I 10 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Aug.  j,  1896. 
bi'iefly,  were  to  organise  in  India  an  Agency  which 
would  take  tlie  idacc  of  the  packing  houses  in 
China  and  .lapan,  and  ho  suggested  the  formation  of 
a trading  company  or  sy:idicate  which  would  under- 
takes to  buy  teas  in  Calcutta  and  to  blond  and  pack 
them,  to  certain  fixed  standards,  shipping  thorn 
against  orders  from  America,  the  main  points  to  bo 
aimed  at  being  the  minimum  of  cost  and  thorough 
efficiency.  The  difficulty  of  matching  any  puticu- 
lar  sample  of  lea  which  had  attracted  the  popular 
tasto  was  one  of  the  chief  difficulties  in  pushing  the 
trade  in  Indian  tea  in  the  United  States,  and  irr  order 
to  get  over  this  Mr.  Blechynden  suggested  forming  a 
number  of  standards  of  different  commercial  grades 
and  of  the  style  and  liquor  found  by  experience  to 
suit  the  American  markets.  Such  standards  would 
cover  practically  all  the  kinds  required  and  range 
in  prices  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  grades,  and 
a sufficient  number  of  teas  should  bo  used  in  each 
blend  to  admit  of  their  being  followed  whether  tiio 
same  garderrs  or  district  teas  were  available  in  the 
next  season  or  not.  In  this  way  he  considered  it 
possible  that  largo  firms,  who  are  not  at  present 
handling  Indian  tea,  could  go  into  the  trade  and 
sell  largo  quantities. 
These  proposals  had  been  considered  at  a meeting 
of  the  American  and  Foreign  Tea  Committee,  held 
in  London  on  the  5th  May,  but  after  due  considera- 
tion the  Committee  came  with  regret  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  scheme  submitted  was  beyond 
their  scope  to  deal  with,  but  they  concurred  in  the 
view  expressed  by  Mr.  Blechyndon  in  a iater  letter 
that  some  effect  might  possibly  be  given  to  his  pro- 
posals by  private  enterprise. 
After  careful  consideration,  both  in  circulation,  and 
in  the  course  of  discussion,  the  General  Committee 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  Mr.  lilechynden’s 
proposals  were  not  practicable,  the  main  obstacle 
for  carrying  them  out  in  this  country  being  the  un- 
suitability of  the  climate  for  blending  purposes.  The 
Committee,  however,  ^suggested  that  arrangements 
might  be  made  for  blending  Indian  teas  on  a largo 
scale  in  America,  which  might  meet  the  difficulty, 
and  this  was  to  be  passed  on  to  the  London 
Committee.  The  General  Committee  noted  the 
views  with  which  Mr.  Mackenzie  had  favoured 
the  American  and  Foreign  Tea  Committee  in  Lou- 
don as  detailed  in  Mr.  Tye’s  letter  of  8th  May. 
In  his  letter  of  21th  April,  Mr.  Tyo  called  at- 
tention to  the  prejudical  effect  on  the  trade  of  the 
North-West  frontier  of  the  unwise  fiscal  policy  of 
the  Amir  of  Afghanistan  and  the  consequent  fall- 
ing off  in  the  exports  of  Indian  tea  as  shown  in 
the  official  statement  of  the  trade  of  British  India 
for  181)1—95,  and  stated  that  the  London  Commit- 
tee were  of  opinion  that  a representation  should  bo 
made  to  the  Government  of  India  on  the  subiect, 
with  a view  to  a removal  of  the  restriciions  re- 
ferred to.  The  Committee  having  given  very  care- 
ful consideration  to  the  matter  were  of  opinion, 
lookiim  at  the  very  full  and  clear  statement  given 
by  the  Director-General  of  Statistics  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  India  in  his  “ Iloview  of  the  Trade  of 
India  for  18'.)l-95'’  in  connection  with  the  decline  of  the 
trims  frontier  trade,  that  a representation  to  the 
Government  of  India  would  not  bo  of  much  practi- 
cal benolit,  at  any  rate  with  regard  to  the  transit  trade 
which  appeared  to  have  been  practically  destroyed 
by  llussian  policy  and  fiscal  arrangements.  It  had 
been  decided,  however,  as  a preliminary  step  to  address 
Mr.  J.  F.  O Conor,  C.IT'b,  Uirectoi-General  of  Statis- 
tics askitig  him  for  particulars  of  the  duties  and 
charges  levied  by  the  Amir  on  different  classes  of 
goods  imported  into  Afghanistan  from  India,  and  on 
receipt  of  this  intormatioii  the  Committee  would 
then  decide  what  further  action  should  bo  taken. 
^ 
Te.\-cultuiik  in  Russia.— Reports  from  Batoum,  on 
the  Black  Sea,  state  that  on  March  15th  a large 
number  of  Japanese  labourers  arrived  there  with  JOO 
cases  of  young  tea-plants  and  200  cases  of  other 
.Japanese  plants.  They  proceeded  to  the  Government 
lauds  at  Tchavka,  near  Batoiun,  wheie  expeiimcnts 
in  the  cultivation  of  tea  and  other  economic  products 
are  to  bo  started. — ChenUstand  Druii<jist,  imm  (>. 
NOTHING  LIKE  KL’BBEH. 
