32 
THE TROPICAL AQf^ICULTURlST. 
[July i, 1891. 
NOTES ON PRODUCE AND FINANCE- 
Tna Gbowing Importance of Tea. — A (fiance at 
iho repovta of the various tea companies issued at 
this season of the year, and reproduced in these 
columns, will convey to the reader who ha« no stake 
in tea Bome idea of the importanoe of tlie industry. 
For reasons heat known to investors there is less in~ 
terest taken in the Oity in these companies and the 
results of their working for the year than there should 
be. This is, no doubt, because there is such a linnited 
market for the shares. When this is remedied, and 
transactions in tea shires are more frequent, th& 
reports of these companies will be read with inoreas- 
iug general interest, and investors will be more on 
the alert in the matter of share quotations. 
Tea and Coffee in Fiji. — With reference to the 
paragraph in our last week's issue, in which there was 
some mention of an attempt to resuscitate coffee 
planting in Fiji, it is pointed ont by a correspondent 
that both the coffee and tea planting experiments 
are failures up to the present time, owing, no donbt, 
to the labour difficulty; but although the difficulty 
should al.'^o apply to the cultivation of sugar, that in- 
dustry seems to be ex'ending rapidly, and the Colo- 
nial Sugar Oo!i pany, which practically holds a mono 
poly of the industry of the islands, has opened ou;t 
some splendid new country latttly on the La Batia 
River, on the lar^e islands of Vanua Levu. 
Coffee in Mexico. — During the last four years, 
says a Mexicsn ppper, c ffee has become one 
of the principal products of iMexico. The new 
transportation facilities offered to traffic by the rail- 
ways which are giriting and formint; a network in 
that flourishing republic have encouraged the coffee 
raisers to increase their production. In Cordoba, 
State of Vera Oruz, one of the principal centres 
of production, the cost of the cultivation of the 
precious grain is about 7 dols. per 100 lb. and its 
eelling price from 22 dols. to 23 dols. and some- 
times higher. This proves what has been said about 
the immense profits which the coffee raisers can 
obtain in Mexico. Next to hemp or hennequin, 
coffee occupies the highest place in the exportation 
of Mexican products. Aeoording to Mexican sta- 
tistics, from 1881 to 1886 the yearly average ex- 
port.jtiou of coffee wbs 1,722,429 dols.; from 1886 to 
3887 it ascended to 2,627,377 doli.; from 1888 to 1889 
■the sura was 3 836,034 dola.; and finally, from 1880 to 
1890 it reached 4.841,000 dois. As can be seen, the 
production of coffee in Mexico has been quadrupled 
in the last decade. — H. and C. Mail, May 1st. 
The Geocek and Packet Teas.— Grocers resput 
the action of packet tta proprie''ors in eppoinsiag 
agents outside the trade, and some of them affect a 
lofty tone in dealing with the question. A correspond- 
ent of the Grocer, writing on the subjpct, lnys down 
the law thus: — " Thii way packers of Ceylon and other 
teas appoint agents seems to require an understaad- 
iufj amongst grocers of g'ood standing in the re- 
tail trade. The protended 'presents' have done crocrr^ 
much harm and deluded the public, but another serious 
mischief is growing. The tea firms who appoint dra- 
ppr", stationers, confectioners, ironmongers, &c., as 
agents should be noted and avoided by grocers. Gro- 
cers' ns.sociiitions should occasionally have an united 
c.'nterr-nce with representatives from all towns todi-- 
cuss and inform all ahi ut such firms, as to who thoy 
•re and the tricks .'i.iui dodges playrd. so as to make 
it not worth their while to call cn any re.spectable 
grocers. Today I had a travellpr call to ask me to 
take any Hg'ncy for some 'C<-ylon' tea. Wlien I 
riTninded liino that a stationer in town whs agent 
for the firm, be rf pHed, 'Ceylon has nothing to di 
ivith the otter tea ' My remarks Fooa caused his 
exit. Another question is imriortiiut: How many 
firms appoint solo agents and have no ro'^pecl 
to ev.'n a written ai)pointmBnt, unless that 
writti I) appointment is ^tIlmpc^d ! I know there are 
two Hides to tho qufstioii, but retnil firocecs need to 
diHonsB their own side, and largo firms may be left to 
look after their own interests, although many firms 
would sell more in ten years through one good grocer 
Jin a town than through several grocers selling a pro- 
priptary artifle for only a few years. Sole agents (not 
to monopolise) are fast becoming a necessity to enable 
certain packed articles to be supplied in some towns. 
