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THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  i,  1892. 
INDIAN  TEA. 
Our  friends  at  home,  as  was  recently  shown,  have 
great  difficulty  in  procuring  Indian  tea,  pure  and  simple. 
This  is,  of  course,  vastly  in  favour  of  the  middleman, 
the  skilled  taster  and  blender  of  tea,  the  grocer  who 
likes  to  sell  apparently  cheap  tea  and  yet  net  his  profit. 
These  are  powerful  interests,  and  they  practically 
rule  the  tea  trade.  Indian  planters  are  taxed  with 
a want  of  enterprise,  they  are  charged  with  not 
realising  the  virtues,  of  advertisement.  But  what 
is  the  good  of  advertising  wares  which  rarely  if  ever 
make  their  appearance  in  an  undisguised  form  in  the 
market  ? Before  this  can  be  done,  we  must  have  un- 
mixed Indian  tea  introduced  by  competent  persons 
to  drinkers  at  home.  We  cannot  doubt  that  the  pure 
tea  will  prove  as  pleasant  to  British  palates  as  it  does 
to  us  here.  Probably  the  great  Mr.  Lipton’s  enter- 
prise in  Ceylon  tends  in  this  direction.  That  eminent 
urveyor  of  breakfast  table  foods  and  drinks  has 
ought  gardens  of  his  own,  and  will  no  doubt  place 
their  produce  on  the  English  market  in  a pure  and 
unmixed  state.  This  will  help  towards  a right  ap- 
preciation of  Indian  tea.  The  consumer  will  be  con- 
tent to  pay  a little  more  for  his  tea,  partly  because 
it  is  stronger  and  will  go  further  than  the  mixtures 
now  in  voyage,  partly  because  he  will  in 
time  realise  that  the  flavour  of  the  Indian 
product  is  pleasanter  more  stemulazing  to  the  duly 
educated  pleate.  We  may  yet  see  the  English  pur- 
chaser taking  an  intelligent  interest  in  discriminat- 
ing between  the  produce  of  different  Districts,  and 
the  geography  of  the  Terai,  of  Darjiling,  of  Assam, 
and  Sylhet,  and  Cachar  may  become  as  fascinating  a 
subject  to  the  educated  tea-drinker  as  that  of  the 
winegrowing  countries  is  to  men  who  are  experts  in 
vintages.  An  educated  taste  in  tea  should  surely  be 
as  much  respected  as  an  appreciation  of  the  flavours 
of  wine,  in  view  of  the  prevalent  tendency  to  adjure 
alcohol  in  all  its  seductive  forms.  The  drinking  of 
tea  is  held  to  be  a harmless  luxury,  whether  by 
washerwomen  or  bishops.  The  difficulty  is  to  make 
men  realise  how  many  varieties  and  niceties  of 
flavour  and  fragrance  our  Indian  tea-gardens  afford. 
The  way  of  education  would  seem  to  lie  in  the  sale, 
— and  the  judicious  advertisement,— of  pure  and  un- 
mixed brands  of  Indian  tea.—  Englishman. 
CEYLON  AND  CHINA  TEA. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  u North-China  Daily  News.” 
Sir,— I was  interested  in  reading  in  your  issue  of 
this  morning  a copy  of  tbe  circular  of  Messrs.  Gow, 
Wilson,  and  Stanton.  Though  not  in  the  tea  trade, 
but  being  personally  acquainted  s-ith  some  of  the  tea 
growing  districts,  it  has  always  been  a puzzle  to  me 
to  understand  why  the  first  crop  of  tea,  which  can 
be  bought  at  or  near  the  place  of  growth  for  3d  per 
catty,  or  even  less,  should  be  sold  at  Hankow  for  40 
or  more,  taels  per  picul.  This  no  doubt  explains  why 
Ceylon  can  be  laid  down  in  London  60  much  cheaper 
than  Chinese  tea. — I am,  etc.,  C.  J.  E. 
Sept.  6th. 
SOUTH  WYNAAD  NOTES. 
We  are  rejoioing  in  a complete  change  in  the 
weather,  and  not  before  it  was  neded.  For  seventy 
conecutive  days  there  was  not  one  wholly  free  from 
rain,  and  on  this  estate,  which  has  a very  medium 
rainfall  as  a rule,  we  registered  over  100  inches  in 
that  time.  It  was  becoming  a serious  anxiety  to  us 
as  the  continual  damps  and  laok  of  sunshine,  brought 
oat  a tolerably  sharp  attack  of  leaf  disease  and  leaf 
rot,  and  a good  deal  of  orop  has  fallen  in  conse- 
quence. I am  glad  to  notice,  however  that  leaf  seems 
to  be  passing  off  again,  and  that  the  coffee  is  making 
a brave  struggle  to  recover  itself.  No  doubt  this  is 
due  to  the  long  rest  from  disease,  during  the  hot 
weather  drought.  There  is  a steady  increasing  dema  id 
for  Liberian  seedlings,  and  even  those  who  hitherto 
have  set  their  faces  most  determinedly  against  the  in- 
troduction of  anything  but  Arabica,  are  now  putting 
Liberian  wher.ever  there  is  room  for  it.  Those  who 
planted  it  some  years  ago,  are  proving  by  experi- 
eaoe,  that  it  must  become  exceedingly  valuable  to 
us  for  its  hardness,  strong  cropping  and  immunity 
from  leaf  disease.  I hear  that  it  is  intended  to 
try  some  experiments  on  hybridising  Liberian  with 
a view  to  producing  a variety  which  will  crop  at 
a more  convenient  season,  and  have  softer  pulp.  Of 
courseit  is  rather  a nuisance  having  topiok  crop  in  Jane. 
