684 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICUI.TURIST. 
[April  i,  1896. 
be  spread  over  two  days.  Admitting  the  difficulty  of 
the  choice  of  the  otlier  day,  Mr.  Shill ingtou  suggested 
that  a convenient  way  out  of  the  difficulty  might  per- 
haps be  found  if  the  Tuesday  Ceylon  sale  were  ad- 
journed punctually  at  two  o’clock  until  Wednesday  at 
twelve  o’clock,  when  the  remainder  could  be  sold  with 
the  benefit  of  an  extra  morning’s  tasting,  liut,  as 
tills  takes  away  Wednesday  from  the  Indian  sale,  Mr. 
Shillington  would  meet  this  objection  by  dividing 
the  week’s  offerii  gs  of  Indian  tea  into  two  sales — 
Mondays  and  Thursdays — still  retaining  Monday  for 
the  larger  part,  say  three- fifths  of  the  total  on 
Monday  ^ and  two-fifths  on  Thursday.  “It  would  be 
evident,”  he  points  out,  “ that  the  opportunities  for 
tasting  the  samples  would  be  more  evenly  distributed 
over  the  week,  and  confidence  in  the  valuations, 
which  is  the  surest  guarantee  of  satisfactory  bid- 
dings, vvould  naturally  result.  Coming  from  such  an 
authority,  the  suggestion  will,  no  doubt,  receive  the 
consideration  it  deserves.  Mr.  Herbert  S.  Parker  in 
his  letter  directs  attention  to  a proposal  which  is 
likely  to  be  made  to  importers  and  their  brokers 
by  some  of  the  London  buyers.  It  is  to  follow 
the  example  of  Calcutta,  and  to  cease  holding 
any  public  auction  of  Indian  tea  for  some  few 
weeks  in  the  summer  in  order  to  give  “ the 
market  ” a period  of  rest,  and  to  agree  to  a date 
upon  which  the  first  public  sales  of  new  crop  shall 
bo  held  in  London.  If  the  proposal  be  a good 
one,  says  Mr  Parker,  “ there  is  not  much  difficulty  in 
carrying,  it  out  now  that  nearly  all  producers  close 
their  crops  so  much  earlier  than  they  used  to  ; but 
such  arguments  in  its  favour  as  there  may  be,  will 
no  doubt  be  put  forward  by  those  who  itrge  its 
adoption.”  In  these  days  of  keen  competition  it  is, 
no  doubt  extremely  difficult  to  ensure  combination 
in  any  plan  which  necessitates  departure  from 
established  custom,  There  is,  however,  so  much  of 
“sweet  reasonableness  ” in  practical  suggestions  for 
relaxing  on  the  one  hand  the  “exhaustive  ordeal” 
of  sitting  through  the  whole  sale  of  Ceylon  tea 
during  one  day,  as  described  by  Mr.  Shilling- 
ton,  and  obviating  the  need  for  calling  to- 
gether annually  buyers  to  intermittent  sales 
during  June,  as  mentioned  by  Mr.  Parker, 
that  we  feel  sure  those  concerned  will  give  due  con- 
sideration to  the  remedies  suggested,  coming  as  they 
do  from  correspondents  who  are  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  the  ways  of  the  sale  room  and  the 
interests  of  the  trade. 
Indian  Tea  Cultivation. — Under  this  head  the 
Times  of  Tuesday  refers  to  the  note  in  the  thizctle 
of  India,  on  Mr.  J.  H.  O Conor’s  statistics  on  tea 
cultivation,  giving  the  following  summary  : The 
statistics  show  that  the  area  under  tea  is  some- 
what less  than  half  a million  acres,  about  two- 
thirds  of  which  is,  in  the  Piralnnaputra  and 
Surma  Valleys — that  is,  in  Assam,  Cachar, 
and  Sylhet.  ’The  figures  given  by  Mr.  O’Conor 
show,  that  tea  cultivation  is  almost  wholly  conlined 
to  Bengal  and  Assam,  the  tea  gardens  clsewlierc. 
being  only  7 per  cent,  of  the  area  under  tea.  At  pre- 
sent the  cultivation  in  India  is  concentrated  almost 
entirely'  in  districts  witli  a damp  and  equable  climate 
where  repeated  xiickings  arc  possil)lo.  One  point 
brought  out  clearly  by  tUe  returns,  is  that  for  years 
past  there  has  been  no  check  to  the  growth  of  the 
industry,  which  annually  shows  a cousideiablo  ex- 
pansion. Every  year  since  1885 has  seen  an  increase 
in  the  area  cuitivated.  ranging  from  over  9,000  acres 
III  1889  to  marly  27,000  acres  in  1894.  and  the  per- 
centage of  incre.ise  is  growing  gieattr.  'The  largest 
increase  of  all.  IMr.  O Conor  obseivcs,  was  in 
189;)  Vnd  1891,  “the  former  of  these  being  the 
years  in  which  tl.c  mints  were  closed,  an  event 
which  was  regarded  by  sonm^  as  the  licrald  of 
disaster  to  the  tea  industiy.  One  table  given 
by  Mr.  O'Conor  shows  how  completely  the  tea 
gardens  of  India  are  dependent  on  the  external 
demand,  the  consumption  of  India  being  tnfiing  in 
comparison  with  the  whole  production.  'ihusinl894 
nearly  12.5  million  pounds  of  tea  were  produced  in 
India,  of  which  all  but  million  pounds  weic  rx- 
iiorted  If  to  this  be  added  the  amount  of  Ceylon 
tea  consumed  in  India-ucarly  million  pounds 
— it  is  seen  that  the  population  of  India  consumes 
about  seven  million  pounds  a year,  or  about  one- 
fortieth  of  a pound  per  head,  or  oue-hundredth  part 
of  the  consumption  of  the  United  Kingdom.  Indeed, 
if  the  quantity  consumed  by  the  small  European 
popu’aiion  of  India,  including  the  Army,  is  deducted, 
there  would  not  be  very  much  left  for  the  native 
population.  Dir.  O'Conor,  however,  records  that  the 
consumption  of  tea  is  increasing  amongst  the  native 
population  in  the  larger  towns,  especially  amongst 
the  Mahomedans. 
