258 
the  tropical  Agriculturist. 
[Ocr.  I,  1895. 
with  the  green.  The  fact  is,  the  pure  Russian  ahed 
not  much  taste  for  Indian  tea  (or  what  is  called 
Indian  tea,  for  it  is  said  that  in  Moscow  much  Indian 
tea  is  sold  as  Chinese).  Now,  this  is  not  all  pre- 
judice, for  there  is  a difference  between  the  Chinese 
tea  the  Russians  drink  and  Indian  tea  ; and,  whether 
it  comes  from  the  soil  or  tlie  method  of  drying 
and  prepai’ing  the  leaf,  it  is  easily  distinguish- 
able. Good  Indian  tea  has  more  liavonr  and 
fragrance,  perhaps,  but  the  tea  in  Russia  seems 
to  be  softer  to  the  taste  and  more  delicate  and 
less  bitter.  How  is  it  that  the  tea  one  gets 
in  even  Russia,  at  a railway  station,  is  always  good  ? 
That  tea  is  left  simmering  on  the  samovar  soniotimes 
for  hours,  but  if  a small  quantity  be  poured  into  a 
glass,  and  the  glass  filled  up  with  boiling  water, 
the  decoction  is  always  drinkable.  Indian  tea  is 
stronger,  and  the  English  people  prefer  strong  tea, 
but  that  does  not  explain  all.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
a very  large  quantity  of  cheap  bad  tea  comes  from 
the  Indian  markets.  All  of  that  brought  to  Meshed 
is  of  the  vilest  desci*iption,  and  is  probably  damaged 
stuff  which  has  been  subjected  to  firing  a second  time. 
Russians  themselves  say  our  process  of  drying 
is  to  blame,  and  that  if  our  tea  were  subjected 
to  the  same  process  as  in  China  they  would 
gladly  buy  it.  The  Indian  Tea  Association,  London, 
state  that  in  1881  the  average  price  of  tea  in  the 
London  market  was  Is  5d ; now  it  is  9id  (and  this 
includes  4d  duty),  and  the  Indian  has  driven  the 
Chinese  tea  out.  In  18dl  Great  Britain,  they  say, 
consumed  112,000,0001b.  of  Chinese  tea,  and  48,000,0001b 
of  Indian  and  Ceylon  tea.  In  189,1  the  Consumption 
was  36,000,0001b  Chinese  and  172,000,0001b.  Indian 
and  Ceylon.  They  further  say  that  it  only  takes  a 
nation  ten  years  to  get  rid  of  its  taste  for  bad  teas, 
and  to  acquire  a preference  for  good  ones.  Also 
that  “ China  has  not  a chance  against  India  and 
Ceylon.  Her  rule-of-thumb  methods  produced  an 
article  inferior  in  flavour  and  in  high-class  strength 
to  that  which  the  scientific  appliances,  the  costly 
machinery,  and  the  chemistry  of  arrested  fermenta- 
tion enable  the  British  tea  planter  to  send  to  the 
market.”  This  may,  and  ought  to  be,  all  true,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  India  can  and  does,  turn  out  as 
good  and  perhaps  better  tea  than  the  best  from  China. 
But  she  also  apparently  sends  out  a quantity  of  very 
cheap  bad  stuff,  and  the  fact  remains  that  an  Eng- 
lishman can  always  drink  what  is  called  Russian 
tea,  but  a Russian  often  cannot  drink  Indian  tea. 
— //.  & a Mail. 
SIR  W.  MACGREGOR  IN  NEW  GUINEA. 
Still  energetic,  our  old  Colonial  Secretary,  Sir 
W.  M'Gregor,  is  evidently  intent  upon  developing 
his  possession,  as  the  following  late  telegram  testi- 
fies:— “Mr.  J.  Fitzgerald,  a Tasmanian  miner  and 
botanist,  has  been  engaged  by  the  Governor  of 
New  Guinea  to  explore  the  interior  of  that  island 
for  natural  history  specimens.  Mr.  Fitzgerald  is 
highly  recommended  by  Baron  von  Mueller. — Fiji 
Times,  July  31. 
♦- 
TEA  SHIPMENTS  FROM  SHANGHAI. 
Th.v. — ^The  following  notes  on  the  tea  market  of 
last  year  have  been  supplied  to  me  by  a gentleman 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  trade.  The  Chinese 
have  made  fair  profits  this  season  all  round.  These 
profits  encouraged  free  production  of  the  leaf,  and 
although  the  first  crop  showed  a falling-off  in  quantity 
of  90,090  half-chests,  or  12  per  cent,  the  total  season’s 
yield  amounted  to  .1  per  cent,  more  than  the  previous 
season’s  total  (say  45,000  half-chesta  excess).  This 
quantity  has  proved  rather  more  than  was  wanted, 
but  notwithstanding  this  fact,  the  season's  results 
have  proved  decidedly  satisfactory  to  foreign  buyers. 