We  recentl}'  referred  to  the  approaching  scarcity  of 
indiarubber,  in  view  of  the  increasing  demand  for  the 
article,  particularly  by  the  cycle  and  kindred  in- 
dustries ; and  we  opined  that  a fortune  awaited  the 
man  who  would  invent  a substitute  for  rubber. 
Whereupon  it  was  pointed  out  by  a correspondent 
that  there  is  already  one  substitute  on  the  market, 
under  the  title  of  New  Rubber.  Since  then  a rub- 
ber trade  expert  has  been  talking  to  us.  While  ad- 
mitting the  use  of  the  substitute  referred  to,  ho 
maintains  that  there  is  nothing  like  rubber.  In 
other  words,  the  substitute  may  be  used  as  an  ad- 
mixture, and,  indeed,  commonly  is,  to  the  pro- 
portion of,  iierhajis,  tw'enty-live  per  cent  in,  for 
instance,  watorprooliiig  and  similar  processes  ; but 
it  is,  by  itself,  of  too  greasy  a nature,  and  lacks  the 
requisite  consistency',  to  servo  for  vehicle  tyres,  and 
the  like.  However,  as  an  admixture,  and  as  an  ad- 
junct to  the  ordinary  iiuliarubber  of  commerce,  the 
expert  admitted  that  the  substitute  was  valuable. 
And  he  went  on  to  dilate  upon  the  grow'iug  demands 
upon  the  present  supply  of  indiarubber,  especially  when 
vulcanized.  Not  only  are  combs,  pipe  stems,  and 
numerous  other  articles  being  made,  in  increasing 
quantities,  from  rubber  which  has  been  vulcanized 
— or,  so  to  speak,  annealed — but  even  nuts  and  bolts. 
The  latter  are  being  found  particularly  useful  for 
rivetting  drain  pipes  and  similar  work,  as,  unlike 
iron,  vulcanized  rubber  will  not  corrode.  And  as 
to  the  proximate  supply  of  indiarubber.  Well,  the 
expert  admitted  that  there  was  a danger  of  demand 
exceeding  production.  No  doubt  there  were  im- 
mense forests  of  rubber  trees,  but  then  thousands 
of  the  latter  had  been  destroyed  by  immature  tap- 
ping through  the  cupidity  of  natives  and  traders.  But 
would  not  systematic  planting  of  new  trees 
retrieve  the  position?  “Ah!”  responded  the  rubber 
man,  “ if  wo  could  only  get  people  to  be  so  philan- 
thropic as  to  have  an  eye  for  posterity.  Why,  it 
takes  a century  to  bring  a caoutchouc,  or  ‘syringe’ 
tree,  to  maturity ! ” So  it  vvould  seem  that  if  the 
supply  is  to  keep  pace  with  the  growing  demand 
for  indiarubber,  more  attention  must  be  given  to 
the  opening  up  of  new  forests,  while  all  imma- 
ture tapping  of  trees  must  be  tabooed. — Pall  3/a/l 
Gazette. 
TEA  I’LUCKING  MACHINES. 
Though  much  may  be  anticipated  from  the  open- 
ing of  the  Assam  Railway,  in  the  way  of  reducing 
rates  of  labor  by  promoting  free  immigration,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  planters  must  look  to  improved 
machinery  in  the  future  as  the  mainstay  of  the 
enterprise.  Certainly,  when  glancing  back  at  the 
history  of  the  industry  there  is  much  cause  for  con- 
gratulation, but  still  it  must  be  considered  that  sub- 
stitution of  steam,  or  other  motor  in  lieu  of  hand 
power,  has  not  been  sufficiently  attained  not  will  be 
until  some  means  are  devised  of  substituting  mecha- 
nical contrivances  for  leaf  plucking.  There  has,  we 
think,  been  ample  time  for  one  or  other  of  the  three 
inventions,  spoken  of  so  highly  last  year,  for  their 
merits  to  have  been  submitted  to  the  jiublic,  but 
for  mouths  i>ast  we  have  hoard  nothing  of  them.  If 
either  has  been  successful  there  is  no  necessity  for 
the  designers  to  hide  their  light  under  a bushel 
while,  at  the  same  time,  lio  ultimate  good  cixn  be 
derived  fro.m  concealing  the  fact  of  failure.  The 
man  who  can  pla:e  on  the  market  a really  effective 
machine  for  gathering  leaf  is  certain  of  a competency, 
if  not  fortune,  and  tlio  different  tea  concerns,  both 
private  and  companies,  might  be  canvassed  on  the 
subject  of  subscribing  to  a handsome  reward  for  the 
successful  inventor.  We  do  not  assume  that  first 
efforts  will  be  successful,  for  every  day  witnesses  some 
improvements  in  all  mechanics,  but  even  could  a 
reaper  be  made  that  would  do  half  the  work,  a groat  step 
would  be  gained  in  economising  labor  in  what  is  now  the 
most  expensive  hranoh  of  manufacture.  While  confessing 
ourselves  unable  to  offer  any  practical  .suggestion 
in  adopting  plucking  machinery  for  use  on  iinter- 
raced  teelahs,  we  tliink  that  on  the  gentle  undula- 
tion afforded  by  terracing  and  on  bhcul  gardens,  the 
