60 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[JuL^ 1, 1899. 
tude affecting producers is certainly brought 
to light :— 
The effect of a congested supply and the 
want of a more equable distribution of the 
crop on the home market has been more than 
ever emphasised this year. Improved means 
of carriage have been largely availed of 
(mainly on account of economy in finance), and 
tea has been rushed forward at headlong 
rate, regardless of the inevitable fate awaiting 
it in London. A more convincing proof of the 
need of a better regulation of supply cannot 
be wanted than this year's working affords ; 
even the law of supply and demand has been 
suspended by the persistent pouring in of ship- 
ments, and any tendency to improved prices has 
been immediately stifled. The altered condition 
of the trade and the concentration of buying power 
in the hands of tlie comparatively few lai-ge London 
houses make it all the more neeessarj^ to feed the 
markets judiciously, and the absence of this pre- 
caution Jias never been brouglit home to the seller 
so acutely as in the past year. The continually de- 
pressed market at home and the difficulty in mov- 
ing up sterling value, in spite of an exceptional 
position, €are in a great measure directly attribu- 
table to this drawback, and so long as the annual 
flooding process supervernes no healthy recovery 
in values appears probable ; they may slightly im- 
prove during the months of diminished supply but 
only to be forced down again' when the weight of 
tea comes forward. That some effective scheme 
for ensuring a more uniform supply throughout the 
year than now exists would prove of enormous 
benefit to the industrj^ is undoubted, but the difli- 
culties to be overcome appear insurmountable ; it 
would necessitate a strong combination of produc- 
ing interests, and restricted dealings would pro- 
bably be unacceptable to many. But prices have 
been forced down to such a low level, and the 
margin of profit to the grower, where it has not 
disappeared altogether, is so small and uncertain 
that any active measures with this object in view 
should receive every consideration. 
Ceylon tea shipments, fairly distributed as 
they are over the year, do not give the same 
trouble as those from India — concentrated as 
the latter are — within a few mouths practi- 
cally. But how to apply a remedy would 
puzzle even so great a capitalist and producer 
as Sir John Muir ! 
As regards "prospects," Messrs. Cariitt & Co. 
write : — 
Prospects for the ensuing season are brighter, 
and there are indications of a more prosperous 
year before the trade. That so large a portion of 
the crop should, under such abnormal conditions 
as existed during the past year, have been dealt 
with before any recovery in prices took place in 
London is instructive, and it is to be hoped that 
the measure of strength now acquired by produ- 
cers will not be disturbed. The statistical position 
would seem to invite a freer supply, which in 
many cases would mean a coarser system of 
plucking and a consequent lowering of quality ; 
under such conditions the outlook is not favour- 
able. The past year's crop was by no means a full 
one, and with the increased yield during the cur- 
rent season from considerable extensions coming 
into bearing, there should, under normal condi- 
tions of weather be quite sufficient tep to meet 
home requirements, and also the increasing de- 
mands for outside markets. With a large and 
inferior quality crop, lower prices must be looked 
for, and any recovery in value (signs of which are 
now seen) cannot be maintained. As regards manu- 
facture, the foregoing remarks may be some guide 
in deciding upon the best course to pursue. In 
the districts planters have been fully alire to the 
situation, and everj- eflbrt on ; their part will 
doubtless be continued to attain the best 
results, 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Coffee.— On the 6th of May one or two sugges- 
tions were offered in this journal towards the 
devising of some means of popularising coffee 
amidst the millions of possible consumers who 
will prefer tea for the plain reason that nothing is 
wanted for that save the boiling of the kettle. It 
is disappointing to find tliat not one local planter, 
hard hit though the industry be, has yet had one 
idea to rub jon another as to this most practi- 
cal question.— 5. F. Press, May 23. 
Tea in Natal.— The consumption of tea per 
iiead in England (notes the AgriculturalJournul) 
is Gib. per annum. Tlie production for Natal is 
computed at 1,000,0001b. per annum says the 
Mercury. The white population of Matal is 50,000 ; 
at 61b. per head the consumption in Natal is 
3&0,t001b per annum, leaving 700.0001b for export. 
The average retail price for tea in Natal is Is 5d 
per lb; hence £21,250 is spent annually in tea 
by a population of 50,000. 
"Colonia" for April is an interesting 
number. There are now some ten old students 
of the Colonial College (Suffolk) as tea planters 
in Ceylon. One of them notices the coinci- 
dence of three of them being connected 
with the one Company. We quote a para- 
graph :— 
We had a visit during the Term from Mr. fouell 
Thome who was back in the old country for a short 
time. He gave pleasant accounts of life in Ceylon 
-and of the Old Colonials whom he bad met there' 
Apropos of such meetings, the circumstance referred 
to by Mr. Beamish, in the Old Students' Column 
of three College men coming together on the same 
estate is certainly noteworthy. Every one will wish 
the trio long life and prosperity, and a flourishins 
tea plantation of their own by and bye. 
Unitkd Planters' Association of the 
Federated Malay States.— One interested 
in the Straits asks us if we have seen the 
Report of the latest meeting of this bodv 
'' at which Mr, E. V. Carey has been elected 
Chairman by a large majority,— Ceylon again 
to the fTont A copy of the Minutes or 
Keport has been sent to us direct and it 
exhibits a good deal of enterprise on the 
part of the Straits planters. Mr. Carey 
succeeds another Ceylon man, Mr. T H 
Hill, as Chairman of the U.P.A. The Asso' 
ciation is anxious to get an "Agricultural 
Department established in the Straits for 
the general benefit of the inhabitants, and 
to this end it has been collecting information 
irom the different Colonies with regard to 
botanical and agricultural departments mak- 
ing, however, a big blunder in givino- 
Ceylon credit for a general revenue of 19 
million £ sterling in place of rupees —a 
misprint, of course.— Mr. Coates was thanked 
for collecting information respectino- the 
cultivation, transport, &c., of coffee in &azil • 
but surely European (and ex-Ceylon) planters' 
m the Straits have little to learn from 
South America in respect of coffee? The 
Straits ^jlanters are anxious to have a Bonded 
Store or Warehouse for their produce in 
order that their coffee may have time' to 
mature (!) and in the meantime that ad- 
vances may be obtained,— rather dangerous 
business for a Government to meddle with 
The "labour" cjuestion is always a lively 
one in the Straits, and in a variety of forms 
it is freely discussed in the present Report 