I know a grocer who received a sole agency in writing 
and wisely had it stamped. After a time the firm sent 
a traveller to open accounts anywhere, grocers or 
otherwise, quite regardless of their written appointment 
and wi'-hout notifying their agent of any dissatisfac- 
tion whatever ; but the biter was bitten, as the 
shrewd grocer demanded recompense for breach of 
contract, and obtained what he demanded, ns the firm 
preferred pay to publicity in a court. I have no desire 
to interfere with legitimate trade, but high-flying pro- 
fessions by tea-packers and others require caution 
and communications between grocers. I intend stamp- 
ing all future agencies I accept, as I decliue being made 
a eatspaw to introduce to a good family trade this, that, 
and the other, and then, when a trade is made, let Tom, 
Diek, and Harry run away with the profit. Introducing 
goo<^R costs time and energy, and these are not easy to 
obtain for money." 
Cheap Tea. — Discussing the evils of cheap tea at 
a public dinner, Mr. Kobert Stewart, of Messrs. 
Semple, McL°an, and Reed, tea dealers of Glasgow, 
said that when he entered the firm twenty-five years 
ago the total imports of tea from all quarters amounted 
to 137,000,000 lb. Last year it reached »he enormous 
amount of 228,520,000 lb., or an increase of 91,.5O0,O001b. 
thus showing that tea, which at no remote period was 
considered a luxury, had become a necessary food of 
the people. That being so, it was much to be regretted 
that durin? 'h" pa«t few years there had got into the 
trade a number of adventurers whose only claim to 
public notice was ♦,heir special aptitude for framing 
advertisements which would have brought the blush 
of shame to the cheek of Baron Munchausen. These 
advertisements the public swallowed as eagerly as they 
Kwftllowed the vile concoctions which they praised. It 
was high time our medical authorities and the Health 
Committee of Glasgow Town Conncil should intervene, 
ff^r he thought that not a small percentage of the 
excessive death-rate in the large centres of population 
could be traced to the immoderate use of low grades 
of an article called tea. — Home and Colonial Mail, 
May 8th, 
Tea Infused with Milk, — A oorrespondent who, 
weakened by illness and unwilling as an abstainer 
from intoxicants to take ordinary stimulant, writes 
to us advocating the use of tea infused with boiling 
milk, instead of water. He tells us that his medical 
man reoommended tea in this form as a most 
agreeable stimulant, and one which he has found 
very effioacious. It neutralises the tannin, and 
renders tea acceptable even to palates not ao- 
cnstomed to it, and to invalids. Certainly tea infused 
with milk will be found both agreeable and refreshing, 
—H. and C. Mail. 
North Borneo Coffee. — A sample of Mr. Chris- 
tian's Li'ierirtD coffee grown on the Victoria estate, 
Kudat, was received by Messrs. W. Jas. & H. Thomp- 
.«on of Mincing Lane who report upon it (on the Slst 
of January) ss being worth 86s to 88s per cwt. A 
"ample of Ceylon-grown Libfrian coffee of somewhat 
inferior size, but better cured and consequently of 
bettor color, was valued at 929. The Borneo bean 
ha.'i been shown to eeveral gentlemen in the Lane 
who speak very favourably of its qo.ality, and the 
general feeling is that African coffee is coming into 
favor. Messrs. AVilson Smithett & Co. state that the 
world's consumption of coffee is roundly estimated at 
650,000 tons per annum and that supplies have steadily 
fallen off during the past five years. Those who are 
a cquainted with the East are already aware of the 
serious dcfici'incy in tho exports from India, Ceylon, 
and J:iva, and it would appear that the present is a 
favourable time for planting coffee on a large fc»ie, — 
British North Borneo Herald. 
