30 
THE TEOPICAL AGPJCULTUPJST. [July 1, 1899. 
teas by "foreiK'iers." Is ii acrimoor an offence against 
society that '■ foreigners ' should spend Ihi-ir money 
in such a lavish nu.uner to f,dvPitiFfc teas which the 
gentleman himself admits "are desirable in blend- 
ing ' " Will it not lalher strike the candid reader 
that may be in some manner the gentleman's in- 
terests or holdirgsof other teiis maybe jeopardized 
in their value ? Not only by the successful advertis- 
ing these "foreigners" indulge in but also by its 
results in increasing the consumption of . a tea which 
he would have ua believe (on the authority of two 
English doctors) will produce " intoxication." If this 
should be the underlying reason of the objections, the 
geutleman raises againsn Ceylon and Indian teas, 
the logical conclusion is. that he himself ought to 
start in and advertise " the purity and more delicate 
flavor of Cbinese teas" with the same vigor and 
persistency that these "foreigners" show in their 
methods of "making publicity." 
I entirely agree with Mr. Willard, however, m 
regard to some of the " extravagant statements " used 
bv these "foreigners" in their advertisement, and I 
have always maintained th^t certain pictorial advertise- 
ments which they have used are calculated to discourage 
tViP drinkine of teas of any kind, and as a case in 
coi-^t i note in Mr. Blechyndnes reply to BIr. VVitard 
in vour paper of the 6th, the claim which he makes 
as to the use of night, soil as a feitilizer by the 
" Mongolian tea planters " while the statemenD may 
be and undoubtedly is possibly true, yet such a 
storv in a public point is bound to breed disgust 
in th» minds of tea-drinkers who may say "well 
how do I know but what such fertilizers are used upon 
all the tea plants. I'll be hanged if I'll drink any 
tea at all I'll drink plain hot water first. And 1 
also agree with Mr. Willard that the quality of China 
teas imported here, has improved very much during 
the past two years, and yet I must disagree again 
■with him when he states that Chinese teas are so 
much purer and of better - flavor than Ceylon or 
India tea= If this were so, why don t the rejections 
bv the tea inspectors show it to be so. There have 
been over a million pounds of China and Japan teas 
(mostly the former) rejected by the tea mspectors, 
since the new inspection law went into effect, and as 
far as my recollection goes, not a single chest of 
Cevlon or India tea has been rejected in all tnat 
time What stronger proof of their purity and flavor 
can be asked for ?-Kespectfully yours, 
Thomas Martindale. 
February 10, 1899. 
Editor " Journal of Commerce", New York. 
giv_lt would seem from the various letters which 
appear from time to time in your Journal m con- 
nection either with the Tea Inspection Law or the 
war duty of 10 cents, that the Tea Trade as a 
whole is a marvel of inconsistency, ^may we not 
rather say inconstancy). _ j , i i • j 
The Inspection Law was championed and lobbied 
through congress by the leading members of the 
trade and loud was the acclaim of these same men 
when' it was put into operation. 
The next thing that the tea men wanted was a 
dutv and letters by the thousand were sent to 
Congressmen and Senators pleading wih our 
legislators to place a duty upon tea \yhether this 
movement was undertaken to benefit the holders 
of large stocks of tea or for motives tending to 
benefit the public good will never be known, but 
the fact that the duty was advised and requested 
bv some of the-e very men who now " kick against 
the pricks, which are caused by the Inspection Law 
'ind the duty as well.* 
It is unquestionably true that both causes com- 
bined' have resulted in the nearly total disappearance 
throu^'h the channels of consumpuon of all the old teas 
* Tl7e""impi^8ed ' uty oTTo cents per pound has 
done ./oory, and further litigation as to protection 
against refuse is better. The TJ. S A is year by 
yet-r pic-.entlng a more subsUncal field for the 
Lylo!. planters to claim as the.r special m erest. 
A word to the wise ought to suffice l-J.M. M. 
with which the market has been burdened for so many, 
many y' ars, iind it is .■;afe to say that probablv in no 
country in the world can so little poor tea be found as 
at the preserrt liire in the United Stales. What a 
startlii g contrast this is to the condition of the Tea 
trade a short five years ago, when it was loaded down 
with mountains of trash without character and with- 
out any vivility or actual worth save that of making 
bulk. The writer recollects vividly that in purchasing 
the general stock of a wholesiile grocer who was dejlin- 
ing business after a busy curi-er of over a half century, 
that his stock of tea upori exumination was found to be 
absoluttly worthless. The tea lead which encased it 
had become oxidized and had separated into littl* 
globules of lead which was >-priiikled through the tea. 
Tlie owner stated that he hnd purchased it during the 
war at a cost of over two dollars a pound, and he 
sorrowfully said, that he really "hated to pait with it. 
It had been with him so very, very long." It was sent 
to the auction-room and was bought by those who 
cared less for quality than they did for price, at seven 
cents per pound, but today if a man were hunting for 
that same sort of stuff in any fair sized quantity he 
would have difficulty in finding it, even at two dollars 
a pound, as the country is now practically clear of all 
such trash. 
•The duty and the inspection law having brought 
about this happy condition of slfairs, the " inconstant 
leading tea men" now commence to make lamenta- 
tions against the enforcement of the inspection law, 
and turn their tearful eyes to Congress for a repeal of 
the duty, elsetl'ey say the poor p>;ople will stop drink- 
ing tea and will drink cffee only ; that the price has 
already gone beyond the poor man's purse, etc., etc. 
Yet only this week in the city of Philadelphia, a blend 
of teas was offered at 33 cents in forty-three stores with 
the choice of a can of tomatoe.', corn or peas thrown 
in as an inducement to buy the tea. 
I went into a little grocery store on Wednesday of 
this week to wait for a street car, and while there, out 
of cuiiosity, purchased a quarter of a pound of their 
cheapest tea, for which I was charged eight cents. 
The best known blend of tea now before the country 
(the " Caricol Blend ") is being retailed at 34 cents per 
pound ill the East and West and North and South, so 
that the poor man cannot yet have suffered very much 
from either the operation of the Inspection Lav,* or.the 
duty, ard the chances are that the competition in 
trade will continue to give him a pound of good, pure, 
wholesome tea at from thirty-four to thirty-eight cents, 
for years to come, which in actual merit will be worth 
two pounds of such stuff as but a short year ago he 
bought for the same price but with a glass, or a cup 
and saucer or a chromo thrown in. He does now 
surely lose the chromo and the glass dish and the piece 
of china, but he gets whit he did not get before — 
good tea, which instead of driving him to drink coffee 
as a substitute, will make him a more liberal user of 
tea than ever, because it may be that he never knew 
before what a cup of good tea really was, and the "cup 
that cheers but not inebriates" will then become hia 
daily solace, his comfort and his necessity. 
THOMAS MAETINDALE. 
INSPECnON OF THE PEARL BANKS. 
The followine; report by Oapt. Donnan, Master 
Attenilatit, has been placed at the di.spo.sal of the 
press : — 
Master-Attendant's Office, Colonibo, 14t!i April. 
Sir, — I lip^vc the lionour to report my return 
to Colombo on the ISfcli inptant from an inspec- 
tion of tlie Fear] Banks on west coast, lying off 
Arippu, K,".raitivu, and Cliilaw. 
2. The banks examined off Arippu were the 
Cheval Paar, Southern portion of the Periya 
Paar,' Moderagam Paar, Kerai, outer Van- 
kalai Paar, Kallatidal Paar, Kondache Paar, 
and Jaofgenboon Paar. 
3. Large beds of younor oysters from 3 to 6 
months old were found oa tlie Periya Paar anc} 
