March ij iS8S.j THE TROPICAL 
Tho Saniurang Locomptief of the 3 id January, 
says that, in Mid Java, an invention lias just 
been hit upon, sure to prove highly beneficial to 
indigo planters should it aland the test of practical 
experience. The yield of that article is said to be 
thereby increased between 25 and .'iO per cent. It 
is asserted that the secret of securing this heavier 
outturn lies in stopping the fermenting process 
just in time to admit of immediate operations 
being undertaken to turn out the dye. The 
secret in fact resides in knowing the exact time 
to take in hand the different stages of indigo 
making. Tho time is Used by drops of a certain 
fluid, the composition of which is kept in the dark 
by the inventor, Mr. Van Prelim. It is to be 
hoped that, this time, inventive genius has really 
found out the philosopher's stone for indigo plan- 
ters. Many previous inventors have made discov- 
eries in this line which have only ended in bitter 
disappointment. Experiments on a large scale 
will have to be gone through before the merits of 
tho new invention can be fairly tested. 
SUME TIIOUUHTS FOR TEA DJUNKEUS. 
Tea is ho popular an article of consump- 
tion that any information tending to a better 
appreciation of its dietetic uaes and of the 
part it plays not only in domestic, but in 
political, economy, must be of direct interest to a very 
large proportion of the people, who will derive much 
instruction from the paper on the subject read by Mr. 
Shaud before tho last meeting of the Royal Colonial 
Institute. There are probably few persons who, while 
sipping the " cup that cheers but not inebriates," h ive 
not been struck by the varieties of flavour and genera] 
quality possessed by different liinds of tea, and have 
not considered how far those ditYerences aro due to 
natural and how far to artificial canses : but to a very 
small proportion of tea driukers probably has it occur- 
red to inquire whether any questions of national 
importance arc involved in this choice between a dear 
and a cheap tea — a tea grown in India or Ceylon and 
one produced in China or Java. Less than a genera- 
tion ago tbe idea of " tea " was associated solely 
with the country which has given its name to the 
cups from which it is usually drunk ; and, as a matter 
of fact, it is only within the la-it twenty-five years 
that tea from any other country besides China has 
been placed on tbe English markets. At the present 
time, howover. the tca-drii.king public have a choicy 
of teas from China, India, aud Ceylon, with an occa- 
sional chance of securing a parcel from Xatal, Fiji, 
or the Straits Settlements, not to mention the Dutch 
East ludian Colonies. Tho single Colony of Coylon, 
howevor, which at that time (1845) had not even 
dreamt of tea-growing, will in another two year.' 
time send ns a quantity equal to the whole of our 
imports in those days, while India, which was then 
in equal ignorance of its capacity to rival China as a 
tea-growing country, will be sending us three times as 
much. At tho same time, tho quantity of tea imported 
iuto this country from China is nearly three times as 
great ai tho '' extreme limit of consumption '' forty 
years ago. So far these figures merely indicate an 
enormous increase in tho tea-drinking capacity of tho 
people of the United Kingdom, who, us Mr. shiud 
states, are only beaten in this respect by their Aus- 
tralian cousius. The superiority of Indian aud 
Ceylon teas over those of China is duo partly to tho 
natural conditions of soil and climate under which the 
particular varieties of tho tea plant more particularly 
cultivated in Assam and Ceylon are grown, and partly 
to tho greater cure with which this produce is pre- 
pared for consumption. It is clearly then to tho 
advantage of the English ten-drinkers to avoid Chinese 
teas mid to give tho preference to those grown in 
" British" nil, Thi) slightly higher prioos which tho 
latter command is compensated for by tho higher 
chemical properties possessed by Ijiom, and by tho 
fact that a pound of Ceylon or Indian tea will vivid 
a larger number of cupi of " tea" for drinking than 
AGRICULTURIST. 611 
a— — —sag— ge g ■ uu ■ _ mi ■a^ sjuf. 
