302 
TNT TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November 2, 18913 
others. If we may be permitted to place two at <h^ 
head of the list as most valuable, we would name red 
clover and the cow pes, the former for general use 
and the latter Bsbetteaited to this locality. Among 
the numerous crops used for ihis purpose are, buck 
wheat, rye, oats, corn and millet. The Hon. George 
Geddes, wellknown throughout the United States as a 
practical and pcientifio farmer, says of the clover : 
" If our soils require improving, we tnrn the clover 
crop under and repeat the operation until there is 
sufficient fertility to allow us to carry the clover off. 
The oftener we can fill the soil with roots and then 
plough them under and thus allow them to rot, the 
sooner do we expect to get our land in condition to 
bear a crop of grain. A very considerable part of the 
cultivated land in Central and Western New York 
has never Lad any other manuring than this clover 
and gypsum, and its fertility is not diminishing." 
Ee states that ho had afield which for 74 years had 
been manuring with nothing except clover grown upon 
it and ploughed in, and that this fipld had produced 
wheat, corn, oats, barley and grass. The clover thus 
used had, for 50 years, been regularly treated with 
gypsum, and that the land was constantly increasing in 
fertility. — Indian Agriculturist. 
THE CEYLON TEA TRADE : 
HOW IT IS OUTSTRIPPING THE COM- 
MERCE OE CHINA. 
CURING THE LEAP BY MACHINERY. 
How THE Failure of the Ooffee Fields in the 
Island Led to the Enthancb or the English 
PLANTEH3 into COMPETITION WITH THE GUEAT 
Chinese Monopoly — The Mongolians Geeatly 
Alaemed— Some Comments on Dr. Bkdl'.e's Recent 
Lettee. 
The reader of Dr. Bedlce's interesting letter on 
tea, which appeared in the " Times " of the 25th 
of July, will find certain statements which might 
be misleading, though much of the information volun- 
teered is only too true. The present writer, a tea 
and coffee planter of ten years' experience, knows 
well that it is a fact that tea unfit for use is shipped 
from China to America, But the fault lies with the 
American con'^umer for refusing to pay for a good 
tea, or, to go deeper in the matter, it lies with the 
government tor allowing inferior teas to be imported. 
The China tea trade among the lower and, I regret to 
Bsy, eyen among the middle and intelligent classes, 
is demoralized by the "present" or "gift" sys- 
tem referred to by Dr. Bedloe, and this also ought 
to be stopped by legislation. Tea as an article of diet, 
ought to be prepared, bought and sold intelligently ; 
not adulterated to sell, sold as adulterated, and bought 
in the glare of electric lights, fancy glassware, dinner 
sets or silver spoons. 
Green teas ought to be avoided as impure. No 
tea can look green and be pure. Place any green 
leaf on the stove in your kitchen. Does it remain 
green ? Of course not ; and to keep its clear artificial 
coloring matter must be rubbed into the leaf after 
rolling. Moral : Drink blank tea, or at least try and 
educate yourself to do so. 
It is useless to quote in full all the appeals made to 
the Govemmfnt to stop the importation of teas " too 
vile to drink." Dr. Bedloe's predeceESor sent a dis- 
patch to tlie Secretary of State in July, 1889, calling 
attention to tho inferior quality of much of the Amoy 
Oolong tea exported to the United States and advo- 
cating protection for the American public. 
Allowing, hoA'ever, that much, very much, of Ihe 
China tea imrorted is below the standard of good 
tea, Dr. Bodloo can scarcely speak with authority 
when he says there is no fine tea in America. There 
are not a few gentlemen in this city in old established tea 
houies who must consider this stateraont justa little rash. 
Good housi H import " fine " teas which are sold at such 
prices as Dr. IJiidloo quotes, and 1 have uo doubt they 
would bu all \oiy well pleased to eell nothing else 
1 the American pooplo would pay for quality and 
drink " fine" tea. So much for China tfa. Now for 
" the Briloa." " The bold Briton permits patriotism 
and his purse to guide his palate and uses the 
vitriolic horrors of Ceylon and India," Now is 
this so ? 
