.March l, 1901.] THE. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. Gil 
slaugliter houses, so the bu'cUers of the Jiietropolis 
have giailiialiy jiiven np killing on their own ac- 
connf, bur pui chase their supplies from the frc-'eziiio 
depots or tlie deai! meat maikef, lience thetoiig'h- 
iie-s anti t lie pool ness in quality of ilie meat re- 
tailerl ill the London shoj'S. Now that Ih^ Christ- 
mas season is past, with its glutted markets and 
its low priees, I am preparing to semi off niy 
usual wf-ekiy consignments of sheep to the fat 
sales. Wlu-n all the rest of the Agricultural 
world Tvas Hooding the markets with stock, 
I HELD MY HAND, 
and so, for the past few weeks, I have sent none 
forward for salei The price is now going up, how- 
ever, and as there appears to he a scarcity of stock 
owing to so much having been sent off at 
Christmas lime, I hope that my patience 
may be rewarded by a good price. The 
season of ploughing matches has once 
more come round, but, as I refeirerl to these 
entertainments in an early article, I will not 
again revert to what is undoubtedly rif tlie 
greatest interest to our farm servants. Horses, 
with their coats shining like satin, are to be 
seen at work in every direction, the extra groom- 
ing which th.ey are I'eceiving being prejiaratory 
to the day when the man who looks after 
them, is to face the music on the ploughing 
malch lipid. The harness also shines like ena- 
mel and the buckles glitter like silver, whilst 
the men put in their spare time in plaiting 
fancifully coloured ribbons into rosettes, with 
which to decorate their teams. 
AN EXHIBITI'-'iSr OF PAINTINGS 
was lately opened in our country town, and it 
has been ackiiovrledged, by good judges, to be 
by far the best that Aberdeen has ever oro- 
duced. A singular fact in connection therewith 
has been commented upon, and, as it refers in a 
measure to agiiculture, I take notice of it. It 
apjiears that the best judges of art, the chief 
connoisseurs of paintings in the Silver City by 
the sea, are all, more or less, connected with 
inanimate farming produce. One is a wealthy 
soap manufacturer, which is made from the fat 
of stock; another is a felt-monger and tillow 
merchant, whose stock in trade is all derived 
from agriculture; another is a miller, whose 
grain, of course, also grows on farms, and, al- 
though he is dead now, the gentleman who did 
more for art in Aberdeen than any other, m de 
a fortune in the granite trade, the quarry which 
he worked being on my own farm, and which is 
still in full swing. Granite, perhaps, can hardly 
be said to be the produce of a farm, but let that 
pass; with regard to the other three, however, 
there can be no doubt. I have never heard it 
said that agriculture tended to the making of an 
artist, but, who knows, I may, even at my time 
of life, break out as a modern Titian or a suc- 
cessor to Sir Frederick Leighton. 
Pakaguayan Tea for Westralia. —The 
secretary of the Westralian Department of 
Agriculture is making arrangements to try 
and ciiltivate the tree or shrub that produces 
Paraguayan tea. It has been cultivated suc- 
cessfully in the Botanical (hardens, Melbourne, 
and it is considered that it should find a suit, 
able home in many parts of Westralia, especi- 
ally in thenorth-westand south-west divisions. 
THE DEVELOPMENT Ofi- THJ5 TEA TRADE. 
We quote the following from Harrison's and 
Cn.sheld's Tea market report,— the local branch 
of the firm being Crosfield, Laiupard & Co., 
Colombo,— dated 3, Great Tower Street, Lon- 
don, E.C., 7i,h Januaiy, 1901 :— 
The Statistics just published having closed a 
Century of remarkable expansion in the con- 
sumption of Tea in the United Ivingdom, it may 
not_ be altogether uninteresting to note the 
various developments in the Trade, together with 
the changes in the Duty, market value i^'C, as 
they have taken place troiii time to time. At 
the beginning of the Century the entire Lniiort 
of Tea was in the hands of the liast India 
Company ; and the Duty was collected through 
tiiem, by an ad valorern peicentage on the 
prices realised in their Public Sales. The mono- 
poly granted in their charter having come to an 
end ill 1833, this method of levying the Duty 
> as no longer found practicable, so a specific 
rate per pound was adopted instead, and it has 
continued to be so levied ever since with the 
uudernoted variations in the amount. 
Table showing the quantity of Tea consumed 
in the United Kingdom at the various points 
in ihe 19th Century when changes of Duty were 
made : and the quantities of Indian and Ceylon 
Teas consumed after their introduction. 
millions 
lb. entire 
<B 9 
J-t o 
d. 
s. 
a. 
lb. 
Vo. 
lb. supply 
1800(1 1 
91 
^1 
3 
01 
23 
do 
100 
1801a 1 
6 
3 
0 
24 
do 
do 
lS03a 2 
8 
2 102 
25 
do 
do 
lbt)6a 3 
2 
3 
3 
22 
do 
do 
1811a 3 
3 
3 
4 
22 
do 
do 
1815a 3 
1 
3 
2 
26 
do 
do 
1819a 2 
91 
2 
9| 
25 
do 
do 
lS2Ha 2 
6± 
3i 
2 
29 
do 
do 
ISoOa 2 
2 
3i 
30 
do 
do 
18336 2 
2 
2 
2 
32 
do 
do 
1836 2 
.1 
1 
7 
49 
do 
do 
1840 2 
2 
11 
32 
do 
do 
1850 2 
1 
51 
do 
do 
1853 1 
10 
1 
59 
do 
do 
million 
millions 
1851 1 
6 
1 
3i 
6-2 
X 
614 
1 
99 
1855c 1 
9 
1 
3 
63 
i' 
■J, 
62i 
1 
99 
1857 1 
5 
1 
5i 
69 
2 
67 
3 
97 
1^63 1 
0 
1 
6| 
85 
3 
82 
3i 
96i 
1865 
6 
1 
8 
97 
3 
94 
8 
97 
1870 
1 
'>4, 
117 
13 
114 
11 
87 
million 
1875 
1 
115 
25 
ith 
120 
18 
82 
IShO 
)' 
1 
14 
158 
45 
Jth 
113 
28 
72 
1883 
1 
04 
171 
59 
2 
110 
35 
65 
18S5 
)> 
1 
0 
182 
64 
4 
114 
38 
62 
1890 
4 
Hi 
194 
100 
36 
58 
70 
30 
1895 
n 
222 
111 
71 
40 
82 
18 
19110 
6 
249 
137 
94 
18 
93 
7 
a Duty assessed by percentage on value. 
h East India Conipauy's Monopoly abolished, 
c Crimean War Budget. 
