THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUEIST. 
[July 1, 1898. 
dwindles to vanishing point, it stands to reason 
that, less outlay on cultivation, short work all 
round, and a keen scrutiny as to tlie issue and 
" loss " on rice, becomes the rule. It is, in 
fact, difficult to apidy the har<l and fast 
rules of political economy to the cooly system — 
patriarchal and wiLli "a give and take" aspect 
as it is found in the Plantinj; Industry of Ceylon. 
Bub let Lord Farrer under.stand that unlike 
Assam and Northern India f,'eneraliy, here 
there are no " identnred " cooly laliourer.-i, all conic 
and r,'o between Ceylon and Southern India 
and t\ke service in couipatiics of relatives 
or villa!<e friends an<l ac((iiaiiitanees under the 
guidance of lieaduien of their own choosini.' and are 
free to leave afier a month's notice or it wa;;es 
remain unpaid beyond a certain date. An<^\(i- 
Indian ollicials in the Madras Presidency have 
repeatedly borne testimony to the f^reat henelit 
conferred on their ))eople and districts by the 
Ceylon Planting Entesfirise. f!ut this may be 
considered a little besjile the m.irk, althoui;li 
our main cjntention i.s that the coolies tlieinsclves 
if questioned would ba the first to say ' the more 
rupees our masters get for their crops, the more 
earnings we likely to make, and certainly the 
more rupees ivc hanille, the better oft' we are.' 
So also, will say the Sirdialese and Tamil owners 
in Ceylon of coconuts, cinnamon, citronella, 
plumbasro and other exportable goods. Not all 
the polictical economists in the world can per.suade 
the Ceylonese " ryots," if we may apply 
the term, out of the o[)inion that the 
more rupees they handle in return for their 
saleable produce, the better off they are. 
" Europe-goods" are, in the main, luxuries rather 
than necessities to the vast mass of producers 
in India and Ceylon. Their staple food is pro- 
duced in the country and give them and abundant 
rupee currency, and we can assure Ljrd Farrer. 
they will be nob only contented but ahle to rejoice 
in renewed prosperity. They will not care how 
much the Indian import duties may be raised 
to meet the requirement of the " Raja's " exchange 
necessities, even if they find their luxuries in fine 
or gaudy cloths, ornaments, nnibrpllas, &c. &c., 
costing them a little more. It there could be a 
l)lebiseite of thf people of India and Ceylon, there is 
not the least doubt that 999 out of every 1,000 would 
vote for the currency that would make the rupee 
plentiful in the country, no matter what the foreign 
or exchange value of the said rupee might be. 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
"New Season's China Teas.— Commenting on the 
cha'.acter and extent of the nsw tea crops in the 
"Flowery Land "for 1898-99 the Grocer says .-"Most 
parties agree in stating that, so far as is at present 
known, the entire crop promises to be larger than 
in 1897-8, which is satisfactory, as in previous years 
there has been a heavy falling off in the production 
of China tea. This is proved by the fact that in 
1897-98 the total crop did not yield more than about 
582,000 half-chests, as contrasted with 640,000 h^H- 
chests in 1896-97, and 811,000 half-chests in 1893-9o. 
It is, however, too plain t'lat if the new crops of China 
t3a do turn out well the full benefit to bs derived from 
this fact will not be enjoyed by the British consumer?, 
bat rather by the foreigners who prefer that kind 
of tea to any other. Thus it is that, whilst the 
agents acting for English firms are simply looking 
on there, the Russian buyers at Hankow are actively 
securing all ths be4 supplies as they arrive, and a 
good business is being done on their account, whereas 
last year they operated very cautiously at the 
outset. As evidence of the diminished rate of con- 
sumption of China tea in this country, it may be 
mentioned that the deliveries for hume use during the 
first four months of 1898 have be«ti only & 127 960 lb. 
