June 1, 1899.] 
THE TllOPlCAL AGIUCUl/rURIST. 
857 
TEA IN AUSTUALIA 
Melbourne, April 15. 
Market very firm .and adv.ancing. An a,ctive 
dem.ind for all descriptions of China teas ; sales 
of ooninion Congous and Panyonj^? fcot<alliiig; 1,500 
half-chests at o.\'d to G^d, and 400 lialt'-ehests of 
liner grades ; ,S00 quarters of buds taken at 7-ld 
to TJd. Ceylons very scarce ; sales of 900 chests 
at 74d to Sd for medium, and from Ifld to Is Id 
for fine. Indians are raeetinj; with a good inquiry; 
sales of 400 chests at Sd to lOd. — Leader. 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
Produce and the Budget. — So far as produce is con- 
cerned there are no surprises in the Bado;et. The re- 
ference to tea, coffee, and cocoa was brief, and was as 
follows. The Cliancellor of the Exchequer said : 
With regard to the minor items of Customs, coffee 
for once shows an increase. I am told hat this is due 
to the increasing number of excellent terapsvance 
refreshment rooms in London, where coffee is a fayou- 
ite beverage. The use of cocoa also, 1 am happy to 
Bay, has increased by 14 per cent, and it may comfort 
my hon. and gallant friend the member for Central 
Sheffield, who I know ia a patron of ooroa, to be 
informed that a much larger pi-oportion of 
the cocoa used in this couutry was of British 
manufacture than in the previou? year. Tea shows 
an increase of £62,000, but I shall have to be cautious 
in my estimate of tea for the coming year, for I am 
Borry to say that tea has lately risen in price by, I 
am told, 2d in the pound, due to the fact that Indian 
and Ceylon tea is becoming very popular in R is^ia, 
the United States, anfd our great colonies ; and eonse- 
miently there is a shorter supply iu this couutry. 
No one seems to have noticed the increase in the 
price of tea, but a good deal would have been slid 
about if it had been due to an increase of taxation. 
It may interest the committee to be informed of a 
curious circumstance in regard to the receipts from 
tea. There ia a singular rivalry now going on between 
certain great houses in the tea trade as to the amount 
of the cheques which each of them shall give for indi- 
vidual clearances'of tea, and the result is sometimes 
greatly to discompose the receipts from tea in one 
quarter of the year, or even iu different years when 
compared with one another. The Customs were 
actually asked the other day to allow the inclusion 
in one of these cheques of the duty on tea afloat and 
not yet arrived in this country. I need hardly say 
that we promptly put a stop to the suggestion, which 
if allowed, would have entirely disorganised the 
proper keeping of our accounts from year to year." 
MissiNU .VN Oi'POUTUNiTY. — Wc notice that " Mer- 
chant," in the columns of a contemporary, calls atten- 
tion to a neglected opportunity. He says: "In 
cousequenoe of the advance in duty on tea by the 
United States Govcrumont to pay for war taxes, there 
is an enormous tiuantily of tea lying iu bond in Now 
York — probably six times the usual amount. How is 
it that some of our blenders or other speculators have 
not secured some of this?" Wo hope importers will 
not tumble over one another in their h.aste to take 
advantage of this chance. — II. -C- C. Mail, April 14. 
The Position oi- I.ndian Tea.— It is satisfaotory to 
find trade opinion optimist on the subject of.tho pie- 
sont position of ludi.iu tt:a. Commenting o-\ tho 
P8rlicular.^ of outturn of the crops of Indian tea for 
1898-U'.), which show-s a total prodneti m of 1,')3,0!JO,000 
lb. the hir^est over known, the Groicr says : 
" Th^ increase ovjr the entire crops in 1S07-;13 and 
189tj-97 wi\a, in romd nnniber.-. bolwenn 4.6!rf,U.')0 lb, 
and 4,C83,0U0 lb. whilsi .is ompared with 13,j.47'J,0tiO 
lb. in l v.>.->-'JC., and 127.127,000 lb. in 1894 0.'), th^ ag- 
UroRalo quantity of Indian tea raised this season was 
many millioua of pounds heavier than in those yoars. 
