854 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June 1, 19dL 
My dear Eosling,— Before returning: to Germany I 
can now give you my impressiona of the work in 
France. I visited the Riviera, the South and the 
West, a'-a have uow been nearly a riionth in Pari:*. 
I oud everywhere that, owing to the exhibition, even 
in some of the emaller provincial towns, Ceylon tea 
has i^^i to bo known, alas, I am aotry to suy I fe<*r 
by name only. In the Vaucluse and in Nimes, Mont- 
pellier, Avignon, you get tea at all the Cafe.s ; it is 
very poor stuff indeed and invariably served w'th 
orangeade. 1 om also sorry to say that in Martiuilles 
at ihe Cafe de France, where our tea is supposed to 
be for sale, tea was so bad that I could hardly 
drink it, and here also it was served with orangeade. 
In the Eiviera there is a large quantity of tea taken- 
Moat of the hotels seem to draw their supplies from 
London, but good tea is sold in cup at nearly all the 
afternoon Tea Eooms and Confectionerb' shops in 
Mentone, Cannes, Nice, Beaplieu, Pan and Biarritz. 
I was disappointed to find that our Paris friends were 
not doing as much with pure Ceylon tea as they led 
me to expect ; there is only one small agency at en- 
tone and Cannes and two at Monaco ; still I find that 
they send a lot of tea from Paris direct to private 
customers in the south. In Marseilles, we seem to 
have made more progress. I saw Oeylon tea in packets 
for sale in two s'-'ocera' shops. In the principal one the 
whole of the window was ^iven up to Quaker brand 
teas in packets, and the tea pots similar to those we 
had at the exhibition. Ceylon tea is also for sale in 
one Cafe and one Restaurant, only they don't make it 
properly. There is a very nice Tea Room which has 
been established in Marseilles, in the Rue de Noailles, 
where coffee and cocoa are served as well, but tea 
seems as much drunk as anything. I asked the pro- 
prietor what tea it was and where it came from ? He 
replied " Ceylon," and that he got it direct as the 
steamers from Ceylon called there ! ! I feel in- 
clined, however, to believe that it was not Ceylon 
but Darjeeling ; however, it was well made and good 
tea, which is the main thing. In addition to 
these retailers there are two wholesale firms who 
are giving Ceylon tea a good deal of attention, the 1st, 
* * will not sell more than they can help, but 
the other * * are inclined to push it ; alto- 
gether I am very pleased with the result in Marseilles. 
I found an English firm at Biarritz who have 
already been importing tea and who will now give 
it more attention ; they will work all the Basque 
country and the north of Spain as far as San 
Sebastian. 
In Bordeaux I called on the four principal whole- 
sale houses ; the largest, who I thought from their 
correspondence at the Exhibition seemed inclined 
to take the matter up in earnest, have now grown 
very lukewarm, and did not give me much en- 
couragement ; but I tind since my arrival in Paris 
they have written to a Broker for samples so that 
they may prepare an order for the autumn delivery. 
Two of the other three firms keep it, but only for 
sale when asked for. An enterprising lady who 
runs a millinery and dress-making shop seems to 
do the biggest tea business in Bordeaux ; she has 
one room full of chests of tea, but only gets through 
about 200 lb. of Ceylon in a year. The grocers 
in Bordeaux and in the small provincial towns in 
France do not seem to keep tea, but it is the 
confectioners and pastry-cooks who have it for sale 
done up in packets. Everywhere in France I 
found the so-called Russian tea for sale in packets 
with the Russian Government bandrole on them ; 
this is looked upon by the public as a sure sign 
that it is genuine Russian tea. Hence my reason 
for thinking that we should do well to have a 
Customs stamp on all Ceylon tea packeted in 
Ceylon. An English grocer in Bordeaux keeps 
the tea for sale and so does an English and 
American Bar which is a funny place to find tea in. 
In Paris no doubt most is being done, 
our friends of the Exhibition * * 
are keeping up the interest in the article by 
advertising, by personal canvassers, and by a vigorous 
campaign among shops, hotels and restaurants. 
* tells me that his trade since 1st January, in 
tea generally, is more than double what it was last 
year. The * * » have, as you are 
nwariv, gone to the expense of engaging Sinhalese boys 
auci have opened a swell tea room in the Rue Oau- 
martin. Tbey have also been asked to run a tea room at 
the " liiiALits' Exhibition " which is to be held in the 
Petit Pa,!us from the 15lh of April to the end of July 
--his iixhibicion is for a charitable purpose and 
the great world of Paris is taking a great interest in 
It; only, the organisers have exacted very heavy terms 
for the space. They wanted a rent of 8,000 fre., but 
in heu of that the * • * have 
agreed to give them 20 per cent, of their takings: 
they will ma.ke no money out of this show but it is a 
capital advertisement. From the letter I sent you 
last week, you will see what • » • j^jg 
doing, and intend doing. With the exception of two 
wholesale houses and another which I may call whole- 
sale, the Compagnie Coloniale, all the importers of tea 
are buying our tea more or less. I am sorry the Com- 
pagnie Coloniale have avowed to me their intention 
to do all they can to oppose Ceylon tea; last year at 
this time they agreed to try it. This Company sells 
a very fine quality of tea; they do a big trade and they 
charge a fine price. 
I enclose you the statistics of importation of tea 
into t ranee for 1899 as compared with 1898 • this 
gives the countries of origin. The returns for 1900 are 
not yet out, and I hear I will not get them until 
September. What is most striking is the vast in- 
crease in the importation from Annam (Indo-Chinal- 
this tea being from a French Colony comes in prac- 
tically duty free and I hear that in 1900 the imWta 
were 180,000 kilos. This i cannot believe for I donot 
believe that there is sufficient acreage nuder tea in 
Annam to produce this quantity ; can you find out 
what the acreage there is '? because it may be possible 
that tea is brought down from Foochow and Hankow 
te°a ™ shipped from there as that country's 
I am not making any war against China tea. I do 
not think it politic to tell a man that the tea he 
buys 13 rubbish ; all I do is to tell him that Ceylon 
tea IS better and that he can improve his China tea 
by adding Ceylon tea if he does not care to drink 
Ceylon tea alone, because I think that, where a taste 
lor tea has been established, it will be much easier to 
get our Ceylon tea taken into consumption ; and I 
know that amongst retailers a good deal of tea is 
being sold as Annam which is blended with one 
nait Ceylon. My war is against coffee and alcohol. 
I enclose copies of the advertisement programme 
being made this year in Prance and Paris by two 
firms, and our friend » * is to do a good 
deal in the way of advertising as well. I am also 
^'^"^8 ^ a subsidy for a traveller and de- 
monstrator, who is to go round the provinces with- 
in a year and give tea away and also when he can 
get a gi-ocer willing to take the matter up, 
he will distribute for a fortnight or a month 
say, m front of that grocer's shop, or on the pave- 
ment m front of his shop, tea in cup gratis for 
two or three afternoons in the week. The 
oeylon tea house at Versailles is doing very well, 
and one on a small scale is to be opened on the 
south side of the river close to the Bon Marche. 
I am leaving for Germany : I go to Bremen first 
and then to Berlin, Magdebnrg, and Hamburg. As 
1 shall probably have to go to St, Petersburg in the 
autumn to see after the start of the tea room there, 
1 leave the East of Prussia and Poland over for the 
autumn and will take Stettin, Konigsburg, Breslan, 
Lemberg, and Cracow then. —Yours, &c., 
J. H. RENTON. 
Ed. Rosling, Esq. 
