Dec. I, 1893,] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
%11 
TEA VERSUS ALCOHOL. 
To the Editor HoMK and Colonial Mail. 
Sib, — Tho following quotatiou from (be report cf 
Sir Evelyn Wood on 'he recent AUicrshot mamcuvres 
may nut bo altoge'.her wiihout interest to tea 
plaiilcts : 
" The experiment ol giving the men cold tea, 
fluvoured with lemon, was trie), and some beer, 
given by a lamiowiier, wss issned during one 
march. .... Tlie medical officers advi 0 mp, 
and I am satisfied that although the stimu'us of the 
beer prodnoed on apparent becefical effect for about 
an hour, it was manifest later on that the men 
would have marclied better without i'.'' 
Your readers will obterve that the Guieral refrains 
from making auy actual comparisou between the 
eft\ct of tea and of bei r respeotirely, but, inferentially, 
we may conclu !e that his opinion wa^i in favour of 
the ti a. Ceriaiuly, in my own experience, a mild 
iiifuBion of lea— not tco strong — with a sUoe of lemon 
and Bome sugar, 'n both a refrc hicg and stimulating 
drink, and tlic'pity is that the efficacy of tea, 
drunk in this way, is not inoro widely app'eciatod 
in this country. — Yours faithfully, Geo. ^eton. 
12ij, Bishops'-ale ibtreot, EC. 
Oct. 11, ]a93-— //. and C. Mail, Oct. 13. 
^ 
INDIAN TEA, 
A CAMPAION IN AUEEICA AND AUSTRALIA ADVOCATED.; 
WANTED IIOEE PUSH, PLUCK AND PEBFECTION. 
According to an old planting "wberz''." when ctffi?e 
failed in Oeylon a sturdy and, we four, irreverent, old 
planter throw b's last rupees inlo tea with 'he profane 
alteration of the motto — la te (ilten) Dominc, sjn-iavi, 
which he interpreted as " In tea, O Lord, have 1 put 
my trust." Lie afterwards altered this to " In te 
(ihea) Vomitie, spes nostra," as he thought the change 
more appropriate to the prospects of Ceylon. Now, 
though tea is not the mainstay of India, as it is of 
Ooyloi), yet it is neverthcle.=s 01c of the many hopes 
of this country, which might bo libelled with the 
parodied mctto of the disrespectful Ceylon planter. 
AocorJins to Dr. "Watt, little short of 20 millions of 
British capita' are iuvojted in fe^ planting iii India, 
while it affords employment for half a million 
people, including some of tlie finest and best speci- 
mens of British manhood. It has been the means 
of introducing a laigo amount of foreign capital 
ii.to province.", which otherwise would have been 
waste places, and giving lucrative employment to 
numbers of tho native population, that erstwhile led a 
savage, hulf-starved eiistence. If it has not Inlfilled the 
glowine anticipations of the early writers on Indian 
tea, who loudly irra^ined that iu time the Indian 
people might, like the Chinese, take to this " simple 
healthy beverage," it has at any rate supplied the 
British public with a wholesome article, of British 
growth and manufacture, in place of a doubtful 
article from an alien source. It has made a wonder- 
ful progreifl and it would have achieved greater 
victories were it not for the rivalry of Ceylon. 
Having reached this point of prosperity, it would 
seem that Indian tea planters thii:k that they can 
rest on tlierr oars ar.d pleasantly g'iiJe whither the 
current takes them. We say seem, as the lack of 
outward and visible sigrs of enterprise, such as are 
B(ei in Ceylon, di notes, Rt least to the casual ob- 
Eervtir, this conclusion though it mny not nesessarily 
be the correct on», or even approxiiLately so. As 
wo shewed in our la-'t i.ssuo, tho Ceylon pUutcri are 
slriiuing every nerve to pirslr their teas, the most 
trivial devices being employed to effect this pm pose. 
They are as alivo :i,ud smart as Aiirtricana in aaver- 
trhing their ivnre?, and their enterprise is really 
phunomenil compared with the rpii'ituess and ap- 
parent singg shncbs of tea folk iu India. 
