264 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Oct. t, 1894, 
succeeding colnmn in which Mr. P. R. Buel an m is 
mentioned). If we go on doing the " Excelsior " busi- 
ness some of us will per'sh with cold, the altitude 
will get too retined for small estates whioh have on'y 
• quantum, snfi'. of machinery a id money, &c , &o. 
My letter of 18th will show that I am uot aigiing 
for those who ma're big profits but for the other*, 
audit will not belong before the ''others " will be the 
majority. 
The American dealers want cheaper Chinese tea and 
the Ceylon proprielor-dea'er want* chaapjr Chinese 
tea, and I as'f whether we oiu-aelves cannot sopply 
thii want. We make tea bid euoegh to fill the 
vacancy, but we don't offer is in the right shape. 
We send a very bad imitation A*snm Fanoirgs and 
call it "Broken Petoe." Then there ij a cry (s?e 
page 816) of " bum it," " withdraw it," ("chock it into 
the harbour to Kill tha crabs," &c, flic ) But over the 
way we bear of China tea being brought before a 
Rename (out of a ooat tail pocket) which ooutains wooi 
shavings anl cheap lead p ncils. If yeu can force 
America with waving flags, there is no one who will 
offer less opposition than myrelf, and if I find that 
Cejlon has captured Amerci, and tha' there is no 
room for Indian tea I will s nd for (Jeylou samples, 
an 1 I don't expect muoh diftioulty in copying them ; 
it will be easier unyhow than what I am doing now — 
copying Assam tea. I tbiuk that the present efforts 
are too exclusively devoted to selliug a certain 
quantity of our t a in America, an I that inaddilim 
to selling our cwutoa the main obj <ct should be lion- 
to oust our rivals." Agamst the blustering policy we 
have the opposition if the whole trade, and probably 
of the bulk of tin consumers, so that to co: qier we 
must spend freely in biioes, ('be dealers by bo msser, 
and the consuojers by drums and picture'). I pro- 
pose to supplant, to undermiue, to undersell, to 
uudarttaud, to get a good hold from helom, then with 
ona wrench to gain possession. Le: us supply tha 
American dealers wish the toa they waut, let us give 
L'pton the tea he wants, and instead of c'.u:Uing 
rubb : sh into t!:e habour, let the leaf it is mads 
from be twis'ed up into " China tea." If jou roll 
good leaf while it is being fuel you spoil tha tea 
but if jou roll hard cean-e le*f while it is b ing 
firel it will twist up into quite a decent looking 
t;8, and in>tra I of Leing howled at, Lipton might 
take it for rnvxing purposes if ohe p euough. Anil 
if beyond this, j ou take care that it d >es not £et 
too highly coloured, an i it may really pasj as China tea, 
and no one be the worsa for it <xeept China. If 
you are Irightenid at the idea of imitating good 
Ch'na tea why not begin at the b ttom, anl m»ke 
bad China tea. Theie is no hiding it that we wood 1 
ruin the Coii.a trade if we can do so, I fie! rather 
" Machiavellian " for suggesting such low clans means ; 
but necessity knows no law. 
I quo'e one of jour Ceylon men who had it admitted 
to him that jour peko-.oncho-igs are 50 per cent, better 
than the same class of China tea, but wanttd 
appearance. Do we study appearacce. Ara we not 
content with ramming ia the leif into the ro'lir 
and bringing it out as ''pure Ceylon t?a " 
or pure Indian tea ? We are co enamoured of purity 
that we will tot study any otbxr requirement On 
the bush the leaf is any Eort of tea, but olcs ia 
the Tea Factory it has got to come out es Cejlon 
tea or Indian tea. If jou got a Chinaman to make 
up the leaf he would make you Chinese tea, and 
if it had tie proper marking on the chest the 
dealers wonld Uke it. But t,o ! cur tea must "go" 
as indigenous and if it is uot up to a certain staulard 
we will fill up the harbours wi'h it 
I was glad to see the interview with Mr. Roberts 
(on page 838) by your L ndon correspondent, and 
that Mr. Roberta scouts the idea about "those 
who know too much." 
Your American authority is oppos-dby Mr. Roberts. 
What could be stronger for my side of the argument 
than this, " If we 8en 1 ce.tain customers' tess grown 
in other districts, however toodtbty may be," tliey 
• mply refusa to have it." That is in our own muk t. 
