June i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
9 
teas and China teas numbered together 54 samples. 
The Straits sent one sample which does not seem to 
have obtained an award. Java did not shew. At the 
next World's Show all the world's teas and especially 
those of the mother country of tea, China, ought to he 
exhibited. The Straits, Fiji, and the tropical regions 
of Australia, are sure to compete, but what with soil, 
climate and labour supply (this above and beyond all , 
it will go hard if India and Ceylon do not hold to the 
high rank they have attained. 
A considerable proportion of the Ceylon teas which 
have received awards are high-grown, in Upper Hewa- 
heta, Dimbula, Pussellawa, &c. In looking over the 
Indian list of awards the proportion of high-growa teas, 
in Darjeeling, the Nilgiris, Kangra Valley, Kuinaon, 
&c, is still more striking. Of the eight teas from 
India which obtained First Class awards for orange and 
flowery pekoe, four were Darjeeling teas and one a 
Nilgiri tea. Of the collective First Class orders of merit, 
only one was given for low-grown Assam and Sylhet 
teas, while high-grown tea obtained three : two Dar- 
jeeling and one Ceylon. 
While, therefore, plenty of good tea can be produced 
at low elevations, the result of these Melbourne Ex- 
hibition awards ought to afford encouragement to those 
who possess tea estates at such high elevations as those 
around Darjeeling and Ootacamund in Iudia, and 
Nuwara Eliya in Ceylon. The Cd j ay pekoe which 
gained a first order of merit was grown at an elevation 
of about7,0d0 feet. Mr. Elphinstone, with te i culiure 
extending from sea level to nearly 7,000 feet on Oli- 
phant, ought to be able to send perfect mixed and 
blended teas into the markets of the world. And so 
with others in Ceylon, for whose tea enterprise there is 
I believe, a great future. 
But tea from the same estate and prepared under the 
same superintendence is far more capricious than cof • 
fee. Climatic changes have much to do with this, as 
tea is specially sensitive to atmospheric influences. 
But, following the case of Java with its rich volcanic 
soil, the question arises whether the sudden fall in 
value of tea from the Terai and Dooars estates in In- 
dia may not be owing to the same cause : a deficiency 
of iron in the soil ? Iron is not a fertilizing substance, 
but the ferruginous clays of Dimbula &c, which are 
fatal to cinchonas, seem to suit tea well : better than 
soils which are apparently richer, finer and deeper. 
I suspect Col. Money's preference for rich-soiled low 
insalubrious places for tea cultivation is liable to large 
qualification. I hope the Ceylon press will publish 
the whole of the Indian awards, to that tea growers 
may be abl<; to test the correctness or otherwise of 
the inferences I have drawn, as well as to learn lessons 
which do not present themselves to me at present. 
Through the courtesy of Mr. Moody, of Messrs. James 
Henty & Co., lam able to forward several copies of 
the pamphlet in which he h.-is embodied in a clear 
and convenient form the whole of the tea awards. 
[Distributed as, far as possible to Tea exhibitors.] 
The "Ceylon and Foochow Company, Melbourne," 
which figures for second order of merit under 
" Blending and Packing," is, I understand, 
Messrs. Mackenzie & Co. under another title. That 
title clearly indicates that our fine Ceylou teas are 
iised to improve those obtained from China, and the 
compliment ought to be apprecia'ed by Ceylon tea 
growers. In truth, the result of the Exhibition awards 
out faintly indicates the growing favour with which 
Ceylon tea is now regarded. Of course there are 
dissentient voices,— some interested and prejudiced 
and others of honest people whose tastes require to 
be educated in a right direction. Most -one rely do 
I trust that this Melbourne International Exhibition 
and my own efforts in connection with it may ro-ult 
in securing a ready and profitable market for Ceylon 
teas amongst the specially tea-drinking colonists of 
these great and advaucing lauds of the South. Com- 
merce is progressive, but some of its branches are 
stringently conservative. Of this we have had strong 
proof in the recent refusal of brokers and dealers 
to bid for the Syndicate Indian teas at Sydney and 
Adelaide. But this kind of passive resistance to 
change f ir the better will ultimately give way before 
the efforts of men like Mr. Moody of the firm of 
Messrs. James Henty & Co., of Melbourne I have 
before me as I write a catalogue of a sale which Messrs, 
Greig & Murray are to hold on the 18th, " under 
instructions from Messrs James Henty & Co. , Agents 
for the Calcutta Tea Syndicate in connection with 
the Government of India, and R. A. Sibthorp, Esq., 
Commissioner." This catalogue includes 3,026 half- 
chests of the teas of Season 1880-81, "from the 
celebrated districts of Assam, Cachar, Darjeeling, 
Chittagong and Kangra Valley. " The collection is so 
large and so well assorted with reference to this 
market, that I feel confident the teas will go off with 
good competition. There are lots_to suit small as well 
as large dealers. For instance 5 quarter chests Assam 
pekoe of 20 1b. each; 5 similar packages of pekoe 
souchong ; 20 half chests of Cachar orange pekoe of 
50 lb. each ; 39 chests of Cachar broken pekoe of 96 lb. 
each ; 15 hall' chests Cachar pekoe of 45 lb. each ; but 
the great bulk of the teas are in those 38 lb. packages 
which Mr. Moody so strongly recommended as the 
most suitable for this market. The lots of such half- 
chests run from 20 to 60. This sale of exclusively In liah 
teas will rival in quantity the great sale of Foochow 
teas which took place a few days ago. Much of 
that tea was of very low quality, while the Indian 
teas, presented iu quantity never before paralleled 
in Australia, are all pure and good. At twice the 
cost of the low quality Foochows they will be com- 
paratively cheap, looking at the quantity and nature 
of the extract they yield. That good teas can be 
obtained from China, I have repeatedly admitted; but 
there can be no doubt that the bulk of the Foochow 
teas (especially this season) are inferior and rubbishy, 
Iu buying Indian and Ceylon teas, the Australians 
will have guarantees involved in the fact that the 
producers and manufacturers are their own country- 
men, honest and reliable, Even if slowly at first, 
therefore, yet none the less surely will the rapidly 
increasing population of Australia take the bulk of 
their teas as they now do their coffees from India 
and Ceylon. In this and in other directions, the 
bonds of union will be drawn closer between the 
great colonies of the south and Briiain's widespread 
eastern possessions. 
15th March. — Coffee having been mentioned above, 
I may now say that the coffee awards have, at length, 
appeared in this morning's Argus. Considering the 
efforts made by the planters ot Southern India to send 
numerous and carefully prepared specimens of their 
very best produce to this Exhibition, I am not sur- 
prised to see " Madras " leading, with 9 First Orders 
of Merit against 7 awarded to Ceylon. Madras estates 
get, in addition, 4 Second Class awards, against none 
of that class for Ceylon. Madras figures for two 
Third Class awards, aud Ceylon for 6. I take ir for 
granted the Ceylon press will republish the whole of 
ihe coffee awards from the Argus, including those 
given to Melbourne dealers for Ceylon plantation 
coffee, which, when counted, tend to more nearly 
equalize the positions of Ceylon and India. On what 
principle the coffees exhibited by Messrs. Delmege, Reid 
& Co. and Messrs. Armitage & Co. were ranked Third 
Class. I cannot say. I only know that in a letter 
addressed to me by Messrs. Delmege, Reid & Co. 
they stated that the produce of Laugdalo, Kin tyre 
and Tillicoultry estates, which they got ordered out 
from London for the purpose of this Exhibition, sold 
in Mincing Laue at 112s per cwt. Taking the awards 
as I find them, it appears that Southern Indian coffees 
obtained of 
