THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov,  i,  1892 
364 
and  that  a copy  of  this  resolution  be  forwarded  to 
Messrs.  Wattson  & Farr  through  the  Secretary, 
Ceylon  Association  in  London.”  Resolved  : — ‘‘That  a 
grant  of  9,0001b.  of  Ceylon  Tea  in  three  instalments 
of  3,000  lb.  each  at  intervals  of  two  months  be  made 
through  Messrs.  Wattson  & Farr  to  the  Ceylon 
Planters’  Tea  Company  of  New  York,  and  that  Messrs. 
Darley,  Butler  & Co.  be  requested  to  purchase  and 
forward  teas  similar  to  those  they  are  in  the  habit  of 
sending  to  that  Company.” 
CEYLON  TEA  IN  RUSSIA. 
Considered  correspondence.  Resolved : — “ That  the 
Standing  Committee  of  the  Ceylon  Tea  Fund 
will  be  prepared  to  vote  a grant  or  grants  of 
Ceylon  tea  to  Mr.  Rogivue  for  the  furtherance 
of  his  enterprise  in  Russia  on  the  rtceipt  from  him 
of  samp'es  of  the  kind  of  teas  required  for  the  Russian 
market,  such  teas  to  be  shipped  from  Colombo,  and 
to  be  delivered  at  at  y Russian  port  that  may  be 
decided  upon  by  Mr.  Rogivue,  who  would  be  required 
to  pay  the  impoit  du'y  on  such  tea.” 
CEYLON  TEA  IN  SIEBRA  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 
Read  letttr  from  Messrs.  Whittall  & Co  , advising 
that  the  tea  for  California  had  b en  delivered  to  Meisrs. 
George  Steuart  & Co.  tn  behalf  of  Mr.  J.  C.  Dunbar 
and  enclosing  debit  note  for  coit  of  same. 
CEYLON  TEA  IN  BRITISH  COLUMBIA. 
Read  letters  and  copy  telegram  from  Mr.  C.  E.  H. 
S mons. 
CEYLON  TEA  IN  MEXICO. 
Read  letter  from  Mr.  W.  E.  Master. 
The  Standing  Committee  of  the  “ Ctylou  Tea  Fund” 
then  adjourned, 
A.  Philip, 
Secretary  to  the  Planters’  Association  of  Ceylon. 
TEA  ROOT  CARVING. 
For  mote  than  a hundred  generations  there  has 
been  a guild  of  artists  in  the  populous  Chinese  pro- 
vince of  Fo-kien  whose  life  work  is  the  conversion  of 
the  gnarled  and  interlaced  roots  of  the  tea  tree  into 
thing*  of  beauty,  that  is  to  say,  beauty  from  a celestial 
point  of  view.  The  herb,  the  leaves  of  which  gLddeu 
western  palates  in  the  form  of  Oolong,  Hyson  and 
Sonohong,  is  a hardy  plant  and  takes  a firm  hold  on 
mother  earth.  Its  roots  seem  to  have  no  regular 
law  of  growth.  Sometimes  they  develop  very  much 
as  a beard  sprouts  from  the  chin;  at  others  they 
separato  and  move  along  parallel  lines  as  if  they 
were  a lignose  centipede.  In  general,  it  mny  be  said 
that  they  make  one  large,  olumsy  ma;s,  from  which 
shoot  out  anywhere  from  three  to  thirty  rootlets.  Their 
surface  is  never  smooth  but  always  irregularly 
corrugated.  The  value  of  a root  depends  upon  its  size, 
its  outline,  its  freedom  from  decay,  and  its  suggestive- 
ness of  some  everyday  object. 
The  roots  are  dug  from  the  soil  and  allowed  to 
thoroughly  dry  iD  the  open  air  under  a shed  or  eUe 
in  a moderately  warm  room.  The  loose  earth  is  care- 
fully removed,  as  is  the  loose  bark  and  all  pieces  de- 
cayed, cracked  or  worm-eaten.  The  artist  then  deter- 
mines what  is  to  be  done.  The  favourite  types  are 
dragoons,  buffaloes,  cows,  oarnivores,  bears,  mandarins, 
priests, howliDg  dervishers,  dancers  or  mystic  heroes.  If 
the  root  cannot  be  worked  into  one  of  these  shapes  it  is 
converted  into  a pedestal  or  platform  for  a figure  piece. 
The  primary  operation  oonsists  in  sawing  it  into  rough 
shape.  This  is  done  with  a fine  cross-cut,  and  the 
clean  edges  removed  by  rubbing  them  cn  tiles  or 
bricks.  Sometimes  a root  is  bent  by  softening  it  with 
steam  or  boiling  water,  and  then  twisting  it  in  any 
desired  direction. 
Now  comes  the  hardest  task  of  all.  The  most  valued 
piece  is  that  wh’oh  shows  no  art  and  seems  perfectly 
natural.  The  carver  goes  over  the  blook,  removing  here 
a fibre  and  there  a set  of  roots,  here  thinning  oat  olio 
on  the  under  side  and  forcing  it  down,  and  thtre  burn- 
ing another  and  expanding  it  at  the  burned  point.  I 
have  one  in  my  drawing-room  which  is  a capital 
figure  of  a dragon,  rearing  and  opening  his  jaws  as  if 
to  spring  upon  his  prey.  Careful  examination  shows 
thst  nothing  has  been  added  to  tie  mass,  but  that 
hundreds  of  fibres,  knots  and  corrugations  have  been 
skilfully  removed. 
