Jan. 1, 1903.] 
THE TROPICAi 
AGRICULTURIST. 
497 
Hurt, I do nob Iiiy much stress on thab f.icb. 
Complaints are constantly bains; heard of f,'ood 
leaf teas being spoiled in the matcing or infinion. 
Th3 wafer has not benn at the exact boi'ing 
point when put on tha leaf, or has b^en allosv.nl 
to stand half-a-miniite too lon<r, or lialf-a-nit)ni'iat 
too short a lime on the tea leaves. For " Solnble " 
tea, water of any desired temperature ivill do, 
and it may be claimed, liiat it is impos^ilde to 
spoil it in the making. At least the writer winild 
have confidently niaimed this tor i', until tlie 
otlierday, 'vhen he happened to meet «omebmine !3 
wentlenien in a Colombo oHiee. Tiiey had just been 
tasting some "Sohible" tea, and were remarlcaldy 
unanimous in abusing it. What was wrong ? It 
was far too strong I It turned out that ihey had 
put into one cup enough to make ten cups. 
When the proper quantity was put in, it was 
pronounced all right. Tlie writer was rather 
depressed when relating this experience to an 
upcountry friend, saying how could one calculate 
on, or think of guarding n-jainst such an instance, 
say, of idiosynciMi^y as that? But his fiiend 
assured him that he "need not worry about that," 
adding, " You really must not gauge the intelli- 
gence ol the general public by whr.t you may see 
or hear in a Colombo olUce." To the ordinary man, 
it would naturally occur to add more water if the 
tea is too strong, or to put less stud' in ne.xt time. 
The "Soluble" tea will, no doubt, have many 
detractors, e-pecialiy amon£?sb those wiio regret 
most that they are not ihemselves directly in- 
terested in its success, or by a few foolish persons 
in the trade who may fear that their interests 
may suffer by it in some way. But all new 
enterprises have to contend against, and [uolit by 
sucii opposition. The writer is old enough to 
remember the dismal forebodings and adverse 
opinions very confidently expressed as to the 
future of extract of meat., wheu fiist introrluced 
by Baron Liebfg, and later as to condensed milk. 
Liebegs was not nice in ap^-erance — it was nasty 
to handle — one could not tell exactly how much 
to use at a time, once tlie bottle vvas opened, the 
stuff would not keep good any time, and lastly it 
did nob taste like lieef. Vet we all know how 
such extracts have become essentials now, and I 
never heard of any farmer, cattle breeder or 
butciier being ruiueil by the introduction of 
" Liebig." Everyone knows that nothing will 
"keep" in Ceylon, when once exposed to the 
exceptionally humid atmosphere The " Soluble" 
tea like all such extracts in powder form, must be 
hygroscopic, absorbing moisture even more readily 
than leaf tea, and in supli a moist climate as this 
nmstbekept in its air-tight bottleor picket, and the 
powder must not be e.spose<l to the air lon:;ei than 
is necessary in its use. The general public are, 
however, now well accustomed to such articles, 
and know to keep the 
DOTTLE WELF. COFKRD 
when not in use, and yet I have been told thab 
some people have spread ib on paper and laid ib 
out on a table to dry ? or have imt it on a chair, and 
sab on it to compress it? — the result in this 
latter case was disastrous to 'he ssat of the chair 
— or have emptied ^ome out of tl e air-tight bottle 
into the waist coat pocket, with like unfortunate 
results to the waist-coat. Bub my upcountry 
friend asaiii consoles me. He says only very 
clever people do that, kind of thins, and that there 
ate not many such very clever people in the world. 
That the common or garden duffer will do just as 
he is told on the label, put a little into a cup, 
pour on water and in ike adiink ot it, and th tt is 
exactly what the ' .S iluble' tea is me:ini for. 
As has been said, " Soluble " tea will never 
displace oidinary tea in g-neral use, it is ridicul- 
ous to suppose it will ; but there is already 
evidence, tliat it islike'y to open up new markets 
for itself, and to introduce the use of tea amongst 
peojde, and other places where bea his hiiherto 
been an unknown quantity, and if the ta'.te for 
tea is thus created, is it unreasonable to suppose, 
(hab it may lead to a demand for ordinary leaf tea 
in such localities. I shall not, tl'erefore, lie sur- 
prised to hear soon thab that Friend in-Need, 
" The Thirty Coramitte"," has come forward and 
offered some of their spare cash for advertising 
purposes to the '• Soluble " Tea Syndicate Limiied^ 
or that the Government have voted a special little 
grant to th 'se public benefactors, in the interests 
of the Tea Industry of Ceylon, J 1?. 
I»"C. 1^. 
P.iS.— The writer has just been informed that 
orders for trial lotshavc already been received from 
some most unlikely quarters by the Secretarie 
and Agents of the "Soluble" Tea Syndicate, 
Colombo, Ceylon. 
TEA PLANTING INTERESTS: 
THE NORMAL V.\LUE OP THE BRITISH 
TEA INDUSTRY: THE CAUSES OF 
DEPREi:)IATION: OVER CAPirALI- 
SATION CONTESTED: THE 
QUESTION OF ORIGINAL 
COST: A NEED FOR 
ORGANIZED CO- 
OPBRATIO.X ; 
BV SUrjM CUIQUR. 
There appeals to be in some quarters a general 
impreNsion that the Biiiish tea industry, as a 
public investment, is over capitalised. Doubtless 
there are companies which are in that position; 
but to equalise these there are many others which 
have for years put by large ieserves, so as to fully 
compensate the industry generaUy foi any loss it 
may have sustained from those whose capital ex- 
ceeds theirnornial value. Many of the formerseem to 
have just hit upon the locality where, from some 
hidden cause, specially fine teas can be produced ; 
and these have naturally appreciated in value; 
while many of the latter have depreciated from 
just the opposite cause. 
The chief reason for the present position of the 
industry arises from (I) a slight over-production 
which, I believe, never exceeded 5 percent, of the 
requii enif-nls of the market — or, saj', about a 
fortnight's requirements , (2) made more apparent 
by the combined action of the large buyers; (3) but 
ciiiefly what a leading Tea Companj' Chairman de- 
scribed as " a want of cohesion among producers." 
One point I believe all will agree in, that the 
industry could not be reproduced upon a capital 
materially below its present nominal valu:", and 
to establish this I will submit the best evidence 
at my disposal. 
In Mr George Seton's interesting table on the 
" Results of the Working of 45 luiliaii Tea 
Companies'' for the year 1901, he shows that 
the entire return on the nine millions odd sterling, 
invested in the-e 43 representative einipinies, 
averages only per cent. These figures, low as 
they are, make no allowance for depreciation in 
any form whatever, being simply profits as shown, 
