THF. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. (September i, 1888. 
THE FUTURE OP JAPANESE TEA. 
(Translated from the Mainiahi Shimbun.) 
By lately publishe 1 statistics on Japanese tea we 
obser/e that ihe value of the tea exp irted in 1S84 
amounted iu r mad numbers to yen 5,819,000. Ia 1885 
the amount reaehe.l yen 6,854,000; and the following 
year yen 7,723,000. , The total amount of our exports in 
1836 was 47,997,000 ; of which yen 19,000,000 was 
realised from the silk trade. We see then w at an 
important position among our staple products tea 
holds. Every country has its staple articles of export. 
England its woolen and cottou cloths, and America its 
wheat flour, hut in no country but Japan <)o one or two 
articles constitute more than half of the produce ex- 
ported. The important position that tea occupies as a 
source oE national revjuuu demands that great attention 
Bhould be paid to his cultivation. We are sorry to see 
that this is lacking. From the statistics supplied by 
the Tea Association we gather that during the past 
four years there has been a general falling off iu the 
prices roalizeil for Aarrous teas. The aubjoi ned table 
shows the prices at which teas from principal localities 
have been selling : — 
SUBUGA, TeTOMI, AND MlKAWA. 
Quality. 1885. 1886. 1887. 188$. 
Best above $13.0 above S'iy.O above $39.0 above $35.5 
First 
medium... 33.0 to 36.5 31.0 to 3-1.5 30. 0 to 35.5 29.0 to 32.5 
Secoud 
medium ., 27.0 to 30.5 25.0 to 28.5 25.5 to 28.5 33 0 to 26.0 
Common 
medium,,. 21.5 to — 22.5 to ... 22.0 to ... 19.5 to ... 
IsE AND MlNO. 
First 
medium... 28.0 to 32.0 27.5 to 32.5 27.0 to 29.0 23.5 to 25,5 
Second 
medium... 25.0 to 27.0 24.5 to 2(5.5 20.0 to 21.0 18.5 to ... 
Common 
medium... below 25.0 21.0 to ... 17.0 to 19.0 13.0 to 14.0 
Shitachi and Kazusa. 
First 
medium... 28.0 to 32.0 27.0 to 29,0 26.0 to 28.0 23.0 to 25.0 
Second 
medium .. 24.0 to 26.0 23.0 to 25.0 20.0 to 23.0 16.0 to 18.0 
Common 
medium... below 22.0 18.0 to 20.0 15.0 to 18.0 12.0 to 14.0 
Yamashiro and Omi. 
Best to to to to ... 
First 
medium .. 32 0 to 35.0 30.0 to 33.0 ... to to ... 
Secoud 
medium... 27.0 to 29.0 26.0 to 28.0 ... to to ... 
Common 
medium to to to to 
Hachoji. 
Best to to ... above 38.0 ... to 
First 
medium ... 32.0 to 35.0 31.5 to 31.0 33.0 to 35.5 29.0 to 32.0 
Second 
medium... 27.0 to 29.0 26.0 to 28.0 28.0 to 27.0 24.5 to 26.0 
Common 
medium to ... 22.0 to 24.0 19.0 to 20.0 18.0_to 19.0 
This table shows that out of about twenty different 
varieties of tea some have fallen" in price 50 per- cent., 
aud that there is not one but has decreased in value 
more than 10 per cent., and all in the space of four 
years. We hear also that probably owing to the rapid 
construction of railways, the wages of the cultivators 
and pickers of tea have had to be raised during the 
past year. This is said to have affected some tea dis- 
tricts so seriously as to make it impossible for them 
to send tea to Yokohama at the current rates of sale. 
