December t, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
3^9 
CONSULAR REPORTS ON CHINA TEA. 
Fow documents afford more valuable inform- 
ation than do the reports of British Consular 
Agents abroad. They touch on nearly every topic 
of interest, and thore arc few home journals, of 
a specialist character or otherwise, which do not 
largely extract from them. Our latest London 
letter makes reforonce to somo of them which 
afford us instructive information as to the growing 
alarm felt in China regarding the rapid super - 
Bossion of the tea grown in that country by the 
similar product of India and Ceylon. The writers 
of the reports do not fail to recognize the im- 
portance of this matter. For several years past, 
it is true, the exports of tea from China havo 
been falling off, but the results of the latest 
season have shown this to be so pronounced that 
the hopes which had been entertained of the de- 
crease in export being but of a temporary charac- 
ter appear now to have been wholly given up, 
and the reports in consequence teem with sug- 
gestions as to how the evil day, which shall see 
China teas almost entirely excluded from European 
markets, may best be averted. 
The most prominent of these suggestions appears 
to be that the cheaper teas of China shall be 
blended with a small proportion of Indian or 
Ceylon tea. The Consuls do not seem to be aware 
of the large extent to which this has always been 
done, — with Assam tea, at least. The idea that 
the finer growths of China tea may still retain 
their former pre-eminence in the markets of the 
world would seem now almost to be abandoned. 
Russia, the country from whence hitherto the 
demand for very high class teas has mainly 
come, is, it is stated, no longor disposed to pay 
the high prices for such descriptions as she has, 
up almost to tho present day, been willing to 
pay. We have no information as to the causes 
which may havo given rise to this disinclin- 
ation. It may be either that in common with 
similar experiences in tho rest of tho world the 
large fortunes (accumulated in tho Tsar's Empire 
under the old days of serfdom) have dwindled 
down so considerably that even the magnates of 
that country have to parctise a previously unknown 
economy, or that a taste for Indian teas is being 
gradually introducod into Russia, and has caused 
a oessation of the demand for the more costly 
productions of China. Whatever the cause may 
be, it seems to bo certain from the statements 
of the British Consuls at the several leading Chinese 
ports that a free market can no longer be found 
either in Russia or in other European countries 
for the liner varieties of China tea. In the opinion 
of those gentlemen the trade of the future must 
be in tho coarser description which can bo sold 
in London for about six penes tho pound. It is 
hsld, apparent!., that neitiicr India nor Ceylon 
oan possibly compete with China in such descrip- 
tions, and consideration being given to the cheap- 
ness of land and labour in the Celestial Em- 
pire, and to the abundance of its water-carriage, 
wo should hold it to be extremely probable 
that «uch a conclusion is correct even after 
export taxes and Mandarin " squeezes " are taken 
into account. Rut at the same time it is fully re- 
cognized that, by themselves), such teas have no 
chance o( mooting with ready acceptance by Eu- 
ropean lea drinkers and lliu recommendation to 
which wo have abovo rcforrcd that such growths 
ihould bu blended with u • uw pennyworths " of 
Indian tea by the home dealers is put forward an 
a suggestion for overcoming such a disinclination. 
How far Coylon tea may be equally suitable to 
that of India for the purpose of such admixtu , 
is a question which our planters may do well to 
consider. If the suggestion made by our Consuls 
is adopted to any v/ido extent than at present by 
the home dealers, it may have a sensible effect 
upon the amount of sale of Indian tea, and experts 
seem to think that the delicate flavouring of Ceylon 
tea does not lend itself so freely for such ad- 
mixturing as do the more highly tannin chaj ed 
teas of India. It will be generally admitted, wo 
think, that the super-excellence claimed for Ceylon 
over Indian teas is based upon the fact that, while 
yielding a liquor of equal fragrance and strength 
with the latter, the former are free from tho 
roughness of taste due to tho presence of that 
excessive amount of tannin which the larger 
proportion of teas grown in India possess. In one 
sense, of course, this fact has for ourselves a 
decided advantage ; but it must undoubtedly militate 
against our successful competition with India if 
the blending of the cheaper teas of China with 
Indian tea is very largely carried out. Now it ii 
well-known that the higher the elevation at which 
tea is grown in Ceylon the less the proportion 
of acridity noticeable in tho leaf. Indeed, we know 
by a letter on tho subject which we publish below, 
that some tea grown on a small garden possessed by 
Mr. John Ferguson at Nuwara Eliya had been 
declared by home experts to be of a quality de- 
serving special classification in the London Market, 
and such classification has only been denied to it 
because of the exceedingly limited quantity pro- 
duced. May it not be deduced from this that 
teas grown on " lowcountry " in Ceylon may bo 
expected to possess the very quality that may lit 
them to competo with the more highly tannin - 
charged teas of India for the purposes of the blend- 
ing recommended ? If such could be shown to bo 
the case, it might prove ultimately to be very pro- 
fitable for the owners of low-lying estates to send 
home teas specially prepared and branded as ad ipl 
ed for blending purposes. Some course of this 
kind would appear to be desirable if the full ex- 
tent of land suitable for tea cultivation in Ceylon 
is ultimately to be made profitable. It will bo 
to the interest of our planters to try and meet 
all and every exigency of demand, and we havo 
pointed out this special ono as deserving of their 
attention. 
At the same time, we beliove, the growing tend- 
ency in Britain is more and more towards using 
Indian and Ceylon Tea pure and simple, letting 
inferior China kinds severely alone. The tendency 
has, of course, increased and will increase as first 
quality. Indian and Ceylon teas are obtained at 
pricos which make them better value than China 
teas at still lower rates. 
TEA CROWN AT HICII ELEVATIONS IN 
CEYLON. 
(From our Special Correspondent.) 
When Mr. Arthur Thompson, of the well-know n 
London Tea-broking Firm of Messrs. W. J. A 1 1 . 
Thompson visited Ceylon, he was struck by 
tho delicate and superior flavour of tons ho 
tasted in the neighbourhood of Nuwara Bllya, 
the sanatorium of the island. If there wore only 
a sufficient quantity grown at this elevntion, it 
could well be classed separately as " Ceylon- 
Darjilins" and sold nt prices equal to, if Dot 
above, those got for tho lino delicate teas. , rown 
around Parjiling station. But, inasmuch as tho 
Nuwara Eliya tea district, or itideed tho area oi 
