May 1, 1902.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
^35 
to breeders were followed, it would add to the interests 
of farmers. The group classes also give a new and 
useful feature. 
Pronainent amongst the recognised attractions of 
many shows are the jumping competitions, which 
with their regulation single hurdle, gate, double 
hurdle, wall and water have become well-kaown insti- 
tutions. The greatest credit is due to the originator 
of the beiding competitions for polo ponies which 
have deservedly become popular since they were first 
instituted. Occasionally, too, public interest is sti 
mulated by a driving competition, but for this a large 
area of ground is required to do it well, such as the 
big ring of the R A S E. It goes without ftirther 
Eaving that in sport-loving England such competitions 
ought to be keenly contested. 
AmonK other suggestions a correspondent says that 
bare-backed riding competitions would be likely at- 
tractions, even though they might be characterised 
by some critics as circus performances, though why a 
man's ability as a bnre-backed rider should be derided 
whilst his seat in the saddle is applauded, no one who 
has witnessed the ride of the cavalry men fr m the 
Canterbury Depot at the 'Military Tournament is 
likely to understand. Pursuit race', embodying 
mounting and dismounting, saddling and unsaddling 
tests, should surely be the means of assisting " gates": 
and, should it be desired to combine instruction with 
entertainment, an exhibition of breaking unmanage- 
able horses might be appreciated by a good number of 
visitors whose duties bring them into collision with 
evil-tempered beasts. Then the parades of cart 
horses in gear might be increased and enlist the 
interest of the users of hor.°es in towns and lead to 
further emulation amongst them, with the result that 
they desire to possess superior teams. — Agricutural 
Journal and Mining Record. 
PRODUCE AND PLANTING. " 
The usual monthly statistics of the values of the 
repiesentative group of Indian and Oeylon 
TEA PLANTING COMPANIES' 
shares, compiled by Mr, George Seton, of the 
Indian Tea Share Exchange, 120, Bishopsgate 
Street Within, E. C-, show that the market value of 
forty-five companies (thirty-six Indian and nine Cey- 
lon) remained aImos'« exactly as it stood a month 
previously. In a few cases there was a slight fall, 
bat this was rather more than counter-balanced by a 
corresponding slight lise in others : — 
Face value of forty-five companies .. £9..5O0,O00 
Market value July 1, 1897 highest .. £12,000.000 
January 1, 1901 .. .. 8,550,000 
July 1, 1901 .. .. 7,000,000 
January 1. 1903 . . . . 6,990,000 
February 1, 1902 .. .. fi,880,000 
March 1, 1902 .. .. 6,890,000 
The grand totil of the share and debenture capital 
of 152 compaiiies (86 Indian and 68 Cejlon) of which 
particulars are obtainable a-Tiounts to nearly £18,000,000 
so that, on the basis of the above figures, it is esti- 
mated that the fluctuation in value for the whole has 
been approximately as follows : — Face value of o!i)-)ital 
of 152 companies £18,000,000 ; market value as a July 
1, 1897, £22,750,000; market value as at March 1, 1902, 
£13,000^000 • or a depreciation of nearly 43 per cent, 
in less than five years' time. 
There is no doubt that the work done on behalf of 
Indian and Ceylon tea in connection with 
EXHIBITIONS 
is most effective. The Paris correspondent of the 
Pall Mall Gazette, bears testimonj' to this in referring 
to the development of tea drinking in France. He 
says : — " Oca of the most striking of recent innovations 
in Paris is the number of tea-rooms that have sprung 
up. They nearly all date from the Exhibition, where 
there was much selling and drinking of tea, principally 
Ceylon teas. Most of the tea now drunk in Paris comes 
from the British Crown Colony, and should therefore 
be a subject of gratification to English people. While, 
of course, the five o'clock tea in the home circle is not 
new, this foregathering in restaurants for the cousnmp- 
tion of tea and toast is quite a recent development. A 
fashionable rendezvous is a large hotel in the Champs 
Elysees, where the Parisian comes of an afternoon 
with his women-folk to drink tea and listen to the 
strains of an excellent band. i\]ost of the great hotels 
have a'l institution of the kind, and certain of the most 
popular tea-houses have a passable orctiestra. Music, 
possibly, is regarded as a sort of compensation for poor 
toast and muiiias ; that is one of the secrets that the 
French have not learned The vocabulary of the 
tea-house, like that of football and ping-pong, is Eng- 
lish. One easily slides into ' tea and toast ' ; it is a 
good working formula, and, if you draw near, you may 
hear Blonsieur trying a little English on his female 
friends who seem to stand it remarkably well or cast- 
ing a semi-cri-tical eye over the JS^eio Yor% Rerald. The 
tea hour will not displace the hour of the aperitiff 
because that comes at the end of the working day, but 
the new-found devotion of the leisured classes co tea 
drinking is a most notable social change. 
The New York journal, "Tea, Coffee and Sugar," is 
optimisiio about the prospects of 
TEA PRODUCTION 
in the Southern States of America, li says : '• The tea 
producers and shippers in ( hina and Japan are watching 
with interest the experiments of Dr Shepard at Sum- 
merville in the growing of tea and the development of 
the commercial possibilities of the industry as shown 
by the establishment of the gardens of the American 
Tea Growing Company near Charleston. The Agri- 
cultural Department of the United States has an 
agent in the Orient, studying conditiousin that section 
of the world, and in a report ho has made to Secretary 
Wilson he (alls attention to this matter of the tea 
growing industry of the United States and the interest 
taken in it in the Far East. The Chinese and Japanese 
growers express the opinion that the undertaking 
will not be successful because of the difficulty of 
securing cheap labour, but this problem has been 
practiciilly solved by Dr. Shepard, as peihapa they 
do not know. If they were more familiar with the 
conditions that have been developed here as to the 
possibilities of tea production, they would pr^jbably 
understand that their monopoly of this trade cannot 
longer be maintained in the American market." China 
and Japan tea growers may be watchful, but we 
doubt if they are anxious. If so, they are easily 
alarmed. As Indian and Ceylon growers are not 
mentioned ia. this connection, perhaps they do not 
count. Anyway, they are accepting the situation 
philosophically at present. 
The March circular of the British Chamber of 
Commerce, Paris, has the following wiih reference 
to the protracted question as to the French duties 
on colonial produce : " The Bill to which we referred 
in our monthly circulars for January and February 
has now been voted by the Senate and promul- 
gated as a law under date of February 22, 1902. 
In this connection decrees have been issued 
to the following effect : — The duties provided 
for by the minimum tariff will continue to be 
apnlied provisionally to colonial produce mentioned 
ill article 1 of the laws of February 24, 1900, and 
July 17, 1900, coming from China, Corea, Bthiopin-, 
Slam, the Republic of Liberia, Muscat, Straits Settle- 
ments, Rlalay Federated States and Hong Kong. 
The duties provided for by the minimum tariff will 
continue to be applied during six months from 
February 24, 1903, to colonial produce mentioned 
in article 1 of the laws of February 24, 1900, and 
July 17, 1900, coming from the United States of 
America, Porto Rico, Peru, Guatemala, Nicaragua, 
Honduras, British India, Ceylon, Mauritius, the 
Seychelles Islands, Jamaica, Dutch Indies, Gernran 
possessions in Africa, Spanish possessions of Fernando 
Po, Annobon, Corisoo, Elobey, and on the west coast 
of Afiica." 
