March t, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
BRITISH-GROWN TEA FOR NORTH 
AMERICA. 
We have so oftf n urged Indian tf a growers to look 
to North America and Austra'ia for a market for 
their teas, as tlie limit of ccnsumption is being repidly 
reached iu the United Kingdom, that we feared we 
were at times wearjing some of our readers. We 
have Eometimes felt that we were as ore crjiog in 
the wildernees, and that our voice was spent on the 
desert air, so litile repponsa had our ntterauces 
awakened. The justice of onr remarks has been duly 
acknowledged : but those from whom we expect 'd fome 
fhow of energy have like tleeping men turned, as it 
were, on the other fide and slept, apparently annoyed 
at having been disturbed. It is a most difheartening 
task to din into the ears of flaggish listeners the 
eternal words "awake and advertise, and look for 
other markets for your teas, or else you will be lefc 
in the proceesiou" a.9 the Americans style it. We 
are, however, determined to coDticue ti e dirg dcug 
and we baffe received no email measure cf encourage- 
ment from a 'Jcylou contemporary who has joined 
us in the cry and from several magnates in the tea 
industry, who liave reaolvei to aid us in the work. 
The Ceylon Observer says in plain direct terms that 
North America must be won over to British-gro«n 
teas, and whatever the jealousies between Icdia and 
CeyloH.botb countries must rememherthey are brothers 
and must join forces to fight Khat an old planter used to 
call the heathen-grown tea of China and Japan. These 
are words of wiKdom, and before going further let us 
remark that if Ceylon is twitted wiih lack of energy, 
what must be the charge) laid against India, which is 
50 per cent, behind the little island in push and go 
in popularibing its tens? We have held up Oey'on 
as an eiiemplar of enterprise and regarded it as 
leaving no means untr ed to extend the sule of its 
teas, and we conless to an ailmiration for its prompt- 
nets and boL^nees. If, however, it is held Ceylon 
is not up to the mark in enterprise, what, we ask, 
must be eaid of India? It is really astounding to 
see the apathy of tea planters and dealers in this 
country, end the email encouragement given by Go- 
vernment to promote the spread of Indian teas, when 
we consider the enormous interests at stake, which 
in a few year« might from sheer negligence be grie- 
vously imperilled. 
We agree with the Ceyloa Ohservir that we 
are at present face to face with the most im- 
portant practical problem affecting the future 
of British-grown lea". It is sitnplv this, to con- 
quer North America for them, diiving out the 
Japan and Chinese leal, and, coniprel eneively fpesking, 
persuade Anglo. S»xoni'om to drink none other but 
British-growD tea. In the United States we have a 
population of 67,000,000 who consume from 80 to 90 
mi lion lb. of Japan and China tea, the greater part 
biing cf the former denon.ination. Ae cur Oolrmbo 
contetnporary ohserven, there is net a p- und o£ this 
tea which is not artificiiUy treated viith eubstar.ces 
more or leas deleterious, and the Americans have no 
idea of the pure unadulterated arlic'e. We do not 
hazard it as an opinion, but as a conjecture, that 
the reason our American ooutius have taken so Inrgely 
to coffee is because they have been sickened with 
the Chinese rubbish foisted on them as tea. Thirty 
years ago, we are told, Japan teas were unknown in 
America, but as soon as it was seen that they were 
purer and suited the American taste better than 
the Chinese, they at once took hold of the public. 
The China tea was almost ousted from the country 
so that now we find Japan supplying the United 
States almost exclusively with the leaf. Now what 
has happened in the case of Japan running C hum 
from America might be repeated in regard to 
British Indian grown tea pushing Japanese out of 
the market. 
The Americans are not wedded to Japanese 
tea; but took it because they could got no 
better, and if British 'jrown tea were properly 
placed before them, they would undoubtedly throw 
over Japan and drin'i none but the infusion of the 
pure Indian and Ceylon leaf. Having acquired a 
taste for green teas^ it is not natural to expect 
the Americana to abandon them for black teas and 
to suit themselves to our likes and dislikes. On 
the contrary, we must, following the general trade 
rule, adapt our manufacture to the predilections and 
wants of our customers, and supply them with an 
unadulterated green tea in place of the artificially 
faced and glaz(d end otherwise adulterated leaf 
which comes from Japan. A writer in our Colombocon- 
temporary puts the case very clearly when he says that 
seeing the Americans prefer green tea to black, especi- 
ally the faced teas of Japan, the proper course to ptsrsue 
would be to supply the article the consumers require, 
particularly as British planters are turning out 
more black tea than can be conveniently consu- 
med without a serious fall in the price occurring. 
" What we ought to do," continues this writer, who 
of course is addressing himself solely to Ceylon 
planters, " is to get down some men from Japan 
who could show us how to make tea exactly si- 
milar to that shipped from Japan, and also how 
to face it according to the taste of the American 
market, and how to pack it attractively. Then 
we might be able to find a market in America for 
some 20,000,000 lb. of our tea, and so relieve the London 
market. But until vie do that we shall not 
ship much tea there." In this matter of manu- 
facturing green tea, there are a number of 
commercial considerations which cannot be al- 
together disregarded. Bombay took from China last 
year a little over four millions and a half pounds of 
green tea ; but the attic'e is at a diaoonnt in Rnsfiau 
Asia where we are urged to introdnoe Indian-grown 
tea. The quantity of green tea imported there was 
ridiculously small. Planters would therefore have 
to ponder the question whether the green tea cam- 
paign iu the United Stales would not affect t4ie 
oiiening for black tea in Cen'ral Asia, and even 
Russia proper. It must not be forgotten that out of the 
hurd ed millions of the Czar's subjects nearly two 
thirds are inveterate tea drinkers Wiih the Russian the 
samovar is as SBcred an institution as the Britieb tea 
pot, and while the higher classes drink none but the 
best of teas for which they pay trp prices, the lower 
orders are noted for their interminable power of 
imbibing the " fragrant decoction " made from the 
commoner sorts such as those that are now flooding 
the London market. 
How to prosecute a campaign in America for 
ejecting foreign for British grown tea is a somewhat 
difficult problem under circumstances stamped with 
the fatal words laissez faire. India is slothful or 
indifferent, and appears blind to the advantages 
of modern advertising of the type that has made 
Lipton a power in the tea drinking and provision 
world, while the Government are seemingly as un- 
interested in the matter as they are in the develop- 
ment of Nova Zembla. Yet it is to their interest 
that the planting resources of India should develop, 
and it is their first duty to see that they are 
encouraged and strengthened in every possible 
way. With one exception, all the Australian 
Colonies have State-aided agencies for pushing 
Colonial products, and the several Governments 
identify themselves in every movement which can 
advance the agricultural or pastoral interests of their 
Colonies. The result is that we find Government 
agents scouring the continent for securing markets 
for Australian frozen meat, and the article has 
been placed on what to the ordinary observer appear 
to be impossible markets, while an enormous impetus 
has been given to the producing powers of the 
1 Co onies. If the Indian Government would take 
example by Australia tl en we should find quite a 
revolution in the tea industry, especially in respect 
to finding new fields of consumption for what iu a 
very short time will be a surplus that must perilously 
uflectall Indian tea enterprise. We have not aGoveri - 
nii 111 s\ mpathctic towards planters like that of Ceylon, 
and we are afiaid that it is useless altcinpting to 
create one. So that Indian planters must s-iiiplylook 
after themselves, and trust to their energy and acting 
