December r, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
losing a spar, but novor foundering. Guided by 
consummate soamanship, and manned by picked 
crews, they did the passage from China in an in- 
credibly short space of time, and the first to ar- 
rive won the substantial prize of £500. Tho tea 
race with the new season's tea is still an event 
in Minciue-laue, but tho clippers have dis- 
appeared. With tho opening of the Suez Canal 
they had to give place to a different type 
of vessel — to steamers of modern construc- 
tion, with high speod. The tea trade has 
brought into requisition what is now known as the 
modern fast steamer of the " Stirling Castle " type, 
which performs the journey from Shanghai to London 
in less than thirty days. Yet another change seems 
now to be impending. The Oauadiau-Pacilic Kailway 
is experimenting on the carriage of Japanese tea, in 
order to show that the route across the American 
Continent is quicker than by the Suez Canal. It 
remains to be seen whether the railway will be able 
to divert any appreciable quantity of China tea freight 
from the Suez Canal. Operators in China are said to 
prefer to ship by steamers direct to London, because 
tea transhipped en route often reaches this countrj 
in a broken condition, but there are ways and means 
by which that can be prevented. 
The spread of Temperance and the fall in the value 
of tea have greatly iucreased the consumption. Thirty 
years ago about 63 million pounds of tea were used 
in the United Kingdom, the amount consumed being 
a trifle over 2J lb. per head ; while the duty was 
about Is 'Jd per lb., and the average price of the 
imports about Is 3d per lb. At the present time we 
are using about 182 million pounds, or 5 lb. per 
head, the duty beiug G'd per lb., and the average 
price of our imports Is per lb. The tea season com- 
mences about the middlo of the summer, when the 
new teas, picked in China in April and May, arrive 
in the Thames. Indian teas come later, and are in 
full supply in August and September. As the teas 
arrive, they are convoyed to a warehouse, where the 
various consignments have to be classified and cata- 
logued preparatory to beiug sold. The cataloguing is 
a tedious, but important, operation. The packages 
have to bo described as well as the tea itself, and 
all marks have to be specified. Teas of the same 
character, and about the same quality, are put to- 
gether, constituting what is known in Miucing- 
lauo as a " break." During the sale, the broker uses 
his discretion in dividing the " break" into lots. Thus 
if thorearc 100 boxes altogether, he may put them up 
in tens or twenties, but it is important to have large 
" breaks," and to avoid tho divisiou of tea into too 
many varietios. It is an understood custom of the 
auctions that the buyer of the first lot in a " break" 
is ontilled to bid for all the rest, and the selling 
broker usually runs them off to him at tho 
samo price as tho first lot. Hut should he drop 
a lot, then any other buyer is free to bid, 
Until tho last few years the world had to rely upon 
China for its tea supply, but India and Ceylon are 
already formidable rivals. It will surprise many to 
learn that in May last tho imports of tea from 
India and Ceylon exceeded those from China in tho 
proportion of 51 to 49, That never happened before, 
nor has it bappenod since, but there can be no doubt 
that before loug we shall receive tho major portion 
of our tea from India and Ceylon. The Ohineso 
overreached thotnselves. Under the impression that 
foreigners must have their tea, tho Chinese mer- 
eb nits supplied an inferior article, but they did not 
tali' into aecount that other countries wero beginning 
to produce tea. The production for export at China 
tens appears to have reached its climax in 1879, when 
the previous speculative rise in prices flooded us with 
nn eiiormiuiH amount of re-dned rubbish, and this 
materially served to increase tho popularity of tho 
Indian growth. China, being a producing and con- 
suming country, ran tiso re-dried leaves for export, 
while in India tho homo consumption is small, nnd 
not being in the producing districts thero in no fear 
of tho tea beiug doctored in UiU way. Of course, 
the deterioration of the Chinese teas .out to the 
English market is not altogether the fault of the 
Celestial ; at any rate, he was encouraged to ship 
inferior tea3 by the demand for a cheap article. It 
was largely a question of price. In England people 
bought poorer teas because thoy wanted something 
that costs little, aud tho Chinese ministered to the 
want by sending qualities which a coolie in Canton 
or Yokohama would rejoct. Tho best qualiti' s they 
reserved for themselves, and for tho Russians, who 
are willing to pay a long price for a good article. 