the samo quantity of Chinese tea. Cut there fa tho 
otill larger consideration, that in " patronisiug" the 
produce of the Colonies and o( India Englishmen are 
contributing to the support of their fellow subjects, 
instead ot to that of foreigners, and at the same time 
contributing to the maintenance of thoso bonds, ma- 
terial as well a6 sentimental, which unite the Colonies 
to the Mother Country, and to the general prosperity 
of the Empire. It is urged by tho friends of China 
that as soon as she awakens, as she shows signs of doing, 
to a seuso of tho loss she is suffering through the care- 
lessness or the malpractices of her tea growers and 
shippers, she will find that she possesses such advan- 
tages in an unlimited supply of labour, and an uu- 
limiteel area available for tea cultivation, that she 
could swarnp all competitors on the question both of 
quantity and of quality. It would appear, however, 
that a great deal of lee-way has to be made up before 
Chiua can attain such a position as this. Mr. Shand's 
paper made it fully clear that the cost of labour is one 
of the principal elements in the successful conduct of 
a tea plantation, and that Chiua has the advantage 
over Ceylou that she can get labour at about Id a day, 
while in < 'eylou it costs Gd. But there is already a dif- 
ference of 5d between the average prices of Ceylon 
and China teas in the English market — a difference 
entirely due to quality | and it is evident that, in order 
to bring the quality of their teas up to that of the 
Ceylon varieties, the Chinese growers will have to 
incur considerable expense in improved methods of 
picking, curing, and packing.* On ono point Mr. 
Khand's paper seoms open to criticism, and that is on 
tho matter of retaining, reducing, or abolishing the 
present duty of 6d per pound. Mr. Shaud maintains 
that to reduce tho duty would be to favour the cheaper 
Chinese teas ; but it is surely open to argameut 
whether a consumer who, thinking Ceylon tea dear 
at 'la per pound (of which Gd is accounted for by 
duty), would not bo glad to pay Is 'Jd for the same 
Ceylon tea (on which ouly3d was chargeable as duty ; 
rather than to fall back ou the inferior China tea 
at Is (id on which, also, 3d was paid for duty. This ques- 
tion of duty, howevor, opens up the larger considera- 
tion whether, ',' after all," differential duties iu favour 
of colonial produce would not in tho long run be of 
general advantage. This is a question winch the 
English consumers must decide for thenisolvcs, t iking 
iuto account all the circumstances connected both 
with the immediate point of the advantages of good 
aud bad tea and with the ultimate point of the benefits 
accruing to the Empire from the development of 
British enterprise in tho Colonies aud India. — Qdoniev 
cuid India, Jan 13th. [Tho day of differential duties 
is past, but we may hope for au ultimate reduction 
of the tea duty all rouud to od per lb. — Ed.] 
♦ 
SPICES AND DRUGS: TKADB REPORT. 
London, January 12th. 
AsXAi'io without demand. Several parcels .-<;<-./ were 
bought iu at 8&d for good Ceylon and West Indian. A 
small parcel rather dark Java seed is held at '2{d per 
lb. Forty baskets Para Ml aunatto were also brought 
forward but found no purchasers. The lots were 
bought in at from Is Gd to 2s per lb. ; less would bo 
taken no doubt. 
Baki. Fruit.— Only five bags dull and slightly mouldy 
pieces changed bauds at Jd per lb. 
Carhamoms. — Tbo auctions comprised the largo 
quantity of 339 packages, all of Ceylou growth. Tho 
assortment was a pretty good one, but, owing to the bad 
light in which the samples had to be inspected, valu- 
ation was difficult. The bulk of the cardamoms cata- 
logued was offered today, and sold at firm prices, occa- 
sionally a shade above tin' rates paid at the la-t auction--. 
CINCHONA. — A fairly heavy parcel l.tiim bark, rather 
pale, partly mossy ; broken quill wilt not be reached 
until tomorrow ; meanwhile ono lot of ordinary quality 
sold at id today ; 1 30 serous flat yellow Gflffaqpi of 
• Tho heavy export duty und "squeezes" ti> which 
China tea is subject probably mi re than i .,o ih^o tbn 
cost of labour; and a£ Ui improve ! preparation, machi- 
nery introduced a few years ngu valine t be us«id cii.- pi 
ot the ri--k of a riot.— Eu. 