There is a capital fiuld iu the United States and 
AuUralia ; but rcqnir a hard workicg, for wo have 
not only to fight against Cliina, which is still supremo 
bat aguiuBt Ceylon, which in pertinuciouidy pui'h- 
4s 
log her teas in these parta. The Pioneer ia 
not given to extremes of opinion, and ia a 
recent artic'e it showed that the Indian leaf 
has lost ground in the United States, for 
whereas 83,4151b. were imported therein in 1891-92, only 
5t),0U0 lb. were imporiciin 1892-9y, while Ibeimporta- 
tions of Chinese growth have tremeudonsly increased. 
Tten iu regard to Australia, we are told, that though 
there was a greater demand for Indian teas in 1891- 
92, there_ was a marked falling-ofl' in the foUowirjg 
year, ''it will be seen," says the Pioneer, " thac 
except as regards Great Britain, China and Japan 
still more than hold their own iigaiobt India, while 
last year'.s oflioial trade returns shew that the footing 
we had acquired in Persia is being lo^tagain." America 
oilers a fir;e future for Indian teas, but to t»ke 
advantage of i^, we must be prepared to compete 
with Ceylon in the matter of "advertising and g-ene- 
rally pushing the leaf. The United States consumo 
from 80 to 100 mill oa pounds of tea per annum, 
and according to latest reports a distinct favour 
has been shewn for Itdian tea, wherever it Las 
been introduced. It is not pOfsible to enlarge the 
area of its consumption, by some enterprising methods 
of sdvertisemeat and then by making tea adapted to 
tho American taste P 
Our representative at the Chicago Exhibition has 
done good work in making known Indian teas to the 
American t( a drinker ; ho has laboured cpietly aud, 
we believe, very efl'ectively. But more is required 
with a busj', quick, alert people like the Amerrcana, 
who take to nothiuEf uuless it is well advertised and 
consider that au article whose merits are cot des- 
cribed in flaming charactf rs and well pushed, is cot 
worth havirg. Tte sanso remark applies, though 
perhaps with less force, to Austialia. It might be 
worth while to prepare a systematic campaign for 
America as well as Australia, on the following lines. 
Let each garden producing 5,000 maunds of tea give 
five m&uiids, and each garden of 1,500 maunds 1^- 
mauuds to the Tea Association or some Agency, so 
that it can be bulked and shipped to our repre- 
sentative in Americii aud distributed by him in such 
a w"y as to hiivo the merits cf InJian tea impresseel 
on circles whence it is likely to le spread. Distaste- 
ful though it be, we think that we should follow 
the example of Ceylon in this matter, and " go 
one better " than the planters and their sgeuts in 
that island, while there must be mcro atten' ion giveu 
to the quality of the tea so that it may bo adapted 
to thetas'e of intending customers. The latssezf aire 
system mnst be thrown aside altogo'.her. 
Indian tea must improve in quality if it is to con- 
tinue a profitable investment, and wo think there is 
something to bo said on tbe point of soientifio 
knowledga iu the manufacture aud a quickness in 
meeting popular tastes, diverse though they be. The 
London market is now flooded with inferior tea which 
some letters described iu terms that we ihould not 
care to I'epeat aud to quote one authority, this ia 
likely to be so with the foolish competition among 
planters for quantity not quality lesults. " The 
prjotics fejms to be hardening," says one corres- 
pondent, '■ that if B. has estimated for 5000 maunds, 
C, his neighbour says to himself I'll go for 
52C0 maunds, firgetting that it is better to 
make 3O0O lb. of eight anna stuff than 500O of 
veiy inferior." The deterioration iu the quality 
of luiiian teas, encouraged by this ioadvis- 
ablo oornpctilion, is being btrocgly commented 
on at home, tlie usual ending of a letter on the 
subjool being "reform, or yen will be beaten by 
Cojlon." Last year the home sa'es shewed tliat there 
was 50 per cent, medium disposed of, but this year 
tho propo. tion is, following tho figures of our autho- 
rity, 15 per cent, good aud 85 per cent, inferior 
metlium, of which a largo quantity Was very inferior 
calling forth some of tte eipressiona once eppli< d 
to China tea of the cornnioucr sorts. It i« not well 
to take so pessimist a view of tlio situation as souio 
dealers; but wo cannot .-bght 'heir opiuiocs nor 
fail to aoe that there must ho an iiuiaovemeiit iu 
quility, if Indian tea is to hoM its piftoo iu \bo 
