3^4 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [December i, 1887. 
tural tea, were compelled to have recourse to artificial 
methods of colouring and preparation. The conse- 
quence was that tbe entire American market was flooded 
with tea that was both cheap and nasty, and, though 
the export from Japan steadily grew in quantity up 
to 1880, there was by no means a proportionate in- 
crease in value. The continued fall of the export in 
1883 and 1881 at last awakened the Japanese to the 
bad reputation which their teas were obtaining, and, 
in the latter year, a Central Tea Industry Association 
was established under the auspices of the Department 
of Agriculture and Commerce, the chief object of 
which was to exercise a supervision over the tea in- 
dustry which would prevent adulteration and bad 
manipulation and secure the sale by the Japanese of 
the best possible pure leaf. This Association has since 
been in active operation, and its efforts are gradually 
bringing about a much needed improvement in the 
natural leaf. 
At present, the tea trade of Japan directly interests 
Great Britain only in so far as it affords employment 
for British capital and British shipping. An extension 
of the trade will bring about a proportionate increase 
in both these cases, and, in another point, it may 
afford an opening for British trade in supplying mach- 
inery that might profitably be used in the operations 
that are now done by hand. 
On this latter point, I have already spoken in a pre- 
vious report, and through the publication at the close 
of last year of a report on Ceylon tea by the United 
States Consul at Colombo, the attention of the Tea 
Association already mentioned was directed to the 
subject. In this report it was stated that Ceylon tea 
only required to be known to be appreciated in 
America, and that, once a taste were acquired for it 
here, it would largely displace that now coming from 
China and Japan ; that the prime cause of its un- 
usually delicious aroma lay in the fact that, after 
plucking, it was handled and cured entirely by de- 
licate machinery ; that the former bad manipulation 
by hand, was now replaced by ingenious mechanical 
appliances for withering, rolling, and drying the tender 
unbruised leaf immediately on being plucked ; and 
finally, that manipulation by machinery rendered the 
production cheaper than formerly. 
Could not these results be equally obtained by 
the employment of machinery in Japan, and is 
it not worth the trouble for English manufac- 
turers to investigate, and endeavour to provide, what 
would suit Japanese requirements in this respect? 
The Japanese are already fully alive to the ad- 
vantages of employing machinery in many lines in 
in which they had formerly to trust only to manual 
labour. In the silk industry, its profit has been fully 
brought home to them, and I believe they would 
soon learn the same lesson if an effort were made to 
teach them in the case of the tea industry also. But, 
while British manufacturers devote full attention to 
the making of suitable machinery for this purpose, 
any steps to introduce into new countries the result 
of their ingenuity and handiwork, seem to be en- 
tirely beyond them. Catalogues of various kinds con- 
tinue to reach me; and I am also asked in letters 
to recommend persons who would undertake the in- 
troduction into Japan of the articles named in them. 
In several instances, it has at the same time been 
brought to my notice that "under no circumstances 
whatsoever do we ship, except upon orders and 
London credits," so that what I am practically asked 
to do is to recommend to manufacturers person who 
will consent to pick the chestnuts out of the fire 
for them. Whenever opportunity offers, I pass on 
the catalogues to Japanese merchants, but I am not 
av are of a single instance in which, as regards 
machinery, my doing so has been productive of any 
material result, and so long as English manufacturers 
wait for others to take the trouble and risk which 
should rightly devolve upon themselves, so long will 
they fail to obtain the market they hope for in 
Japan. I am far from recommending, bo it re- 
membered, speculative shipments of machinery, even 
of that which lias been already successfully tried in 
other countries. Buch a pourso could, I believe, ro- 
suit in nothing but loss. What I do recommend 
strongly, and have recommended in previous reports, 
is that expert machinists should be sent to Japan to 
study what would suit the conditions of the country 
and people; and manufacturers who were guided by 
their recommendations would, I believe, have no 
reason to ultimately regret the cost of any experi- 
ments made by them. 
Mould in Tea- bins. — The following, from the 
American Cultivator, may be useful for tea-planters : 
— " Beaders whose books have been or are likely 
to be attacked by mildew may preserve them to 
some extent by placing a saucer of quicklime near, 
in the bookcase or shelf, or where convenient. 
The lime absorbs the excess of moisture, and must 
be renewed, as it becomes slaked and loses its 
strength. It is equally good for putting in linen 
chests, iron safes, or wherever there is likely to be 
any mustiness owing to the exclusion of fresh air." 
Cinchona. Cultivation in Bbazil. — Some time 
ago we announced that efforts were being made 
to induce the Brazilian Government to take up the 
cultivation of cinchona. We now hear that the 
Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture has divided a 
quantity of calisaya seed among planters in the 
province of Bio. The municipality of Santa Maria 
Magdalena, also in the same province, are to receive 
a special assortment of seed, and will at once turn 
their attention to cinchona planting. — Cliemist and 
Drugrjist, Oct. 8th. 
Fish Culture in India — Why Not in Ceylon ?— In 
quoting the following interesting notice, we would 
repeat our strong hope that fish breeding for food 
purposes may become a universal industry in Ceylon; 
Perhaps the Director of Public Instruction might, 
from the book referred to and others, together with 
local information, get a handbook of fish culture 
prepared in the Sinhalese and Tamil languages: — 
We have received a little book Pisciculture * by 
Baboo Nidhiram Mookerjee. The author has made 
the subject a study for some years, and has been 
carrying out a series of experiments on his own 
estate at Belghurria, where he has established a fish- 
farm, and his work will therefore commend itself to 
all interested in the subject as the result of practical 
experience. The book itself is printed in the Bangalee 
character, and is divided into five chapters. The 
first deals with the fish supply of Bengal, and points 
out that except at certain seasons, the supply is 
notequal to the demand. When there is an abundance, 
it is due, he says, to the extensive capture of breed- 
ing and undeveloped fish. The second treats of the 
food of fishes, and the third as to the manner of 
hatching and breeding. The forth discusses the fish- 
trade. The author has ascertained by experiments 
on his farm, that the trade is a very lucrative one, 
requiring but little capital. He quotes a statement 
made by professor Huxley at the last Fisheries Ex- 
hibition, "that once in a year, an acre of good land 
will produce a ton of com, or two or three cwts. 
of meat, or cheese, while an acre of sea-bottom 
(water) in the best fishing grounds, yields a greater 
weight of fish every week in the year." The author, 
therefore, recommends pisciculture to the serious con- 
sideration of his countrymen, as a profitable industry, 
instead of wasting their time and energy in seeking 
petty Government appointments. The lust chapter 
deals with the scientific description and classification 
of fishes, with the names of hundreds of varieties, 
and their Bengalee equivalents. Altogether, the work 
is a very useful one, while the subject is one of 
great economic importance, especially in Bengal, 
where fish enters largely into the dietary of the 
people. The author deserves every encouragement iu 
his attempt to bring to the notice of his country- 
men an industry with Isirge possibilities, and we re- 
commend the book to ail interested in the subject. 
— Imlian Ayriculturist. 
| ~ *~fiscicuJture (Moti.ih Chasi. By Nidhiram Mookerjee. 
lianr/nhasi Press, 34*1, Co|ootolla-street, Calcutta. 
