THE  TROPICAL 
AGRICULTCRIST. 
i8t 
Sept,  i,  1896.] 
these  properties  is  nearl  18,000  acres.  The  pm  chase 
price  is  .t418,000,  of  which  ,£:)4G,‘280  is  payabie  iu 
cash,  £4,000  iu  fully-paid  prufereuco  shares, 
and  £67,720  iu  fully-paid  ordinary  shares  of  this 
company.  The  present  issue  is  of  24,000  preference 
and  21,900  ordinary  shares.  The  directors  of  the  com- 
pany areW.  H.  Veruer,  Es(p  (chairman),  Sir  W.  W. 
Hunter,  k.c.s.i.,  C.  A.  Veruer,  Esq.,  W.  S.  Wells,  Esq. 
(chairman  and  directors  of  the  Dooars  Tea  Company, 
Limited,  and  the  Single  Tea  Company),  W.  K. 
Barley  (managing  partner  of  Haiha  Patha  Estate), 
Thomas  Dickson,  Esq.  (director  of  the  Scottish  Trust 
and  Loan  Company  of  Ceylon,  Limited),  and  11.  N. 
Gladstone,  Esq.,  director.  Single  Tea  Company,  Ltd. 
— H.  and  C.  Mail,  July  24. 
TEA  IN  THE  INDIES. 
HOW  THE  PLANT  IS  GROWN  AND  THE 
LEAVES  CURED. 
CONSUMPTIOK  OF  THE  BEVER.4GE  IS  INCREASING — MODES  OP 
CULTIVATION  AND  CURING  ALWAYS  IMPROVING. 
Only  a comparatively  few  years  ago  the  people  of 
the  United  States  knew  little  of  the  teas  that  have  of 
late  years  made  such  wonderful  strides  iu  displacing 
China  and  Japan  teas  in  British  markets,  and  which 
have  recently  shown  such  a large  increase  in  consump- 
tion in  this  country.  Notwithstanding  that  tea  is  a 
household  beverage,  not  many  know  much  of  its 
cultivation,  either  in  India  and  Ceylon  or  in  Japan  and 
China,  or  that  for  years,  through  governmental  instru- 
mentality, experiments  have  been  going  on  in  this 
country,  principally  in  North  Carolina,  Florida,  and 
California,  looking  to  the  propagation  of  tea  in  the 
United  States.  Regarding  the  latter,  the  cost  of  labor 
and  unfavourable  climatic  conditions  are  hard  nuts  for 
the  experimentalists  to  crack,  and  it  cannot  be  said 
that  the  work  so  far  has  been  at  all  satisfactory, 
althongh  tea  of  good  quality  has  been  grown,  but  not 
for  commercial  purposes. 
To  those  who  know  little  of  the  actual  work  of  tea 
raising  or  the  various  processes  the  leaf  must  go 
through  before  it  is  ready  for  use  on  the  table,  a short 
history  of  the  tea  plant  from  its  inception  will  be  both 
interesting  and  instructive. 
As  a matter  of  fact,  lea  is  indigenous  to  India 
and  was  transplanted  to  China  and  Japan,  as  well 
as  to  Ceylon,  the  latter  place  having  been  a large 
coffee  producing  country,  and  would  probably  have 
so  continued  had  not  the  leaf  been  attacked  by  a 
scourge  which  sapped  the  energies  of  the  plant. 
The  growers  seeing  starvation  staring  them  in  the 
face,  then  turned  their  attention  to  the  cultivation 
of  tea  as  a means  of  livelihood,  although  at  lirst  it 
must  be  confessed  with  not  great  hopes  of  success, 
although  tea  was  being  cultivated  in  India,  a climate 
very  much  similar  to  that  of  the  island  of  Ceylon. 
TEA  SUCCEEDS  COFFEE. 
The  tea  seed  was  first  planted  in  the  fields  upon 
which  the  coffee  trees  were  growing  (dying,  per- 
haps, would  be  the  better  word),  although  the 
plantation  owners  still  had  hopes  that  the  disease 
would  be  checked.  As  the  tea  bushes  approached 
maturity,  and  the  chances  of  success  improved, 
the  coffee  trees  were  uprooted  and  the  tea 
plants  were  left  in  full  possession  of  the  field. 
Three  or  four  years  are  required  before  a tea 
plant  becomes  productive,  the  plant  in  those 
climates  requiring  no  moisture  other  than  that  pro- 
vided by  [nature.  After  a growth  of  fifteen  months, 
the  first  important  work  must  be  done,  and  this  is 
called  “ topping,”  the  object  being  to  keep  the  plant 
(it  would  grow  to  a tree)  at  an  average  height  of 
four  feet.  All  the  surplus  branche.s  are  laken  off  ex- 
cept the  stem  and  short  ones,  the  siuface  of  the 
plant  being  flattened.  The  work  is  done  by  coolies, 
and  that  the  task  is  a hard  one  i.s  shown  by  the 
fact  that  a field  of  fifty  acres  will  have  between 
175,000  and  200,000  bushes.  After  the  plants  have 
matured,  the  leaves  are  plucked,  and  this  is  a task 
that  requires  deftness,  as  well  as  care  and  judgment. 
