12 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST 
[July  i,  1892 
see  a further  marked  increase  in  the  consumption  or  an 
article  which,  being  bo  largely  produced  by  British 
enterprise,  has  the  good  wishes  of  all  interested  in 
British  industry. 
To  give  an  idea  of  the  enormous  extent  of  the  tea 
trade  here,  it  may  be  stated  that  about  1,250,900 
packages  of  Indian  (valued  at  £4.887,000),  756', 000a 
packages  of  Ceylon  (valued  at  £1,890,000),  and  667,500 
packages  of  China  teas  (valued  at  £1,223,000) 
were  catalogued  and  sold  last  year  under  the 
hammer  in  Mincing-lane  over  and  above  the 
very  large  quantities  sold  by  private  contract. 
The  auctions  of  Indian,  Ceylon,  and  China  teas  are 
held,  as  a rule,  in  separate  halls  in  the  Commer- 
cial Salerooms,  and  a stranger  entering  daring  oue 
of  these  sales  would  be  scared  by  the  thundering 
noise  caused  by  some  dozen  or  more  men  shouting 
at  the  very  top  of  their  voices  all  at  once,  each 
endeavouring  to  secure  the  attention  of  the  soiling 
broker  to  his  bid  first.  Where  a lot  of  low-priced 
tea  is  put  up,  the  exact  value  of  which  is  well  known, 
the  unanimous  shout  is  like  the  report  from  a cannoD, 
and  the  stranger  might  well  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  very  last  lots  of  tea  available  in  this  world 
were  being  competed  for.  These  scenes,  however,  are 
of  almost  daily  occurrence  in  Mincing  Lan<\  It  is  not 
at  all  unusual  in  the  busy  seasons  for  some  15,000  to 
20.000  chests  and  haif-chesls  of  a paiticular 
growth  to  be  sold  in  one  day,  the  sales  generally 
lasting  from  12  to  3 o'clock,  or  later.  The  im- 
por'B  from  June  1st  to  March  31st,  1891-92,  were 
of  China  tea  59,975,000.,  lb  Indian  107,861,000  lb,. 
Ceylon  52,105,000  lb  , and  Java  2,538,000  lb.,  as  against 
during  the  same  period  in  1889-90,  China  tea  89,17  i 000  lb., 
Indian  96,384,000  lb.,  Ceylon  26,775,000 lb.,  and  Java 
2,412,0001b.  The  total  tea  delivered  for  home  con- 
sumption in  1891-92  was  150,971,000  lb  , against 
129.581.000  lb.  in  1889-90. 
The  Chinese  for  eo  many  years  had  the  monopoly 
of  our  tea  trade  that  they  became  utterly  careless  of 
the  preparation  or  proper  maintenance  of  their  plan- 
tations, thinking  anything  they  sent  to  this  country, 
so  long  as  it  paid  them  well,  would  do  for  us.  They 
regarded  the  rumour  of  competition  from  other 
countries  with  ridicule,  and  have  only  just  commenced 
to  learn,  by  sharp  and  painlul  experience,  what  it 
is.  To  allow  a serious  and  steady  decline  in  the 
quality  of  their  staple  export  article  was  a costly 
error,  espeoially  at  a time  when  our  British-grown 
tea  from  both  India  and  Ceylon  were  arriving  in 
quantities  sufficiently  large  for  them  to  bo  widely 
spread  amongst,  and  quiokly  appreciated  by,  theBii  ish 
public.  India,  it  seems  probable,  may  remain  a good  tea- 
producing  country  for  many  years  to  come  ; but  not  so 
Ceylon — from  thefact  that  the  soil  or  climate,  or  both 
combined,  quickly  exhaust  the  goo  i qualities  of  the 
plants.  From  observations  during  the  past  five  3 ear 
it  is  evident  that  few,  if  any,  of  the  higher-class  set 
producing  gardens  maintain  a high  standard  of  quality 
after  three  yoars  from  their  first  bearing  and  year  by 
year  they  decline  into  producing  only  common  and 
medium  teas.  At  present  new  ground  is  continually 
being  opened  up,  so  a certain  fresh  supply  of  fine 
teas  continues  to  come  forward  : but  the  common  in- 
voices largely  iuorease  month  by  month,  many  being 
from  gardens  conepicious  three  or  four  years  ago  for 
the  fineness  of  their  teas.  This  being  so,  the  Chinese 
if  they  look  out,  may  yet  have  another  innings.  They 
will  have  time  to  replant,  modernise  their  workings, 
learn  to  use  machinery,  get  efree  from  export  taxes  ; 
and  in  a few  years  hence,  when,  possibly,  Ceylon  teas 
may  not  be  regarded  with  the  favour  which  they  enjoy 
today,  the  Chinese  may  be  ready  to  bring  some  newly 
grown  your  Chine  leaf  of  fine  quality  ami  at  reuon- 
adle  poices  to  compete  with  with  their  lute  formidable 
rivals. — Financial  Necns. 
BARK  AND  DRUG  REPORT. 
(From  the  Chemist  and  Druggist.) 
London,  April  27. 
Annatto.— Seeds  rather  dearer,  2Jd  per  lb.  being  paid 
today  for  6 bags  of  good  bright  quality  from  Ceylon. 
