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THE TEOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec. 2, 1901. 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. 
The trade between Chiua and Bnssifi over the 
Kiftkhta route is being superseded by the Vladivostock 
and Nicohiievsk route. It coiisisis chiefly of tea 
which had been bought in Planlcow, and was forwarded 
by 'camal caravans Yi>\ Tientsin and Kiakhta for 
the Central Asian and Russian mo.rket'. The follow- 
ing are the most recent figures supplied by Me'^srs J 
Welch and Co., of Mincing Lane, of iliis ye;urt trade, 
being dated Shanghai, September 4, and ur3 compared 
■with the figures for the :;orre3poading periods of the 
two previous years, showing at a glance the chan'ce 
which has taken place in the past two years. May 
1 commences a season. Export or tea via Poi t Arthur, 
Newchwang, and Tientsin (old route) : Fcoiu May 1 
to Septeriiber 4, 1901. 1,398,961 lb ; from May i to 
September 4, 1900, 2,715,48Slb; from May 1 lo Sep- 
tember 4, 1899, 20,391,931 lb. Export of tea to Vladi- 
vostock and Nicolaievsk (new route) : From May 1 
to September 4, 1901, 21, 787. .556 lb ; from May 1 
to September 4, 1901), 8,908,130 lb; from May 1 to 
September 4, 1899, 7,285,485 lb. The same change 
has taken place between Bombay and Batoum. Teas 
which formerly found their way to Central Asia via 
Bo^abay now go in increasing quantities via Batoum. 
Several letters have recently appeared in the pro- 
vincial Press about the weighing of paper with tea> 
and now a correspondent of the "Times" calls 
attention to an anomaly in our laws whereby we 
punish for false, but not for short weight. He in- 
stances bread and tea, and says, with regard lo the latter, 
the grocer used to blend his own tea. Now he buys 
it quite as cheaply, much better blended, made up 
into packets, ready to hand across the counter. The 
packet in many cases does not contain a pound of tea. 
The little printed notice on the wrapper to the effect 
that the packet weighs a pound with the paper means 
nothing to the ordinary purchaser. Hew many even 
of the intelligent middle-class read what is printed 
upon the wrappers of the goods delivered to them ? 
Neither of the two classes is aware that the notice 
means thousands of pounds extra prafit every year to 
the big packet-tea firms who use it, 
A writer in the " Tea and Coffee Journal," of New 
York, referring to the tea market there, says : — Ceylon 
and India teas must increase in popularity, so far as 
black teas are concerned ; and from some experiments 
made this season in ' Ceylon Greens' it is not unlikely 
that before many years more they may occupy an 
important place in our tea distribution, and the jobber 
and retailer who fosters the trade in both of the tea 
products from India and Ceylon will not be the loser." 
It is mentioned by Mr. Kobert Mitchell Floyd, of 
the " Trade Press List," published in Boston, U.S.A., 
that tea culture in the Southern ijart of the United 
States was attempted as far back as a century since, 
the produce costing about ^15 per lb. to grow. Again 
art attempt was made in 1848. In 1881 Congress made 
an appropriation for an experiment in tei culture, but 
when Mr. William Saunders, of the Department of 
Agriculture, made an examination of the work done 
under it, he found that owing to the illness of the 
expert and other causes, he had to report that there 
was little prospect of anything of value being accom- 
plished. Mr. Floyd, in the April number of the 
" Trade Press List," published an interesting account 
of a visit paid to the South Carolina tea gardens of 
Dr. Shepard.— If and C 2Iail, Oct. 26. 
Experimental Cultivation in Madras.— 
The Madras Government has .sanctioned expendi- 
ture of 111.5,000 next year on experimental cultiva- 
tion, of which R5,06o will be spent oa startinfj a 
"sugar-cane .station" inGodavery. R2,000 have 
also been sanctioned for public Exhibitions and 
Jb'airii. —Mac?ras Mail. 
FAMOUS TEA HOUSES 
LIPTON, LIMITED. 
The Tea House foanded by Sir Thomas Lipton, 
although of comparatively recent date, may fairly 
claim to be the most fauiou.s, as it is, perhaps 
tlie lar<:fest, in the world. It was the overstock 
ing of the markets with very cheap {{rowtlis for 
.«onie years tliat fnrni.shed .Sir Tiiomas Lipton with 
the opportunity for building; up his enormous 
cn.nister tr.ade in blended tea. He use.? Indian 
and Ceylon teas chiefly, and these are blended 
with scrupulous care. Nothing is neglected. 
Even the kind of water used in each district 
is taken into consideration. This was explained 
o our representative in the tasting department, 
where hundreds of small boxes filled with samples 
of the choicest growths of Ceylon and India are 
neatly arranged around tbe walls. The quality 
ol water varies of course, in different i)arts of tiio 
Kingdom. Therefore, whenever a branch is 
opened, a sample of water of the district is taken ; 
the ta.^ters exjjerimenc therewith again and 
again nncil the special blend is obtained which is 
best suited to the varying chemical constituents 
of the water. The result is that tea which is 
sold in London differs from that which is supplied 
to towns north, soutii, east, or west, where the 
proportions of lime or other substances in the 
waters are different. 
Apart altogether from the Ceylon estates, with 
their tea factories and bungalows, or ihe Calcutta 
establishmi.-nt, and. thinking only of the British 
Island, Sir Thomas has a Liverpool centre, which 
supplies the North of England and the Midland 
Counties ; a Glasgow establishment, serving the 
whole of Scotland, and sending cakes all over 
these islands ; and Irish stores, including the one 
for the collection of Iri-sh produce situated at 
Clones, and the Dublin centre of distribution. 
Besides these, there are various depots required 
for the military contracts and shipstore work, and 
specially chartered crafc which wait upon bis 
Majesty's fleets in the Mediterranean and upon 
other stations with all sorts of provisions for British 
sailors. In London alone, the survey must needs 
embrace the rapidly-extending bonded and export 
bottling vaults at Shadwell and the central rack- 
ing, vatting and bottling stores at St. Katharine's 
Docks ; the enormous jam and preserve factories 
in Bermondsey, covering already two acres and 
about to be enlarged, which are supplied from the 
Lipton fruit gardens in Kent ; and the premises 
for making extract of beef. 
lipton's tea department 
may fairly be ranked as one of the wonderful sights 
of London. In the basement of the great building in 
City Koad are immense piles of chests containing 
duty-paid tea from India, Ceylon and China. 
The "Celestial" consignments are, however, in- 
significant in comparison with the quantities that 
pour in from India and Ceylon. The tea is not 
allowed to remain very long in the warehouse. 
By rising in a lift to the upper storeys of the 
building the interested visitor may discover what 
sort of treatment it undergoes before being sent 
forth to carry fragrance and good cheer to the 
homes of the weary millions. On emerging from 
the lift, one's nostrils are filled with a hundred 
different odours, each of which the practised tea 
man, with his miraculous olfactory sense, seems 
able to trace to its origin in the plantations of 
India, Ceylon, oi Chinai Eact; chest of tea is 