The  early  growth  of  the  leaf  makes  it  firm,  and  it 
is  iu  the  selection  of  leaves  for  the  different  varieties 
that  the  judgment  must  be  shown.  If  fine  qualitie.s 
are  wanted,  only  a small  number  of  leaves  from  each 
shoot  will  be  taken,  while  if  quantity  is  the  priucipal 
thing  wanted  extra  leaves  will  be  taken  from  every 
shoot. 
So  expert  do  the  native  work  people  become  that 
it  is  only  necessary  to  tell  them  the  special  grades 
and  they  will  quickly  pass  over  the  bush,  selecting 
only  such  as  arc  needed.  Great  care  must  be  taken 
that  the  eye  or  bud  shall  be  left  unbroken  on  the 
branch. 
FAR  ABOVE  SEA  LEVEL. 
In  Ceylon  the  tea  plant  flourishes  from  100  to 
7,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  if  the  soil  is 
rich  and  the  climate  favourable,  butmostof  the  gardens 
are  laid  out  on  the  slopes  of  hills  and  mountains. 
The  higher  the  altitude  the  less  the  yield,  but  the 
greater  the  fullness  and  flavor. 
In  picking  the  coolies  carry  baskets  hung  from  their 
heads  by  ropes,  the  leaves,  as  picked,  being  .ti>Fown 
over  the  shoulder.  Each  picker’s  basket  has  a capa- 
city of  about  ^fourteen  pounds,  which,  when  full,  is 
emptied  into  a larger  receptacle  set  at  the  end  of 
each  row'.  Every  plantation  of  any  size  has  its  own 
factory,  a two-storey  building  with  heavy  roof,  run 
either  by  steam  or  water  power,  so  that  the  tea  in 
all  its  processes  is  handled  exclusively  by  machinery. 
This  use  of  machinery  is  one  of  the  real  reasons  for 
the  enormous  increase  in  the  consumption  of  British- 
grown  teas,  as  it  entirely  obviates  the  use  of  the 
hands  and  feet  employed  by  the  Celestials  in  the 
rolling  processes. 
Withering  is  the  first  process  the  leaves  undergo 
upon  reaching  the  factory.  Long  shelves,  covered 
with  Hessian  jute,  are  arranged  about  the  room, 
and  the  green  leaves'  are  spread  upon  them  and 
then  subjected  to  a current  of  dry  air.  Next 
comes  the  rolling,  which  twists  the  leavjs, 
breaks  their  cells  and  facilitates  the  process  of 
oxidation.  When  green  tea  is  required,  of  which  there 
is  comparatively  little  shipped  from  eitf.er  India  or 
Ceylon,  the  process  employed  is  different. 
The  rolling  being  comjileted,  the  leaf  is  distributed 
in  trays  to  undergo  the  entire  oxidation  process  by 
exposure  to  the  air.  Then  come  the  firing  and  drying, 
and  this  work  is  accomplished  through  the  medium 
of  machines,  which  dries  and  extracts  all  the  mois- 
ture. Tho  sifting  and  sorting  into  different  grades 
are  next  in  order,  and  then  the  packers  take  hold 
and  the  tea  is  ready  tor  shipment  to  any  and  all  parts 
of  the  world. 
In  India  the  various  processes  are  similar,  Ceylon 
having  followed  the  lead  of  the  former  country  in  the 
use  of  machinery,  tea  having  been  a commercial  pro- 
duct there  long  before  it  was  thought  of  in  Ceylon. 
European  capital  has  developed  these  countries, 
and  th  • push  and  energy  of  the  Anglo-Baxou  is 
gradually  leading  the  world  in  the  production  of  tea. 
The  figiit  will  indeed  be  an  interesting  one  for 
supremacy,  if  it  can  be  demonstrated  that  tea 
may  be  successfully  and  profitably  grown  in  this 
country  and  the  English  colonics  will  have  to  look 
to  their  laurels. 
TEA  GROWN  IN  AMERICA. 
In  this  country  the  introduction  of  tea  received 
its  first  real  impetus  at  the  Chicago  World's  I'.Jr 
although  some  desultory  work  had  been  done  prior  to 
that.  Enterprising  planters  sent  commissioners  heie| 
and  a vast  outlay  of  money  was  made,  and  ihe  lesnlt 
attained  was  so  satisfuctory  that  tho  work  has  bet  n 
carried  on  sy^tcmaticaily  since,  and  each  year  has 
shown  an  increase,  the  last  report  show'iug  the 
stupendous  gain  of  72  per  cent. 
The  English  producer  claims  for  his  tea  first  that 
it  is  absolutely  pure,  and  secondly  that  it  is  all 
machine  cured. 
Tho  large  importers  of  those  teas  into  this  country 
have  been  against  the  proposed  logi.slatiou,  which 
makes  a standard  that  allows  a lulteia'iou.  They 
claim  that  the  use  of  Prussian  blue  and  other  sub- 
stances is  detrimental  to  public  health  and  should 
be  stopped.  Absolute  purity  is  their  aim,  and  it 
seems  that  they  have  the  best  of  the  argument  when 
the  records  of  every  port  of  entry  in  the  United 
