648 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[March 2 , 1891 . 
They are calculated to Nov. .SO, and show the per- 
centage of consumption of each kind of leaf. 
1878. 
1881. 1884, 1887. 1890. 
China 
77 
70 C3 
49 30 
India 
23 
30 36 
45 52 
Ceylon 
... — 
— 1 
6 18 
That there 
must be 
a limit to 
this decline very 
few will, we imagine, be found to deny. The re- 
duction in stocks may indeed indicate that it has 
been approximately reached : for the falling-oS' in 
deliveries has not been commensurate with tVe 
decline in imports, and a decrease has consequently 
to be noted in the usual reserve. Many people 
still prefer China tea ; many will drink no other, 
recognising in it a delicacy of flavour which neither 
India nor Ceylon can rival. But for the large 
majority, to whom economy is a prior considera- 
tion, the greater strength and flavour of the latter, 
and its capacity to go on throwing off highly- 
coloured liquid after several waterings, preclude 
any question of return to the old order of things. 
What is wanted--we cannot repeat it too often — 
is such an alleviation in China as shall give the 
grower, there, a chance of competing with his 
Indian rival. We have often pointed out that the 
increasing demand from Eussia has compensated, 
so far, for the decline in England ; but there has 
been a check, this year, even in that dispen- 
sation ; and we decline to believe but that India 
and Ceylon will find a way of cutting into the 
Eussian trade, also, if the Chinese Government 
persists in maintaining an export duty of nearer 
30 than 5 per cent, ad valorem, and in allowing its 
provincial subordinates to pile on lekin in addition. 
. — L, # G. Express. 
^ 
NOTES ON PEODUCE ANl) FINANCE. 
The Doty on Tea in America. — A telecram from 
Washington states that the Ways and Meaus Com- 
mittee of the House has agreed to favourably reprrt 
file Bill imposing 10 per cent duty on teas imported 
faom countries which difcrimiuate ogaiust the United 
States. The object of the Bill is to meet the dis- 
criminating duty levied by the Canadiiii Government 
on tias imported through tlie United States, 
Cheap Tea. — At a meelinsr of the Manchester As- 
sociation of AVholesale Tea Dealers, the subject of 
inferior tea and unscrupulous advertisements came 
under discussion. One member thought the time had 
come when the tea-dealers of this country should 
warn tbo public against buying the shilling and oue- 
and-sixpenny rubbish so extensively advertised aa tea. 
The trade was doing itself an injury by quietly allowing' 
such injurious rubbish to be retailed to the public, 
to Bay nothing of keeping down profits. It was urged 
that an effort should be made to show the publie 
that it was really false economy to drink low-priood 
tea. The president said he thought it would not serve 
any useful purpose if the association issued a manifesto, 
for if he were a non trader, and such a thiug as 
deleterious matter in tea mot his eye, ha should feel 
inclined to give up drinking tea altogether. If any 
proposal were made aa to the desirability of using 
good and genuine tea only, then ho would favour such 
a proposal, bub he was not disposed to sanction the 
publication of a manifesto. Ultimately the matter 
was referred to a Bub-committee. — H. and C. Mail. 
TEA CUBING^ IN CHINA. 
Thoie who are unacquainted with the molhod of 
curing tea in China may feel interested in the following 
extract from a jiapor on tho subject read by M, U. 
I’raudin, Secretary of tho French Legation, at a 
meeting of tho Oriental Society at Pekin. Mr. Fraudin, 
after dcBorihii.g the diircrence between black and green 
tea, said A description of tho manipulatiou to which 
the tea is subjected will show the green tea is only 
rlitilingmshcd from black ton, by the fact tlul the 
green haB not been torrefied, or dried by beat, in the 
aamo maimer a* tho black, 'flio leaves once gathered 
pie spread in light layers on straw mats. They are ex- 
posed to the sun until they art withered. They are th e 
put in bamboo trays, and are triturated by the feet. A 
part of the juice of the leaf escapes, »nd after this opeia- 
tion the leaves are exposed again, and again triturated 
and continually agitated. But the drying is still 
not complete. The drying is still continued in 
rattan cylinders, which are separated into two 
parts by a bamboo partition. Underneath the 
cylinder is a chabng dish of ignited cliarooal. The 
leaves are thrown on the concavity of the se- 
paration, which is , furnished with a cover. From 
time to time the cover is raised, and the agitation 
is continued. When the leaves are completely dried, 
the cultivator has finished his work. 
