April 1, 1899.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
703 
BRITISH GKOWN TEA: BRIGHTER 
OUTLOOK. 
[The Statist, Feb. 25.) 
The heavy fall in the sterling value of the rupee 
which took place some years ago was, for the 
time being, a source of considerable profit to the 
tea-producing industry, enabling planters to re- 
duce the cost of cultiv£ition ; but after a few ex- 
ceptionally prosperous years a reaction set in. 
This was largely owing to great increase in the 
acreage brought into tea cultivation. The Indian 
famine and the almost coincident rise in the value 
of the rupee completely changed the situation, 
and increased expenses of production to sueh an 
extent that the year 1897 proved a bad one for the in- 
dustry, especially as the price of tea had fallen 
considerably owing to the largely increased pro- 
duction. The results for the year 1898 have not 
yet been published, and will not, as a rule, be 
generally known until next May, or June, but 
prices of bot h Indian an<l Ceylon teas were low, 
and will probably be below 1897, although the re- 
mainder of the crop still unsold will probably realise 
better figures, and consequently raise the year's 
average to some extent. The cost of tlie rupee was 
greater than the previous j'ear and in consequence 
production will be more expensive ; while the 
price of rice was also high during the greater 
portion of the year. Bearing the above facts 
in mind, it is probable that 1898 will be in 
some instances as bad as 1897, although for some 
of the better teas grown in Assam the result will 
Eossibly be slightly better. Cachar and Sylhet 
ave suffered severely from abnormal weather, 
which has not only caused a reduction in the out- 
put, but also interfered with the quality of the 
teas, and many gardens in these districts have 
therefore been obtaining very low prices. In Cey- 
lon the crop has been short, so that results will 
also suflFer from this cause. 
Looking now bej'ond the 1898 season, there 
appears very strong reason to believe that the 
industrj' has passed through the worst part 
of the late crisis. Consumption of Indian and 
Ceylon tea in 1898 was 33 million pounds 
ahead of 1890, while production had only in- 
creased by 18 millions ; and, more important stOl, 
there was an excess in production during 1896 
of 12 millions, which had been turned to a deficit 
of three millions in 1898. Such a remarkable change 
has been brought about by a greatly increased 
use of British-grown teas. Not only is the home 
market taking more tea, but foreign and colonial 
markets are rapidly acquiring a taste for the teas 
of India and Ceylon ; and whereas in 1897, 51 
million pounds were used outside the United 
Kingdom, in 1898 the quantity had risen to about 
63 millions, and there appears every reason to 
believe that large increases will take place in the 
quantity (ised in these outlets in future. Xow 
that the Americans have started a line of steamers, 
under the United States flag, going from Calcutta 
and Colombo direct to New York without coining 
near llie United Kingdom, the sympathy of 
American shipowners will be enlisted on the side 
of British-grown tea. The Russian Volunteer 
Fleet, whicii calls at Colombo, is already taking 
large quantities of tea to South Russia, and the 
fact that Russian tea purchasers have established 
houses in Ceylon goes far to show the probabi- 
lity of an increased liking for Ceylon teas in 
Russia. The (luantity ^liiiiped from Colombo direct 
to Russia in 1897 was only 139,319 lb., and had risen 
to 2,714,003 lb. in 1898. The absorption of Britisli- 
grown tea by Russia is by close observers in the 
trade regarded as only in its infancy. We may 
now turn to production. Tlie Ceylon output Last 
year was reduced owing to bad weather, and it is 
"therefore probable that the following crop may 
be somewliat larger. With respect to Indian, 
the output in Cachar and Sylhet was also reduccil 
88 
from the same cause as in Ceylon, and it is possi- 
ble that this may not occur this year ; but, con- 
sidering the very large area over which tea is 
now gTown in India and Ceylon, the weather iB 
not likely to be suitable every^vhere for the grow- 
ing of large crops. So that we need not, per- 
haps, look for a very large increase in the 1899 
crop, taken as a whole. Even though a large 
quantity of land was brought into cultivation 
some few years ago, which should now be com- 
ing into bearing, it must be borne in mind that 
there is reason to believe many estates have 
allowed some of their unprofitable tea to lapse, 
and that others have not had the money to carry 
on the cultivation which they had commenced, or 
even to fill up some of the vacancies which occur 
through plants dying out. So that, taking all these 
things into consideration, it is doubtful whether 
we shall have a very large increase in production 
for the present. 
Looking, therefore, at the industry as a whole, 
the position seems to have entirely changed from 
what it was a year ago, and for the first time in 
the history of the British grown tea trade con- 
sumption appears likely to overtake production. 
The possibilities opened out by the new markets 
are very great. For years past it has been a case 
, of educating consumers. The efforts have had 
little result till quite recently, but in nearly aU 
countries which use tea largely there is reason 
to believe that a very large development will take 
place during the next few years. It must not be 
forgotton that the world's consumption of tea 
outside countries of production amounts roughly 
to 500 million pounds, while the total production of 
British-grown tea in 1898 was only 275 million 
pounds (3 millions less than the consumption), so 
that there still remains 222 million pounds of 
other growths which will, doubtless, eventually 
be further displaced by the energy of the Indian 
and Ceylon tea planters. The question of exchange 
must not altogether be forgotten, and, leaving 
out the policy of tlie Government, it would, per- 
haps, be the best thing for the tea-producing in- 
dustry if the rupee were to be steadily maintained 
at its present level. The rapid rise in the rupee 
cost the tea industry an enormous sum of money, 
but it has had its effect in causing great effoirts 
to be made to reduce expenditure Lu all directions, 
and has resulted in checking the annually increas- 
ing cultivation which had previously been taking 
place. Should the rupee remain stationary, it is 
possible that production would only slowly ex- 
pand, and that prices of tea would advance to 
some extent. The trade has passed through what 
may be termed a very severe surgical operation. 
The painful process has saved the industry from a 
still more serious crisis, bound otherwise "to have 
come upon it in the course of the next year or two; 
and if the value of the rupee be maintained \vhere 
it is at preserit, it will probably produce a continu- 
ance of the sounder position into which the indus- 
try has now entered. 
^ _ 
INDIARUBBEK FROM EUPHORBIA. 
The followiug letter from Major C. Giberne on thia 
subject appeared in the Standard on January 5th 
last, and is re-produoed as it may be of interest. 
Perhaps some of oiu- readers may know about it. 
and can tell us whether the statements are correct : — 
Sir,— With reference to the leadiug article in the 
Standaid of today ou the resources of India, will you 
allow me to draw attention to the enormous quantity of 
India Rubber looked np in the jungles of India in the 
various eyeciea of Fupliorbia, or " milk busb," 
with which it is in parts so thickly studded ? 
Many years agi, when in India, I ordered a box of 
chemicals from EiirI ih.-I, and in the course of soma 
experiment^ I made, I adde i a liitio nitric add to 
the strong iiikaline, milk-ilk'^ juice of the Euphorbia 
Tirucalli, and, to luy aurpriso, not only neutralised 