In  nearly  every  instance  a human  figure,  made 
in  the  same  manner,  or  carved  from  a wood  of  the  same 
colour,  cr  else  made  partly  from  tea  roots  and  portly 
from  carved  wood  is  added  to  the  first  piece.  The  de- 
signs are  endless  in  this  field.  Learned  men  leoturing 
birds,  mandarins  standing  on  dragons,  boys  riding 
cows  and  other  ridiculous  quadrupeds,  dancing  beg- 
gars, men  fightiDg  each  other,  are  the  commonest 
groups,  bat  of  the  more  uncommon  there  are  thousands. 
One  famous  artist  in  Fcoohow  claims  to  have  pro- 
duced, with  t lie  aid  of  hie  apprentices,  over  fifty  thou- 
sind  different  designs,  and,  judging  from  his  stock 
on  hand,  his  claim  seems  reasonable  enough. 
The  tea-root  carvings  are  seldom  very  costly,  run- 
ning from  2s.  to  £'2.  Nine-tenths  bring  less  than  8a. 
each.  A handsome  set  of  a dozen  can  be  purchased 
for  80s.,  which  will  decorate  a drawing-room  or  hall 
better  than  a bric-a-bric  many  times  more  expensive. 
The  figures  are  strong,  durable,  and  in  no  danger  of 
fracture  by  Bridget  or  Ah  Sin.  Outside  of  their 
sssthetio  value  they  aie  of  interest  in  showing  the 
wonderful  ingenuity  and  economy  of  our  Chinese 
cousins. — horticultural  Times- 
NOTES  ON  PRODUCE  AND  FINANCE. 
The  Tea  Discussion.— As  wind-up  to  the  corres- 
pondence in  the  Standard  a correspondent  signing 
himself  “Ahom”  goes  what  the  Americans  call  ‘‘bald- 
headed”  for  ‘‘Cha-sze,”  who  sneered  at  Indian  and 
Ceylon  tea.  He  says: — “Your  correspondent  ‘Cha- 
sze’  must  either  be  joking  or  ignorant  of  the  qualities 
of  tea  when  he  advises  the  use  of  the  rank,  unfer- 
mented class  of  teas  sent  from  China  to  the  Russian 
markets.  Does  he  know  those  teas  to  be  more  or 
less  poisonous  and  analogous  to  the  digitalis  (foxglove) 
in  their  effects,  from  the  unchanged  character  of 
the  essential  oils  contained  ? Does  he  know  that  one 
thousand  years  before  China  ever  grew  the  degenerated 
shrub  as  known  in  China,  the  tea  tree  grew  in  rank 
luxuriance  in  the  Assam  jungles,  from  which  it  was 
introduced  into  China  ? Does  he  know  that  the 
Chinese  admit  the  use  of  no  less  than  two  hundred 
substitutes  or  adulterants  for  tea,  the  least  injurious 
being  sloe,  beech,  chloranthus,  and  willow  leaves  ? 
Does  he  know  that  the  Chinese  paint  their  teas  with 
Prussiau  blue,  black-lead,  copperas,  gum,  and  soap- 
stone powder,  &c.  ? Does  . he  know  that  Indian, 
Assam,  or  Ceylon  teas  are  pure,  uncoloured,  and 
unadulterated,  solely  for  the  reason  that  Indian  planters 
could  not  afford  it  ? Does  he  know  that  large  cargoes 
of  China  ‘tea’  have  been  seized  and  destroyed  in  the 
United  States  in  recent  years  as  unfit  for  consumption, 
and  as  he  ever  heard  of  one  chest  of  Indian  or 
Ceylon  teas  so  destroyed?  Is  he  aware  that  about 
three  years  ago  the  Shanghai  Chamber  of  Commerce 
decided  to  send  ‘intelligent  Chinamen”  to  Ceylon  to 
learn  tea  manufacture  ? Ths  ‘tail  now  wags  the  dog,’ 
and  China  tea  is  snowed  under,  i.e.,  nowhere.” 
The  Tea  Brokers’  Association  on  the  Supply  of 
Tea, — The  Tea  Brokers’  Association  has  decided  to 
try  and  limit  the  supplies  of  Indian  tea  at  public 
acution  to  35,000  packages  per  week  up  to  the  end 
of  the  year.  The  amount  brought  forward  last  week 
was  exceptionally  large,  namly  52,355  packages,  or 
equal  to  4,500,000  lb.,  the  estimated  value  of  which 
was  £25,000.  The  future  course  of  the  Indian  market 
will  be  regulated  to  a great  extent  by  the  quantity 
available  for  shipment  to  this  country,  the  estimates 
ranging  from  105,000,000  lb.  to  110,000,0001b.  The 
statistics  for  this  season,  that  is  from  June  1st,  show 
that  the  deliveries  of  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas 
of  both  growths  exceeds  the  imports.  The  total 
quantity  of  Indian  landed  during  the  past 
four  months  amounted  to  30,340,632  lb,  and 
Ceylon  23,535,546  lb.,  while  the  deliveries  reached 
32,309,700  lb.  and  24,819,274  lb.  respectively. 
The  stock  on  Indian  lea  on  September  30  was, 
