March  j,  1897.]  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
625 
crop  had  been  gathered,  and  the  machinery  could  there- 
fore only  be  used  for  tlie  later  crops,  which  are  much 
inferior  and  do  not  afford  a proper  test." 
“The  machinery  then  was  used  for  the  second  and 
third  crops 
“ Yes,  and  it  had  a noticeable  effect  on  the  tea,  as 
far  as  appearance  and  the  sti'engtli  of  the  liquor  went 
but  it  made  no  alteration  whatever  in  regard  to  the 
flavour  of  the  tea—  not  the  slightest  improvement 
being  noticeable.  Asked  what  increase  in  the  cost  of 
manufacture  was  brought  about  by  the  use  of  ma- 
chinery in  regard  to  the  teas  on  which  it  had  so  far- 
been  tried,  Mr.  Fairhurst  said  ; “ Well  they  reckon  it 
means  an  additional  outlay  of  about  IJd,  and  whether 
that  will  be  made  up  by  a longer  price  being  got  for 
the  tea  in  England  and  in  the  other  markets,  I can- 
not yet  tell  you,  for  the  total  quantity  of  machine- 
manufactured  tea  sent  home  last  year  was  not  more 
than  1,500  or  1,600  packages,  and  that,  of  course,  was 
largely  bought  as  a curiosity,  being  competed  for  in  an 
exceptional  manner  on  account  of  its  novelty,  and  so 
arfording  no  guide.  Everything  is  to  be  learned  this 
year,  and  all  depends  on  the  first  crop.  If  it  answers 
in  regard  to  that,  then  machinery  will  be  adopted 
on  a larger  scale,  and  it  may  be  that  then 
China  will  once  again  be  a rival  with  Ceylon 
and  India  in  regard  to  the  better  classes  of  tea. 
As  far  as  the  Foochow  district  is  concerned  we 
shall  learn  the  first  results  of  machinery  manufac- 
ture in  May,  and  we  shall  know  the  financial  r-esult 
of  the  e.xperiment  in  July  when  we  learn  what  the 
teas  fetch.  But  the  experiment  will  not  be  a very 
large  one,  there  will  be  only  ready  for  use  some 
five  rollers  and  about  three  dryers ; but  in  addition 
there  are  men  who  intend  going  on  rolling  the  leaf 
by  the  old  manual  process,  but  who  have  consented 
to  try  indoor  withering  instead  of  sun  withering  and 
to  use  Ceylon  methods  of  fermenting.  They  seem  to 
have  realised  that  indoor  withering  is  preferable  to 
the  other  system,  and  they  are  now  putting  np  the 
necessary  buildings  for  doing  this  work;  but,  taking 
all  these  improvements  in  manufacture,  they  will 
not  affect  more  than  a tenth  of  our  output  in  Foochow 
— say  about  40.000  half-chests."  Foochow,  according 
to  Mr.  Fairhurst,  is  the  pioneer  district  in  China  as 
far  as  this  movement  is  concerned.  He  passed  through 
Amoy  on  his  wa}'  here,  and  he  assured  us  that  we 
had  been  wrongly  informed  in  respect  to  that  district 
when  we  were  told  that  machinery  had  been  already 
introduced  there.  So  far  nothing  h^s  been  done 
there  beyond  talk,  and  they  are  evidently  going  to 
wait  and  see  the  outcome  of  the  Foochow  experi- 
ment. In  the  latter  district  the  movement  has  been 
entirely  the  result  of  the  introduction  of  European 
capital,  with  the  result  that  the  Europeans  who  have 
found  the  money  have  persuaded  the  Chinese,  who 
have  to  take  up  the  lands  (no  European  being  allowed 
to  take  lands)  to  adopt  the  new  methods.  The  prin- 
cipal movers  in  this  respect  have  been  the  Foochow 
Tea  Improvement  Company,  which,  he  says,  consists 
of  about  6 Europeans  and  6 Chinese,  each  of  whom 
have  put  one  thousand  dollars  into  the  concern. 
The  new  methods  are  only  to  be  applied  to  the 
higher  grades  of  tea.  In  one  respect,  according  to 
Mr.  Fairhurst,  the  position  of  Foochow  is  unassail- 
able, that  is,  in  regard  to  its  power  of  producing 
cheap  common  teas.  These  it  can  turn  out  at  a 
price  of  4Jd  to  5d,  and  in  this  respect  it  leads  other 
tea-producing  countries  easily. 
