164 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Aug. 1, 1900. 
weight used the better ; but, before the machine 
is started, tiiere is no ohjeotion to putting down 
the weight to jiet rid of steam water. 
For every porting a small lot of little round 
globules often occur. Keep these, and when suffi- 
cient, glaze them and class them as " gunpowder." 
With leaf coming in the evening, it can, after the 
tii-st passage tiirough the dryer, be left until morn- 
ing to be rolled and finished off. It is (except in 
very wet cold weather) dangerous to keep leaf 
uns'teameil through the nii.;ht, as a small percentage 
of withered leaves spoils the aijjiearance of your 
infused leaves in the cup, and gives a distinctly 
different t.aste to the tea, of what, I believe, is 
called the " Oolong" flavor. 
In packing your finest teas I should use ,3/8 in. 
boards of Cryptomeria Japonioa. andthis thickness 
issutticienb for 60 lb. and under, if matted or sewn in 
Hessian of a cheap vaiiety. The cost is only frac- 
tional over the cost of half inch packages, and the 
hoop-iron and hooping nails, both of which are 
saved in the matted package. Neatness of mark- 
ing is advisable and tvv(3 to three oz. over the nett 
lb. should be pub in each package. 
If " Momi ' wood chests are used, use nothing 
under half an inch. All Japan teas, liowever, go 
in 3/8 in. Cryptomeria wood. I would suggest that 
if the Planters' Association give the present bonus, 
tliat they should only do so on tea.s passed hy Mr. 
Street or any expert in Colombo, as sound good 
teas. If this is not done, a lot of rubbish will 
shoi tly find its way to America and do more harm 
than good. At present there is nothing to prevent 
a man sending away any rubbish he likes and 
chaining the ten cents. I conj^ider this of vital 
import ance, and urge the immediate attention of 
the " Thirty Committee " to this point. 
I also hope the "Thirty Committee" will ask Mr. 
Wright to give them for publication invoices of all 
the te.as they have p.aid him a bonus on. It will 
be interesting to follow the prices and the propor- 
tions of the grades in each invoice.— Yours, &c., 
H. DRUMMOND DEANE. 
Peermaad, July 7. 
p. ,9. The teamaker at the Kellie Group factory 
was with me through all my experiments (Mr. ft 
Patterson). I am glad he has a good situation. If 
his services con Id be spared to one or two ot the 
larger concerns starting green tea manufacture, he 
would probably be of great use in helping to avoid 
mistakes. 
THE TEA INDUSTRY : 
HOW TO SECURE THE 8d. AVERAGE 
AGAIN. 
Sir, — Take a 
200 acre estate giving 500 lb. per acre= 
100,000 @QIA £2,708 
180 acre, (i.e., =2001e!3sl0 per cent)giving 
.500 lb. per acre=90,000 ®M... £3,000 
them ont of the Cess, sufficient to cover cost 
of weeding the acreage out of plucking. 
There must be some inducement ? — Yours 
truly, 
OLD PLANTER. 
His gain on a year's working is = 
Deduct cost of tiimply weeding 
the 20 acres out of plucking at 
1/ = (75 cts ) = 
£292 
£1 
£291 
If therefore, we can, by reducing our out- 
put by 10 per cent, bring prices back to an 
8d averaf^e, it will be clcai-ly good policy to 
reduce our acreage, but, will men do it ? 
No, they will not, unless a bonus is paid 
THE POSITION OF THE TEA INDUSTRY. 
London, .lurie 2U. 
Dear Sir, — The speech of Mr. llntherford at 
the meeting of the Ceylon Association last week, 
following on the very intercepting and valuable 
circular of Messrs. Gow, Wilson & StaiUon, will 
fuimifth reflection to everyonfj interested in the 
tea growing industry of Ceylon and India. 
llauid as has been the increase in consumption 
of British gro-vn teas of late years, production lias 
now far out-stripped it. The balance on hand 
from last year was enoi mons, and so far this year 
the shipments to all countries from Ceylon are 
far ahead of last year. It is too soon to estimate 
the Indian outcome, but there is no reason to 
suppose it will be under that of 1899. 
The market is now getting the benefit of the 
crops from the enormous areas planted in 1896, 
1897, 1898, the full effects of which, however, are 
still to come. So far aswe know, a comparatively 
smill area of new laud has been opened since 
1898 ; but in Ceylon manuring is now helping to 
swell the output, and to complete the demoraliza- 
tion of prices already injuriously affected by exten- 
sions of area. 
Tlie rapacity of London dealers has often, and 
with reason, been blamed as the cause of the 
gradual yearly fall in prices — a fall that went on 
inexorably whether supply exceeded demand or 
fell short of it : — 
In 1890 the production of Ceylon and 
Intlian teas was .. 152 millions. 
Consumption in all countries .. 150J ,, 
In 1898 Production was ... 273 „ 
Gonsumi)tion in all countries ... 278 ,, 
Yet the average price in 1890 was lOjd and in 
1898, 8d. 
The price has fallen regularly about jd a 
year, whether production exceeded consumption 
or not. 
AVERAGE PRICE, CEYLON AND INDIAN TEAS. 
1890. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895. 1896. 1897. 1898. 
101 101 9| 9i- 9 8| 8i 8i 8 
Seeing that during those nine years our teas 
had practically secured the whole British trade, 
while exDorts to other countries rose from 16 to 
62 millions, we might have expected prices to 
have been maintained, instead of which, how- 
ever, they fell 25 per cent. 
The public did not reap a corresponding ad- 
vantage, for packet teas remained at prices fixed 
ten years ago— for instance Is, ls4d, and Is 7d. 
Wholesale prices are now much lower than in 
1898, the fall being now in pence instead of 
farthings; yet except for alteration in duty, the 
public pay? tlie same price. 
The recent fall needs no rapacity to explain it. 
It is due entirely to over-production, and the 
question is. How can Tea Garden owners 
apply such a remedy as will speedily give them 
a living wage, or interest on tlieir invest- 
ments ? 
Two or three methods suggest themselves — 
the first and most certain and immediate in 
i^s effects would be that all tea grown ,say in 
July, should be either destroyed or held ofi tbc 
