75° 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[May  f,  1896, 
THE  RE-EXPORT  OF  TEA. 
We  recently  oirercd  some  remarks  upon  statistics 
published  by  Messrs.  Oow,  Wilson  »Sr  Stanton, 
showing  the  re-export  of  tea  from  the  T'nitctl 
Kingdom.  That  linn,  in  its  Circular  of  March 
l.'fMi,  has  aniplilic(l  the  information  jirc- 
viously  given  on  the  subject.  The  add(>d 
informstion  is  particularly  full,  interest- 
ing, and  valuable,  and  tempts  us  to  further 
observations  relating  to  this  topic.  I'lom  the 
ati.alysis  now  available  it  is  evident  th.at  it  is 
not  alone  with  resjiect  to  the  gross  re  export 
that  Ceylon  takes  the  foremost  position,  \\ith 
the  exception  of  Holland  and  'Ihirkey,  the  ([uan- 
titles  of  Ceylon  tea  re-exported  to  all  the  coun- 
tries mentioned  in  the  analysis  is  \ery  largely 
in  excess  of  that  of  Indian  tea.  In  the  case  of 
one  of  the  exceptions  mentioned — that  of  Holland 
— it  received  :t-il,435  lb.  of  Indian  tea  as  com- 
pared with  216,422  lb.  of  Ce3'lon  tea  Irom 
the  United  Kingdom  during  18'Jj.  Mdiy  there 
should  have  been  this  exception  it  is  not  easy 
to  discover.  Hut  we  notice  that  Cermany  took 
of  our  teas  2.288,895  lb.  as  compared  with  only 
424,100  1b.  of 'Indian!  Messrs.  Cow,  Wilson  ik 
Stanton  intimate  in  a footnote  tlieir  belief  that 
the  bulk  of  this  exportation  w;xs  intended  for  the 
Russian  market.  It  would  seem  to  be  far  from 
improbable  that  no  inconsiderable  ))oriioa  of  this 
Ceylon  tea  might  also  have  found  its  way  into 
Holland.  If  so,  the  almoit  single  discrepancy 
existing  would  probably  be  largely  redre.ssed  in 
favour  of  the  Ceylon  article.  The  large  amount 
of  excess  of  our  teas  re-ex])orted  to  Cermany  lieads 
the  su])eriorities  to  be  noticed  in  the  analytical 
list.  Hut  that  observable  in  the  instance  of 
America  is  of  special  interest  to  us  just  now. 
Of  Ceylon,  the  United  States  and  Canada  received 
respectively  1,423,573  lb.  and  1,03.1,646  lb.,  iihile 
of  Indian  the  relative  ligures  were  but  90s, 743 
lb.  and  780,225  lb.  during  1895.  If  this  great 
superiority  stood  by  itself,  we  might  perluips  attri- 
bute the  preference  shown  to  some  adaiitability 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  palate  to  the  llavour  of  Ceylon 
teas.  Hut,  as  has  been  mentioned,  similar  supe- 
riority is  shown  in  the  case  of  Russians,  French 
and  Germans,  so  that  the  hyiiotlicsis  we  ven- 
tured upon  when  first  discussing  this  subject  of 
re-exports  may  be  aiiplicd  to  all,  or  nearly  all, 
of  tea-drinking  nationalities.  Turkey  has  been 
mentioned  as  forming  one  of  the  two  excep- 
tions to  what  is  observable  as  the  rule.  In  lier 
case  she  received  319,247  lb.  of  Indian  .and  only 
29,090  lb.  of  Ceylon  tea.  \Ve  have  no  me.ans  for 
nidging  as  to  any  cause  which  may  have  led  to  this. 
Coffee  is,  however,  so  universally  the  national 
drink  throughout  Turkey,  that  it  m.ay  he 
suspected  that  the  consumiition  of  tea  in  that 
country  is  limited  chielly  to  its  French  .and 
EnMisii  residents.  'Without  touching  further  on 
paAicular  countries  mentioned  in  the  .analysis  we 
iiiay  just  refer  to  the  ligures  grou)ied  under,  the 
heading  “Other  Places.”  In  this  instance  the 
preponderance  of  Ceylon  is  very  marked,  the 
lumres  representing  it  being  as  1,006,197  lb.  .against 
638  345  lb.  of  Indian  tea.  After  full  examination 
of  the  details  that  Messrs.  Gow,  Wilson  & 
Stanton  have  now  afforded  to  us,  we  feel  com- 
pelled to  fall  back  still  upon  the  hypothesis  men- 
tioned in  our  original  article.  In  whatever  light, 
or  irom  whatever  point  of  view,  we  may  regard 
the  figures  g-iven,  .all  seems  still  to  point  to  the 
assumption  that  the  llavour  of  Ceylon  teas  is 
more  generally  and  more  widely  ajipreciated  than 
that  of  the  indian  variety.  Hut  although  we 
think  such  a view  to  be  ju,stific<l,  it  should  not 
induce  us  to  relax  effort  to  mainl.'.m  the  superi- 
ority est.ablished  in  the  outside  markets  of  the 
world.  As  time  goes  on,  and  the  taste  for  tea- 
drinking expands,  India  must  reverse  the  jiresent 
p((sition,  for  she  will  be  able  to  sup]d,y  the  in- 
creasing dem.and,  while  territorial  restriction  must 
keep  Ceylon  about  at  a standstill. 
