January i, 1892.] THE TROPICIM- AtJfTOCWLTUmST, 
455 
After giving a few of the trees to the Curator of the 
Eotaoio Gardens and the Director-General of Forests, 
there will be about 25 available for experimental pur- 
poses on the department's experimental farms at the 
Kichmond River and amongst surrounding farms. — 
Sydney Mail. 
[In' Ceylon the tree called illepai by the Tamils 
and migaha by the Sinhalese (Bassia longifolia) 
is closely allied to the Mahwa tree of India. We 
have eeen the road about two miles towards Dimbula 
from Nawalapitiya covtred with masses of the white 
blosBoms, as with wreaths of snow. — Ed. T. A.'] 
^ ^ 
THE TEA TRADE. 
The rapidity of the growth of the India and Ceylon, 
and of the decline of the China, tea trade ia re- 
markably exemplified by the British Board of Trade 
returns for the first nine months of the current year. 
During that period the importation into the United 
Kingdom amounted to 160| millions of lb. or 17| 
millions more thun in the same period of 1890 ; the 
home consumption was 149^ millions, or nearly 6| 
millions more than last year; the exportation was 
23| millions, or 5 millions less than in 1890 ; 
and the stock ol all kinds, on the 30th September, 
was 87 4-5th millions, apainst 81J millions in 1890. 
and 88| millions in 1889. The importation from 
India showed a decrease of 3 millions, and from 
China of 2 4-5!;li millions, the total being 
61 millions from the former and 45 millionf, 
from the latter country; but Cejion, with its 48| 
millions, showed an increase of 14;^ millions of pounds 
for the nine months. Thus tte importation from 
China was SJ millions less than that from Ce>lon, and 
was no less than 64J Biillious le^s than that from 
both India and Ceylon. The quantity of India tea 
taken for home consuBplio:i was nearly 71 millions, or 
nearly twice that of China lea, namely 39 millions, or 
of Ceylon tea, which was millions. Two-thirds of 
the teft now consume 1 in the United Kingdom is 
obtaiiiu 1 from India aud Ceylon. The exfortatiou of 
India hnd Ceylon tea is incoi;siderable, as it amounted 
to only 3j millions for the two products in the nine 
months : but the exportation of China tea was 18§ 
milliooe in 1891, ard 24i millions in 1890. The foreign 
demand for China tea in the London market thus fell 
off a fourth in the present year ; and it will moat pro- 
bably conlinne to decline, for India and Ceylon teas 
are beinaf largely shipped direct, via the Suez Canal, 
to the Continent, and when once the taste for them has 
been acquired consumers cannot he easily persuaded to 
go back to the unblended tea from China. The fol- 
Jowing extract from a London Market Report of the 
2l8t ultimo shows the estimation in which India and 
China teas respectively are row held by the trade: — 
" The Indian auctions today totalled 8,177 packages, 
ana passed throughout with fpirit, prices ruling gener- 
ally steady and strong for fine teas. At the China 
auctions of 10,572 packages, again a quantity of first 
crop Ningchows and Kintucks about 5,500 packages 
were forced off at phenomenally low prices, quality 
considered. Good first crop Ching Wo's Kaisaw 
and Savunei also were hammered for the best 
prices obtainable, some being described in catalogue 
as fine thorny truly represented the light in which the 
importers received them before the sale." 
