Ii6 
tMF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[August i, 1890. 
“ How is the tea arranged for ?” 
“ It is done in this way. A middleman goes up the 
country early in the year, atidarranges for so much tea to 
be sent down to a giv^n port. This is I rought down and 
prepared for the European market by being what is 
called “ fired,” that is, dried on a plate. This process 
fixes the active principle in the tea, and kills the fermen- 
tation which would otherwise take place, and allows 
it to be shipped and carried to its place . f destination. 
It depends on the price got for the first crop as to 
whether it is thought worth while to bring down other 
crops.” 
The Battle op the Teas. 
“Twenty-five years, ago,” proceeded Mr. Wil- 
son, “ our snpplv of lea was drawn almost 
entirely from China and Japan, and British- 
grown tea was then struggling into existence, 
though the cultivation of the plant in India was just 
becoming known in the commercial world. The grow- 
ing appreciation of Indinn tea by the British public 
BO steadily encouraged this new industry that the 
article gradually cheapened : tea was thus brought 
within reach of the masses of the population, and 
its consumption greatly Increased. In' ian tea was 
found to pos ess qualities which imp irted such s'rength 
and character to the wi aker liquoiin^; China teas, 
that it was largely useil for b'emiing. China t( a reached 
its highest point in 1879, when about 130,000.000 lb. 
was consumed in this country, but s nee that time 
it has rapidly deer' ased, whi e Indian and Ceyion teas 
have as rapidly grown. You can see quite clearly 
this fact in this diagram, which shows the rise ai d 
fall of the two cl.-sses of tea with black and red lines.” 
“ Do you think the reduction of the duty will 
continue to benefit British grown tea?” 
“Yes; we thina it widuo Indian and Ceylon teas 
good at the lurthn’ exieise of the China tea. Not- 
withsraudii ■ an advanc in price, anice April, of from 
111 to 2.1 p r pound in Indian au'l Cey'oii tea, there 
has iieei. no sd ani e in the price of China tea, even 
when the Bm g t proposals became known. There was 
astioig teelint! when the reduction was announced, 
that China tea being cheaper, there would be a run 
upon them, hut the public evidently know when they 
Get Hold cf a Good Thing, 
and having to ted Indian and Ion tea they do n®*" 
c le t' go t. ck to the r ■ id love-” 
‘You U ink th public taste is now settled in favour 
of Biitisli giowu t- B ? ” 
• Oh, es, end a ma who Q'e iv s hi- customers 
In an t a ca'' ot get tin in to i< tu n to China tea. 
“ W. ert- do the gi'ea t t a drinkers ex.st ? ” 
“ In Au trii'ia and N.wZe land, when- '.he nnual 
aeerag consump on in nds p. r head is 7’b6. In 
Engl ud it is only 4 70 «vhil - in Canada it is 3'69. 
N Europ an c untrv pprosches that am' Unt of tea 
dr nking. But in sp te of the increaS'-i in the use of 
tea the pr. duction has run ahead ■ f con.-umpiion, and 
no hi g but 'h speedy opening of n w n arket- can 
cherk t e downward cours' o | rices. Bussia in spite 
of her large c >nsnm|dion t krs very little Indian or 
Ceylon tea, tut confines herseli a'most entirely to 
Ch na ea, a d conaum s laig quautties of the very 
fines' and m. S' de ic tel\ flivuured d» s. riptious. Indian 
tea- have now been inti' dm ed all eve Ameri' a and 
Canarli, and are doing wed, an > their teas are now 
making the same strides abr' ad as at home.” 
“ Are there special advanta_.es in the preparation 
of Indian tea ? ” 
“ Ye-, it is a perfectly e'ean tea. It is prepared 
entirely by machinery, and is never touched b> the 
coolies fn m the time it is picked to the time it is 
drunk. Tbi re is machinery for everything. The China 
tea ia manipulated bj hand entirely, wi' b no European 
supervision at all. It is never seen until it comes to the 
ports lor sb!' , and they can put ai y soil of leaf in, and 
pass it off for tea. At one time gn en tea was 
Eaced with Steel Filings, 
and we used to keep a magnet in i he office to test it 
to the tutwe oi the trade ?” 
“Well, he who deals with futures is generally wrong, 
but my opinion is, and 1 think I am right this time, that 
Indian and Ceylon tea will gradually abolish the Chinese 
article. Mr. A. G. Stanton, a member of our firm, has 
just returned from a visit to the United States and 
Canada, undertasen in a great measure to ascertain the 
present position of the trade in British-grown tea. He 
says it is surprising to see what rapid strides have been 
made there by these teas. The industry is taking firm 
root there, and he feels sure that before many years 
have passed, the United States and Canada will be 
markets of considerable dimensions. Ceylon tea, he 
says, has certainly bit the American public taste, and 
the development of the trade will no doubt give better 
average prices to the planters .” — The Oracle. 
PLANTING IN DELI. 
Throughout Deli in May the weather proved 
highly favourable for planting, though heavy rain 
fell on several estates. Most of the planters profess 
themselves highly satisfied with the outlook. The 
growing crops bear a promising appearance. On 
some estates, where planting had begun early, the 
tobacco is already in the drying sheds,- Holt’s com- 
pany this year shipped 118,000 bajes of tobacco 
against 87,000 during the corresponding period of 
1889. The Deli Company reports a career of pros- 
perity in 1889 on the sixteen estates in its hands, 
and congratulates the shareholders on the success 
of the efforts to secure coolies direct from China, 
though at excessively high rates which are ex- 
pected to fall ere long. The quality of those from 
Amoy leaves so much to desire, that the planters 
will not have any more from that port, but the 
Government sets so little store by this feeling as 
to choose that city as station for the Netherlands 
Consul in South China. The company has not 
yet been able to engage Tamil coolies, owing to 
the Government delaying in oonoluding an im- 
migration convention with the Indian authorities. 
It has too, an eye for higher things than tobacco 
planting, and has co-operated in a movement to 
station among the free Battaks in the interior a 
Protestant missionary to counteract the Mohamedan 
propaganda now busy among them. A worker has 
already been chosen, and funds for three years’ 
trial under under his supervision have been collected. 
The continuation of the work after that period de- 
penus upon results. 
The Chinese coolie who murdered Dermont, the 
estate assistant in Assahan, has been sentenced 
to death by the Criminal Court there. The exe 
cution will take place at the scene of the crime. — 
Stiaits Times, June 25th. 
♦ 
THE WESTERN FEONTIEES OF CHINA AND 
THE RIVAL INDIAN AND CHINA 
TEA TRADES. 
A lecture delivered last month before the Society 
of Arts, by Mr. D. 0. Boulger. the historian of China, 
will be read with much attention by everybody who 
is interested in the relations between China on the 
cne baud and the three great European powers that 
are now, as it were, knocking at her western and 
southern gates, that is. Great Britain, France, and 
Kussia. Apart from the desire of Great Britain to 
see the expansion of Russia checked in Central Asia, 
the Thibetan question will be watched with great 
interest by Inoian traders, and principally by the tea 
planters of Assam, who are at present debarred from 
competing with the Chinese monopolists of one of the 
best tea markets in the world. On this subject, how- 
ever, Mr. Boulger does not touch. Writing over twenty 
years ago on this point, Mr. T. T. Cuoper, in his 
weUknown ‘ Pioneer of Commerce,’ said that, with 
an open trade route, the Assam teas would drive 