W Mr, Rober s' " small distributing Company ' 
refused to Bupp'y tbe Bogewantalawa teat that are 
wanted, iu order to humour some other distriot 
which honus el thsm or advertise 1 Ibem, 
promising great thing', that Company wjoM fail, 
and v. jul J de e ve to fal. It ia quite a novei 
th n i that any customers should be bumourel: that 
tbey should discriminate and bare tbe go^d for. 
tote to he dnp.lied. It ia a most hopeful sign, and 
it wi'l had to gooi things if the plan'er who 
plucks vue leaf, kno*s tha'. be has got to suit a 
cer'a'n taste and tlon so. Bst even Mr. Roberta 
inakfs on - mistake (iu my bumble opioion) when 
be says that tbe A -nerica >§ aril) never be )ar e e 
consjuiers of oar teas, btcau e tbe " climate ia 
oppos-J to tbe appr dciaticn uf delioate nivounoge 
By th 1 1 be inf.rs that delioate flavouring ia ao 
essentia) to Ceylon tea ; that lot so d by Messrs. 
SomcrviHe will show that it ia not ao, but, of 
course. Mr. Roberta only knows Ceylon tea a* it it, 
and tut as it might he. How can be eoutrovtrt tbe 
idea th it if we cin supply the saint tea at a lower 
price it will not be tak-n in large quantities. Wby 
should it be refuted . p Would tbe ab.euce ot adultera- 
ti us spoil our chances ? Tea can be produced at 
'1 hut as Ceylon tea it can't get into Amu, .a but 
a< China tea it woull. Can the Chiuese produoe 
at h low<.r cost ? 
The correspondence about whole v. half leaf 
plucking ii almoat tettle-d iu India. Tbe question 
now is wh-ther to take the th r J leaf at all or to 
have it on tbe bushes. But mention is made of 
plucking leaf 12 months from tbe dale of pruning. 
Ot courae, in India there ia 110 such leaf ; tbe busbea 
*re prun d annually (except in eoine vtry poor 
dis'r'.cte) so that at the most you can get only leaf 
nine raon'lis alter pruning. I imagine that a Coy Ion 
gai'dui piunel uLuually would g,ve atronger tea 
thai Ooe pruned with intervals of 18 mouthf, and 
that at the end of two yara the haf would be very 
poor ai d weak — even a leaf and a bud would make 
i,oor t a. Th;s is a question for yourselves only, but 
it may account for the inferior strength of Ceylon 
as com) ar«d witb Iudiin tea, and tbe matter migbl 
be teitet by plucking leaf iff bush<-s left for several 
years ft r seed and leal' from tbe same bushes, suou 
after prunii-g. 
As to the Vol uit try subscriber*, I advise tbem 
to subscribe a large break of China tea and aee 
whether it sells at a graater lo s in America than 
their o«o fcaa docs in Colombo. If not, then tbey 
m'ght improve by prac'ice, or even go so far as to 
hire a Ohinamau to show them bow to improve. 
We now have a change ol establishing the tea trade 
on a firm basis; that of dheov» ring tbe consumer who 
will take such tea as we can make, and who will 
refuse a'.l o'her tea although such tea is " better " 
in the estimation of other people. Let me be 
thoroughly understood, I propoie no ehiuge for those 
who are getting good and pajiug prices for their 
tea, 1 merely surest a line of action for those who 
are not remunerated to the value of tbtir leaf, tuoae 
who are crowding and pushing on the lower levels, 
and who have caused the cry, and fear of over- 
pro luctioa. " 1874." 
AN INDIAN TEA PLANTER ON TEA TOPICS. 
August 22. 
Deau Sir,— I should like to make a few remarks 
oa Various subjects wbich I see published in the 
Overland Observer for July 23rd to August 3rd (No. 31.) 
From an extract iu the Planter of the 10th 
August frcm the Observer headed *' Ceylon Tea for 
America" the writer siys : — " L;t u« notice, before we 
go further, the side-cry whioh has been raised that 
the people of tbe United States being accustomed 
to ' green ' teas are not likely to take to black teas 
of India and Ceylon." And be says that tbey will 
take to our black teas beoause tbey rash lor uoveities 
(not novel-teas) ot any sort. I don't recommend 
uinluug only green teas. There are many sorts of black 
and seaii-gieea leai such ai Oolongs sold in America 
Lut we hive what apjears to me to be • reply nega- 