CEYLON  TEA  IN  LONDON. 
A jilanting  correspondent  writes  : — 
“ Hnyers  are  lioldiiig  off,  the  country  demand  has 
been  so  slack,  and  they  seem  to  fear  excessive 
supplies  from  Ceylon,  but  in  this  respect  the  latest 
Ceylon  telegrams  should  reassure  them,  and  we  think 
we  shall  have  a better  market  soon.” 
INDIAN  PATENTS. 
Applications  in  respect  of  the  undermentioned  in- 
ventions have  been  filed,  during  the  week  ending  14th 
March  1896,  under  the  provisions  of  Act  V of  1888. 
For  a new  process  for  the  utilisation  of  the  stones 
and  seeds  of  fruit  of  the  mango  for  the  purpose  of 
manufacturing  paper. — No.  93  of  1896.  The  Aryan 
Company,  general  dealers  and  commission  agents 
trading  in  the  towns  of  Haroda  and  Surat,  in  the 
presidency  of  Bombay,  for  a new  process  for  the 
utilisation  of  the  stones  and  seeds  of  fruit  of  the 
mango  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  paper 
tnerelroui. — Indian  and  Eastern  Engineer,  March  28. 
MTLL  COFFEE  PAY? 
To  the  Editor  of  the  Central  African  Planter. 
Dear  Sir,— I hear  that  opinion  is  gaining  ground,  that 
coffee  planting  in  B.  C A.  with  the  piesenimethods,  is 
not  the  r'cmunerating  investment  it  has  been  represen- 
ted to  be.  That  the  average  crop  for  the  whole  of 
B.  C.  A.  for  the  years  we  have  been  planting,  does 
not  exceed  I3  cwts,  di-y  parchment  to  the  acre  in 
bearing.  That  including  weeding,  cultivating,  road 
and  house  building  and  repairs  and  general  i xpenses, 
it  takes  £2  10s  per  acre  per  annum  to  keep  a 
plantation  in  fair  condition.  That  loO  acres  in  bear- 
ing at  past  output,  hardly  give  a mini  a living  much 
less  save  money,  and  if  he  keeps  an  assistant  he 
will  lose  by  his  investment  even  with  150  acres  in 
bearing  at  the  average  crop  for  the  past.  It  is 
possible  that  our  methods  are  aeriousiy  in  error  and 
yet  surely  it  would  have  been  discovered  after  so 
many  trials  for  such  a long  period.  The  coffee  tree 
seems  to  bear  one  good  crop  and  then  practically 
nothing  for  tlie  two  following  years. — Y'ours  faith- 
fully, A.  C.  SlMVsON. 
HR.  SIMPSON’S  VIEWS  Oil  C'OFFEK  PI.,lNTINO. 
As  the  The  Ceidra!  African  Planter  has  not  only 
a local  circulation  but  goes  to  all  parts  of  the  world 
we  feel  it  incumbent  upon  us  to  make  a few  re- 
marks on  Mr.  Binipsou's  letter  which  appears  in  this 
issue.  Our  local  readers  are  not  likely  so  to  be  distur- 
bed by  Mr.  Sinijison's  views  but  the  same  cannot  be 
said  of  our  foreign  readers  who  <rre  unacquainted 
with  the  facts.  On  what  grounds,  we  would  ask,  does 
Mr,  Simpson  assert  that  li  cwt  parchment  per  acre 
is  the  average  crop  for  the  whole  of  B.  0.  A.  ? So  far  as 
we  are  aware  there  is  not  one  who  can  at  present 
authoritatively  state  what  the  average  crop  tor  the 
whole  district  is,  simply  because  w’e  nave  no  statis- 
tics to  go  upon  and  because  coffee-planting  at  all 
extensively  is  only  five  or  six  years  old.  M'hat 
we  do  know  is,  that  coffee  planting  has  been 
sufficiently  remunerative  in  the  past  to  encourge 
our  oldest  planters  to  go  on  extending  their  cultiva- 
tion and  laht  the  yield  in  many  cases,  especially  in 
in  the  first  years,  has  been  very  grt  at.  Mr.  Bucha- 
nan in  his  article  in  i nr  second  number  states  an 
” average  yield  of  three  to  four  cwt  may  be  rea- 
sonnbly  looked  for.”  He  mentions  instances  of  7 cwt. 
and  8 cwt  per  acre  being  gathered  as  a maiden 
crop,  Mr  Hastings  yield  last  year  was  between  3 
