416 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUraST. [Dec. t, 1853. 
even than all the mkle scientists in the world oan tell 
her. Now, the vatt majority of thf se very wide awake 
houBBwivei prefer Indian tea. We supply te» for more 
thkD a million every day, bo we onght to know which 
they like bett, and we know, too. In short, the 
drinker of China tea ia like the farmer who tried 
claret, he "gets no forrarder on't!" The ahrewd 
Yorkshire dame " wants to get there," as the New 
Yorkers say. She loves a good, strocg, mouth-fi'liDg, 
tasty, tickling, thirst-qaenching, rich, really refresh- 
ing, fr.igraat, body-satisf;ing, brain-contenting tea ! 
And she gets it, And any observant, unprejudiced 
doctor would say her toogue was healthier aod stronger 
than that of the most learned Obina tea-fed pro- 
fessor I Yen should leave out the old-faebioned 
" spoonful for the pot" with Indian tea, for one ounce 
of it will make as much good, strong liquor as an 
ounce and a half of China tea will makn. Never let 
tea stew, for that's what doctors disagree with. 
Make the tea only six minutes before it is drunk, 
and give away that tannin-producing " tea-cosy " to 
the nearest and ntughtieat little tyke, as a foolscap, 
or in the hope that you may thereby be giving bim 
the tannin, he so richly deserves ! Yourp, &c., 
Bbookb, Bond, and Co , Limited, 
11, Boat-lane, Leds, October 25 ih. 
TEA CULTIVATION ON THE SLOPES 
OF THE CAUCASUS. 
An interesting experiment is about to be made in 
Russia with regard to the cultivation of the tea 
plant. His Imperial Majesty the Czar, acting upon 
the advice of experts, has consented to the proposed 
cultivation of the shrub on the western slopes of 
the Caucasus, which are warm and approximate 
closely to the temperature in which the plant flourishes 
in China. At the present movement six hundred 
thriving shrubs ate in Port Said awaiting suitable 
transport to some port in the Black Sea, from whence 
they will be conveyed to some convenient bnildiog 
where they will be able to withstand the rigorous 
winter. A staff of about a dozen Chinese is engaged 
— men thoroughly conversant with the peculiaritios 
of the plant — and they are at present lodged in the 
Hotel Continental at Port Said under the direction 
of a Russian officer who has been deputed to 
carry out the initial steps of the experiment. — 
Egyptian Gazette, 
'■ 
A FURTHER " NEW DEPARTURE " 
IN THE TEA TRADE, 
A most extraordinary move is now on the (apis 
as regards the trade in Indian tea. Several of the 
largest importers have banded themeelves together 
with the apparent object of engineering the whole 
trade. From what we oan gather, the idea is to limit 
auctions to 30,000 packages per week, nnd to bold 
these sales in a private room which no one can enter 
unless be has pledged himself in no way to deal 
oatside these auctions. There are to be all eorts 
of pains and penalties for anyone breaking 
these autocratic tnles after he has once signed 
away his freedom. On the face of it, the arrange- 
ment looks very onesided. Most of the buyers would 
rather have a prei^s of tea now than a driblet every 
week throughout the summer, which hss always been 
th« tecognised lazy time in the tea trade. 
To put up just so many packages a week would also 
tends to stop at certain seasons anything like bold buying 
and wou!d certamly be a check on individual eaterprise. 
A glance at;the uatnesof the promoters sfaowi that this 
latest cabal ia a very powerful one ; but when they set 
themeelves up as dictators and endeavonr, in order 
to strengthen tbeir own hands, to completely upset 
the existing order of thiog^, we foresee nothing but 
ingloiioua defeat, tempered with very little mercy 
from the great body of the trade. lu our correspond- 
ence columns will be found a letter on tbis subject, 
in which the writer, under a veil of faoetiouscess, 
deals some effective thrusts at (bis '! oewecti deptr< 
\m9^[<r<^r()<:m' G«i^t^, Nor. 7. ' 
BURMA RUBY MINES. 
