Jan. 1, 1903. J THE TROPICAL AGPJCDLTURIST. 47O 
CHINESE TEA. 
The once important and lucrative tea industry 
lias, says Acting Consnl-Gerieral J Scott, of Can- 
ton, been almost ruined by Chinese apathy and 
neglect. Growers in the interior pay little or no 
attention to their plants, and do not trouble to 
renew the old buslies as they become decayed. The 
leaf is picked anyhow and at any time, as prices 
appear favourable, with the lesult that, carelessly 
handled and fired, the tea on reaching the London 
market is frequently found affected or deficient in 
strength, body, and colour. Thirty years ago Can- 
ton exported to Europe some 13,000,000 lb. of 
black tea and nearly 2,000,000 lb. of green, where- 
as now it amounts to less than 1,000,000 lb., chiefly 
Congou. The well-known 
SCENTED CAPERS, 
for which Canton was famous, and of which some 
7,000,000 lb. were exported in 1872, figure for 1901 
at an export of 5,790 1b,, only. These figures do 
not, however, give an accurate return of the en- 
tire export, as many shipments are arranged in 
Hong Kong, to which port the tea is conveyed by 
junk, and does not, tlierefore, pass through the 
hands of the Imperial Maritime Customs. The 
following figure?, obtained from an actual dealer, 
provide a comparison in the trade in scented 
capers during the past tluee years : — in 1899, 
4,900,000 1b.; in 1900, 700,000 lb.; and in 1901, 
3,000,000 1b. A further depressing featuie is that 
the monthly returns of deliveries in London also 
mark a decline which would lead one to suppose 
that Canton scented capers are rapidly going out 
of consumption. The season now under review 
cannot be said to have been a favourable one as 
regards quality, nor was it remunerative either to 
foreign buyers or native sellers. Taken all round 
the various crops during the season were of a fair 
average quality, but there was a considerable 
quantity of leaf left on the hands of natives from 
the previous season. This they had to work off by 
mixing it with the new season's leaf— a practice 
that no doubt had a detrimental effect, and which 
would have been accentuated had not scenting 
flower been abnormally cheap and abundant, where- 
by it was possible for the teas to be scented above 
the average. The recent decision of the Chinese 
Government to lower the export duty on tea to 
5 per cent, ad valorem may liaye some beneficial 
effect upon the trade, and had tins measure been 
adopted some ten years ago, the tea trade of Canton 
and China generally wonld not have fallen to its 
present low level. This considerable abatement in 
the export duty will enable low-priced Chinese 
teas to compete more favourably with those of 
India andCeylon. — London Chamber of Commerce 
Journal, Nov. 
A GOVERNMENT REPORT ON RUBBER. 
In a report on " Agriculture in the Tropical Islands 
of United States," by Mr O F Cook, botanist in 
charge of investigations in tropical agricoUare, less 
than two pages, under the heading " Rubber and 
Gutta-percha," form the siugle reference to the matter 
nnder discasaion. The spirit in which Mr Cook writes 
ia decidedly unfavourable to the formation of rubber 
plantations. He says, for exampla : '' Notwithstand- 
ing widespread interest and the investment of millious 
of dollars, it cannot be said that rubber culture has 
Eassed the experimental stage, if inleed that period 
as been fairly reached." But there is no reference to 
any experiment made in any country, or to the results, 
in snob detail as will enable the reader to look into 
61 
the subject farther with a view to satistyiag himself 
as to the present status of rubber cultivation, or to 
investigate the reasons for " the investment of millions 
of dollars " which is still goiug on. 
Mr Cook says again ; " Moreover, it i^ known that 
many rubber plantations established with the most 
lively expectations have been ab mdoned because the 
anticipation, of a profitable yield of rubber from culti- 
vated trees proved to be fallacious." This report 
would have been more complete ai;d more convincing 
had it been followed by a list of such plantations 
and of their locations. As a matter of fact, there 
has not been time, since the systematic planting o£ 
rubber on a commercial scale began actively, for 
very many of the plantations to become productive, 
and, so far as we can learn, the results attained have 
been auch as to encourage very many others to 
engage in this branch of planting. There is reason 
to believe that more rubber trees have been planted 
in Ceylon, the Malay peninsula, Burma, Mexico, 
Central America, and the West Indies during tlie last 
twelve months than in any previous year, and in the 
list of plantations on record in the India Rubber 
World office — which includes all that we have been 
able to gain any of knowledge of during the past tea 
years — there has been no case of abandonment of 
trees once planted, Mr Cook admits, however, that 
" similar disappointments, misapprehensions, and mis- 
representations " — referring to the prospeolnses of 
certain companies formed to plant rubber in Mexico 
and Central Africa — have, of course, marked the 
early history of many finally successful and important 
industries." 
INTERNATIONAL COFFEE CONGRESS, 
According to Dun's Review of October llch, the 
International Coffee Congress, then being held in 
New York, for the purpose of considei'ing whab 
measures should be adopted by the leading coffee- 
producing countries to improve the position of 
coffee in the world's markets, had held several 
sessions, and some progress had been made in the 
direction of giving definite expression to the views 
of its members on the important questions form- 
ing the subject ot their deliberations. The Com- 
mittee on Consumption reported the three following 
resolutions : — (1) Kecommending to all the Govern- 
ments and producing and consuming countries the 
compulsory use of pure coffee in the armies and 
navies. (2) Recommending to the Governments 
and countries which produce coffee that they 
eefcablisli, as soon as possible, in countries in which 
coffee is not now consumed, places for the demon- 
stration of pure coffee. (3) That coffee-producing 
and consuming countries may prohibit the sale 
of adulterated coffee, and ot substitutes bearing 
the name of coffee ; and, in case this prohibitioa 
cannot be enforced, that a heavy duty be imposed 
on such articles. The Committee on the Causes 
of the Crises submitted a repo)b of which the 
following is the resolution recommended : — The 
Internaiional Conference for the Protection of the 
Coffee Industry recommends to the producing 
countries the adoption of differential tariff's for 
the collection of import duties, applicable to manu- 
factured articles and staples of the consuming 
nations, proportionately to the tax clnrged upou 
imported colfee. — London Chamber of Commerce 
Journal^ Nov, 
PLUMBAGO REPORT. 
There has been a distinct decline since our last 
■\Ve have lately visited all the users of Ceylon 
plumbago on the Continent and find them in no 
pleasant frame of mind. Nine-tentba of the ship- 