This state of things is something more than a commer- 
cial difficulty among a certain class of traders : iu that 
it materially affects the national revenue, it is a great 
national misfortune. In endeavouring to forecast what 
will be the future of our tea trade, we are forced to 
the conclusion that the only chance of success seems 
to lie iu the possibility of our tea taking the place of 
coffee in western markets, or of its gaining ascen- 
dancy over the Iudian and Chinese teas. Nether of 
tiicse things is likely to happen. Hence we cannot 
hut have dark forebodings in reference to the future 
of the trade. The fall in prices is not to be attri- 
buted to deterioration in the quality of the tea pro- 
duced. The Tea Association organized under Govern- 
ment auspices has paid considerable attention to tho 
quality of the tea grown and has adopted various rules 
bearing on the production and preparation of tea. 
This ha^, we are assured, been a safeguard against any 
wide-spread falling off iu the quality ot the article 
grown, in fact it has resulted in a decided improve- 
ment in this respect. The cause of the decline iu 
prices is to be attributed t) over-production. By re- 
ferring to the various annual reports of the Tea As- 
sociation, we find that, iu the course of ten years, 
that is between the years 1878 and 1888, the amount 
produced has doubled itself. Doubtless the s me 
thing has taken place in Chini and India. The de- 
mand for tea in the West has certainly increased 
during this pe iod, -but not at the rate of production 
and hence the present disparity between supply and 
demand. It seems to us that the only remedy tor 
this state of things lies in paying closer attention 
to the taste of foreign consumers, reducing the 
quautity of the varieties produced, confining our efforts 
to the production of those teas that are in demand, 
and endeavouring to reduce the expense of production 
as much as possible. — Japan Weekly Mail, July 2lBt. 
Experiments are being carried on in Russia with 
the view of finding a process, at once practicable 
as well as desirable on the score of economy and 
cleanliness, of solidifying the petroleum used as 
fuel. According to the report made to the Russian 
Government by Dr. KauffmanD, who has had the 
principal charge of these experiments, a successful 
method of accomplishing the desired results con- 
sists simply in heating the oil and afterwards 
adding from 1 to 3 per cent, of soap. I he latter 
dissolves in the oil, and the liquid, on cooling, 
forms a 'mass having the appearance of cement 
and the hardness of compact tallow. The product 
is hard to light, burns slowly and without smoke, 
but developes much heat, and leaves about 2 per 
cent, of a hard, black residuum. — trt'dian Engineer, 
July 18th. [If it could be deprived of its odour 
and sold cheaply, we should here have a good tea 
factory fuel. — Ed.] 
Tamil Coolies in Sumatra. — Says the Straits 
Times of August 1st:— It is reported that the 
Dutch Government intend, shortly, to take an im- 
portant preliminary step in connection with the 
immigration of Tamil Coolies into Deli from India, 
by appointing a Consul-General at Calcutta. No 
decision has been come to whether he will be a 
professional or unpaid consul. The alternative 
which will suit in this instance is obvious enough, 
when it is borne in mind that only an official can 
steer clear of complications of every kind sure to 
arise from commercial transactions connected with 
the emigration business. But a paid Consul-General 
means a heavy outlay. Hence considerations of 
economy prompt the appointment of ah unsalaried 
holder of the office. With parsimony in the as- 
cendant, efficiency must go to the wall. 
Miga miniDg pays in North Carolina : — 100 lb. 
of block will yield from 10 to 12 lb. of cut mica, 
that is an average yield ; but instances have been 
known of a yield falling to 5 per cent, while it 
has risen in some mines to 33 per cent, and once 
the high tide level of 75 per cent was reached. 
The highest price realized has been four dollars 
per pound ; the average price is about $ 1*75. 
Why is not more attention paid to mica miniog 
in India? Supplies are abundant and obtainable 
without much difficulty, and, if the enterprise yields 
handsome profits in a country where labour is dear, 
as in the Southern State of America, it ought to 
be still better worth development in places v here 
labour is cheap, as it is in India. Nor is cost of 
transit likely to be a heavy item of expenditure, the 
stuff being so extremely light. — Indian Engineer. 
[Beside the large plates for lanterns, pounded 
mica is largely used as a lubricant in the United 
States,— Ed.] 