London, W., Nov. 6.— The last return of robio* 
I found shows, for the fortnight ending October 4tb. 
680 carats, value £2,500, and for the forluiirbt end- 
iog October 17th, 570 carats, value Hll.OOO. Tha 
last report is the first issned since the piercing; '>f 
the rock, and now I think the sharehoUers may 
'{ look forward to good times, if the natives do not rob 
I too mnch. What with £5,000 per qutr'er comiog in 
as rent from the native miners, and tbe inereaaed 
quantity of rubies which will cow be found, at the 
iyoD now retched is of euparior (jnali'y. we certainly 
ought to be within reach of a divi.iend. 1 have never 
I lost faith in this undertaking, and vou will permit me 
I to eay, sir, that my intereot is a very large one.— EuwtN 
W. Stbeetee. — London Tunes. 
NATAL TEA : ESTIMATED YIELD- 
700,000 lb. 
Mr. G. W. Drummond, Rears ney, reports Tbe past 
I month was meet nuusaally damp and cold, and the 
tea snfferrd in consequence. The rainfall wan dis- 
tributed all through the month, and the warm days 
were very few and far between. Under these cir- 
cumstance.', leaf cannot be expected to be good 
and Eappy, and it makes the first process ia mtna- 
faotnre — withering (« moit important one) very slow 
and troublesome. The rucceediog manipulation of 
the tea is also rendered difficalt and laborious. Some 
people appear to imagine the maonfactare of tei is 
a simple go-head prccess, with one object only, tbe 
saving of fuel, and wc are aocordingly mnch amused 
sometimes by tbe remarks of the uninitiated. That 
even a sndden change in the atmosphere requires a 
change in the mannfaoturo and timing can hardly 
be expected to enter iuto tbe heads of Ibose who 
are not " in the know," but it is a fact all the same. 
During the past moQth we expected to mike a rather 
larger outturn than we did make, but still we are 
well ahead of Ust season up to date, and the tea 
liquors well. Tbe estimate for the total out-tarn 
of the colony this season is 700,0001b. or 140.000 Ih. 
more than last season. Taking into consideration 
tbe increased area under full bearing, and approiioh- 
icg to full beariog, we shall not be surprised next 
June to find that we had rather under than over 
eitimated tbe whole ovii-iwti,— Natal Mercury, Nov. 1, 
Cinchona Bark and Quinine. — In tbe latest 
report to hand of Messte. C. M. and 0. Wodebouee, 
we read : — 
The shipments of Bark from Java during September 
were 540,000 i-kilos, against 605,600 J-kilos last year, 
and from 1st January to 30th September 6,500.000 
J-kilos, against 1,480,000 J-kilos. The Imports into 
Holland from 1st January to 31st August were 
3,057,000 kilos, against 2,322.000 kilos last year. In 
an article in the Ceylon Observer of 18th September on 
f the prospect of Cinchona, the writer states that the prin- 
cipal manufactories of Quinine ate as follow s : * • ♦ 
and estimates that for these 21,200,000 lb. of Bark are 
required annually — but it is not so much the number 
of lb. of bark as the number of units of Quinine 
contained in the Bark that is required. Several of 
the factories taken into account do not appear to be 
working at present. The Public Sales held in 
London during the past month have been extremely 
small, and the chief point of interest in them has 
been the large proportion of Druggist's Bark. A good 
demand prevailed at the last auctions, and the value 
of the unit was fully § per lb. The last Dutch sale 
was held in Amsterdam on 5th inst. at which 4,700 
packages Java were offered, of these 3,350 sold at e,n 
advance of 5 per cent, the average value of the unit 
being 2.70 cents {= |d per lb.). As Manufacturers of 
Quinine still hold out for lOJd per oz., the orders 
whish have come into the market for shipment to 
the United States have been executed out of second- 
hand stocks, and prices have advanced id per oz., 
the latest prices paid being p^r Oz. i<n OrQimaa 
