May i, 1882.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
MARKETS FOR INDIAN TEA IN THE 
UNITED STATES AND CANADA. 
Our readers will have noticed that Messrs. Doane 
& Co. of Chicago estimated 1I10 consumption of tea in 
the United States at 72,000,000 lb. Mr. Sibthorp's 
calculation is not so high, his figures being a little 
under 70,000,000 lb. The population of the United 
States being fully fifty millions, it follows that the 
Consumption of tea is considerably under 1£ lb. per 
caput,. In Britain, the consumption of tea last year 
exceeded 100,000,000, lb., which, for a population of 
thirty-five millions, gives, for each individual, over 
4£ lb. In regard to coffee, the position of the two 
countries is more than reversed ; for the people of 
Britain have been so thoroughly cheated and disgusted 
in the matter of coffee, that they do not now consume 
auythiug like a pound ahead of this beverage. England 
is as eminently a tea-drinking country as the United 
States people are coffee drinkers ; but, unhappily, 
while it can be said that in the United States the 
consumption of tea is increasing, of England it must 
be confessed that her consumption of coffee — that is 
of true coffee is decreasing. Mr. Sibthorp shews that 
the Canadians in adhering loyally to Britain have 
preserved to a good extent the national predilection 
for tea. Canada with a population of only 4£ millions 
consumed last year 13,400,000 lb. of tea, or, as nearly 
as possible 3 lb. per head. In Canada, however, the 
consumption of tea is not now increasing at the same 
rate as prevails in the United States ; but, if Indian 
teas are "pushed," which they never yet have been, 
Mr. Sibthorp believes that Canada will afford a 
splendid market for them. It may be interesting to 
see what tho consumption of tea by the leading 
countries inhabited or colonized maiulj by the British 
race (Anglo-Saxon, Celtic. &c.,) amounts to. We have 
not the exact 
quantity for Austr 
the figures w 
1 couple of years ago and 
the imports 
n 1880 were ove 
r 22,000,000 lb., we do 
not think w 
3 can err greatly 
111 taking the consump- 
tion by 2 if n 
lillions of populati 
>n in 1881 at 1S,UOO,000 
or 6h lb. per 
head. If, as we 
believe, we are near the 
mark then w 
3 get for 
The Unit 
2d Kingdom 
100,000,000 lb. 
The United States 
70,000,000 ,, 
Australia 
18, 000, 000 ,, 
Canada 
13,000,000 ,, 
Total 
... 2G1, 000,000 lb. 
Figures, these 
« hiohare capable 
of great expansion, if tho 
peace of tho 
world can bo preserved and its progress 
in population 
and wealth alb 
wed to go steadily ou. 
Thero ought to bo no stronger opponents of the 
wickeil war spirit than producers of articles which 
enter larger into the food of human beings. China 
still supplies the vast proportion of the tea con- 
sume.! 1 eyond her borders as well as about 1,200,000,000 
lb. said to bo used internally. But .Japan and India, 
ore competitors with the Celestial Empire, tho pro- 
gress of tho latter, in tho western as well as the 
eastern world being clearly destined to bo great and 
rapid. Why tho Americans should havo taken so 
specially to Japan teas, which may bo described 
literally, as "all-lired" teas, wo scarcely sco, unless 
it bo as atonement for having compelled tho land 
of the Tycoon to enter into " the comity of the 
nations." Our first taste of the amber-coloured, burnt 
flavoured tea, which is such a favourite with our 
Yaukeo cousins was in Paris, a good many years 
ago. It was provided for us as a treat by the then 
correspondent of the Daily News, but we could not 
honestly say that we admired ic. Taste in regard 
for tea is, however, very much a matter of educa- 
tion : some people do not take kindly to Indian 
tea at once, and a few persons are so depraved in taste 
as not to admire even the Ceylon leaf, until the second 
or third time of tasting. The extreme cold of the 
climate in Canada and parts of the United States, 
may, perhaps (?) account for the preference given to 
highly fired and green teas, which have almost ceased 
to be used in Britain and which, recently tried on 
the Melbourne market, found but scant favour. Tin: 
" Japs " are an enterprizing race, and they are strain- 
ing every nerve to push their peculiar teas and their 
imitations of China and Indian produce. India, how- 
ever, (including Ceylou) is likely to take, ere long, 
first place in the tea markets of the world. Ad- 
mirers of the American ladies must grieve to learn 
that they are not good, honest, orthodox tea drinkers 
and tea dispensers, like their English sisters, but 
that they take the infusion of the fragrant leaf in 
the shape of an iced drink ! If it be true, as stated, that 
the people of the United States, and especially the female 
portion, are of defective physique, it ought to be 
matter of serious consideration whether improvement 
might not be secured by abandoning the limited and 
perverted use of tea and consuming it as it ought 
to be consumed in large quantities and after the 
orthodox fashion ! It is a maxim amongst chemists 
that the degree of civilization to which a country has 
attained can be tested by the quantity of sulphuric 
acid it uses. A still better test, we submit, would 
be the aggregate consumed by the population of such 
"diffusive stimulants " as tea, coffee and cacao, to 
the displacement of alcoholic drinks and narcotics. 
It is evident that during last year an exceptionally 
large proportion of low class, inferior and positively 
exhausted or deleterious teas were shipped from China, 
to the markets, not of Europe aud Australia merely, 
but to those of tho western continent. The result 
was for a lime,, to lower the standard of prices of 
Indian as well as China aud Japan teas ; but the 
Indian article has at length asserted its superiority 
beyond all doubt, and the shippers of the cheap 
rubbish from China could not have acted better if 
their direct object had been to promote tho sale and 
consumption of the superior teo. Such is ever tho 
result of "waya that are dark and tricks that nre 
vain" as opposed to honesty, which is the best policy 
in trade as it is the right course in morals. For 
the present it is Japan tea as against China, which 
is finding increased favour in tho United Stales (al- 
though last crop is complained of as inferior) but 
when Indian teas' are really " pushed " as they are 
about to bo in tho United States as well as Canada, 
tho superior quality of tho new candid for favour 
will bo recognized in America, as it has I . n in 
Britnn and is daily nioro and nioro the case in the 
British colonics of the south. As to A < ci 
