July 1, 1902.] THE TROPICAL AaRICULTURIST. 
31 
I;irp;e as the stocks held in the whole of 
the United States ! It seems tliat the Bivi- 
ziliaii crop of I9IJ0 1 equalled 104 million hags ; 
1901 2 is estimated to he at least 14.^ mil- 
lions ; hut 1902-3 is expected to fall to mil- 
lions Weshouldhe inclined to douht thelatter 
figure ; hut taking the total for three years 
at 33 millions, and knowing that the world's 
consumption of Brazil coffee does not exceed 
9 million hags a year — we see that there is the 
prospect of overproduction this year to 
the extent of 7 million hags, and without 
much chance of workuig this off next year 
except at ruinously low prices and. perhaps, an 
attempt to drive coffee inro consumption at the 
expense of tea. It is clear that so long cis coffee 
is aliundant and clieap —" over-produced," 
in fact, more than tea— there is less hope 
of gettiu]^ the fragrant leaf into increased 
consumption in " coffee countries " such as 
the United States, France and some parts 
of Germany and Austria. But there must 
come a great reaction in Brazil from the 
enormous outturn of this year. The ordi- 
nary planters there, many of them burdened 
hy debt, cannot continue to produce coffee 
at a loss, and it is believed that already 
many are turning their attention to fond 
products consumed in the country. The 
sooner the world's production of coffee is 
brought within the limits of consumption, 
the better will it be for an extended and 
extending demand for tea. 
TEA AND COFFEE PUBLICATIONS, 
We liave received from Messrs. Henry T. Coates 
& Co., publishers of Philadelphia, three nniformiy 
bound books written by Mr. Joseph M. Walsh, 
entitled respectively — ' Coffee : its History, Clas- 
sification and Description'; 'Tea: its History 
and Mystery'; and ' Tea Blending as a Fine Art.' 
We know that Mr. Walsh has had some 
of our Ceylon books : but they cannot have 
been of recent date ; for his information in 
regard to Ceylon is absurdly out of date 
and he is strong about " the presumption 
and audacity of India and Ceylon tea-grow- 
ers and dealers" in regard to the superiority 
of their teas. The following extract con- 
demns his little book on "tea" as quite 
unreliable : — 
The relative positions of China, India and 
Ceylon teas in England at the present writing 
being 
Kind Con.sumption, 
Pounds. 
India (estimated) ... 105,000,000 
China ... ... 50 000,000 
Ceylon .... ... 35,OlO.000 
Total ... 180,000,000 
The same is true of the " cott'ee " compila- 
tion; for, Ceylon, we are told exports about 80 
millions lb. We only wish she did. Mr, 
Walsh has yet to learn that tea has taken 
the place here of coffee. No doubt in re- 
gard to Brazil, Mr. Walsh is more reliable. 
His work on tea-blending has a good deal of 
useful information ; but here again is an 
j(,musiDg paragraph;— 
"Ceylon Teas— An- comparatively new Teas to 
comnieice, and are known to trade as Matagaliw, 
Mandulsiiinas, Raknwanas, Kamla-loyas, Kanda- 
pole and Soocanduris, but as with India Teas 
they are cliielly converted into silver and golden 
Pekoe, Cont;ous, Souchongs and Pekoe-Souchongs. 
Their leaf, liquor and flavour like their India 
prototype.s varies greatly in style and finality, 
according lo the elevation at which they are 
grown, their uniformity also varying from year 
to year as in the India districts." 
THE FOREIGN TEA TRADE OP 
CHINA IN 1901. 
REPORT BY THE STATISTICAL SECRETARY. 
The report of Mr F E Taylor, the Statistical 
Secretary of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Cus- 
toms, upon the trade of China for 1901, with an 
abstract of statistics, has been issued from the 
Statistical Department of the Customs. Mr Taylor 
writes on tea exports : — Tiie tariff export duties 
are in most cases very light, and fc^a is the only 
stap'.' 0.1 wiiicli the ilu .y is unreasonable. There 
was again a falling off in the export of tlie black 
tea, which only amounted to 665,499 piculs, the 
lowest on record. The crop was phort, owing to 
heavy rains in April, but the quality was fairly up 
to the average. <irefn tea fell to 189,4,S0 piculs, 
the supply having been shorter than for many 
yeirs, and the quality was, on the whole, rather 
below the average. Russia is taking more India and 
Ceylon tea each year, and Foochow teas have now 
lost the markets in Canada and Australia. The ex- 
port duty and iikin raise the cost of low grade teas 
sometimes as much as 40 per cent., and while this 
continues there is no hope of checking a continuous 
decline in the trade. There was a further decrease 
in the export of black brick tea to 244,565 piculs — 
half what ir was five years ago ; but it is explained 
that Siberia is overstocked, and the new regulation 
that the heavy import duty must be pai<l imme- 
diately on arrival has checked importations until 
existing stocks are exhausted. Green brick tea 
rose from .31,334 to 48,957 piculs. 
EXPORT OF TEA 
Tlie following are the figures for the two years: — 
1901. 190). 
HL Tls. Hk. Tls. 
Tea ... 1,157,993 18 512,826 1,384,324 25,444,801. 
—L. and C Express, May 2. 
DESTRUCTION OF VALUABLE TIMBER 
IN SIAM. 
" WHAT A FINE COUNTRY FOR TEA." 
The destruc'ion of valuable timber still conti- 
nues on the mountains throughout the Northern 
districts. There is really no excuse for this. 
The mountain tribes could as well leave valuable 
trees standing, if they were so instructed ; it 
would not interfere with the necessary amount 
of clearing to make their gardens. By the wayj 
what a fine country for tea ! There is abund- 
ance of water, and the hills are covered with 
splendid soil. The native tea gardens here are ^ 
success. 