From the very outsot. when the crop was origi- 
nally estimated at fully 153,000,000 lb. the yield 
of tea in British India for 1898-99 has been 
regarded as of unexampled extent and at 
one time a lower range of prices than. ever was ex- 
pected to rule in consequence. Iu this hope, however 
the trade have been greatly disappointed, for besides 
it'.cre.ising demands for, consump:ion at home, there 
have bseu developments, and winder outlets for ship- 
pers in other qu.irder.=, which have been laroe enough 
to absorb the whole of tba surplus supply ab ive shown* 
and since the end of December Insi; the market has' 
without intsrrnption, maintained a st^.on" rising 
tendency." ° s 
Te.v Pl,\ntin-g 1^ NiTAt.— The Uuited States Con- 
sul-General at Cape Town is ao interested in the 
tea cultivation of Natal, he describes for the benefit 
of his countrymen the process of cultivation and 
raanufaoturn in that colony. VVj give it in his own 
words and we lea^e Indian aud Ceylon planters 
to solve the question whether their brethren 
n Sjuth Africa are up to date in their methods 
The picking season iu Natal generally commen. 
ces early in September and goes on till about 
the end of the following May. The monlha of June, 
July and August aie taken up with .digging and 
manufacturing the land, and pruning the plants. 
The tea is picked by the coolies, mule cirts in 
different gangs collecting the leaf. Men and women 
are employed in the picking process. The- tea leaf 
is taken down to the factory, where it is "weighed 
iin." Whe!i that is done, it is spread out thinly on 
frames covered with hessian, for the purpose of 
"withering." in a temp.-rature of 80 to 90 degrees. 
In the course of twelve hours, the leaf has become 
perfectly soft. The leaf is then passed through' 
shoots into the machine room, where it is "roUecf." 
When the rolling is finished, the sappy, juicy mass 
is sent down into the cooling chamber where it' ia 
spread out and submitted to the action of the air at 
a temper»ture of from 60 deg. to 70 deg. The rolled 
leaf is then passe'J to dryiug trays, on which it ia 
spread out thinly and submitted to a temperature 
of about 2.50 deg. the excessive heat staying fer- 
mentation, and taking all mofsture out of the" leaf 
The now manufactured article is sent on to the 
sorting depirtmeut, where the different grades oi 
Golden Pekoe, Flowery Pekoe, Pekoe Souchong, 
Souchong, and dust are separated by machinery', 
which consists of a hugs, revolving screen cylinder' 
the meshes gradually getting larger towards the 
outer end, so that the dust falls from the separating 
machine first, aud the Souchong last. The smallesl 
leaves on tlie twig, says the Vice Consul, when picked, 
mike the finest tea. The tea is then put into airl 
tight bins where it is allowed to remain from two or 
three months to mature. After this it goes to th« 
Eackine department, where it is put into packets or 
oxes for the trade. 
Artificial Rubber.— Many attempts to make arti- 
ficial rubber by oxidizising linseed oil and o her 
vegetable matters wtth strong acids, have not proved 
quite successful. A Chicago glucose company are now 
trying to make it from the refuse material of their 
factory. Tais rubber mu le from the oil of Indian 
corn Is of a brown colour, but its fault, thus far, is 
that it does not resist heat so well a-i genuine rubber'— 
//. and a. Jlail, April 21 
" K.viNFALL AXD Fkutilitv " is the subject 
of a very intere-^tiiif,' letter from Mr. John 
Ilugln's yiven elsewheie. It liasb;e.i long rect>.'- 
nised here that the desirable rain for lea conies 
in gentle, li{,'l.t f.ii:ing slioweis which aie richer 
n iiiiro,'en and do not create wa.-h. At the 
same time tropical rains are alto-elhcr lieher 
in nitro;;en than is the riiii.fa'l in temperate 
n-yions. It would bo e.vlreinely iuleresiiuf; to 
compile returns for au average Ceylon estate, 
similar to those framed for liothauisted ; but 
twenty yeirs is a loner period to eover. 
