is far and 
away the best customer China has for its tea, and it is 
obvious that, with the consumption per head remaining 
almost stationary, as Mr. Giffen has shown, the relative 
progress of Indian tea must be a serious thing both for 
the Celestial Empire and for the merchants who trade 
with it. Even within recent times there was an idea in 
the popular mind that tea was cultivated in China 
alone ; but the Indian and Colonial Exhibition did much 
to dispel that illusion, and the public have become so 
far awakened to the merits of British -growD tea that 
retailers no longer think it advisable to place it in 
packets intended to convey the impression that it comes 
from China. The demand for it is rising by leaps and 
bounds, and Chinese officials, who were slumbering in 
misplaced confidence that the virtues which are neces- 
sary to the production of tea were peculiar to their own 
soil, have at length opened their eyes to long-estab- 
lished facts, and made half-hearted endeavours to check 
the adulteration and improper preparation of their best 
known article of commerce. Whether they will be 
successful in re-establishing the reputation which China 
tea has in some degree lost remains to be seen. It may 
well be doubted, however, whether that object will be 
accomplished. At all events, the Indian growers are 
increasing their output every year, and it is becoming 
more and more appreciated in England — the great tea 
market of the world. There can be no doubt as to the 
advantages which have accrued to India from the devel- 
opment of the tea industry there. Many millions ster- 
ling have been invested in it, and it has provided em- 
ployment for swarms of the natives. 
Rapidly, however, as the tea trade of India has ad- 
vanced, the strides made by that of Ceylon have been 
still more remarkable. The tea plant was introduced 
on the island about 1842, but at that time the planters 
were prospering on the coffee industry ; and not until 
their plantations were dootroyed by disease, aud ruin 
was staring them in the face, did they turn their at- 
tention to the cultivation of tea. With a courage which 
was astonishing under the reverses to which they had 
been subjected they substituted tea for coffee, and they 
have gone a long way towards obtaining the reward they 
deserve. In 1873 Ceylon exported twenty-three pounds 
of tea ; today the exportation considerably exceeds ten 
million pounds, and it is increasing every year. The 
colonists are looking forward to the time when seventy 
million pounds shall be annually produced on the island, 
and, as there is practically no limit to the possibilities 
of the yield in India, there soon may be enough te» 
grown in the British Empire to meet all the wants of 
the home market. Whether it will entirely supersede 
China tea in England is another question altogether. 
There are many people who prefer the product of Chins, 
partly perhaps because they are even now susceptible to 
the appeals of the gaily dressed Mandarins, who, in the 
tinsel-glories of the tea-chest, took a strong hold 
upon their imagination in childhood. Moreover, 
China tea appears to be well adapted for blend- 
ing purposes. It is admitted that the liquor 
produced from it is thinner aud less pungent than that 
obtained from Indian tea, and a blend of the two varie- 
ties of leaf is considered by numerous competent 
judges to form the best material for infusion. Blend- 
ing has, in fact, become an important branch of the 
tea trade, as it has, of the trade in whisky. Many 
grocers buy their tea separately, and mix it themselves : 
but a large number, distrustful of their own skill and 
knowledge, like to get it ready blended, and there are 
several firms in the City of Loudon who make a special 
study and practice of the work of blending. Indian 
tea was formerly the subject of a good deal of unjust 
suspicion, owing to its superior strength. Accustomed 
only to the less pungent article from China, consumers 
used Indian tea too freely, with the result that the 
liquid was black and strong, and repelled some by its 
colour, and others through apprehension of prejudicial 
effects upon the nervous system. The remedy has been 
found in a more sparing use of the tea or in its blend- 
ing the China leaf, as, in either case, the strength can 
be reduced to the required standard. Present ap- 
pearances point to the probability of China tea being 
employed in this country in the future very largely 
for blending purposes, but much depends upon the in- 
troduction of reforms in the preparation of the leaf and 
the spirit in which they are accepted. With the ten- 
derness that they always display for the usages of 
their ancestors, the Chinese prepare tea for the market 
in the manner in which it has been dono from time 
immemorial. In India, on the contrary, machinery has 
been brought into requisition for every operation after 
the leaves are gathered, and the objectionable Chinese 
custom of doing all the work by hand is abolished. If 
the Chinese are well advised, they will adopt the more 
cleanly and in every way more satisfactory method of 
treatment, but they have such an ineradicable aver- 
sion to change that it would be unsafe to speculate 
on their doing anything of the kind. 
The diminution in the price of tea has kept pace 
with the increase in production. Isaac D'Israeli quotes 
an old bill, in which the advertiser took credit to 
himself for selling tea at the low price of fifty shil- 
lings per pound. At the present day a fairly good 
article may be bought for one shilling and sixpence 
per pcUnd, and when one remembers what reduction 
has tfcken place in the price within the last few years, 
he would not like to predict that the limit of cheap- 
ness has yet been reached. While the price has been 
going down, however, the expenses in the gardens have 
been brought lower, and the principal Indian com- 
panies are consequently able to maintain their divid- 
ends at tolerably high figures. The increased pro- 
duction has naturally depressed prices and thus stim- 
ulated the demand, and there is no doubt that had it 
not been for the supplies thrown on the market 
from India the consumption per head of the popu- 
lation would have been very muoh smaller than it 
is. At present the consumption of tea in the United 
Kingdom is equal to about five pounds per head an- 
nually, and it is noticeable that, though tea is some- 
times said to bring on nervous, disorders, the Auglo- 