Not many days previous to Dr. Bedloe's depar- 
ture I had the pleasure of meeting him at the 
Philadelphia Sbttoh Club, and as he is one of my 
oldest customers I lit tened with pleasure to his eulo- 
gies on that vitriolic horror, Ceylon tea. Now, alas ! 
Formosa Oolong at $50 per pound reigns supreme 
with him, while Ceylon " vitriol," lately sold at 
,^125 perpound in the London market, is the memory 
of a depraved taste. And this brings me to the 
history of Ceylon as a tea-growing country. 
When I first went to Ceylon in July, 187G, a few 
acres of tea might have been found and pointed out 
as a curiofity. It was then of no value. Looking 
from my verandah in Dimboola I could view a 
" sea " of coffee, green, healthy-looking and bearing 
one of the heaviest crops known. Today, from the 
same spot, not a coffee bush can be seen, 
but only tea ! tea ! tea ! A deadly fungus, 
attacking the coffee leaf and causing it to 
drop off, has caused this change. Old King Coffee has 
gone and Tea reigns in his stead. The old ooflfee store 
has become the tea factory, the bagful of ripe red 
'• cherry " coffee is seen no longer ; the basketful of 
green tea leaf has taken its place. 
No sooner was it known that coffee was doomed 
than the Ceylon planter put his shoulder to the wheel 
and began to change the face of the country and to 
alter its staple from coffee to tea. This resulted in 
the mott astounding success in the annals of " exten- 
sive " cultivation. 
Tea is a shiub indigenous to India — not imported 
from China. It is planted out on the estate generally 
as a small nursery plant, in line and at measured dis- 
tance from its neighbors. It grows at any elevation, 
but quicker at a low elevation. I have known tea grow 
higher in one year than I could reach at a low elevation, 
while in the high districts it would take two or three 
years to attain the height of say six feet. When fully 
matured it is pruned down to twenty inches, the result 
being a flush of young wood. This is what is wanted for 
"leaf," but to allow the bush an opportunity to give us ^ 
surface to pluck from it is left for a time. The leaf 
is then plucked, not from the sidee, which increase 
the surface, but the top. Two leaves and a half are 
used for manufacture, those lower down being con- 
sidered too coarse. 
In plucking, we have three grades of tea, viz., the 
terminal leaf bud, and the very small leaf, called 
" Piowery" or " Orange" Pekoe. Then comes the 
medium leaf, called "Pekoes," and lastly the largest 
and coarsest, called " Pekoe Souchong." All are plucked 
and put in the basket indiscriminately to be sifted out 
after manufacture. 
Twice a day the baskets of tea leaf are taken to 
the factory and spread out thinly on canvas to wither, 
that is, become soft and pliable. 
The leaf thus spread out in the evening woald be 
ready for rolling next day. It will be observed from 
the above illustration that the withering takes place 
in the interior of the faccory, not in the sun. 
When sufficiently withered the leaf is let down 
through a funnel into the " roller," which has taken 
the place of the hands and feet of the great unwashed. 
This machine oonsiats of a receptacle for the leaf, 
on which pressure is automatically applied. The rol- 
ling surfaces, which move at right angles to one 
another, but appear by a peculiar crank motion to 
be, revolving, are made of wood, so that the tea leaf 
does not come in contact with any metal. 
The lea when rolled is received in a trolley from 
tho bottom of the machine and appears like cooked 
npinaoh and green. If fired immediately it would be 
H pure green teij^and would in process of firipg turn 
black. It is, however, laid thickly on a table or in 
drawers for a season to oxidize, and in an hour it 
will have commenced to turn from green to a bright 
brown color. This is a matter which requires careful 
attention, as over fermenting or under fermeniiDg 