a«ainat 6,190,180 lb. in the same period o( ■.nd 
6,530, iSOO in 1H%. Singularly enougrh, the qnaatity 
of China tea exported from the United Kingdom 
in the four mouths ended April 30 last coiupriaed 
5,812,910 lb. or (jHi,'J-a') lb. more than the amount 
couKiinicd in theBe iaies; but tbe fuief;oiug ioCrI of 
5,812,910 lb. was lighter than those pertaioinK to 
1897 and 1806, when in the four months 6,038,3W> 
lb. and 6,149,922 lb. re&pectively of China tea were 
shipped hence to foreign pans." The exports of all 
other kinds of tea together (Indi/io, Cevlon, &e.) 
to date did not embrace above 6,4<it>..'>!i0 lb, in com- 
parison with 5,.'>83,710 lb. and 4,04H,150 lb. in the 
two preceding j'eart,, showing that China lea, in this 
respect at least, takes the lead with shippers to th« 
Cuutiuent and elsewhere. 
The Outlook. — 'I'ne new season opens with a 
London stock of old Congon, one of the smallefit that 
haR ever been Keen, it having been at the end of 
last month only 6,778,t>50 lb. as opposed to 8,101 ,760lb 
in 1897, and 13,<i'Jl,H.",o lb in l8V<t>; and with this 
deficiency in the available supply on hand, there is 
a corresponding poorness in the assortment ou offer. 
Such being the statistical position of China tea. 
there i3 somn reason to hope that, wli««u the cominf; 
arrivals of new Mouings and Kaisows ap|)^r on the 
market here, they will meet with a better reception 
both from the dealers and expoitera, than they did 
last year, and so impart a healthier tone to tbe 
trade all round. A similar feeling of bopfnineas 
was expressed i.i May, 1897, when there wasagood 
deal of talkabmt " machine-made" tea as a novelty 
in Chinese manufacture, and of the possibility of 
its takiug tbe place of Indian and Ceylon, where 
delicacy of flavour, united with a little pungeney, 
was an essential condition with the purchaser. Yet 
it was not the success anticipated, and the chief 
manufacturers at Foocbow suffered losaea of 3d to 
4d per lb on the red leaf teas sent to London. Tbe 
trntn is the home trade did not take very kindly 
to them, not liking to try tbe experiment of them 
in tiieir usual blends, for fear they should not ex- 
actly please the tastes of their customers ; and, 
worse than all, exporters woald hardly look at the 
teas turned out under the new process. But, not- 
withstanding these reverses, the makers of these 
teas have no intention of giving up their enterprise, 
from a conviction that they are an audoabted im- 
provement on the old style, as the teas are much 
admired by some tasters and drinkers for being 
tbiok, strong, and full of delicate aroma — a flavour 
which is greatly esteemed by consumers of a more 
fastidious class. When more widely known and 
appreciated, it is possible that China teas prodoced 
from the machine will find their way more freely 
into consumption. 
The Coffee Tbade is Amebica. — East India coffee 
is not popular in America, and for this reason 
Sumatra coffee and Mocha coffee are worth more than 
is warranted by their intrinsic value. Coffee dealers say 
that fine Central American or other mild growth cost- 
ing 8d to lOd per lb will roast better and make a more 
satisfactory beverage than East India coffee costing 
Is to Is 3d per lb. The market ranges from 3d to Is 3ia 
per lb for the raw bean. The roasted bean retails any- 
where from 4|d to Is lOdper lb. The result is the great- 
est variation in retail cost, and a chance for the shrewd 
buyer to make use of the prejudice of comsumers 
for Java, or Java and Mocha blended, to sell them 
some <;thar sort for these favourile growths. Indian 
tea has been popularised in America at a consi- 
derable cost, but it would not, we fear, pay to try 
a similar experiment with Indian coffee. — U. and C 
Slail, May 27. 
A Br.vz.vlt.vn Cofff.e-Plakting Expkrt de- 
livered a lecture, this month, at Amsterdam, on 
colfee-growing in Brazil, and dwelt upon the fact 
that Brazil furnished nearly sixty per cent, 
of the world's coffee outjmt. — Indian Planters' 
Gazette, June 4. 
