636 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March t, 1889. 
Americans look lor in coSee alone. The nearer 
Amerioans approach the English in the selection 
of tea, the greater will be its consumption. 
Ceylon tea is remarkable for its purity, its 
strength, its freedom from artificial coloring, its 
richness and its fragrance. 
But it has been demonstrated that plain Ceylon 
tea does not please the average American. It ia 
too distinctive. Recognizing this fact, we endea- 
vored to combine the choicest Ceylon flowery pekoe 
tea with pure and unoolored China and Japan teas 
in such exact proportions, and of such particular 
flavors, as would modify the distinctive Cey- 
lon character, so as to please the American 
taste. After many careful experiments we sucoeeded. 
The tea is known as Blank's Ceylon Tea. It is 
richer, heavier and more fragrant than ordinary 
teas. It has now been thoroughly tested in many 
localities and the almost universal verdict is, that 
"it is perfect." — American Grocer, Nov. 7th. 
TEA SALES :— THE NEW AND OLD SYSTEM. 
The New System. — To enable our readers at a dis- 
tance to understand tbe position of both sides in the 
arguments pro and con what is called the New System 
of selling tea, we must as briefly as possible state 
what are the dealers' principal objections to the old 
method. For many years all brokers' catalogues have 
been issued with full marks, with the ships' name 
and date of import, so that anyone who took 
the trouble to turn up a file of catalogues, could 
see for himself, or inform any interested party ex- 
actly what price was paid for any particular parcel. 
The dealers have for a long time felt this work to their 
advantage for various reasons. The advantages of 
capital, and great experience and judgment in buying 
teas have, owing to the universal knowledge of the price 
bid, practically disappeared. The merest tyro in the 
Lane is able to compete with the best judge of the 
article, and has not been slow to injure his rival's sale 
of teas in the country, by informing the buyers for 
whose custom he was competing, exactly what so-and-so 
had given for such-and-such a tea. In this way the 
tendency towards lower and lower prices has been 
greatly accelerated. The teas have not been sold on 
their merits, but on what was paid or bid in the rooms. 
Customers come in and " claim " from tbe dealers teas 
they have just bought, at a nominal profit of §d to £d 
per lb., and the London dealer has thus drifted into the 
position of a Banker for the country buyer, never able 
to benefit by his judgment or experience when teas 
are cheap, and quite unable to get rid of his teas 
when they were dear, except at great loss. This is in 
great measure owing to the fact that the price bid in 
the rooms " ear-marks " a tea. Consequently if a 
dealer or speculator wants to sell his recent purchase 
by auction, the " Room " will hardly look at it, and will 
in all likelihood bid 3d to 6d per lb less than it had pre- 
viously sold for. "Oh" they say, "Second-hand tea." 
Another objection to the old system and this from 
certain points of view perhaps not so much an objec- 
tion, is that owiDg to the public knowledge of cost, and 
boycotting of second-hand parcels, speculation in tea 
is almost eliminated from the trade. We are fully 
aware of the various considerations which lead many to 
say " so much the better," but on the other hand spe- 
culation, or perhaps to soften the term "Buying ahead," 
on the part of a large operator, would often come to the 
rescue of a falling market, if the purchaser knew that 
in due time he could get a fair market value for his 
stock on its merits. 
The advantages of the new system are claimed by its 
advocates to be as follows : — By printing the mark with- 
out the ship-name, or the ship-name without the mark, 
or by printing the teas with both ship and mark left 
blank, the trade can buy and sell tea on its merits, 
quite apart from what was bid in the rooms. Its cost 
cannot he traced in the oountry. Travellers can then 
boldly ask a good price for a good tea, and judgment 
and discretion pity tbeir proper part in business. The 
dealers say that if they find they can make the con- 
sumer pay a little more on an average for his tea, they, 
in turn can afford to pay more in the auction rooms, 
and that the merchant or importer will thus benefit. 
They say the old plan works thus : suppose a country 
traveller in town for samples tells them that if they 
can buy a certain pekoe in sale at Is Id, he can sell it 
at Is 2$d or so. The dealer is prepared to go up to Is 
Id. The tea may be sold for lid — perhaps at a profit 
to the merchant, perhaps at a loss. Then, tbe price 
being thus fixed, the dealer cannot get over 11 Jd for it. 
Nine out of ten of his customers would be annoyed 
with him did he hold out for what he considered its 
value. With this the merchant has nothing to do. But 
the result is that this particular pekoe, when next offered 
at auction, is only valued at 10fd, and worse still, all 
other teas of about the same quality suffer to some 
extent. 
It is alleged by those who object to the change 
that it will eliminate a certain amount of competi- 
tion ; that tbe small and inexperienced buyer will, so 
to speak, be " out of it ;" and that the large dealers 
will have things all their own way; that they will 
get larger profits, while the importer has to take just 
the same or less for his teas. In forming an opinion 
as to the future effect of so great a departure from the 
old lines, it is most important to keep an open mind. 
While we endeavour to do so as much as possible, pro- 
bably many of our friends would like to see the new 
system get a fair trial. It may be a strengthening 
of the broker's hands, enabling him to get his valu- 
ations for teas instead of having the " value " fixed 
in the room by a sporting offer from some one who 
perhaps has scarcely looked at them. The difficulty 
of getting an advance after sale, when a low price has 
been bid in the rooms, is too well known to require 
further remark. The new system would remove that 
difficulty, for until the tea is actually sold, the ship 
and numbers do not transpire, and the buyer does not 
know whether a tea has been offered before or no. 
He will buy on the merits of the tea without bias. As 
brokers we eonceive it to be a part of our duty to lay 
these matters fully before our friends for their con- 
sideration. When we have seen more of the practical 
working of the New System we shall be able more 
strongly to express our opinion one way or another. So 
radical and vast a change cannot be made all at once 
without opposition from some quarters, nor can we anti- 
cipate objections which have not arisen in actual 
practice, — /. A. Bucker and, Bencraft, London, Jan. 24th. 
Yams. — We have received from Dr. Stork 
a sample of "kush-kush yamE, grown at 
Comillah," about 10 miles south of Henaratgoda 
station. These tubers are, we suppose, an introduc 
tion from India ? In any case their quality is 
superior. They are of the ordinary size, but they 
have the purplish-pink tint of the famous gigantic 
Jaffna roots. Well boiled they are tender and 
nice, and with a little butter, salt and pepper 
quite tasty. Roots like these come in well, when, 
as lately good potatoes have been difficult to 
procure, and, with sweet potatoes and breadfruit, 
they are ever welcome changes of vegetable diet. 
Lobd Hampden's model diary at Glynde, near 
Lewes, is undergoing extensive alterations. At 
present the dairy is capable of dealing with 800 
gallons of milk per day, but last summer the local 
farmer were anxious to dispose of a much larger 
quantity. With the new machinery that is being 
laid down, the additional utensils with which the 
dairy is being provided, and the measures that are 
being taken to improve the water supply, it is 
expected that 2,000 gallons of milk can be received 
every day. The rapid growth of his undertaking 
is the more gratifying to the late Speaker, inasmuch 
as when it was first started, nearly two years ago, 
the farmers quite failed to realize its usefulness. 
— P. M, Budget. 
