^00 
THE TROPICAL AGEICULTURIST. fJAN. 1, 1902. 
Planters ignored advice and rejected prophecy. 
Now, tlierefore, every self-respecting seer v/xsh a 
hie hands on the tea industry, and saya, " It 
aervea yoQ right." This is perhaps a f.cee trans- 
lation of the Oalcutoa comuiuaication to the 
Financial Times, baS it is the inference to be 
drawn from it. Effasions of this kind are 
weariaotne. Criticism directed against the policy of 
companies whose directors may have laid themselves 
open to it is understandable, but a sweeping con- 
demnatioD of growers, tea agencv firms, and everyone 
connected with tea, because profi.ta have fallen away, 
is puerile. Mistakes have been made in the tea in- 
dustry, and planters are quite aware of the fact. 
The sum of the tea growers' offence (brought to hia 
notice pretty often of late, and the blame is distributed 
erenly between India and Ceylon) includes in its main 
items reckless extension of cultivation, an unwise glut- 
ting of the market with tea. and the pursuance of a 
policy known as that of "the devil take ihe hindmost," 
AS evidenced in the days of their prosperity by 
neglect of wider outlets for the ever-increasing supply 
of tea. And then worst of all, some of them yield, 
ing to the wiles of the company-promoting fraternity, 
were tempted into the paths which lead to over 
capitalisation, to the detriment of the entire tea 
industry and the eclipse of its good mme with 
the investing public. And in addition, the Fates 
have been unkind, and the Chancellor of the Es- 
ohequer has been very inconsiderate. 
No sooner, therefore, did dividends diminish lhaa 
the storm of criticism broke. The tea grower, who in 
prosperous times had been regarded as the pink of 
commercial enterprise and the acme of astutsness 
in the management of hia own affairs, was sniffed 
at in all directions. His enormities were catalogued, 
and the p*3t, present, and fucure of the tea in- 
dustry were the subject of bitter comment iu the 
Press. Having received this baptism of fire, the 
planter, anxious to right himself and smarting under 
the injustice of many at these tirades, begins to feel 
that not only is the critical prooesi everdoae, but in 
the interest of the industry itself it is time thare was 
a lull. He has had enough both of criticism and 
good advice and has no further use for either at 
present, while a rehash of the old indictment, with 
the suggestion that he goes on planting tea and com- 
mitting otiier offences out of " pure cussednesi," 
is irritating. But to reproach garden proprietors 
with indifference to new outlets for their produce 
is the last straw. If there be one subject which the 
planter has learned to accept as the fixed rule of h's 
life for years past, it is that he must at all costs 
And new markets for his tea. This doctrine 
has been preached to him in blue books, 
shouted into hia ear in public and in private, 
wired to him, written to him, and in his fes- 
tive moments it has disturbed his peace of 
mind, and almost forced him to use strong language. 
As a conseTuence, he may be said to have gone 
" baldheaded " for new markets, and that indiffer- 
ence about the matter should now be urged against 
him is too much. As to the question why he has 
not cultivated other products, he probably his an 
effective reply, although his ciitics endeavour to 
maintain that in this respect he has not lived up to 
his chances. These same critics think he might 
have grown sugar or fibre products, and a dozen other 
things, or searched for gold, and in fact, readily 
played the part of Jack of all trades, in addition to 
growing tea and studying how to do this well. The 
modern tea planter should, in their opinion, be a 
kind of Admirable Crichton with commercial instincts 
and a dash of the J Pierpont Morgan about him. 
No doubt a great deal of the criticism of tbn tea 
producer is meanS mainly for the eye of the share- 
holder. But it may be doubted if shareholders in Tea 
Companies desire to hear the story of the past dished 
tip again and again. Like the growers, they are 
Waiting and hoping for bett'-r times, and it does 
^Ot inspire con&dence in the future to be wrong ly 
told that the majority of the men who control their 
interests Lack " common business capacity," aod that 
the Tea A-isociations are no wiser. Whether good 
times co ne or not, all connected with the tea indus- 
try have had an ample opportunity of tes'.m;; the 
uses of adversity, and it is not a fasciujiting method 
of pointing a moral to recall warning-s isoue 1 five y-ars 
ago either at fi'-st or aecood-hiod. Tne plaatei' will, 
we trust, he able to vvoik out his own comaier dal 
Silvatiou, and whether ht; succeeda jr f ills, neither 
he nor anyone else connected w.th him will prjfit 
anything by frequent cfOiking that " all is lost." 
Referring to 
TEA GROWING 
in the United States, " Tea, Coffee and Sugar," 
of New york, savs: "It having been shown th it 
tea can be goown in S)a\h Cirolina, it follows 
that with the same attention it may be produced 
over a wide area of the United S ates. Already the 
experimenters, as is usual in tie import ition of new 
industries or processes into tlie United States, hive 
adopted a number of iinprovciments over the Old 
World methods iti the growing and handling of the 
plant aud its product, and it m ly not be impossible 
that in the future we may find ourselves selling tea 
in Cliiai. But, however this may be, tea growing 
gives every promise of becoming an important in- 
dustry, and its introduction is one of the many 
evidences of the value to the country of an intelli- 
gent and energetic administration of the Department 
of Agriculture." It would be interesting to learn 
something about the new methods here referred to. 
If the experimental growers of tea have improved 
upjn Indian aud Ceylon methods we shall be 
surprised. 
In Hayti the 
COFFEE GROWER 
is not a free agent in the disposal of his produce. 
According to a Consular report, a planter is prohibited 
by law from dealing direct with the exporters, and 
must, therefore, have recourse to the " Haytian 
spjculator," whose charges are very high. In Hayti 
there is an export duty on coffee of 3 86 2-3dols. per 
100 lb. (I8s per cwt.) It is not surprising, then, 
concludes the Consul, thit the cultivation of cacio 
tends to be subsUtuted for that of coffee, althongh 
the coffee plautitions cover an arei of 50,000 
hectares (123,500 acres). 
In her interesting book entitled ' Mexico as I saw 
It,' recently published, Mrs Alec Tweedie mentions 
that during a fatiguiug journey in Blexico she was 
served, after a meal, with 
ORANGE TEA 
(Hojas de Narango), made from the fresh youn? 
leaves of the orange tree, infused in the same way 
as ordinary tea. She refers to its invigorating aud 
refreshing qualities.— fi, and 0, Mail, Dec. 13. 
« 
THE EAST INDIA AND CEYLON 
TEA CO.. LIMITED 
SHAREHOLDtRS' COMMITTEE WORK REVIEWRD. 
At last has the worm earned ? Is the redoubt- 
able, pious, artful, an.l wealthy Sir John Muir 
really to be called to account? We almost begin 
to hope, for here is a report by a committee of 
shareholders in a ■' Finlay-Muir Company," en- 
dowed with all the usual characteristics and 
barnacles, actually 
PBOPOSING THAT SHAREHOLDERS SHOULD MAKE 
THE MANAGEMENT 
into their own hands. They have excellent 
grounds for this proposal in the facts that 
they succeeded in unearthinor, althou^;h the 
overbearing or overshadowing Glasgow house 
