384 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Dec.  I,  1896. 
carry  goods  by  contract.  Indeed,  when  the  tea  lias 
once  been  thoroughly  introduced,  there  ie|little  doubt 
that  the  traders  would  buy  it  in  Srinagar.  There 
would  be  no  difficulty  in  establishing  an  agency 
in  Kashmir,  but  at  first  it  will  be  nocessary  to 
work  in  Leh. 
As  to  the  tea  trade  with  Kashnii?',  most  of  what  is 
drunk  is  Indian  tea,  although  the  villagers  think  it  is 
Chinese.  The  demand  is  increasing,  and  will  continue 
to  do  so,  for  the  people  aio  waxing  fat  and  prosperous. 
Three  to  four  rupees  is  not  an  uncommon  price  for 
what  is  called  “ lionibay  tea.”  It  is  supposed  to  come 
from  China,  but  is  in  reality  an  Indian  product. 
The  profit  made  by  the  middleman  is  very  great,  but 
the  planter  would  have  great  difficulty  in  getting  the 
market  into  his  own  hands;  still,  when  prospecting 
for  the  Chinese-Turkistan  trade,  he  might  find  that 
something  could  be  done  in  Srinagar.  We  are  inclined 
to  think  there  are  possibilities  in  both  places,  for  the 
demand  for  tea  is  a large  one.  Tea  reigns  supreme; 
coffee  and  cocoa  are  not  its  rivals;  and  amongst  the 
Mussalman  races  it  takes  the  place  of  beer.  In  La- 
dakh chanff,  the  beer  of  the  country,  is  used  on  fes- 
tive occasions,  but  tea  is  the  universal  drink. — 
Asian 
DESTRUCTION  OF  TEA  FACTORIES  RY 
FIRE. 
Within  the  last  few  weeks  the  destruction  of  two 
large  tea  factories  by  fire  have  been  reported.  To 
those  who  have  seen  the  splendid  buildings  now' 
erected  on  tea  estates,  it  appear  most  strange  how  a 
fire  on  a big  scale  can  possibly  take  place.  Every 
precaution  is  taken  to  make  the  factories  secure  from 
tire ; in  fact,  it  may  be  said,  they  are  practically 
tire-proof.  Even  about  old  tea- houses,  built  years  ago, 
means  have  been  adopted  so  that  there  should  be  no 
ebance  of  any  portion  catching  fire,  and  yet  there 
remains  the  fact  that  fires  do  take  place,  and  every 
year  one  or  more  tea-houses  are  burnt  to  the  ground. 
As  a rule,  the  cause  of  the  fire  remains  a mystery,  i.e., 
if  the  fire  has  broken  out  in  the  tea-house  itself.  Sur- 
mises are  made,  explanations  of  sorts  are  given,  and 
eventually  after  much  wasting  of  pen,  ink  and  paper, 
and  many  inspections,  the  matter  is  burked,  and  in 
course  of  time  allowed  to  drop.  It  is  true  that  in  the 
majority  of  tea-houses  a very  considerable  amount  of 
timber  is  to  be  found  inside  them,  in  the  form  of 
posts,  beams,  rafters,  planks,  etc.,  but  these  are 
always  so  well  protected  by  the  adoption  of  various 
means  that  to  one  acquainted  with  them,  it  simply 
appears  marvellous  how  they  can  catch  lire 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  set  the  w’liole  build- 
ing in  a blaze.  The  roof  is  all  corrugated  iron ; 
sparks  from  the  chimnies  of  the  engine  and  dryers 
cannot  set  fire  to  the  building  from  outside.  Doubt- 
less all  timber  in  close  proximity  to  dryers  and  their 
funnels  get  very  dry  in  course  of  time,  but  these  por- 
tions are  always  protected  by  a casing  of  zinc  sheeting 
or  some  tire-proof  substance.  In  many  instances, 
when  a factory  has  been  burnt  down,  it  has  been 
owing  to  the  stacks  of  firewood  outside  having  been 
erected  too  close  to  the  building.  In  such  cases  of 
course,  if  the  stacks,  owing  to  any  cause,  catch  fire, 
it  is  practically  impossible  to  save  the  tea-house  : 
especially  if  there  is  the  slightest  breeze  or  wind 
blowing  the  flames  in  the  direction  of  the  factory  ; it 
is  simply  doomed.  Managers  and  tea-house  assistants 
are  most  assiduous  in  their  attentions,  and  we  think 
we  may  safely  say,  that  no  tea-house  has  ever  been 
burnt  down  in  the  last  ten  years,  with  a European  in 
charge,  inside  on  duty.  It  is  of  course  quite  impossible 
for  the  Manager  or  Assistant  to  be  always  present 
in  the  building,  unless  a special  tea-maker  is  employed, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  devote  bis  whole  attention  to 
manufacture.  Hucli  being  the  case,  we  can  only  atti  i- 
bute  a conflagvation,  except  of  course  in  exceptional 
cases,  to  cither  of  two  causes  ; (1)  Gross  negligence,  or 
carelessness,  on  the  part  of  the  natives  on  duty 
in  the  building;  or,  ('2)  deliberate  setting  lirotollie 
building  by  some  native  or  natives.  Wc  are  of  opinion 
that  many  tea-houses  have  been  deliberately  set  fire  to 
by  natives,  and  if  it  was  possible  to  bottom  the  real 