The tea merchant then takes possession of 
the tea. He delivers the tea to womou and 
children, who remove the stems of the leaves and 
the little wooden twigs which often remain attached 
to the young sprouts. For black teas the leaves 
thus cleaned are put again in the cylinders above 
described. They are again dried. Ther: then gently 
crushed by tho hand, and the operatnm of heating, 
or torrefactioD, is repented until all the leaves can 
pass tlirough a series of holes of different dimeneions. 
The tea is then thrown into a wiuuowiug machine, 
which separ.ates the heavy from the light leaves and 
removes the dust. The light leaves and the dust go 
to make “ brick tea.” The green teas are first dried 
in the shade and afterwards dried in the same cy- 
linder, but of which the concave separation is made 
by a plate of metal. Their colour is preserved by 
means of indigo. It remains, then, only to make 
the mixture of teas of different localities. The 
toas are boxed and shipped all over the world. 
Teas of first quality are nearly always the pro- 
duct of the first gathering. Sometimes, however, 
the second is good. Teas exported from Hankow 
have the generic name of “congou lea.” The best 
comes from Ningchow, but it is also furnished by 
Hu Kuang and Ho-uau. T.be best black teas of 
Fukien are designated by the generic name of “ con- 
gou tea ” and “ souchong ten.” They come from the 
districts of Tenmon, Kai-su, Seng Ohtng, Cheng Lock, 
Fockon, Pan Yang, You-kai, Pack Long, Pack-linn, 
The mean value of the congou and the souchong of 
best quality is forty ticls the picul. Inferior teas of 
these grades bring 7 taeis thepisul. Dust tea -Jarics 
from 3 to 5 taels the picul, 'i lie boxes generally 
weigh 28'7 kilogp. The superior teas are chiefly bought 
by the Russians. They are sent to Moscow by land, 
through Mongolia and Siberia and are called caravan 
teas. But a great deal of tea is sent by sea to Odessa. 
In the struggle of the Chinese merchants with the 
teas of ludia and Ceylon they mix teas of difierent 
prices. The largest part of their consignments ought 
not to cost more than 20 to 25 cents a pound, delivered 
in the London market. Frauds are sometimes prac- 
tised and leaves of other shrubs are mixed with the 
tea leaves. 
The brick tea business is exclusively in Russian hands. 
The two places at which it is manufactured are Foo- 
chow and Hankow. There are three kinds of bricks — 
(1) the brick of black tea imported into Siberia and 
some other Russian provinces; (2) the brick of green 
tea, much sought by tho nomad tribes of China and 
OeuWal Asia ; (3) the tablet of superior tea sent to 
Russia. The brick of blaok tea is made of the leaves 
of the second and third gatherings, which are gene- 
rally' over-mature. It contains tho light leaves, the 
stems, the dust, the twigs and residue of the superior 
teas left over from former years. These substances 
are all reduced to powder aud mixed together. The 
qusniity necessary to make a brick is put into a 
piece of cloth. This piece of cloth is passed, with its 
contents, during several seconds in a jet of steam. 
Then this moist dust is put into a wooden mould 
which has been covered with a light layer of dry tea 
powder of batter quality than the oontents of tho 
cloth, and then is pressed in a steam machine. 
The brick comes out of the mould as hard as rook. 
It is dried on planks during fifteen days, and 
thou it is wrapped in paper, properly ticketed, and 
sent to its destination. Usually sixty bricks are in 
one package, Bricks are made of diSeient qualities, 
