April 1, 1904.] THE TROPICAL 
AN AMERICAN DELIVERANCE ON TEA. 
A new book on Tea, published in Denver 
City, Colorado, is unique in many wiys. 
It is entitled "Tea Hints for Retailers," is 
well got up, profusely illustrated but its 
table of contents is meagre, and an index 
is sadly needed. The author, Mr. John H. 
Blake, has been — we gather from the intro- 
ductory remarks— a wholesale tea-dealer for 
twenty years, has a reputation on the road 
as a pushing " live " man, and also as a 
business manager ; to both of which he con- 
fidently appeals. The aim of his book is to 
give expert advice to the retail grocer in 
his handling of tea, " one of the most im- 
portant items," he says, " in tlie retail 
grocer's stock, and one of the few articles 
remaining to him upon which a really good 
profit may be made." Uulike the famous 
American pill for which its proprietor claimed 
" that it did not fool around, but went 
straight to business," Mr. Blake has divided 
his book into two parts, and it is not until 
the second part is rendered that he " stands 
upon his native heath," and speaks from the 
fulness of a long experience. The first part 
— which is the longer one— treats on " The 
Tea Garden of the World," "Tea from Seed 
to Leaf," " Tea from Leaf to Cup " and 
" The Tea Marts of the Orient." These 
chapters are more or less compilations, well 
written, full of information, and, , oa the 
whole, astonishingly well up to date ; but here 
and there there is evidence of a want of judicial 
judgment, and of a credulity which is hardly 
CO be expected in the smart American busi- 
ness man. The author does not attempt to 
disguise his preference for China black teas,, 
and he unhesitatingly declares that if the 
American market is to be won for British- 
grown teas, it will be by means of the 
Greens. Still, Ceylon and Indian black teas 
are gradually getting into use, and those 
who push them have been making much of 
the cleanly process of their manufacture, as 
compared to the hand and feet manipulation 
to which the China leaf is subjected. This 
appeal to cleanliness is evidently telling, for 
Mr. Blake champions the purity of the China 
leaf against what he calls the reports of 
interested parties to the contrary." He gives 
this ideal picture of tea-plucking in China : — 
" Gloves are worn during the pickings, .and 
the pickers are forced to bathe several times 
daily during the picking season. Women 
and children only ai-e employed, and it ia 
said that they are forced to abstain from 
eating strong-flavoured or uncleanly food 
during the entire picking season !" " It is 
said"— is a poor authority for this wonderful 
statement. On a par with the gloved coolies 
of China is the author's deliverance on the 
longevity of the tea tree. Beginning to pro- 
duce at four years, it reaches its maximum 
at the tenth or twelfth year, declines from 
that until its fifteenth or eighteenth when 
it has out lived its usefulness and is rooted 
out, to make place for new plants ! The 
author has clearly got out of his depth ^ 
but then, of course, it is not for the practical 
planter be is writing : his constituency is the 
J. S. retail grocer. The chapters on " The 
Tea Gardens of the World " cover China, 
AGRICULTURIST. 6^7 
Japan, India, Ceylon, Java, S. Africa, Forj 
mosa and— The United States of America ' 
We presume that it is pure patriotism which 
has influenced the author when he gives 
thirteen pages to the description of the S. 
Carolina—" Finehur.-it "—experiment, while 
India and Ceylon have to be contented with 
eight pages each. But admirable as the motive 
iiiay be, there does seem a lack of proportion 
and due perspective in this apportionment of 
printed space. It is true that " Pinehurst " 
IS an American institution, around which 
from time to time much " high falutin " has 
been indulged in; it has been the theme of 
numberless sensational articles embellished 
with pictures and rendered startling by 
scare-heads, and the subject-matter of much 
national prophecy ; but alter all, and without 
the slightest feeling of jealousy, we would 
ask if a few lines would not have sufficed 
to indicate the existence of the industry, 
and the feverish hopes of its supporters ? 
Mr. Blake records with pride that the 
" Pinehurst" factory has a daily capacity of 
125 lb. of tea! -and that in 1902 the total 
output of the garden was estimated at between 
8,500 and 9,0uO lb.! He calculates that the 
profit on American tea growing— which is 
extending, will be between $40 and $50 aa 
acre, and with that handsome return as- 
sured, his prophetic soul takes fire, and 
blazes into a "purple patch." " We may," 
he says, his eye rolling in a fine frenzy — 
" look expectantly forward to the time when 
thousands of Southern acres will gleam with 
the delightful green of waving tea bushes, 
and the countryside resound with the happy 
laughter of busy leaf-pickers." There is some- 
thing touchingly winning in this sweet idyllic 
sketch 1 The second portion of the book 
treats of " How to Test Teas," " How to 
Buy Teas," " Is it Wise to Place an Im- 
portation Order V, " Bulk versus Package 
Teas," "How to listablish a Tea Trade" 
and "Tea Blending." These chapters, which 
must have a higher value for the retail 
grocer for whose benefit they are penned, 
are full of cute hints, and tabulate in a 
practical way the fruits of the long business 
experience of the writer. The aim of the 
book is to make tlie retail grocer an iutelli* 
gent buyer of tea, which is one of the few 
articles left him to handle where a really 
good profit can be got. That Mr. Blake 
leans to the China black tea in preference to 
those of British growth does not mean that 
he has a prejudice against ttie otlier, but 
simply that the Chinaj variety suits the 
American taste better. As to Ceylon greens, 
he is very hopeful, admires the energy 
which our planters have displayed in en- 
deavouring to win the American market 
for them, and he has this encouraging 
message to send :— " The tea-men of sunny 
Ceylon may depend on a fair and impartial 
treatment, for in the selection of articles 
of consumption, quality comes iirst with 
an American, favour next, whoever it may 
hurt or benefit." In spite of our adverse 
■criticisms of special sections, we may 
sum up by saying that Mr. Blake s book, 
is a good one, and is sure to take a 
prominent place ia the literature o£ tUs 
tea trade. 