facta  and  trace  them  to  their  source,  it  would  be  found 
that  natives  to  satisfy  some  private  or  imaginary 
grudge,  have  wantonly  been  the  cause  of  the  contla- 
giation.  Natives  think  nothing  of  incendiarism.  A 
coolie  or  coolies,  perhaps,  have  a row  with  the  sahibs, 
or  with  the  sirdars,  or  with  their  jal-hhai,  or  it  may 
be  with  all  combined  Drunk  with  liquor  and  mad 
with  rage,  to  went  their  spleen  they  watch  their 
opportunity  and  turn  incendiaries.  There  is  always  a 
chowkidar  supposed  to  be  guarding  a factory,  but 
he  is  generally  an  invisible  force,  and,  if  not  actually 
sound  asleep,  he  is  bound  to  be  at  the  other  extremity 
of  the  building.  The  firing  process  is  not  a very  diffi- 
cult one.  All  coolies  on  a garden  know  the  inside  of  a 
tea- house  pretty  well,  and  exactly  where  the  kind  of 
materials  they  require  lie.  The  coolie  or  coolies 
secure  the  tea  bulking  cloths,  or  hessian  withering 
cloths,  or  it  may  be  the  firing  cloths,  then 
collect  whatever  they  can  lay  hands  on  in  the  shape 
of  fuel,  it  may  be  tea  box  shooks,  or  bits  of  plank- 
ing, or  firewood.  A pile  soon  made  in  some  spot, 
either  inside  or  outside  the  building,  where  a blaze 
will  set  the  whole  place  on  fire.  Possibly  some  kero- 
sine  oil  is  pourel  on,  a match  is  struck  and  applied, 
and  a memorial  bonfire  the  result.  Y hat  European 
is  there  in  the  w'hole  of  India,  who  can  say  he  has 
fathomed  the  inmost  depths  of  the  cussedtiess  of  a 
native.  Even  if  the  coolie  or  coolies  did  not  take  all 
the  trouble  to  go  through  the  elaborate  process  de- 
dicted  above,  there  are  hundreds  of  ways  of  setting 
fire  to  a building,  if  a man  or  men  are  maliciously 
intent  on  the  job.  If  they  are  determined  to  set  a 
tea-house  on  fire  they  will  find  the  way  and  means, 
and  the  bui.ding  which  was  considered  practically 
fire-proof  will  soon  be  wrapt  in  flames.  All  the 
vigilance  of  Managers  and  Assistants,  or  the 
ingenuity  of  engineers  and  builders,  w'ill  not 
avail  against  such  scoundrels.  Incendiarism  is  a 
common  form  of  revenge  in  India,  and  has  flour- 
ished for  ages.  The  culprit  or  culprits  are  sel- 
dom caught.  If  done  in  secrecy,  he  or  they  get 
off  scot-free.  After  the  building  has  been  burnt  down 
to  the  ground,  it  is  impossible  to  trace  the  origin 
of  the  fire — the  first  intimation  of  which  has  per- 
haps been  a lurid  glare  in  the  sky,  if  at  night,  or 
a wild  hubbub  and  running  about  of  excited  coolies 
if  in  the  day.  In  the  ensuing  bustle  and  confusion 
everyone,  more  or  less,  lose  their  heads,  and  th« 
incendiaries,  if  they  have  not  already  cleared  off, 
mix  in  the  crowd,  and,  perhaps,  to  evade  suspicion 
falling  on  them,  make  a show  of  helping  to  ex- 
tinguish the  flames.  Even  if  suspected  there  is  no 
proof  to  convict  them,  unless  caught  red-handed,  and 
so  they  escape.  Tne  total  destruction  of  a tea-house 
by  fire  is  alwaj's  a most  serious  loss.  Even  if  fully 
insured,  the  insurance  money  goes  but  a little  way 
to  recoup  the  real  loss  to  the  estate.  It  is  the  most 
dire  calamity  that  can  possibly  happen  to  a large 
garden,  especially  if  situated  a distance  from  any 
neighbouring  estate,  which  might  possibly  be  able 
to  help  manufacturing  the  loaf.  If  destroyed  during 
the  lie. gilt  of  the  manufacturing  season,  it  simply 
means  Uie  dead  locB  of  sonic  hundreds  or  thousands 
of  maunds  of  tea,  not  covered  by  insurance.  More- 
over, it  puts  the  whole  working  of  the  garden  out 
of  gear,  and  takes  months  before  tho  old  order  is 
rc-itored  and  things  work  smoothly  again. — Indian 
Planters'  Gazette,  Oct.  17 
^ 
THE  AIMSTERDAM  MARKET. 
Further  details  with  regard  to  tho  cinchona  .sales 
of  last  Thursday  state  that  the  demand  for  Manu- 
facturing barks  was  good,  but  without  any  inclination 
to  strong  competition,  and  in  all  oases  whore  iniport- 
er.s  took  up  a firm  .stand  the  buyers  invariably  left 
them  alone.  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  122  kilos 
of  quinine  in  the  bark  remained  unsold.  The  richest 
parcel  at  auction  was  132  bales  crushed  Ledgeriana, 
containing  ITtiO  per  cent  of  sulphate  of  quinine! 
This  lot  only  realised  30jc,  or  ,''>id  per  lb.  Drug- 
gi.sls  b.u  ks  were  decidedly  linm-i-  all  roiiud,  and  for 
lino  whole  and  broken  qiiill  an  advance  on  the  former 
auctions  was  paid.  Medium  grades  were  also  well 
competed  for,  but  common  lots  wore  slow  of  sale. — 
Chemist  and  Dru^yist,  Oct.  10. 