A grent deal has been said about the superior deli- 
cacy of the flavour of China tea ; but the consumer 
who cannot atTord the fancy price demanded for 
fancy China tea appreciates the broad, even rough 
flavour of the brew from India or Cejloutea, and is 
content to dispense with the possibly more refined 
llnvour of the highest, or the, to him, unattainable 
deeoriplinns of China tea. Pound for pound the India 
and Cojlon t(as go farther in consumption, or are 
cheaper in use, and are much more taety than the 
China toas of an ordinary description. Itussia, America, 
and AuBtr.vlia slill consume China teas t't the exclusion 
of other teas*; but this preforonoe is due to an unfa- 
• Not now correct of Australia,— Ed. T. A. 
miliarity with those other teas which may not last 
long. Ceylon , lea is being pushed in Australia 
and New Zealand ; and the Chicago Exhibition will 
offer an excellent opportunity for pushing both India and 
Ceylon teas in the United States. In England tea from 
Ceylon was regarded as a curiosity only half-a-dozen 
years ago ; but cow it is sold and puffed by every 
grocer, and there is scarcely a railway station, or baffet 
which is not adorned with an ornamental poster, or 
card, setting forth the virtues of fome special tea from 
the spicy island. The growth from small beginnings of 
the India tea trade seemed marvellous, but it ia put 
in the shade by the rate of expansion of the tea trade 
of Ceylon; By all accounts the island has by no means 
reached the maximum of its productive power ; and it 
seems probable that, having succeeded in passing its 
China rival in the British market, it will at an early date 
run its India rival very close for pre-eminence. The 
Chinese will not be slow to consume the tea grown in 
their Empire for which the outside world makes no 
offer ; but there is comparatively very little home 
consumption of tea in India and Ceylon. The 
native in this part of the world has yet to acquire a 
teste for tea ; but when he doeJ acquire it, or when such 
taste, or appetite, is as general in India and Ceylon as 
it is in China, there may bono small difiicuUy in meet- 
ing the local demand that will arise, end in satisfyiLg 
also the increasing requirements of the world at larce, 
—E. Mail. 
SEEDING OF THE BAMBOO. 
The hardier species of Bamboo are becoming 
deservedly more popular year by year for the adorn- 
ment of English pleasure-grounds. One thing, 
however, seems not unlikely to be lost sight of by 
many, viz., the fact that the culms of the Bamboo 
flovcer but once, the plant perishing immediately 
after the ripening of the seed. The usefulness of 
the many species of Bamboo now introduced into 
England in the embelishment of our gardens cannot 
be questioned, at the same time there is yet to be 
considered the eventuality of the flowering, seeding, 
and consequent death of the plants — which no art 
of the gardener can stay— after they have reached 
the climax of their grace and beaiity. It would be, 
I imagine, almost impossible to determine the age 
at which these hardy Bamboos will produce flowers 
when grown in this country; most probably the term 
of years will differ with the various species. 
With regard to the great Bamboo of tropical India, 
Bambusa arundincea, it is a well ascertained fact, 
that the coming to maturity of this gigantic grass 
only occurs after a growth of some fifty years' dura- 
tion ; and as the phenomenon of its flowering, seed- 
ing, and subsequent death in India and other climes 
— where it covers with its huge and picturesque 
clumps many square miles of country — can have been 
seen but by few Englishmen of the present gener- 
ation, some account of the extraordinai-y spectacle 
by an eye-witness may prove of some little interest 
to the readers of this journal. 
It is unnecessary, of course, to give any lengthy 
description of the plant ; suffice it to say, that in the 
locality in India where I had the rare fortune of 
witnessing the flowering and seeding of this gigantic 
member of the grass family on a large scale, the 
culms frequently attain a height of from 60 to 70 
feet, and a diameter at their thickest part of from 8 
to 10 inches. These culms are furnished with lateral 
branches, throughout their whole length adorned with 
a profusion of light green leaves. The plant is de- 
ciduous, shedding its leaves in India during the dry 
season, which are agaiii renewed on the approach of 
the spring showers. The clumps present tlie appear- 
ance of colossal plumes of feathers, and when seen 
in full leaf are beautiful beyond description. 
The soil of the tracts of country the Bamboo 
affects in South India is mostly of a shallow nature, 
with a gritty, ferruginous subsoil, and it is not found 
where the rainfall ia excessive. When tlio clumps 
arc in full vigour, the culms are produced of the above 
diraonsious with amazing rapidity. 