Tea  prospects  have  advanced  considerably  sinoe  I 
last  wrote.  There  have  been  about  1,000  acres  sanc- 
tioned for  opening  on  different  estates,  which  certainly 
looks  like  business.  But  opinions  differ  oonsiderabl, 
as  to  tbe  advisability  of  planting  tea  in  Wynaad, 
and  there  are  those  who  consider  it  a great  mistake 
because  they  say  that  even  now  the  tea  market  is 
becoming  overstocked.  Of  course  it  oan  only  be  done 
by  oompanies  or  very  well--todo  proprietors.  Those 
of  us  who  can  just  screw  out  our  bread  and  cheese 
with  nothing  or  very  little  over,  cannot  think  of  at- 
tempting the  outlay  necessary  for  the  opening  and 
working  of  a tea  estate,  but  we  all  of  us  have  ex- 
cellent land  for  sale,  and  a few  good  purchases, 
with  money  to  carry  things  on  would  simply  ks  the 
making  of  Wynaad.  But  I suppose  we  must  wait 
patiently  until  the  piesent  openings  come  into  bear- 
ing, and  prove  pratically  that  tea  will  pay;  no  doubt 
there  will  then  be  a good  time  coming  for  our  rising 
generation.  Ciuohooa,  I am  sorry  tosay,  is  notflourish- 
ing,  and  it  is  very  disgusting  to  see  our  fine  ledgers 
dying  out,  for  we  had  hitherto  hoped  that  they 
were  impervious  to  oanker. — Madras  Times,  Sept.  23. 
BARK  AND  DRUG  REPORT. 
(From  Chemist  and  Druggist.) 
London,  Sept,  1. 
Areca  Nuts.— Fifty  bags  of  fair  quality,  which  have 
been  bought  in  on  several  occasions  previously,  were 
again  taken  out  today  at  32s  6d  per  cwt.  A bid  of  27s 
per  cwt.  was  (inclined. 
Caeumba  suffered  an  almost  unprecedented  downfall 
today,  a considerable  quantity  selling  at  a decline  01 
from  10s  to  15s,  which  is  equal  to  from  50  to  75  per 
cent.  Of  420  bags,  ;64  sold  at  24s  to  26s  for  fine  me- 
dium to  bold  brownish  and  yellow  mixed  natural  sorts, 
20s  to  22s  for  rather  darker  ditto,  and  19s  for  rather 
ordinary  grey  mixed. 
Coca-leaves.— Four  small  boxes  from  Ceylon  nice 
green  leaf,  good  flavour,  but  rather  broken,  were  bought 
in  at  2s  to  2s  6d  per  lb.  today. 
Quinine  is  dearer,  and  yesterday  some  business  was 
done  in  second-hand  German  bulk  at  9Jd  oa  the  spot, 
while  for  January  delivery  we  hear  9-jd  was  refused.  To- 
day the  owners’  quotation  may  be  called  9£d,  at  which, 
however,  there  are  buyers  end  sellers.  “This,”  said  a 
dealer  toins  yesterday,  “ is  the  first  occasion  I can  remem- 
ber upon  which  quinine  has  gooe  up  >n  price  without 
any  speculative  action  to  cause  the  advance.” 

Other  Uses  eor  Graphite. — A correspondent 
says  : — I have  read  an  article  on  graphite  taken 
from  the  American  Machinist.  Let  me  say  that  I 
have  used  graphite  for  many  purposes,  some  that 
th9  correspondent  did  not  name,  which  I will  give, 
as  it  may  benefit  some  of  my  brother  engineers, 
who  perhaps  have  not  experimented  to  any  great 
extent  with  the  article.  I have  used  handhole 
and  manhole  gaskets  eight  or  times  by  oarefully 
smearing  the  surface  next  boiler  shell,  taken 
out  at  periods  of  three  to  four  weeks,  using 
steam  pressure  as  high  as  100  pounds.  In  pack- 
ing water  glasses,  by  putting  a little  graphite 
and  oil  on  the  gasket  they  would  vulcanize  as 
soft  as  lamp  wick  and  retain  their  elasticity  until 
the  glass  was  changed,  when  the  old  rubber  could 
be  removed  without  trouble,  while  by  the  old 
way  I have  spent  much  time  in  digging  out  the 
rubber,  baked  as  hard  as  vulcanite.  Another  thing 
I used  it  for  was  after  putting  back  my  handhole 
plate  or  plugs  in  back  connection,  I oarefully  brush 
all  the  soot  and  ashes,  then  with  a small  brush 
paint  a good  coat  of  graphite  over  flange,  stud  and 
nuts.  After  running  boiler  from  three  to  six 
Months,  and  using  coke  for  fuel,  with  forced  draft, 
the  nuts  can  be  removed  without  trouble,  as  the 
heat  has  not  been  enough  to  bqrn  the  lead,— - 
Louisiana  Planter, 
