Feb. 1, 1854.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
S5S 
1.25 a pel. 
1.25 a pel. 
fcr 
Ooutn ProTiuce — 
Likin... 
Tax on half-dried leaf 3 per cent. 
Tea hong tax, 100 cash p-r package. 
Oopuck Province — 
Likin... 
Tax on half-dried leaf 3 to 4 per oen». 
Tea hoDf? tax 30/40 cash a package. 
Tax for maiotaining river walls 4 candareens 
every half-chest- 
The tDaritime duty is Haikaan Tla. 2-50 a picul 
in each case. 
The transit pass system has been discouraged by 
our Consuls, and it is within the memory of all that 
applioatiouB for passes were refused by H. B. M.'s Cou- 
sulate in Hankow unless the foreign applicants could 
allege an interest in the teas to be broiigbt down. 
Native tea-men have hitherto been nnable to obtain 
transit passes in their own name», we do cot know 
whether Mr. Bredon'a remarks point to a change in 
this particular. 
The point we should like to urge on every one who 
has any influence in China is that the duties and in- 
land taxes are crushing the life out of the trade. On 
the average price of tea these amount to fully 30 per 
cent., and they are so onerous that they leave only a 
bare pittance to the grower of the leaf. The profit 
ou producing is so small that there is bo encour- 
agement to improve the culture or to adopt any 
means of improved curing. The tess are packed 
for foreign use in filthy hovels instead of 
in dean well-ventilated factories. So little cara is 
tahen, especially in the Foochow districts, that much 
of the le»f actually perishes before it is cured, as 
the presence of black unsightly leaf in the iufusiocs 
testifies. Nothing is done to preserve the beautiful 
flower flavour of the original leaf. Most Buasian 
buyers have left Foochow becaufe of the deterioration 
in manufacture, and unless something is done to im- 
prove Hankow teas the trade there will likewise suffer. 
Any true friend of China who has the car of her 
rulera will not lull her to sleep by such advice as 
Mr. Bredon's, but will point out the weakness, 
and show the way to that improvement which shall 
again put her trade in tea in a satisfactory and re- 
munerative position. The possibility of great com- 
petitors such as India and Ceylon rising in spita of 
their produce being ''acrid decoction," and taking 
away a vast portion of an established trade, shows 
there is something to be corrected in China. With- 
out duty more money would be expended ou improved 
culture, on proper factories, aud on increased platita- 
tionii, all of which would tend to bring back buyers 
to the ''well-flavoured and wholesoiua teas" of China 
growth. 
" The aim of the ruler should be the welfare of the 
governed." — 1 am, etc, K. S. 
3rd January. 
POTATOES. 
Mr. E. S. Beaven writes to the English Jlail of 
November the 15th : — 
"A square Geld of very uniform soil was p'aoted 
with 31 different varieties of potatoes. With the ex- 
Otption of a strip of 2-1 perches extending through 
the field and taking in a portion of tbe ranks of each 
variety, the whole was sprayed twice with "touiUie 
Bordelaise." The composition of the mixture whs 201b 
■ alphate of crpper and 101b quicklime in 100 gallons of 
vfater. The area sprayed was one acre, aud tbe 
following table givea the results (oalculaled fcr eaib 
variety in tons per acre)— viz. (1) total crop raised, 
and (2) rate of gain or loss per acre on tbe epriyed 
area oompired with the nrea not sprayed." 
We omit the table but out of the 31 varieties 
experimented with, we may mention that the 
best six were, in order of merit, Imperator, 
Seiius, FidUr's Colossal, Heading Giant, Webbt' 
Stourbriffe Olori/ and Jilane Keisen which gave yields 
of from 19 to '22 tons Itj cwt per acre. The earlier 
vaautiee gave aaialler cropi, about 14 tons tut were 
ripe some 2^ months before the others. The Bver»ge 
of the whole was 15 tons 8 owt, the average gain 
due to the application of the fcouiViz'e was 1 ton IJ cwt, 
"For the most part, the earlier and the main crop 
varieties of potatoes did not suffer appreciably from 
disease, and on fomo of the less hardy aorta the effect 
of spraying this year was to cause a very perceptible 
check to the growth of the foliage, more than counter- 
balancing any small gain which would other have 
been made. In the caae of the latest vaiieties, 
however, the effects of the spraying are most marked. 
Many of these remained gieen and continued their 
growth frr an additional month where they sprayed. 
The gains, where they have been made, 
are almost entirely due to prolonged growth 
rather than to a reductiou in the proportion 
of diseased tubers, which throughout the plots 
did not amount to J per cent of the crop, acd on 
the undressod sec'ions were less than 2 per cent. 
It will be noticed that tbe crops ate very heavy. 
The land was in good condition and received a uni- 
form dressing of 10 cwt to the acre of the complete 
chemical manure recommended to the committee last 
year by Dr. Munro, containing equal parts of kul- 
phata of ammonia, superpbosphate, acd kainit (an 
impure form of potash. — Ed.) 
We must call the attention! of our readers to the fact 
that sprayed app'ications o( Bouillie Bordelai3e is only 
effectual f< r the Ei glish variety of potatoe disease, the 
Indian ring-diseaso must be treated in a different 
and more expennve manner. In this latter case the 
Boil itself must bs sa'uraled with the houillie, as the 
ring-di'esse attacks the plant undtir-ffround, and not 
by means of the le-ives. We have found ourselves 
that the rin^-diEease attacks both English and country 
varieties. We shall be glad to give any further in- 
formation on this matter if required.— /Sow^/i India 
Observer. 
TEA— INDIA AND CEYLON IN 1893. 
Eeview of Oeops from the Diffeeent Indian 
DiSTBICTS. 
The advent of the new year enables us to form a 
retrospect of tea for 1893, and in doing so the only 
possible conclusion to arrive at is that it compares 
unfavourably with its predecessor as to quality, and 
some of the tea districts have also to face a serious 
deficiency in quantity. This is notably the case 
with Darjeeling, where, without fear of contradiction, 
it can safely be stated that 1893 has been one of 
the worst seasons experienced in the hills. The 
weather was abnormally cold, and after a record of 
rain in July, mosquito blight set in with a severity 
utterly unknown hitherto, affecting both quality and 
quantity, and to quote a planter of great experience, 
" there was hardly a really busy week throughout the 
season." There have been some fine invoices sold in 
this market, chiefly from the higher elevations, but 
the deficiency in outturn all round has been so 
serious that prices have not compensated. It ia 
pleasing, however, to see daily advertisements of 
ad-interim dividends, proving that even with a bad 
season the average of Darjeeling teas, with a 
modicum of outturn, distinctly proves in their case 
that quality pays, whereas quantity spells failure. 
The Dirjceling Terai on the contrary has e'oue 
better as far a.^ regards quantity, blight having been 
less and oaly made its appi aranou liter in the season. 
Prices, however, have shown no impioviment, and 
ih' avtrage lor the Beaton is again terribly low and 
only in a f w ra^es chu t hareholders h-pe for any 
return. On tha other hand we fear that many cou- 
ceri'S heve been worked at a loss, aud further large 
areas wi 1 he abandoned in 189-1 ; when it ia con- 
sidered that every acre of old plant iu the Terai 
repteseats K400 to I\500, the aggregate abandoned 
during the last three years will represent many lakba 
of rupees. 
Tbe Dooars, owing to ext. nsioas, will tbow ao 
increase, but the old gardens have not reBpouded to 
the ealimiite formed m to their capabililyi ind tbv 
