Nov.  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
327 
quills  and  chips  176  bales,  109  cases  ; root.  62  bales 
(Jalisaya  quills  112  cases;  broken  quills  and  chips  36 
bales,  32  cases ; root  24  bales.  Lincifolia  quills  17 
cases  ; broken  quilb  arid  chips  15  cases.  Manufac- 
turing bark  : Ledgeriana  broken  quills  and  chips  3,428 
bales;  root  840  bales.  Officinalisbroken  quills  aod  chips 
45  bales.  Hybrid,  broken  quills  and  chips  448  bales; 
root  29  bales.  The  manufacturing  bark  contains 
about  17£  tons  sulphate  of  quinine,  or  4'42  per  cent,  on 
the  average.  About  1 ton  contains  1-2  per  ceut. ; 62 
tons  contains  2-3  per  cent,  121  tons,  3-4  per  cent ; 109§ 
tons,  4-5  per  cent.;  49  tons  5-6  per  cent.  ; 31  tons,  6-7 
per  cent. ; 14  tons,  7-8peroent.;  10|  tons,  11-12  per 
cent  sulphate  of  quinine. — Chemist  and  Druggist. 
♦ 1 — . 
NOTES  ON  PRODUCE  AND  FINANCE. 
The  Decaying  Tea  Trade  of  China.  —The  Chinese 
tea-grower  receives  plenty  of  advise  as  to  the  best 
means  he  should  adopt  to  revive  his  departing  tea 
trade-  A report  by  the  Belgian  Legation  at  Pekin 
published  in  a Brussels  paper,  has  the  following  on 
the  subject The  tea  trade  in  China  is  passing  at  the 
present  time  through  a period  of  depression  for  which 
no  other  remedy  can  be  suggested  than  the  with- 
drawal of  the  export  duty  to  which  this  article  is 
subject.  But  this  would  be  a very  serious  measure  to 
adopt,  the  duty  bringing  in  from  £720,000  to  £1,000,000 
per  annum,  and  the  resources  of  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment will  hardly  admit  of  their  relinquishing  this  sum. 
The  following  statement  shows  the  fluctuations  of  the 
export  trade  during  the  last  four  years 1888, 
2,167,562  piculs;  1889,  1,877,331  piculs ; 1890,  1,665,396 
piculs ; 1891,  1,750,040  piculs.  It  is  evident  that  if, 
in  the  future,  the  diminution  is  as  constant  and  as 
regular— for  the  increase  of  1891  over  1890  is  only 
due  to  a delay  in  the  export — it  will  be  necessary  to 
adopt  serious  measures  if  one  of  the  chief  articles 
of  Chinese  trade  (silk  only  being  superior  to  it)  is 
to  retain  its  importance.  It  is  black  tea,  comprising 
the  varieties  known  as  "Congou,  Oolong,  Souchong, 
Ponchong,  Flowery  Pekoe,  Orange  Pekoe,  and  Scented 
Caper,”  the  export  of  which  has  chiefly  diminished, 
whilst  the  other  qualities,  and  particularly  green  tea, 
appear  to  maintain  their  position.  From  1887 
to  1891  the  export  of  black  tea,  fell  off  to  the 
extent  of  428,000  piculs,  and  it  is  chiefly  in  the 
export  to  England  and  her  Colonies  that  this  de- 
crease has  shown  itself.  Russian  consumption  con- 
tinues to  make  great  progress,  but  the  development 
of  this  market  cannot  compensate  the  Chinese  pro- 
ducer for  the  loss  of  the  English  market,  whioh 
has  become  dependent  upon  the  products  of  India 
and  Ceylon.  The  producers  of  the  latter  country 
are  making  headway  owing  to  the  personal  super- 
vision which  they  exercise  over  their  plantations,  to 
the  use  of  machinery,  and  finally  to  the  almost 
complete  absence  of  middlemen  between  the 
producer  and  the  consumer,  It  should,  on  the 
other  hand,  be  recognised  that  certain  Chinese  teas 
—Hankow,  for  example  — have  within  late  years  dete- 
riorated in  quality,  and  are  no  longer  what  they 
were  formerly,  In  order  that  the  Chinese  industry 
may  resume  its  flourishing  condition,  it  is  neces- 
sary, apart  from  the  reduction  of  the  export  duty 
by  the  Chinese  Government,  that  the  Chinese  pro- 
ducer should  take  more  care  in  his  cultivation,  that 
he  should  look  well  after  his  land,  that  he  should 
not  prepare  his  product  so  hastily,  that  he  should 
extend  the  use  of  machinery,  that  the  granaries  where 
the  crop  is  gathered  should  be  weatherproof,  and, 
lastly,  that  he  should  exhibit  that  spirit  of  enterprise 
which  is  absolutely  indispensable  at  the  present  day. 