The cultivation of tea on Chinese methods was 
first attempted by the Indian Government in 183-1. 
Chinese seed was introduced, but experience has 
shown that the most profitable plant is a hybrid 
between the indigenous and the Chinese varieties. 
In 1839 the Assam Company, which remains the 
most important of the Indian tea companies, took 
over the Government garden in Assam, which is still 
the great home of the industry, though tea-planting 
is also securely established at Darjeoling, in Bengal, 
along the foot of the Himalayas as far west as 
Simla, at Chittagong on the further side of the Bay 
of Bengal, and on tho Nilgiris, and other hill ranges 
in the south. The increase in the exports of tea may 
be gathered from the following Government returns: — 
Average Value 
Year. Quantity. Value. per lb. 
1883-4 lb. 19,324,235 £1,742,924 Is. 9'OOd. 
1882-3 57,706,225 3,699,496 Is. 3.36d. 
In these ten years the quantity increased by 198 per 
cent., the value by 113 per cent., the average value 
per pound having fallen from Is 9d to Is 3d. Com- 
petition is certain to reduce the price much lower, 
and the managers of the tea gardens have been ad- 
vised that if they are to hold their own they will 
have to limit the cost of production to 6d per lb. 
Iu Ceylon the progress of tea cultivation has been 
even more marked than in India. The development 
of the Ceylon tea trade, unlike that of India, has 
been rapid. India commenced the cultivation of the 
shrub with unskilled planters, and iuappreciative 
markets. Oeylou benefited by the experience gained 
iu the Indian gardens, which enabled her planter* 
to avoid the mistakes made iu early days by tho 
Indian managers, who kuew little or nothing about 
tea-planting. Ceylon, too, was fortunate in supply- 
ing a high-class article at a time when China was 
seuding inferior tea to the Kuropean market. 
The result is that Ceylon teas have rapidly 
gained in public favour, until now thero is hardly 
a grocer's shop in which " Oeyloa Tea " is not a 
conspicuous article of sale. The rapid growth iu 
Ceylon exports of tea is shown by the following figures, 
which we take from Messrs. Baker's excellent " Trade 
and Finance Annual": — 
Area Planted. Total Kxports 
Year. Acres. lb. 
1807 to 1873 in to 250 Nil 
1883 32,000 1.999.0S7 
1880 140,000 0,759,000 
It is noteworthy that the Anglo-Saxon is the prin- 
cipal tea-drinking race in tho werld, and that none 
drink so much tea as tho Australians, who oonaama 
7 00 lb per head, as compared with 4 HO in Luglaud, 
and I'SOin the United States. — Echo, Sept, 28th, 
THE AGRICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA 
AND OF EASTERN' AND SOUTHERN ASIA.* 
Iu 1885 Dr. Balfour, tho idefatigablo author of that 
marvel of Oriontal knowledge, the " Oyclopa- lia of 
India," suggested to the India Otliee authorities the 
expediency of requiring nnuuul reports, describing 
t the insects which injure the agricultural, horti- 
cultural, and forest prodooe Of India, suggesting ineaus 
of preventing, and remedies." These reports, the 
writer thought, should be restricted to the injurious 
insects, and ho referred to the valuable experience 
acquired by Miss Orm oro I (who, as is well known, 
•"The Agricultural Bests of ludia mid ot Kaatero 
aud Southern Asia, Vegetable and Animal, Injurioua 
to Man and his Products." By Surgeon ( ;. n. r»l 
Elward Balfour. I. union: Bernard t>uarit h \**~. 
