82 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[August  i,  1892- 
have  been  regarded  in  some  directions  as  a reason 
for  avoiding  British-grown  teas,  and  drinking  only 
those  of  China.  These  remarks  have  been  very 
widely  quoted,  and  specially  reprinted  by  interested 
parties  in  circular  form,  for  distribution  in  the 
Australasian  colonies  and  America,  as  well  as  through- 
out the  United  Kingdom.  Let  me  refer  to  the  offend- 
ing passage.  After  remarking  sensibly  enough,  on 
the  injury  done  by  allowing  tea  to  stand  too  long,  and 
then  drinking  a black  infusion  of  what  had  been, 
perhaps,  half  an  hour  in  the  pot,  Sir  Andrew  Clark 
went  on  to  say : — “Tea,  to  be  useful,  should  be,  first 
of  all,  black  China  tea.  The  Indian  tea  which  is 
being  cultivated  has  become  so  powerful  in  its 
effects  upon  the  nervous  system  that  a cup  of  it 
taken  early  in  the  morning,  as  many  people  do,  so 
disorders  the  nervous  system  that  those  who  take  it 
actually  get  into  a state  of  tea  intoxication,  and  it 
produces  a form  of  nerve  disturbance  which  is  most 
painful  to  witness.  If  you  want  to  have,  either  for 
yourselves  or  for  your  patients,  tea  which  will  not 
injure  and  which  will  refresh,  get  black  China  tea, 
putting  in  the  right  measure — the  old-fashioned  tea- 
spoonful for  each  person,  and  one  for  the  blessed  pot. 
Then  pour  on  briskly  boiling  water,  and  within  five 
minutes  you  must  pour  it  off  again,  or  it  will  become 
wicked  instead  of  good.”  Now,  in  the  above,  Sir 
Andrew  Clark  seems  quite  unaware  of  the  fact  that 
some  of  the  Indian  teas  are  among  the  most  delicate 
in  the  world,  while,  apparently,  he  has  yet  to  learn  of 
the  medium  position  between  the  stronger  Indian  and 
the  poor  China  taken  up  by  Ceylon  tea  as  a whole, 
though  in  our  island  (as  in  India)  the  higher  the 
altitude  above  sea  level  at  which  tea  is  cultivated 
the  finer  and  more  delicate  the  leaf.  In  this  way 
some  of  our  Ceylon  high-grown  teas  have  been 
shown  by  analysis  to  have  as  low  a percentage  of 
tannin  as  any  ever  recorded.*  Indeed,  in  ignoring 
Ceylon  teas  in  his  October  address,  Sir  Andrew 
Clark  had  forgotten  the  eulogy  he  himself  had 
passed  some  time  ago  when  drinking  a cup  of  Ceylon 
tea,  as  the  most  pleasant  he  had  ever  tasted. 
But  of  far  more  importance  is  it  tc  remind  Sir 
Andrew  Clark,  and  all  others  concerned,  that,  dealing 
with  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas  as  a whole,  attention  to 
the  quantity  used  and  the  time  of  infusion  will  obviate 
any  deleterious  effects,  such  as  those  referred  to,  just 
as  certainly  as  in  the  use  of  China  teas.  Sir  Andrew 
is  quite  right  about  five  minutes  being  ample  for 
“ infusion  ” ; indeed,  with  strong  tea,  or  for  nervously- 
inclined  tea-drinkers,  rather  less  may  suffice  ; but  he 
has  yet  to  learn  that  “ the  old-fashioned  teaspoonful 
for  each  person,  and  one  for  the  blessed  pot,”  is  too 
liberal  in  the  case  of  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas.  Ceylon 
Pekoes,  for  instance,  will  generally  go  twice  as  far  as 
China  Congous,  and  very  seldom  need  more  than 
two-thirds  of  the  quantity  taken  of  China  tea  be  used 
in  the  case  of  pure  Ceylon  tea  to  make  an  even  better 
infusion.  Here,  then,  may  be  the  secret  of  Sir 
Andrew  Clark’s  implied,  if  not  express,  condemnation 
of  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas — namely,  that  he  has  been 
making  his  comparison  after  using  the  same  quantity 
of  such  teas  as  of  China  in  his  infusion.  Fortunately, 
the  economy  attending  the  use  of  the  former  is 
becoming  better  understood  and  appreciated  every 
year  by  English  housewives. 
Next,  it  would  be  well  if  Sir  Andrew  Clark  and 
other  home  critics  of  British-grown  teas  understood 
the  great  difference  in  the  cleanliness  attending  the 
preparation  of  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas,  machinery 
being  used  extensively  in  the  factories,  as  contrasted 
with  the  manual  (and  sometimes  pedal)  system 
adopted  in  China.  1 believe,  too,  it  is  a fact  that  in 
certain  districts  “John  Chinaman”  considers  any- 
thing good  enough  for  “foreign  devils,”  and  so  con- 
trives to  redry  and  manipulate  for  export,  tea  leaf 
from  which  he  has  already  taken  an  infusion — a 
mild  one,  perhaps — for  his  own  use.  Adulteration 
with  other  leaves  and  the  artificial  colouring  of  certain 
classes  of  teas  are  also  practised  in  China  and  Japan 
—more  especially  in  the  product  shipped  to  the 
United  States.  It  is  very  important  that  the  purity, 
* See  “ Ceylon  Tea  Analyses,”  by  Mr.  John  Hughes, 
Analytical  Chemist,  79,  Mark-lane. 
