Jan. 2, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUKIST. 
503 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
INDIAN TEA PLANTERS AND THEIR SYSTEM. 
Under this heading, the Produce Mai-lets Review 
returns to the charge iu its issue of last Saturday, 
and continues its indictnieat against tea planters and 
" llieu- system." Ifc says : '■ Last week we pointed 
out that the causes of the great fall in value 
were over-production, particularly of common sorts, 
the unregulated aud reckless method of selling, 
the discouragement of the larger buyers and 
widespread but glaring misrepresentations to the 
public as to the proper price of fine tea. The 
remedies indicated could only be a partial cure, 
but such as they were they consisted in better 
regulated auctions, larger lots, and the revival of 
sales by private contract for a considerable portion 
of the impor's In addition to the abandonment of 
the suicidal policy of sacrificing quality to quantity, 
and of still further glutting an over-supplied market 
at a time svhen a reduction is more called for than 
an increase, the Indian pla'iters have to consider 
whether they cannot materially decrease their ex- 
penses. The various kinds of tea, apparently sup- 
plied from one estate at one time, are really grown 
on the same plants at the same time ; Pekoes, Pekoe 
Souchongs, Souchongs, and Congous, dust, and so on, 
are simply different-sized leaves sifted out by the 
coolies after they have been roasted, with the result of 
a considerable addition to cost. The Pekoes and so on, 
of conr.-e, fetch more than the Itrgor leaves, but the 
lower price of the residual dust created by the sifting 
must go far to neutralise this gain. The separate 
sizes continue to be so badly mixed that they have 
to be compulsorily re-blended in the London public 
tea warehouses. The cost of this operation is Jd per 
pound and in addicion to this the tea can never be 
improved iu the operation, aiid is often materially 
injured. Finally, all the various Pekoes so elabor.ited, 
sifted out, and at such great cost are, as the lawyers 
Bay, brought into hotchpot, and once more mixed 
together either by wholesale or retail bleuder.s, 
showing, in any ca=e, how little the tea trade ap- 
preciate all these careful and expensive divisions. 
So far as the planters are concerned, the original 
sifting and the re-blendiug here must oue way or 
another cost them Ad per pound, a charge of about, 
£:-i'JO,000 a year on 140,000,000 lb. of tea." 
THE QUESTION OF BLENDING. 
"Quite apart from the cost of the sifting process, 
it forms," says the writer in the I'roduce Markets 
Bevieic, "the main reason of the small breaks which 
go fur to prevent the rational sale of tea in Minci- g 
Lane. The present system of separate sized leaves is 
certainly a lamentable one, and accounts to some ex- 
tent fur the irost unsatisfactory position. The ques- 
tion arises whether, if the Indian planters do not 
adopt a more sensible system, some very drastic re- 
meay will not have to be found as the trade increases, 
to enable the parcels offered to be sampled and valued. 
No doubt when the produce of the various estates is 
being blended at the public warehouses here, it 
would be a simple and effectual cure to forcibly blend 
all the different sizes together again, in order to 
produce decent sized lots, but it would of course be 
far better if this were done on the estates, and in 
addition that the blcndii;g there should be so con- 
ducted so as noi; lo call for re-blendiug here prior to 
the salos. It suiely ought to be a simple matter on 
all the larger estates to make, say 200 chests af- a 
time of an even quality, and not differing from chest 
to chest, as is often now the case. If the Chinese 
can, and do, proptrly bh-nd fiOO, or even 1,000 chests 
in a single 'chop,' where is the difficulty in India 
with much smaller lots ? The difficulty of tlio irre- 
gular bizo of chests which ueces.sitales the turning 
out of each chest fjr ti-.riog, is simply a proof of 
imperfect a[.'i:li;\u.;es. Tea chests can surely be cut to 
sc. tie as they are in Chmi, or if not tlie roady-ni.ide 
iron chests can be substituted, or some of the new 
light patent packages now being made and freely 
used m this country. 
SMALL BREAKS. 
"The small breaks are," accorriing to this authority, 
" not only a source of expense and loss to the planters, 
but they prevent a considerable number of buyers 
from properly tasting and valuing the salrs — for it 
requires a large stufi to taste hundreds of samples a 
day. This is an injury both to the producer and to 
the home trade. The small breaks also inflict immense 
cost and inconvenience on the wholesale houses who 
mainly distribute their tea through travellers and the 
cost of supplying them with samples of trivial lots ii 
jnst the same as if the parcel consisted of hundreds of 
chests. Then b*th they and their travellers as well as 
the retail buyer, have to do at least five times the 
amount of tasting and valuing as used to be the caee 
for a similar weight of China tea. Large breaks would 
therefore, be most advantageous for these reasons both 
to the producer and to the distributor, and we pointed 
out last week how the present system discourages the 
larger buyers and tends to bring prices to a dead level, 
to the injury of all concerned. — H. and C. Mail, De- 
cember 2. 
CACAO AND ITS ENEMIES : 
MR. CARRUTHER.S' FAREWELL REPORT. 
Mr. J. B. Carruthers, F.L..S., Cryptoganiist, 
landed in Ceylon early in December 1897, and 
lie returned liome by the P. & O. niuil-steainer on 
tlie '22nd Dec. He ha=, therefore, f'iven a full year 
to the investigation of the Cacao Fungus ; anil apart 
from the series of useful Re])orts, marking the 
stages of his investigation, wliieii have already 
been noticed in our columns. Mi'. Carrutliera 
very appropriately mark.s his departure by a 
final Repoi t, whicli will be tonnd in our coliinin.s 
elseweliere today. If there is anytliinir specially 
new in what he tells the planters today, it is with 
reference to the very close relation between the 
fungus on tlie pods and that on llie tree proper: 
At orre time, Mr. Carriithers thought they were 
not only distinct, but that tlie one never med- 
dled with the other. Now he lias found and 
demonstrated that disease passes from the pods 
to the trees and that the cacao )ilanter is bound 
to give as close attention to the first appearance 
of fungus in tlie pods, as he is to canker in the 
stem and to pluck off and destroy in the one 
case, just as lie must excise'and burn in the 
other. It is encouraging to find the Cryptogainist 
so strong in the belief that the cacao planter 
can really wage a successful contest with his 
fungoid enemies. It he is watchful for the be- 
ginnings of the trouble and trains his coolies tu 
look out for disease in pod or stem, he may be 
aljle to prevent any widespread attack and to 
keep his trees in t'oud condition. Such watchful- 
ness and readiness to deal with the first begin- 
nings of the attack are now all the more ne- 
cessaiy, because Mr. Carrutliers has come to the 
conclusion that " Forastero " cacao li.as by 
no means the special exemption from fungoid 
tioubles, ^nerally claimed for it. " CrioUo "' is 
undoubtedly the most liable to attacks ; but 
the hardier kind has alsa to be watched and 
guarded against the prevalent enemy. 
Altogether .Mr. Carrutliers, as Cryiitogamist, has 
done valuaijle service to the cacao planters of Cey- 
lon during his year ill their midst. He has shown 
a s[iecial interest in, aud aptitude tor, the 
work entrusted to him ; he has won general 
conlidence and esteem among the planters ; and 
his Reports have always aftVuded practical in- 
formation and instruction in a way readily 
undei stood. lie luvs, in fact, been emphatically 
the right man iu the right place; ami this 
makes us anxious that hia connection with tUf 
