130 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Aug. r, 1894. 
attempt to assign the necessity for extra relaxation 
to the relative unhealthinesa of tea planting oan be 
sustained. That the work connected with tea in more 
constant and continuum than in the case of coffee 
is evident from the faot mentioned above that it 
includes the full preparation of the produot for 
shipment; but for this, additional help is provided. 
Tea cropping for the greater part of the year 
presents a contrast, but the rueh of coffee in 
orop lime oft-times perhaps entailed more work 
and responsibility — the risk of spoiling a season's 
orop by over heating, bad pulping, &c. — than is 
the caee at any one time with tea I At any rate from 
the Insurance point of view, considering how 
our planting country is now opened by roads 
and railway, and otherwise provided, we feel sure 
that the risks attached to tea planting should not 
be considered greater than those of coffee planters 
n the same districts. 
MESSRS. GOW, WILSON & STANTON ON TEA. 
(Communicated by an ex-Colonist.) 
The Diagram-Oiroular issued by the above well- 
known London firm of tea brokers ig remarkable 
for its fulness of detail and for the lucidity with 
whioh the facts dealt with are marshallel. It is 
of especial value to all produoer? of British-crown 
tea, beoause it sets olearly before them, not only 
the present position of Oeyloi and Indian-grown 
tea, but because it enters fully upon the prospeota 
of their industry in the future, and plaoes before 
them in very full detail the figures upon whioh 
the predictions set forth are based. It is parti- 
cularly to be notioed that Messrs Gow, Wilson & 
Stanton unhesitatingly declare the opinion that the 
present fall of value in tea is due entirely to 
overproduction. They have nothing to say as regards 
the quality of Ceylon teas having oonduced to the 
severe reduction in prioes obtainable for it. Opinions 
to that effect have been very freely assigned as 
having led to this reduotion. and it is satisfactory 
to note that a firm of brokers of suoh wide 
experience and careful observation do not endorse 
these. It will be seen that the paper under 
referenoe advises very strongly that no further area 
of tea should be brought under cultivation either 
in India or Oeylon. They argue that if the 
exports of these oountries increase, it is impossible 
for the existing markets to dispose of them. 
Ceylon planters appear, therefore, at the present 
time to have reached the limit of profitable pro- 
duction. Your readers will perhaps bear in mind 
that Mr. J. Roberts, of Messrs. Ruoker's firm, 
some twelve years ago held the view that this 
limit would not be reached until our export totalled 
between 80 and 100 million of pounds. That 
gentleman, however, oould hardly have foreseen 
that depreciation in silver value, and the establish- 
ment of a fictitious value for the rupee throughout 
India and Geylon, that had ohecked to a very 
considerable extent the complete ousting of China 
tea from the home market. This seems likely 
from various causes to remain comparatively sta- 
tionary at from 30 to 36 million lb. Had this quantity 
experienced the fate of former fallings-off, Mr. 
Robert's figures wonderfully accurate as they were, 
would have proved still more strikingly true, 
and planters might have gone on in safety ex- 
tending your cultivation until the maximum assigned 
by him had been reached, 
Messrs. Gow, Wilson & S'anton have olearly 
indioated in their pip3r how the present position 
of the rupee has affeoted Indian and Ceylon Tea. 
To quote their own words as to this. They state ; 
" the Indian Government has by closing the 
mints to silver, practically placed a differential 
tax of about a penny per lb. against all tea 
grown in India and Ceylon, and in favour of 
tea grown in other countries with a silver cur 
renoy, euch a* Obina and Japtn, because the 
planter mu4 pay more for hie rupees than their 
intrinsic value, while actual value rules the prioe 
of China dollars." This tax, Messrs. Gow, Wilson 
& Stanton think, may be counterbalanced bb to 
home consumption by the prefer«-noe established 
for British grown teas. This, some of us fear, 
is rath- r too hopeful an assumption. Prioe must 
have its influence among a large number of 
home consumers, and, indeed, we think we en 
see this effeot in the check given to the down- 
ward course of Ohina tea in the Home 
market during the last two years. It is evident 
that, all the oircumstanoes being taken into 
account, not much reliance can be placed upon 
the chances of any further displacement of 
the' teas of China among British consumers 
by those of India and Ceylon. It may perhaps 
be said that the conclusions stated in the paper 
under review are not novel ; that they have long 
been anticipated ; out nevertheless, have Messrs. 
Gow, Wilson & Stanton done good aervioe in bring- 
ing the facts clearly before you in Oeylon. The 
advice tendered by so eminent a firm cannot 
be disregarded. They assert the positive 
danger of a collapse to the present great 
Ceylon industry if any further large area of t)a 
cultivation is opeced. It is manifestly time, there- 
fore, that planters should set their hou-res in 
order in this respect, and you should cordially 
re-echo the advice contained in the following 
further extract from the paper under notice, viz : 
— " How much wiser it would be to devote some 
of the surplus earnings which might be appro- 
priated to new olearings, towards the opening 
up of new markets." In the path of this counsel 
many are now no doubt endeavouring to follow ; 
but it will need united effort to make that 
endeavour successful. It will be of little use for 
some to practise eelf-abnegatioa if others abstain 
from it. While liberal assistance should be given 
to those who are trying new fields of effort, 
arbitrary restraints should be imposed up*n any 
disposition to extend the area of our existing 
cultivation. 
«. 
TEA IN GERMANY. 
The Consular Report on Mannheim for 1893 
notes that the consumption of tea is steadily in- 
creasing, and also in 1893 the sale was satisfactory. 
As yet, iadeed, tea hardly competes with coffee 
with the great mass of the population. Chinese 
tea still commands preference with us, but it is said 
to be only a matter of time when Indian and Ceylon 
teas will take possession of the market. — L. and C. 
Express. 
COFFEE IN MEXICO. 
From official reports we lesrn that in 1892, Mexico 
produced 23,339,994 pounds cf coffe», an increase 
since 1889 of about 30 per cent. The State of Oaxaea 
l«ads as a coffee growing fection, furni^hin? over one- 
half the total supply, or 12,445,392 pounds ; next in 
impoitanca is Vera Cruz, which reports a production 
of 5,609,857 pounds. In all, fourteen States are grow- 
ing coffee, viz : Oaxaea, Vera Cruz, Pueblo, San 
Luis Potosi, Michoacan, Hidalgo, Sonora, Chiapas, 
Ja'isco, Oolima, Morelos, Mexico, Guerrero, Tepic. The 
value of the 1892 crop was §4,748,352.— American 
Grocer. 