The  Water  Used  in  Tea  Brewing.— We  print 
elsewhere  a letter  signed  “ Pilgrim  ” in  which  the 
writer  calls  attention  to  the  importance  of  the  water 
question  in  tea  brewing,  and  points  out  the  difference 
in  flavour  of  tea  brewed  in  various  parts  of 
England  and  Scotland.  It  is  well  known  in  Mincing 
Lane  that  certain  teas  suit  certain  districts 
because  of  the  nature  of  the  water  in  those 
districts,  and  we  have  heard  of  cases  where  tea 
tasters  used  to  tasting  teas,  say,  in  Dublin, 
tUasgow,  or  Manchester,  become  so  perplexed  by  the 
difference  of  flavour  due  to  the  different  quality  of  the 
water  in  Loudon  that  they  have  imported  water  from 
their  own  district  by  way  of  experimenting  with  their 
palates.  If  tea  varies  so  considerably  in  flavour  ac- 
cording to  the  water  used,  does  not  this  point  to  the 
advantage  possessed  by  a looal  dealer  who  buys  his 
tea  to  suit  the  water  which  his  customers  use, over  the 
seller  who  supplies  one  class  tea  for  all  buyers  ? We 
agree  with  our  correspondent  that  it  is  a matter  wor- 
thy of  more  attention  than  it  receives,  although  we 
can  assure  him  the  dealers  in  Mincing  Lane  are  quite 
aware  of  the  influence  of  different  waters  in  the  brew- 
ing of  tea. 
A Grocer’s  Lament. — The  following  letter  expresses 
the  sorrows  of  a grocer  who  objects  to  the  sale  of  tea 
by  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  Planters,  on  the  con- 
trary, are  rather  indifferent  as  to  who  sells  the  tea  so 
long  as  it  is  sold,  although,  no  doubt,  it  is  an  advantage 
even  to  the  grower  when  his  tea  is  handled  by  an  ex- 
pert. Fair  Flay,”  writing  to  a grocers’  paper,  says:— 
“ During  the  last  few  years  the  trade  in  blended 
and  packet  tea,  especially  in  the  former,  has  as- 
sumed an  importance  which  was  not  thought  possible 
only  a short  time  ago,  and  the  business  has  been 
pusbed  in  various  ways  with  an  amount  of  energy 
which  could  hardly  be  surpassed.  Legitimate  warfare 
in  trade  no  one  can  fairly  object  to,  but  the  case 
stands  on  an  altogether  different  footing,  when,  as 
in  the  case  in  question,  the  retail  dealers,  principally 
through  the  medium  of  more  or  less  sensationally 
worded  advertisements,  are  invited  to  support  with 
their  orders,  and  thus  to  extend  very  materially ' 
the  businesses  of  a class  of  traders  who  are 
their  most  active  opponents.  The  grocers  are, 
in  fact,  asked  to  buy  of  competing  retailers, 
having  shops  scattered  over  London  and  the  coun- 
try, which  may  be  numbered  by  the  score  or 
hundred,  although,  of  course,  the  fact  that  such 
is  the  case  is  very  carefully  concealed  from  those  to 
whom  they  appeal  for  wholesale  business.  Do  the 
retail  trade  really  grasp  the  situation  ? I think 
not,  for  otherwise  none  of  them  would  adopt  such  a 
suicidal  course  as  to  support  with  their  orders  the 
very  traders  who,  either  through  their  shops  or  by 
direct  appeals  in  the  papers  made  to  the  public,  are 
doing  their  utmost  to  destroy  the  grocers’  trade. 
Until  recently  it  has  been  regarded  as  a cardinal 
maxim  in  business  that  a trader  must  elect  to  do 
either  a wholesale  or  a retail  trade.  But  lately  a 
new  class  has  sprung  into  existence,  who,  by  means 
of  extravagantly  worded  advertisements  (which  in 
many  cases  pay  a very  poor  compliment  to  the 
intelligence  of  the  readers  to  whom  they  appeal),  have, 
at  any  rate  for  a time,  apparently  found  it  possible 
to  successfully  combine  the  two.  I cannot,  however, 
think  this  will  long  continue  the  case,  when  the  grocers 
fully  recognise  the  effects  likely  to  result  to  them- 
selves troni  encouraging  this  dual  way  of  trading. 
The  retail  dealers  at  tee  present  time  are  no  doubt 
subject  to  an  amount  of  competition  never  before 
experienced,  but  that  is  obviously  no  reason  why 
this  should  become  greatly  intensified  through  their 
own  want  of  thought.  The  larger  the  wholesale 
tra  le  done  by  the  duzeu  or  the  hundred  shop  men; 
-no  cheaper  they  can  sell  retail.  These  remarks, 
inougli  they  apply  more  or  less  to  other  gro. 
ceries  have  a speoial  bearing  in  the  case  of  tea,  where 
the  attempt  is  being  most  conspicuously  made  to  supply 
those  whom  tha  sellers  are  at  the  same  time  endeavour* 
iug  to  supplant.  Now, in  tea,  my  own  idea  would  be  not 
only  to  ausolutely  decline  to  support  the  enemy,  but  for 
the  grocers  in  the  various  districts  to  arrange  amoDg 
themselves  to  obtaiu  a fractional  profit  on  sugar 
and  to  drop  the  price  of  tea  in  proportion.  As 
twenty  pouuds  of  sugar  are  consumed  to  one  pound 
ot  tea,  a very  e»6y  arithmetical  calculation  would 
show  what  could  readily  be  done,  with  the  result  of 
completely  ousting  the  new  form  of  competition, 
which  is  so  heavily  burdened  with  the  cost  ot  adver- 
tisement, postage,  and  the  like.  Tea  fresh  out  ol  a 
chest,  and  judiciously  selected  by  a grocer  who  knows 
his  business  aud  the  taste  of  the  dietriot,  .ought  at 
least  to  leave  no  chance  to  the  batcher,  or  baker,  or 
buttermau,  who  are  now  striving  so  bard  tQ  oust  thq 
