698 THE TROPICAL AGRICn^TURIST. [Apeii. 1, U99. 
FACTORY BULKING.— At a time when every 
earing in expenses is of vital importance to growers, 
the neceseiiy of m<M careful bulking cancot 
be too fully impreased upon thtm, and it 
stancLi to reasou that ihe cheapest aud be**'- place 
for bulking in the Factory, because labour is cheaper, 
facilities are Ijaiidy for pa' king ten qiii' kly while it ii 
fresh, unnecessary delay and i-xposure are avoided, 
and a saving jJ. per pound in Lond .n chiirgcs i« ni'ide. 
It cannot he denied that m;iny fine parcels ol t' a loi*« 
flavour through lying all day on a wuiehouer fluor, 
exposed to the air, while the treatment in re-p-icking 
leaves much to be desired. Agaiii, where teas ar» 
sold " to arrive," oa forward namples, which is a grow- 
ing custom ill the Ajierioan Trade, it is of th» first 
importance that the whole of the break should be of 
one dead level quality, Tfhich cannot be obtaioed 
without careful balking on the factory. 
lu Australi* and foieifju markets, wh;re large wher«- 
houses do not exist, 'n d bulking cannot therefor* be 
carried out, tlie break is represruled by 2 or i chesta, 
from which buyeis draw samples, and up n these 
samples purchase the teas, and owing to unsiqnal 
quality, frequent allowances and rejections have now 
to be made, which would otherwise be avoided. 
During the past season a few parcels came before 
us where the difference in quality in teas, invoiced 
as one break, was as much as 8d. per lb. ! ! 
Equality in tares, and well made packaoks, are 
matters which should have the attention of every 
manager. 
The consumer attaches great importance to getting 
his Teas in well made strong boxes, and aUhough there 
has beeu great improvement in recent years, there are 
still many gardens from which Teas are scut down in 
weak chests, made of bad wood, causing loss in weight, 
and consequent claims. AVhere a 'garden onco gets a 
name for bad packages, buyers will light shy of the 
mark in the future. This year badly seasoned wood 
has resulted in frequent cases of "cheesy " taint upon 
Cachar nnri Sylliet Invoices, losing to the grower often 
Id, per lb. in value. 
The weight of Tea in ciiest should not exceed 100 to 
110 lb. of broken leaf, and bl> to 90 lb. whole leaf, wliile 
Dusts should ueverexcced I'lO lb. iiett, iuorder to avoid 
loss in weight. 
AssoRTMiiNT. — There is plenty of room for greater 
attention to this part of the manufacturing procasi, and 
the fewer the qualities made the belter, for aga.iden 
producing fair medium Teas ; four quali'ies are quite 
•ufficient, this specially applies to small gardens, 
whose Manngers should try to cut down, as mnch as 
possible, the number of grades in their assortment ; it 
is better to have two full sized breaks of Pekoe and 
Pekoe Souchong, than 4 or 5 quali'ies in small breaks. 
Where small breaks are unavoidable, it would pay to 
pack, and keep them until a sufficient amount of Tea of 
each grade to make a full break, is manufactured, then 
bulk the whole. 
Good appearance in make should be aimed at as 
America and Asia select Teas of this description, — 
large, rough, bold leaf sh mid be avoided, if this class 
of leaf is being taken from the bushes, owing to quick 
growth, and the flush getting out of hand, it is better 
to have it equalised in the bieaker, thereby saving the 
wholesale houses and blenders, the trouble of cutting 
it for themselves, a well equalised leafy Bioken Pekoe 
Souchong, or small Pekoe Souchong, free from dusty 
broken, sells much better, and is a far more useful Tea, 
than a bold leaf- 
Invoices should comprise bre 'ks of not less than 20 
full chests, 30 half chests oi; 50 boxes, which are the 
minimum breaks sampled by the Trade, (and it is as 
well to have a fev/ extra chests, in event of damage 
reducing the size of the break) for ia these days, .vhea 
the weekly auctions of Indian Tea frequently amount 
to 50,000 packages, snuill breaks meet with very little 
attention, and are sold on a separate day, when Urge 
buyers scarcely think it worth while to attend the sa!e. 