Fine  teas  (especially  Keemuns,  owing  to  their  com- 
parative scarcity  and  low  sterling  cost,  and  to  the 
fact  that  fine  Indian  and  Ceylon  tea  was  likewise 
in  short  supply,  paid  handsomely  in  England,  profits 
of  25  and  40  per  cent  being  quite  common  ; the 
lower  grades,  however,  on  the  average  did  little 
better  than  cover  cost  or  pay  commissions.  The 
good  average  result  of  the  season’s  operations  is 
however,  no  indication  of  any  revival  of  the  China 
black  tea  trade  with  England,  which  continues  is 
shrink  r.rpidly.  The  export  of  Congou  from  North 
China  to  England  this  season  was  only  16,250,000  lb. 
or  nearly  4,000,000  lb.  less  than  last  season,  and  this 
is  more  than  is  wanted.  There  is  no  abatement  in 
the  speed  at  which  British  grown  toi  is  ousting  its 
heavily  tax-'d  rival  in  the  London  market. — Consular 
Repot  L j\jr  J.JJI. 
♦ — -- 
PRACTICAL  NOTES  FROM  UVA. 
(Zf//  an  old  Northern  Districts  Planter.) 
The  subject  of  a sufficient  supply  of 
FIKEW’OOD 
for  tea  furnaces  is  a most  important  one,  and  I 
thought  over  it  for  some  time  past. 
BLUE  GUM  TREES. 
Some  years  ago  I planted  some  13  blue  gum  seeds 
in  ordinary  patana  land  close  to  my  prese  t abode, 
scarcely  thinking  they  would  grow  well,  the  spot 
where  I planted  these  seeds  being  much  exposed  to 
bleak  and  cutting  winds.  Nevertheless,  these  blue 
gum  trees  grew  up  fairly  well,  and  some  of  them 
are  from  30  to  40  feet  high.  Some  mouths  ago  I 
felled  3 or  4 of  the  best  of  them  and  was  quite 
surprised  to  find  how  solid  the  timber  was,  and  what 
excellent  fuel  it  gave. 
I am  quite  sanguine  that  both  blue  and  red  gums 
will  thrive  on  most  ordinary  patana  lands,  and  if 
so,  the  fuel  question  will  partly  be  solved  to  the 
great  comfort  of  most  tea  planters.  Let  some  plan- 
ters try  how  these  Australian  weird-looking  trees 
will  grow  on  abandoned  coffee  estates.  This  is  an 
important  matter,  and  the  experiment  is  well  worth 
trying.  No  doubt  some  ordinary  jungle  trees  would 
grow  well  if  transplanted  when  young  and  large  holes 
cut  even  in  the  patanas  all  about  here  and  else- 
where too.  This  subject  leads  me  naturally  to  say  a 
iCW  words  about 
WIND-BELTS. 
Old  coffee  planters  like  myself  know  right  well  that 
many  ancient  coffee  estates  were  much  impaired  by 
cutting  the  outside  jungle  of  their  estates,  and  letting 
in  violent  gusts  of  wind  that  comes  at  certain  times 
of  the  year.  I myself  did  so,  I am  sorry  to  have 
to  confess,  and  a near  neighbour  of  mine  almost 
ruined  his  totum  by  felling  a long  strip  of  jungle 
that  kept  out  the  winds  of  the  N.-E.  monsoon. 
Now,  in  these  days  wind-belts  prevent  such  mistakes 
from  playing  havoc  with 
A WIND-BLOW.X  ESTATE, 
and  there  are  many  tea  estates  that  are  much  freer 
from  wind  and  stormi  now,  thin  they  were  when  coffee 
estates  thrived,  owing  to  the  judiciom  planting  of 
wind-belts.  Then,  again,  how  well  most  tea  estates 
aredrainei.  There  is  little  loss  from 
WASTE  MOULD 
being  carried  away  when  in  heavy  rain  and  storms 
noW-a-days.  So  much  for  modern  cultivation  of  tro- 
pical tea  estates.  This  part  of  the  island  is  rather 
celebrated,  you  know,  for  its  extensive  cultivation  of 
INDIAN  CORN. 
For  many  years  when  I lived  on  the  Kandy  side 
of  Ceylon,  I never  saw  such  a lot  of  Indian  corn, 
and  I well  romembor  Hamilton,  the  farrier  &z.,  of 
Kandy  town,  first  called  niy  attention  to  the 
MAIZE 
grown  in  Uva  Province'  asking  me,  a Western  tropic  il 
if  it  wa.’  wholjnii!  eding  for  horses  and  that  lie 
hid  just  got  in  2 ) ) bushols  at  HI  per  bushel.  Well 
just  now  it  is  selling  at  Rl'5i)  to  RI-75,  while  the 
price  of  paddy  is  Rl‘2.5  at  Kodanlo  bazaar,  I am 
told,  and  in  the  villages.  By  the  bye,  I hear  many 
of  the  boutique-keepers  are  down  with 
FEVER, 
and  it  I were  to  toll  tli;  roader.s  of  the  lTMTr«<>r  the 
number  of  fever  cases  troatod  monthly  at  the  Uia- 
pensary  they  would  hardly  credit  it ! Olu  Hand. 
