700 
THE TROPICAL 
AGxlICULTURLST, April 2, 1900. 
proposed to group the gardens of each Agency 
House tos;ether ; and to label each sample with the 
names of its garden, and of the garden Agents. 
Before taking any action in the direction of ask- 
ing members of the Association to supply samples 
upon this system, the Committee directed the Sec- 
retary to ascertain from Dr. Watt an approximate 
idea 'of the number he had space for. They rather 
inclined to the oi)inion that the space required for 
samples from all the gardens of the chief Agency 
Houses might be greater than Dr. Watt antici- 
pated.— /wc^ian Planters' Gazette, March 3rd. 
THE PROSPECTS OF TEA : 
CONSUMPTION IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 
THE CHECK ON OVER-PRODUCTION 
AND LOW PRICES-? "A TRUST." 
The London merchant, largely inter- 
ested in Indian tea, whom we have 
already quoted, (see page 669) writes 
on 23i'd February:— "I duly received 
your letter of I4th December written on 
board the 'Rome.' We can only await de- 
velopments of foreign consumptions. There 
is no doubt whatever a tendency among 
certain French people, where they are brought 
into close touch with the English or are 
influenced by the fashionable tendency to 
ape English ways, to make use of tea ; but 
the French are a very conservative people, 
and it seems to me that the tea habit is 
foreign to their ways and therefore unlikely 
ever to become a prominent factor in their 
national life. I have been in pretty close 
touch with the various movements made in 
the last twenty years by the Indian tea 
people to promote a greater consumption of 
tea in Paris, and so far I can only charact- 
erise the business as practically of no 
mercantile importance. 
"As to the immigrants from the United 
Kingdom into the United States not having 
continued the traditions of their fathers, I 
must say I am not at one with you in tracing 
the reason for this. The climate to my mind 
explains a great deal, and the character of 
the tea. consumed follows fairly well-defined 
geographical lines. In New England and all 
the older states there has always been a 
fair consumption of black tea, and the people 
there have followed the other Anglo-Saxon 
people in passing more or less gradually 
from one black tea to another, that is China 
has been displaced by the Indians and 
Ceylons. Japan tea has made its way largely 
from the western seaboard since the open- 
ing up of the various routes of trans-con- 
tinental railroad, and it has made a business 
for itself quite independent of the old black 
tea trade. There is no doubt that some 
people in California and the States nearer 
the West may have been induced to drink 
Japan whose parents or who themselves, 
prior to emigration, had used old-fashioned 
China teas in the home country ; but you 
must recollect that the consumption per head 
of tea in the old country fifty years ago 
was very low in comparison with the pre- 
sent figure, and more on a level with the 
present figure in the United States. You 
must bear in mind that the term English 
breakfast tea is merely an inclusive title for 
all black teas, and was in use as descriptive 
of China congo before any Indian or Ceylon 
teas were imported, and although the two 
latter teas have been gaining ground in 
America, it has been principally because of 
the displacement of China tea; and I must 
say I am doubtful whether there has 
actually been any increase of recent 
years within the United States itself in the 
use of black teas. 
"As to Russian duty, your argument that 
a reduction in the rate would lead to the 
use of better,* tea is not justified by what 
has happened elsewhere. At present Russia 
consumes largely of the very finest tea the 
world produces. Canada, where there is no 
duty, and the United States, where the duty 
is recent and probably temporary, take the 
filthiest rubbish the law will allow to enter. 
Great Britain, where the duty is a very 
small one, takes lower and commoner tea all 
the time, the rage for cheapness and not for 
quality seeming to perviide the whole life 
of the people. 
" The existing Associations in London of 
Tea Producers have so far achieved little but 
trouble. Had we not had a vast over-produc- 
tion of ^ea in both India and Ceylon many 
of the grievances that are made so much or, 
Avould never have been felt, and I think those 
Tea Associations would have served a much 
more useful purpose had they endeavoured 
to pass 10 years ago a self-denying ordinance 
as to increased acreage,t instead of check- 
ing things at the fountain head in that way, 
they have made repeated trouble for the 
distributive section of the trade whom they 
aiJect to regard as their natural enemies, 
while they really are their best friends. It 
is all very well to try to eliminate the middle- 
man, and in the tea trade a good many such 
have been effectually abolished, so that 
producers and reta-l distributors are very 
closely brought together indeed now. What 
is the result ? The powerful retailers are 
combining in a way that the old-fashioned 
dealers never could have combined, and I see 
very little hope for the future of tea produc- 
tion unless it is all forced into one gigantic 
Trust on the model of recent industrial 
developments in the United States." 
COCHIN MARKET REPORT. 
Cochin, 10th March. 
C. N. Oil.— Some contracts were placed in the 
bazaar in the early part of the week at 1187 to 
Ii87/8 per candy but latterly rates dropped and the 
market closes today rather weak at R87 with 
ready sellers for prompt delivery. 
Coir Yarn. — A moderate demand exists for 
weaving qualities, for shipment to Europe. There 
is also some enquiry for shipment to Calcutta. 
Kates may be quoted at R35/60 per candy. 
COPRAH, — Rassi — R52/53 per candy.— Ccc/iin 
Argus, March 10th. 
• Our idea was better Ceyloo tea for the rich 
classes and a larger quantity of ordinary teas for the 
middle classes.— Ed. T.A. 
* Our correspondent should remember that the 
worst sinner in this respect was a great proprietor 
or capitalist interested in Indian tea estates, who 
some years ago showed in print, a vast field for 
extending tea consumption in Europe and America, 
as justifying a large extension of planting in 
Ceylon and Southern India.— Ed. T.A. 