Coca-lbaves.— There  was  one  28-lb.-bale  of  small  dark- 
green  dry  coca-leaves  from  Ceylon,  which  was  bought  in 
at  Is  Gd  per  lb.,  no  bids  being  forthcoming. 
Nux  Vomica.— Several  parcels  of  recent  arrival  were 
offered  today  and  partly  Isold  at  a slight  decline  in 
value.  Eighty  eight  bags  bold  pale  g-ey  to  rather  dark 
seeds  from  Ceylon  sold  at  9s  to  9s  Cd  per  cwt  partlv 
subject  to  approval,  and  for  ! 04  bags  fair  pilish  but  small 
irom  southern  India  the  same  price  was  pud. 
Essential  Oil  —Of  Lemongrass  oil  in  bottles  sales  have 
been  made  privately  at  1 9.l6ths  d.  per  oz  at  auction 
and  an  offer  of  l|d  was  refused  for  20  cases. 
London,  May  5th. 
cinchona.  The  London  cinchona  auctions  were  re- 
sumed on  Tuesday,  after  a four  weeks’  interval  The 
quantity  of  bark  offered  was  rather  small  aud  consisted 
almost  entirely  of  poor  and  medium  qualities  The 
catalogues  included 
Ceylon  emchona 
East  Indian  cinchona. . 
Java  cinchona 
West  Africa  cinchona 
South  American  cinchona 
Packages  Packages 
1,117  of  which  1,041  were  sold 
1,002  do  950  do 
148  do  148  do 
279  do  279  do 
563  do  225  do 
rm  Total,.i  , - 3J09  do  2,G  13  do 
There  was  yeiy  little  competition,  and  especially  towards 
the  close  o£  the  sales,  the  tone  flagged  considerably 
There  is  scarcely  any  quotable  alteration  in  the  unit 
price,  which  remains  1|4  per  lb.  for  barks  of  fair 
quality,  but  taken  all  round  the  market  has  an  easier 
tendency. 
The  following  are  thejapproximate  quantities  purchased 
by  the  principal  buyers 
Lb. 
153,011 
151.726 
88,202 
Agents  for  the  Brunswick  factory 
Agents  for  the  Auerbach  factory  ... 
Agents  for  the  Mannheim  and  Amsterdam  works  {•»  roz 
Agents  for  ihe  Frankfort  o/M  aud  Stuttgart  works  80  *731 
Messrs.  Howard  & Sons  ...  ...  sVgrg 
Agents  for  the  American  and  Italian  works  4s'670 
Sundry  druggists  and  others  ...  ."  40  785 
Total  quantity  of  bark  sold  ...  ...  620  434 
Bought  in  or  withdrawn  ...  ...  64*127 
Total  quantity  of  bark  offered  ...  084  561 
Coca-leaves. -Seventeen  cases  (of  28  lb.  each)  good 
green  thm  Ceylon  leaves  sold  at  auction  last  Friday  at 
Is  4d  to  Is  5d  per  lb. 
Coccui.us  Ixdicus  is  ■‘rather  dearer,  11s  6d  per  cwt 
being  paid  last  Friday  hr  fair  quality. 
THE  AMSTERDAM  CINCHONA  SALES. 
(Telegram  from  our  Correspondent.) 
. , Amsterdam,  May5tli. 
About  one-fourth  of  the  Java  cinchona  offered  at 
today’s  auctions  was  bought  in.  only  2,900  bales  be- 
ing sold  at  lower  prices,  the  average  unit  value  be- 
ing only  6 cents,  or  between  Id.  and  lid.  per  lb 
Manufacturing  bark  in  quills  whole  and  broken  and 
chips  brought  from  8 to  63  cents  (l^d.  to  lHd  ) per 
lb.  ; ditto  in  root,  from  14  to  40  cents  (2id.  to  7d.  per 
lb.)  ; druggists  bark  in  quills,  broken  quills,  and 
chips,  at  8 to  47  cents  (l|d.  to  8|d.)  per  lb.  : ditto 
root,  10  to  11  cents  (l|d.  to  2d.)  per  lb.  The  prin- 
cipal buyers  were  the  Brunswick  Quinine  Works 
Mr.  Gustav  Briegleb,  and  the  Auerbach  Factory.— 
Chemist  and  Druggest. 
CHINA  TEA  AND  TEA  TRADE 
(By  Consul  Bcdloe,  of  Amoy.) 
By  whom  and  when  the  use  of  tea  for  drinking 
purposes  was  discovered  D lost  in  antiquity  The 
famous  herb  is  referred  to  in  the  Chinese  annals 
as  far  back  as  2000  B.  C.,  at  which  period  it  was 
cultivated  and  classified  almost  as  completely  as  today 
One  ancient  legend  says  that  its  virtues  were 
learned  by  accident  by  a Chinese  monarch  King 
Sben  Rung,  “ The  Divine  Husbandman,”  who 
flourished  forty  centuries  ago,  and  who,  in  boiling 
water  over  a tire  made  from  tea-branches  on  which 
the  leaves  still  hung,  allowed  some  of  the  latter  to  fall 
into  the  pot. 
During  the  reign  of  Shen-Nung-She,  B.  C.  2737  to 
2696,  he  not  only  discovered  the  curative  virtues  of 
plants,  but  first  fashioned  timber  into  ploughs  and 
