r°34 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [June i, 1882. 
To start with it has no purpose but the very general 
one of aiding domestic industries, the specific means 
to be determined hereafter. It seeks to organize an 
unwieldy association through small fees, which will 
be fatal to its efficient control and business-like action. 
It has no definite aim. 
This scheme — and we have no personal motives in 
selecting it for criticism — is only one among the many 
which are seeking to accomplish an industrial re- 
generation of Brazil. As a rule they are all based 
on sentiment, and are totally deficient in almost 
every element which can contribute to their success. 
They expect to establish a diversity of manufacturing 
industries in Brazil through appeals to popular sup- 
port and government patronage, and they expect them 
to live and grow wherever they are planted. It 
seems to us that the whole movement is a mistaken 
one — not, perhaps, in the wish, but rather in the 
means employed to bring it about. Every industry 
which can be established on a sound basis will be 
a source of wealth to the country, and should there- 
fore be welcomed and encouraged. An unsound and 
unprofitable industry, however, is not only a source 
of loss, but it. is an element of weakness. A sound 
industrial system is essentially of slow growth, and 
can not be hastened without endangering its per- 
manency and profitableness. For this reason, it 
would seem best to let the system grow naturally, 
and let capital, which is always cautious and con- 
servative, seek out those industries which can best 
be carried into practical operation. By such methods 
there may be no rapid progress, but there will cert- 
ainly be a substantial growth and an avoidance of 
many humiliating failures. — Rio News. 
THE CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 
TEA IN JAPAN. 
(Extracts from the U. S. Consular Trade Report for 
Kanaaawa, Japan, for 1880.,) 
The cultivation of tea, it is almost needless to 
say, is one of the most important branches of Japanese 
agriculture. Although the area will value of its pro- 
duct may not be as great as that of rice and barley, 
still, as an article of commerce,, it is more import- 
ant. The amount exported has increased from less 
than 5,000,000 lb. in 1869, to an estimated export 
of 40,000,000 lb. in 1880. The total product for 
1830 is estimated at 90; 000, 000 lb. The whole popul- 
ation of the country drink tea. It is the national 
beverage from infancy to old age. It grows in all 
the Kens or provinces of the empire, but its favourite 
locality is south of the 40th parallel of latitude. 
So much has been written and published of tea cult- 
uvp, that I shall only briefly speak of the methods 
adopte 1 for its production in Japan. 
Tne soils most sought after for its growth are the 
sheltered hill-sides, although it flourishes on the 
plains along the sea shore. If wild lands are to be 
usei, the soil must be thoroughly tilled and subdued. 
It is grown in rows. A thrifty tea shrub is from 3 
to 5 feet high. The plants require constant care in 
all seasons. They must be carefully pruned and 
trimmed, and the soil must be constantly fertilized. 
The third year the plants begin to yield some return, 
and the fifth seasou the yield is quite good. I have 
been informed by the tea-farmers that 2,500 lb. of 
tea-leaves to the acre is a fair yield, and that more 
than 3,000 lb. are often produced.* 
I should state that this is the weight when pre- 
pared by the Japanese, and that there is a shrinkage 
of about l-10th by the foreign mode of firing. t There 
* Green leaves, of course, reduced 75 per cent in 
drying. — Ed. T. A. 
•(•Utterly incredible! 3,000 1b. reduced by one-tenth 
would be 2,70011). of dried tea per acre, which never 
has been got.— hi). 'J. A, 
are large areas where the soil and climate are well 
adapted to the growth of tea, and, as there is an 
abundance of skilled cheap labour available, there is 
no immediate limit to the increase of this important 
product, except in its foreign demand. 
As I reported last year, there is a determined effort 
upon the part of the Government aud the tea growers, 
to produce black teas. A large number of Chinese 
experts have been employed and sent into the tea 
districts. The result is that a good article can be 
produced at prices that place Japan among the com- 
petitors for the black tea markets of Europe. The 
prospect for the Japanese tea growers seems in every 
way to be full of promise. I forward herewith a 
sample of this black tea, prepared in the province 
of Gifu. The processes of tea preparation will be 
treated of under the head of manufactures. 
* # * * « 
I have put down tea as an article of manufacture, 
for although it is the lea' a shrub, its tn a ment and 
preparation are such as to entitle it to be treated 
under this head. The firing and preparation of tea 
for market as practised in Japan, is as follows :— The 
Japanese green tea may be divided into three general 
classes : colored, uucolored and basket -fired. The leaf 
used for all these is from the same plant, differing 
only in quality, condition, etc. All teas used by 
foreigners are first fired by the natives in the places 
where grown. If a grade of colored tea is to be 
made, this fired leaf (4 to 5 lb.) is taken and put 
into iron pans or bowls, which are heated, some- 
times up to a temperature, of 212 deg. Fahrenheit. 
The leaves are then rapidly stired by hand against 
the smooth iron surfaces some 20 minutes. A tea- 
spoonful of thoroughly pulverized soap-ftone (saponite), 
and five grains, or so, of powdered Chinese Iudigo 
are placed in the pan, and thoroughly rubbed into 
the leaf for about 20 minutes more, when half a 
tea-spoonful of soap-stone or gypsum, and pulverized 
tamarak bark (a species of larch) is added, and the 
stirring and rubbing is cont nued for 20 minutes more. 
It is then put into cold pans, and simply cold rubbed 
against the iron surfaces until it has the required 
polish, which is arrived at in from 40 minutes to 
an hour. This is the ordinary way of preparing 
colored tea. Other materials are perhaps sometimes 
used, but so far as I can learu, all are as these 
mentioned. The different manufacturers, of course, 
vary the process a little now and then to produce 
slight changes of color. The leaf is then run through 
three to five sizes of sieves, till all the dust and 
loose coloring matter is separated. The shrinkage is 
about 12 per cent. 
This coloring process is considered beneficial to the 
leaf, tending to preserve its shape and flavor. There 
can be no doubt that the Japanese prepared teas are 
far superior in purity to the Chinese. In coloring 
Chinese teas, various drugs are used that are delet- 
erious to health, unless it be that the heat to 
which they are subjected renders them innocuous. 
Prussian blue is frequently used instead of indigo 
in their green, and black lead in their black teas. 
Uucolored teas are made in the same way and quant- 
ities, and rubbed against the iron pans until the 
surfaces have the desired polish, and are then sifted 
until nothing but, the whole leaves are left. Basket 
firing is done in bamboo-baskets, shaped something 
like our hour-gl isses which are shaken over hot pans. 
The leaf is put into the upper lobe of the basket 
aud worked into the lower, and so, back and forth, 
until finished. The loss of weight is about 3 per 
cent. — Thos. B. Van Buren, Consul General. 
COCA (BJRYTHROXYLON COCA). 
In Mr. Mark ham's "Peruvian Barks," he has given 
the results of his own observations, and collated that 