Our advice to growers therefore must be to isay the 
closest attention to improvemoiitof quality, and to avoid 
sending forward any prod ice which, from inferiority of 
quality, or undesirable packing, will damage the repnta 
tion of the article. There isnodoublthat ca^ ef a) lUfter- 
visioii ou theiie matters will beorfruiiindoa oou'fte. 
With the extencious of lH'JC-y8 thortly c. mii'g into 
full i earing, there in no probability of rh ,i t suupliee, 
nor are prices likely to hbcn any f(r<-u.i, rise, fiom 
the level they )iave reiicheci in (he past 'd vtart, 
nerertbeless the industry is in h beal'by auoditioB 
and coneQiiiplion is giowmg, a<'d tbeieis no leiMoa, 
with CHrt-ful attention, t ) uia ufauiure and rxpan <i- 
tDiv, why thu Te ■ Trade iu India «h nid not conlinn* 
on a safe reniuiieialive bdsii-. 
In conclui^ion, we wish our many constituents a 
prosperoaE y«>ar iti 1899. Weather reports from tb« 
Disl^rictK arc generally satisfactory . 
CEAKA UUDBKU. 
Kelativt to llie txtractiDn of rtibhi^r from tli« 
ceaiH I ubber (3/aHi7(c»< i.lhuiotu), Mr. ljcK>i«^r sliowa 
by .he resiiliK ot tic: c.\|ieriiiieutK ihiti ilie >-cli«iiit 
of pi epai iii^f rul)l>er from ih.' <lry lni k of thU 
iiitrorliiced tree is ini|>rHCiical>le. He «i<IJ«: — 
" I have biiice made a iiiictuheopiciii exuui- 
iiation of the inner baik with the result that while 
the laticiferons ve.sfelc or caoniclioue ducts are 
not absent, tliey are scantily <lii<lrihiited in the 
bark and are undeveloped ami in some cases empty. 
Wliile the euhivation ot the ceara rubier trees 
lias been fully e.^taMislied m Southern India, U 
i.s a matter for re;^ie. tiiat the cliiiiaiic cuuilitions 
or soil are not suitable for encoura^inj: the 
secretion of rubber in the trees to make their 
introduction a coiiunercial success." 
PrrciottsStonks.— In a leview of a new edition 
of " Strei'ter", the Sptaker >'iiys : — Perhapx the 
lir-it thing which iiiiis!j people ne^d to know aboat 
nrecions stone?" i>> liiai ii mounted atones are iieed- 
Ie>isiy juiiibled fc;^etiier and allowed to rub against 
each otiier, the diamonds iu the urnauieriUs will 
inevitably scratch tionie of the oilier stones, and 
tlius disfigure them moreorles? seriously. Doubt- 
less, in some cases, fctones thus marked have been 
treated by indiscreet executors as va ueles^ imi- 
tations, and sold for an old sonp. The next practi- 
cal item of information which hivi-rs jewels 
should acquire is that while technically " perfect " 
stones art never met with, nearly a tenth <•£ the 
stones which are brought into commerce are renlljr 
of tine quality. No lady is mucli the wor.-i" for not 
knowing that the true ruby is a corundum, nor will 
she become much the riciier in useful information 
by learning that it is strictly "a variety of crystal- 
lised alumina"; but if she is capable of judging 
between a spinel ruby and a true ruby, no very 
arduous task, she may find the little accomplish- 
ment profitable as well as rare. Some of the mosi 
interesting of the notes which Mr. Streeter has 
put togetliei are those upon tiic present condition 
and prospects ot the sources of tl»e supply of pre- 
cious stones. It is pleasant to the British jewel- 
lover to hear that the Clirysoberyl (the true) Cat's 
Eye, perhaps the m-ist curious, and certainly not 
tlie least beautiful, of prec ous stones, cou.es prin- 
cipa'ly from Ceylon. Mr. S'reeter expresses what 
is evidently a sincere belief in the possibiliiie* of 
the ruby mines of Burma, and gives an accmnt of 
the connection which he formerly had with the en- 
terprise of developing them. An important chap- 
ter upon " African Diamonds " contains statistics 
of produce, as well as geographical infoi mation ; it 
seems that some recently-discovered mines in 
Griqualaiid We^t yield well-crystallised stones of 
remarkable whiteness. It is quite po'^'ible that 
British t^uiana is among the " coming " diamond- 
producing lands; should she prove to be so. the 
effect upon WesE-Indian sociology mty be startling. 
