June 1, 1901.] THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 827 
largely restriotea proanction affect the market gener- 
ally. Xhivt the disastrous slump in prices o£ common 
during the last four or five months is owing to the 
excessive import of the lowest grades from In^lia is 
ole.arly proved bv analysis of the assortments offered 
for sale. Out of 36,760 pack tses sold last werfc I7,oo9, 
or 20 per cent, were Pekoe Soucliong ; 12,371, or 65 
per cent, were broken or Souchong, and 3,415, or 9| 
per o*nt, fannings and dust, making together 33^ 
per cent' of those grades which dealers stigmatise 
as "rubbish," 
EITKN.SIONS AND COARSE PLUCKING, 
Though Ceylon proprietors are by no means exempt 
from the charge of having contributed to over-pro- 
duction by extensions and coarse plucking, an analysis 
of the proportions of the grades of their tea show 
that they have not erred in the buter respect nearly 
as mnch as their neighbours. Of 25,479 paek^ges also 
offered for sale last week, 2,901, or nearly 12 per cent, 
were Pekoe Souchong ; 107, or J per cent, were broken 
and Souchong ; and 1,167. or 4^ per cent, were fannings 
aad dust ; making together 17 per cent, as against 
India's 35|. Moreover, whist 50 per cent of the Indian 
tea is selling on an average below fid per pound, 
only 20 net- 'cent of Ceylon tea is selling as low. 
From the Ceylon newspapers and private sources I 
gather that proprietors are very much in earnest 
both in intention and practice in reducing production. 
On every estate where finer plucking is practicable 
it is being adopted, and in all districts temporary 
abandonment of cultivation of unremunerative tracts 
is being carried out. The effect »f this is already 
showing itself in the March shipments from Colombo, 
and it appe-.rs probable that the decrease in April, 
May and June will be on as Lirge a scale. 
PLANTERS' NEW POAVER 
If Indian planters foU-w the example of their Ceylon 
brethren, as 1 believe they intend to do, the result may 
be to place the producers of common tea in a more 
permanent and prosperous position than they have ever 
been in by proving that they have the power of rapidly 
curtailing the output at a trifling increase of the 
cost, and of thus regulating to some extent the prices 
of their produce. The consensus of Ceylon opinion 
as to this vear's crop points to an export to this 
country of about 101,000,000 pounds of better tea. To 
a small extent this depends on the export to other 
countries ; so far there is uo increase over last year, 
owing to Russia and America having taken less, 
probably because tea has been relatively cheaper here 
than in Colombo. This estimate would give a decrease 
of about 13,000,000 pounds, but there are some experi- 
enced planters who think the decrease will be larger. 
The question will, however, be settled by the close of 
June — the end of the heavy flushing months. In the 
meantime we know thtit restriction is being energeti- 
cally carried out. 
AN UNSUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT. 
Two or three months ago, when so much reliance 
was placed by intelligent planters and others on the 
capture of the American market by the manufacture 
of green tea in competition with Japan .is a remedy 
for over-production, you may remember I expressed 
an opinion, based on personal knowledge and ex- 
perience, that whilst Japan held 30 perc^ut advan- 
tsge in exchange the enterprise could only be car- 
ried out as long as sulficipnt funds were avai'.ible to 
pay manufacturers a countervailing subsidy. Industries 
are created and maintained indefinitely by stale 
bounties, paid out of the g.-^neral revenue of tbe 
subsidising country, but the bounties to be paid in 
Ceylon on green tea are not provided by the Govern- 
ment, but by the tea plau'ers themselves fromafund 
raised by a small export duty or cess for the special 
purpose of sending emissaries to adv.^rtise and push 
the consumption of their tea in foreign lands. This 
fund will not admit of the conimirtee who distribute 
it subsi'iising more than 2,000,000 lb. or 3,000,000 lb. 
annually. I never thought the game worth the candle. 
It is simply taking money out of one pocket to pnt it 
into another, I notice by the Ceylon newspapers that 
the experiment already shows symptoms of collapse. 
As usual with all novelties, last year the green teai 
offered for sale went off like hot rolls at remunerativa 
prices ; now they are unsaleable iu Colombo, and a, 
Press warning has gone forth to planters recommend- 
ing them to hold their hands. — Financial Timet, 
April 12. 
PRODUCE, PLANTING, AND COMMER- 
CIAL NOTES. 
The Grocers' Beview, a Manchesiev trade jour- 
nal, coinniunts a.s follows upon the tea crisis. 
Twenty-live years ago it dawned upon coffee 
planters that tea would i^row in Ceylon. They 
tried the experiment, and the result exceeded 
their most sanguine expectations. Its success waa 
immediate, and, as they thouf,'ht, assured. Cey- 
lon te?. became fashionable, dealers boomed it, 
and within a few years it was an indispensable 
adjunct to the British tea-table. From 10,000. OOOlU 
in 1879, the output increased by leaps and bounds. 
Suitable land went to a piemiuni, existing estates 
expanded, liuge companies were formed, and 
lliings went menily on until last year, when it 
was found that the export reached nearly 
120,000,0001b, and that fancy prices had disap- 
peared. But as to how the trouble came about, 
the planter liimself is not to blame so far as the 
quality of the article is concerneil. .\s much cave 
is bestowed upon the cultivation and manufac- 
ture today as was the case twenty years ago. In 
spite of rumours to the contrary— and it mnst be 
remembered that it is advantageous to soma 
people to disparage Ceylon tea — the quality is 
just as high as it ever was. It is the quan. 
tity that has done the mischief. Another 
very serious factor towards the downfall of 
tea has been the fluctuaiion of exchange. 
When tiie industry was in the most fl iurisiiing 
condition the rupee was worth little mure than a 
shilling. The planter thus got over seventy cents 
for his tea at 9d a lb Today, when lie is only get- 
ting 6J, his local itiquivalent is thirty-seven cents. 
The cost of output, of course, never varies, hence a 
very big drop on the credit side of his ledger. Bub 
although 6d may be the averago — and on 6d there 
is a micrpscopical margin of profit to be made— it 
must be remembered that scores of estates aie now 
selling under that and a larppe number are actually 
realising in London less tlian the cost of production. 
These estates it will be that will go first. With 
their abandonment the others may look up, but 
even at that the result is dubious. The public 
has found that it can get its tea — and good tea 
too— at half the price it used to pay, and it is not 
likely on the score of sentiment to give more." 
While new markets for British-grown tei are 
eagerly sought for, attention might well be direct- 
ed Co the needs of the Army in this respect. In 
an article on "British Fighting Food," by Mr 
Annesley Keneaiy. in the "Morning Post," this is 
referred to. He says : "The soldier is blamed ia 
season and out of season for his habit of drinking 
muddy and dangerous water on the line of march, 
and thus contracting enteric and malarial fevers. 
Now, one-sixth of an ounce of tea and one-third of 
an ounce of coffee was the daily drink ration issued 
to the South African troops. The resultant biews 
resembled the palest brand of pale sherry, and the 
entire day's issue was consarued atone meal, with 
the natural result that Tommy quenched his 
thirst at the first poisonous pool on his daily march. 
In the absence of any means of procuring the 
alcohol to which most soldiers are accustomed, tea 