Natal  and  its  Pkoduce.— In  his  paper  on  Natal, 
read  at  a meeting  of  the  Royal  Colonial  Institute 
on  Tuesday,  Mr.  John  O.  Maydon,  M.  L.A.,  of  Natal, 
made  the  following  reference  to  the  various  produc- 
tions of  the  colony,  which  are  chiefly  sugar,  tea, 
and  fruit  growing.  Of  sugar  he  said  Sugar  plant- 
ing has,  after  a chequered  histoiy,  now  settled  down 
into  an  occupation  of  very  great  importance,  with  a 
thoroughly  established  assurance  of  success,  which  is 
chiefly  founded  on  the  establishment  of  central  mills 
enabled  to  deal  with  large  growths  of  cane,  and  there- 
by to  apply  the  most  economic  and  approved  methods 
to  the  actual  manufacture  of  sugar,  the  production 
of  which  has  accordingly  become  possible  much' more 
cheaply  than  heretoforco.  But  the  system  has  a 
much  farther  reaching  consequence,  because  the 
actual  planter  has  by  it  been  enable  to  turn 
all  his  attention  and  capital  to  the  agricultural  por- 
tion of  his  business,  which  is  by  so  much  the  bet- 
ter and  more  profitably  conducted.  Moreover,  sugar 
planting  has  by  this  means  been  brought  within  the 
reach  of  many  men  who,  from  lack  of  the  very  large 
capital  necessitated  to  conduct  the  two  02ierations 
of  planting  and  manufacturing,  were  formerly  de- 
barred from  the  pursuit  of  this  industry.  A veiy 
modest  c.apital  will  now  suffice  to  start  a sugar  plan- 
tation, provided  ordinary  business  energy  and  acu- 
men are  displayed.  The  demand  for  sugar  in  South 
Africa  is,  of  course,  far,  beyond  the  production,  and 
tlie  consumption  with  the  rapidly-increasing  popula- 
tion, is  likely  to  grow  for  many  years  to"come  in 
a quite  disproportionate  ratio  to  the  possibilities  of 
increased  inoduction.  The  cane  will  not  thrive 
farther  south  than  the  river  Umzumkulu,  as  al- 
though it  grows  still  further  south  its  sugar-pro- 
ducing qualities  diminish,  thus  unfortunately  the 
Cape  Colony  is  deprived  of  the  benefits  of  devoting 
its  const  lands  to  this  very  remunerative  and  suc- 
cessful industry.  Frost  is,  of  course,  fatal  to  sugar 
cane,  and  for  that  reason  only  the  semi-tropical 
coast  lands  are  adapted  to  its  production,  but  in 
Natal  many  thousand  rich  acres,  and  happily  situated, 
only  await  the  mattock  and  the  ploughshare  to  re- 
turn an  ample  rich  harvest  to  the  planter.s  who 
shall  commence  their  tillage.  This  remark  is  e.s- 
pecially  applicable  to  the  lanl  lying  soutli  of  Dur- 
ban, now  being  opened  by  the  ’ iviilvvay  in  course 
of  construction  through  it,  and  wliich  is  generally 
very  fertile. 
Natal  Tea. — Referring  to  tea  Mr.  Maydon  said  : 
It  is  only  withi  : the  past  live  years  that  it  has 
emerged  from  the  experimental  into  the  iudu.strial 
stage,  and  to  the  dogged  perseverance  and  industry 
of  Mr.  J.  Jjicge  Ilulett  this  successful  di'-lml  is 
largely  due.  Even  yet,  however,  the  annual  produc- 
tion has  not  reached  quite  1,000,()0U  lb.  though  this 
present  season  of  1895-9C)  will  probalily  tee  that  limit 
exceeded.  This  increase  of  late  years  has  been  ex- 
ceedingly r.ipid,  whicli  is  partly  dim  to  an  ever- 
growing acreage  under  tea  cultivation,  but  also,  still 
more  l .rgcly,  to  the  greater  pi oduciiveness  of  the 
tea  plum  as  it  reaches  maturity  ahout  eight  veins 
after  heing  planted.  The  very  slow  gro.ith  oi'  the 
tea  fchruh,  and  the  consequent  long  period  of  wait- 
ing lor  retina  on  the  cii):ital  iiive.sted.  will  alwii.ys 
prove  u dcteireiit  to  the  wide  embailuuion  in  this 
special  indusLiy  ; at  the  same  time  the  \eiy  delight- 
ful nature  of  tho  occupation  and  its  extromo  profit- 
ableness when  OHIO  e.stablislied  olfer  a very 
strong  inducement,  and  where  a pleasant  occu- 
pation is  llii'  dcsidi  ratiim,  witli  a view  to  ultimate 
r.i.tiK  r tlian  lo  immediate  reiuiii  on  eaptial,  it 
is  difficult  to  conceive  a moie  atlractive  career. 
Tea  planting  is,  like  sugar,  con  lined  to  the 