cleanliness,  and  good  value  of  British-grown  teas 
should  be  generally  understood.  Only  a few  weeks 
back  an  important  Liverpool  paper  (the  Courier)  had 
an  article  bewailing  the  falling  off  in  teas,  due,  as 
the  writer  thought,  partly,  at  least,  to  the  super- 
session of  China  by  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas  in  the 
London  market;  and  yet  it  is  surely  admitted  by 
unprejudiced  experts  that  China  teas,  as  a whole  now 
and  in  years  gone  by  are,  and  were,  inferior  to  the 
pure,  strong,  yet  Savoury  British -grown  product. 
In  conclusion,  I may,  perhaps,  be  permitted  to 
quote  a brief  summary  of  reasons  why  English- 
speaking  people  everywhere  should  drink  Ceylon  tea: — 
(1)  Because  Ceylon  tea  is  pure,  and  China  too  often 
adulterated  or  artificially  faced. 
(2)  Ceylon  tea  is  acknowledged  to  be  about  the  best 
the  world  produces. 
(3)  It  is  grown  and  manufactured  by  their  own 
countrymen. 
(4)  The  Ceylon  tea  industry  affords  employment  in 
increasing  volume  to  thousands  of  English-speaking 
workmen  in  the  manufacture  of  implements,  machi- 
nery, steam-engines,  and  other  factory  requisites,  mate- 
rials for  buildings,  and  packages. 
(5)  China  uses  only  her  own  locally-made  materials 
for  the  production  and  preparation  of  her  teas,  so 
that  the  consumption  of  China  teas  aids  chiefly  in  the 
purchase  of  Indian  opium  instead  of  English  manu- 
factures. 
(6)  Machine  inventors  of  all  countries  are  welcome 
to  use  their  skill  in  Ceylon,  the  most  progressive  of 
all  tropical  planting  lands. 
(7)  If  they  saw  the  respective  modes  of  preparation 
for  themselves,  tea  consumers  outside  Asia  who  could 
get  the  pure,  clean,  machine-prepared  leaf  which  is 
sent  out  from  the  planter's  factory  would  never  touch 
the  article  prepared  by  the  hands  and  feet  of  the 
Mongolians. 
What  is  here  said  of  Ceylon  is  obviously  to  a great 
extent,  tfue  of  Indian  teas.  Thanking  you  for  giving 
me  so  much  of  your  space  in  the  interests  of  the 
British  tea-planting  industry. — I am,  sir,  yours,  &e., 
J.  Febguson,  of  the 
Ceylon  Observer  and  Tropical  Agriculturist. 
Royal  Colonial  Institute,  May  20th,  1892. 
The  Decline  of  China  Tea. 
Referring  to  our  recent  “ instructive  and  sugges- 
tive ” article  on  the  tea  trade,  with  “ much  of  which  ” 
it  “ entirely  agrees,”  the  Grocers’  Chronicle  says  : — 
“ Our  contemporary.  The  Financial  News,  occasion- 
ally enlightens  its  readers  on  topics  which,  whilst 
not  exactly  financial,  are  sufficiently  germane  thereto 
to  make  their  discussion  interesting  to  capitalists. 
In  a recent  issue  the  topic  of  tea  came  under  review. 
. . . We  cannot  say  that  we  attach  much  value 
to  the  prospect  of  the  Chinese  reforming  their 
methods.  We  have  all  along  steadily  upheld  the  use 
of  tea  of  British  production,  and  our  judgment  has 
been  endorsed  year  by  year  by  increased  trade.  And 
whilst  we  are  not  so  uncharitable  as  to  wish  the 
Chinese  entirely  ‘ out  of  it,’  we  very  much  fear  that 
there  is  about  as  much  prospect  of  their  modernising 
their  system  of  manufacture  and  introducing  machin- 
ery as  there  is  of  them  adopting  female  suffrage  or 
representative  Government.” 
In  the  Financial  News  of  the  25th  there  comes 
the  following  skilfully- worded  rejoinder  from  Mr. 
Hawes : — 
THE  CEYLON  TEA  INDUSTRY. 
To  the  Editor  of  The  Financial  News. 
Sir, — Everyone  interested  in  the  Ceylon  tea  industry 
must  have  read  Mr.  Ferguson’s  letter  of  the  20th  inst. 
with  great  interest,  but,  at  the  same  time,  could  not 
help  feeling  that  it  was  written  undoubtedly  from  a 
planter’s  point  of  view.  Mr.  Ferguson  refers  especially 
to  the  subject  of  stability  of  the  Ceylon  tea  industry, 
and  infers  that  in  your  leader,  and  in  my  letter,  doubts 
were  made  as  to  the  stability  of  the  trade.  If  he 
reads  my  letter  again  more  carefully  he  will  find  I do  not 
doubt  the  general  stability ; but  what  I maintain,  from 
present  and  past  experience,  is  that  the  average  fine 
quality  of  the  teas  from  Ceylon  is  declining,  and  will 
