December i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST 
429 
night-flying insects which carry pollen from those 
flowers which happen to bo open rather before the 
others, as some are delayed. On the following morn- 
ing all the flowers will be found open, and the field 
of coffee presonts a sheet of white. These flowers 
are frequonted by immense numbers of boes, of two 
kinds ono about thrco-qiiarters of an inch long and 
black, tho other smaller and with whito bands round 
its abdomen. The stigmas now are covered with 
pollon, and tho anthers bursting, and the larger of 
these beoa may be seen buzzing from flower to flower 
sweeping up the graim of pollen betweon its front 
logs, and rolling them into balls. Long before even- 
ing all the anthers are exhausted of pollon, and the 
insects havo depaited. Besides bees some butterflies 
visit coffee, such as Hypolimnas bolinu, Fapilio l'olf- 
nvtiestitt and two or three Danaidoe. 
The cotl'oe plant by being proterogynons is intend- 
ed by Nature to bo cross-fertilized, but owing to 
all tho plants in one clearing being usually grown 
from seed of a single estate, there must be a great 
deal of interbroeding, more especially as all the 
coffeo of Coy Ion and most of South Iudia is 
supposed to bo descended from a singlo plant in- 
troduced into Batavia about two centuries ago. This 
may have something to do with tho munifost deteri- 
oration in stamina of tho younger coffee. 
Whilo on this subjoct 1 may mention the curious 
alteration in tho position of the organs of Clcrodendron 
■. i uafuJ* when Uoworing. Thisplant is proterau- 
rous : at first tho style hangs down, whilo the stamenB 
are erect : as soon as the pollen is shod tho stamens 
drop, whilo the stylo risos, and tho stigma becomes 
receptive. The chief curriers of pollen in this plant 
nro small ants. T. P. Bouhdim.on. 
Quilon, S. Travancore, India, Sept. 13th. 
— yaturc, Oct. 20th. 
«. . 
THE DECADENCE OF THE CHINA TEA 
TKADE. 
This subject is now being discussed in the prin- 
cipal China newspapers. 
It appears that the loss ofrevenue arising from 
the decrease this year in the exports has induced 
the Chinese Government to inquire into tho causes 
which have led to tho British public refusing any 
longer to drink the rubbish which has hitherto 
beon foisted on them by the Chinese under the 
designation of common congou, because it can now 
obtain from Ceylon and Java good and unadulter- 
ated teas at prices relatively as cheap as the China 
stuff. 
The Government has invited the Shanghai Cham- 
ber of Commerce to give its opinion as to the causes 
of the alleged falling-off in the quality of a great 
portion of what has recently been exported and to 
point out how the deterioration is to be remedied. 
Tho Chamber will, no doubt, furnish tho Chinese 
Government with the same advice which the Minc- 
ing Lane brokers give to Ceylon planters, namely, 
to improve their manufacture and make nothing 
but tine and first-class tea, as if self-intereBt is 
not as inherent in the soul of tho Chinese cul- 
tivator as it is in that of the Ceylon planter, who 
makes tho best tea his ability and circumstances 
permit him to make, and the Chamber will piob- 
ably further recommend the Chinese to consume 
their own rubbish and send to England nothing 
but ihoir best descriptions. 
The Chinese Government will thereupon issue 
directions to the Governors of provinces to impress 
Dpon tho cultivator tho neoessity of improving his 
method of converting his green leaf into better 
tea than ho has lately beon doing, if not for his 
own intorost for that of his paternal Government. 
As explained by the S'orth-China Herald it is 
impossible for him to do this unless tho conditions 
upou which the green-loaf is grown aud manufactured 
aro revolutionised. 
Tho Ceylon planter is now supposed to be initi- 
ated into the mysteries of good tea making. He 
knows that if he wishes to make tho finest qualities 
ho must pluck fine, and if he thinks a larger yield 
of medium quantity pays him better than fine 
plucking he plucks accordingly, but in both cases 
to ensure the manufacture of the best of each 
description, the most careful and delicate methods 
of withering, rolling, oxidizing and firing the green- 
leaf is necessary, and as shown by the North-Uhina 
Herald in the following article, the Chinese culti- 
vator cannot manufacture his leaf under the con- 
ditions necessary to insure the manufacture of 
good tea: — 
" Tho advantage which India has over China is 
the advantage that the manufacturer has over the 
handicraftsman. The small plantations cannot com- 
pete with the large ones in India, and are boing 
rapidly absorbed or amalgamated. It is these large 
plantations with amplo capital, improved machinery, 
and tho most expert supervision, that aro controlling 
tho London market ; and the little farmer with his 
two or three mow of ground on a hillside in Hupeh, 
cannot hope to compete with them. In India the 
leaf is fired the day it is picked, and all its strength 
and aroma are preserved. In China, tho packer of 
the tea sets himself up in the country villago, and the 
small farmers come in from all ronnd, each with hia 
picul or two of leaf, and as soon as the teaman has 
collected enough for a chop, he fires and packs it, 
days having probably elapsed since it was picked, 
whilo the farmer was haggling over the prico. The 
teamen would scorn to use the machinery for firing 
and sorting which have been found so useful in India ; 
they stand on the ancient ways, only anxious to get 
their teas as quickly as possiblo to market, the time 
of arrival being a more potent factor than the quality 
in extracting a profit from the foreigner." More- 
over the area of competition is extending. Ceylon 
is now a large producer, and South Africa and Fiji 
have both commenced, with some succoss, the busi- 
ness of tea planting. Tho monopoly once enjoyed 
by China can therefore never be regained. While 
this fact has to be faced, thero is no reason why- 
she should not continue to keep a large share of the 
trade if only proper attention bo directed to the 
cultivation and firing of the leaf. The stock is said 
to need renewing in some districts, and the methods 
of firing can be improved in all. The admixturo of 
dust and rubbish in the shape of used and spurious 
leaf can easily be remedied. This is a question of 
common honesty. Tricks in trade never pay in tho 
long run; attempts to palm off inferior articles always 
recoil, sooner or later, on the dishonest dealer. We 
do not know whether the Foochow Chamber of Com- 
merce has also been invited to give their co-opera- 
ation in the work of discovering a remedy for the 
decline in the tea trade, but its assistance should 
certainly hav« been asked, as it is in a positiou to 
throw a good deal of light on tho quostion. 
A considerable portion of the tea shipped from 
China to England is now selling at l$d to od 
per pound. Well I we are sufficiently acquainted 
with the circumstances under which the China tea 
is manipulated to know that at such prices neither 
the cultivator nor middleman can obtain any profit 
out of tho export of lea, the Chinese Government 
is the sole bonefitor by tho trade. Therefore, as 
far as tho cultivator is concorned, the importance of 
the export trade is, as wo have previously said, 
overrated. The Chinese Government obtains a 
rev of about a million sterling per annum from 
tho export duty, and it is the prospect of losing 
a largo portion of thi which is now exorcising 
the mind of the Chinese Government. Tho only 
way of remedying the inferiority complained of i* 
by tho construction of central factories, where the 
cultivator can take his few picnl*. of grecnleaf, 
before it has become unfit for making good tea. 
This, of course, cannot bo dono, nor can the Gov- 
ornmont increase tho remuneration of the grower 
