746 
THE TROPICAL 
AGEICULTUEIST. [May 2, 1904 
The ramie industry should be essentially a 
British one, as the raw material can be grown 
to any extent in India and our own Colonies ; but 
foreigners are taking up the produce of India, 
and are asking us to export them the raw material, 
in order to spin, while the British manufacturers 
are doing scarcely anything and are letting this 
industry with its vast possibilities go by, just as 
they let the dyeing industry and the silk industry 
leave these shores for ever, for the want of busi- 
ness grip and technical knowledge. 
It will be said : — " Oh, we tried ramie eight or 
ten years ago, and two millions of money were 
lost in the attempt." Yes, it was tried, but not 
as a solid industrial enterprise based on sound 
knowledge and patient experiment, but as a Stock 
Exchange boom based on extravagant promises, 
which it was found impossible to fulfil. When 
with full knowledge of the whole subject we read 
the prospectuses of the Ramie Corapanies and 
Syndicates of those days, we do nob wonder that 
that South Sea Bubble burst. We ourselves and 
the foreign mills have gone on another tack ; we 
have based our industries on patient laborious 
investigation and on practical and technical ex- 
periment, and we have succeeded in manipulating 
ramie fibre to meet all our requirements. 
If any British manufacturer, willing to take up 
the spinning of ramie yarns, so that we need not 
go abroad for our supply, will communicate with 
us, we shall be pleased to give information as to 
supplies of raw material, the methods to be adopted 
to prepare the fibre, and the machines to Le used 
in combing and spinning. 
After years of experiment and experience we 
are quite confident that ramie, owing to its great 
strength, its resistance of water, and its lustre, is 
capable of being used largely with advantage for a 
number of purpoFCS for which cotton, silk and 
hemp are novv used with less good results, and 
that its cultivation would be an immense boon to 
the people of India and our Colonies in the tropics, 
but that unless British manufacturers bestir 
themselves to use this valuable staple, the whole 
industry will pass ii)to the hands of foreigners. — 
Yours faithfully, A. M. Haet. 
■* 
CE YLON TEA IN IQOJr, 
(Extracts jrom Messrs. Geo. White <h Co.'s 
annual India, Ceylon and Java Tea Iieport,)i 
London, March 1904. 
As is our custom we have pleasure in offering a' 
resume of the tea trade for the past twelve 
mouths, together with general remarks on the 
present position and prospects. Owing entirely to 
the abnormally prolific crop in Northern India, 
the unusually good market prospects which 
obtaioed when we issued our last annual report 
have fallen somewhat short of anticipations. It 
is difficult to say to what extent a coarser system 
of plucking, induced by the remunerative and 
sttady value of common consuir.ing descriptions, 
has coniributed to this result, but it may safely 
be said that climat'c causes have been by far 
the niost i'; portant factor. To the latter may 
be F^! : .bea ihe dead level in quality which Uas 
been a very noticeable and baneful feature 
throughout the season, one which more or less 
accompauies a year of free and rapid growth. 
Ceylon. — Has experienced a steady .market 
throughout, differences in quality during varying 
climatic periods mostly accounting for any great 
irret;ularity in quotations, Supplies being natu- 
rally more evenly distributed over the year than 
in the case of India, and seldom at any time ex- 
ceeding current requirements, no action has been 
necessary to regulate the offerings. Green Tea, 
— This blanch of the industry assumed considera- 
ble proportions in the past year, production 
having reached 11 millions. By far the greater 
proportion is manufactured on the low country 
estates and consequently prices for common 
Black Leaf are most directly affected. The 
bonus of 3 cents is to be given on 5 million lb. 
of this year's output and it remains to be seen 
whether the outturn will be curtailed should a 
reduction be decided upon when the quantity is 
completed. In this connection, however, it may be 
mentioned that many estates are under contracc 
to produce Green Tea for the whole of this year, 
which would check any sudden return to Black. 
Quality has on the whole been less desirable than 
in the two preceding seasons, especially from 
the higher elevations, • This was perhaps mostly 
Jioticeable in the August-September outturn, which 
was with few exceptions disappointing in the 
*;u,ndard reached, and the smaller number of 
invoices of fine quality afforded by the various 
estates. A considerable proportion of the crop 
was of ordinary medium character, and the sup- 
plies of such being abnormally heavy from 
India, values were affected accordingly. 
Statistical Position.— Considered in relation 
to the reduction in the imports during 1903 of 
some 8 million lb. compared with the previous 
season, and 10 millions less than in 1901, deliveries 
were satisfactory, and the stock at the close of the 
year stood at the moderate total of "19^ millione. 
The smaller supplies, although of course forcing a 
reduction in the use of tea from this quarter, have 
not conduced to raise the price above the parity 
of other growths, the deficiency having been sup- 
plied from other sources ; monopoly in an article 
can alone in nny appreciable measure attain this 
end. The following are the quantities on Estate 
Account sold in Mincing Lane during the last 
three years, with their respective averages : — 
1903. 1902, 1901. 
packages. packages. packatrns. 
909,400 1,012,100 1,059,800 
<Av. 7|d. per lb.) (Av. Bfd. per lb.) (Av. 7d. per lb.) 
while Colombo sales during the same period 
amounted to 
1903. 1902. 1901. 
packages. packages. packages. 
716,600 699,800 642,700 
(Av. 7id. per lb.) (Av, 6id. per lb.) (Av, 6jd. per lb.) 
General.— An interesting feature in the hand- 
ling of the crop has been the regulating of the 
weekly offerings from India on a more complete 
system than hitherto. Doubts have been thrown 
on this policy at various periods, the success, how- 
ever, that attended its adoption in the previous 
season determined the majority of the large owners 
to persevere and the result appears to have fully 
justified their action. To insure thorough success 
more cohesion amongst growers is needful, and it 
is to be hoped that an increased number will fall 
into line for the common weal. With the assured 
prospect of a crop turning out much in excess of 
trade requirements a haste to get out first and 
"Dei'l take the hindmost" is not unnatural, bub 
when the exact reverse conditions prevail sellers 
are bound to protect themselves from the slump in 
prices caused by any attempt to realise as tea comes 
forward during the heavy months. Someoae must 