Asked  if  the  water  supply  was  good,  Mr.  Fair- 
hurst said  : “ Far  fiom  it ; there  are  a lot  of 
streams  all  about  the  district,  but  the  force  of 
any  of  them  is  scarcely  more  than  sufficient  to 
drive  a 16  feet  wheel,  which  amount  of  power  is 
just  about  what  one  Excelsior  roller  only  requires. 
Steam  will  have  to  be  largely  restored  to,  therefore, 
and  in  producing  this  the  Chinese  have  at  present 
no  coal  of  their  own  to  help  them  ; — the  cheapest 
available  co.il  is  that  which  they  can  get  from 
Japan.  Another  difficulty  arises  from  the  short  space 
of  time  they  have  in  which  to  gather  and  maun- 
facture  the  first  and  most  important  crop.  It  will 
all  have  to  be  dealt  with  in  the  ihort  space  of  six 
weeks,  think  of  the  vast  amount  of  machinery  they 
will  have  to  get  to  do  that." 
NO  CIIANOE  OP  JAT  LIKELY  TO  SUCCEED. 
Asked  if  he  thought  it  likely  the  Chinamen  would 
go  in  for  new  Jdts  of  tea  in  connection  with  this 
progressive  movement,  Mr.  Fairhurst  said  he  did  not 
think  any  innovation  of  this  sort  would  be  likely 
to  prosper.  The  Tea  Improvement  Company,”  he 
said,  “ are  getting  down  some  Indian  teas  ; but  I 
do  not  think  from  my  experience  of  Formosa  teas 
they  will  succeed.  Formosa  teas,  you  know,  were  ori- 
ginally Chinas.  They  were  taken  from  China, 
and  planted  in  Formosa  where  they  did  amazingly 
well  in  tlip  volcanic  soil  that  Formosa  possesses. 
Some  time  ago  I tried  the  experiment  of  bringing 
some  of  the  Formosa  teas  here,  and  planting  them 
051  my  places  in  Bimbu'a,  but  there  they  went  back 
to  the  old  China  state,  showing  it  was  the  Formosa 
soil  alone  that  improved  them.  The  same  thing 
will  happen,  I think,  with  these  Indian  importations! 
they  will  very  quickly  become  like  the  Chinese  im 
digenous  teas,  and  the  idea  of  using  them  will  b« 
abandoned." 
CEYLON  V.  JAVA  AS  TEA 
PKODUCEKS. 
{Bj/  an  ex- Merchant- Pla7iicr.) 
London,  Jan.  22. 
1 thought  my  letter  of  the  15th  inst.  would 
be  the  last  I should  have  to  trouble  you  with, 
on  the  subject  referred  to  in  my  three  previous 
ones  ; but  as  you  transmuted  the  word  “Java”  into 
“Japan,”  when  publishing  my  letter  of  the  10th 
ult.,  it  is  nece.ssary  to  draw  your  attention  to  the 
inistakex 
I wrote  the  word  Java,  and  not  Japan  pur- 
posely, because  the  latter  is  not,  and  1 think 
never  will  be,  a eonmetitor  with  Ceylon  in  the 
supply  of  tea  to  the  European  markets*  ; wherea.s 
Java  will  most  probably  in  time  become  a serious 
rival,  especially  if  it  continues  to  be  supported, 
and  encouraged  by  British  protection,  as  it  is  at 
present. 
I do  not  know  that  Java  has  not  as  good 
a climate  for  the  production  of  tea  as  Ceylon  ; 
but  I do  know  that  it  has  a much  better  soil, 
a large  area  of  available  land,  and  a good  sup- 
ply of  labour. 
It  is  true,  the  import  of  Java  tea  into  England 
last  year  was  only  seven  million  of  pounds,  and 
that  the  increase  year  by  year  has  been  com- 
paratively small ; but  remember  the  cinchona 
incident,  in  which  the  tortoise  beat  the  hare.  It 
will  not  be  wise  for  Ceylon  planters  to  take  a 
leaf  out  of  the  Indian  planter’s  book,  and  pooh-pooh 
the  idea  of  Java  (where  the  tea  is  similar  to  that 
of  Ceylon  and  made  on  the  same  lines)  ever  becom- 
ing a serious  adversary. 
We  all  of  us  recollect  how  Indian  planters 
jeered  at  the  idea  of  tea  in  Ceylon  ever  becoming 
a permanent  and  increasing  industry.  Nay,  even 
now — according  to  “W.  McK.” — they  say  to  Ceylon 
men  “ Oh  ! Ceylon  may  supply  the  Colonies, 
America,  and  the  Continent,  but  we  will  soon 
have  the  English  market  all  to  ourselves,  and 
will  be  content  with  it.”  Let  us  not  be  too  con- 
fident. In  the  battle  which  is  undoubtedly 
before  us,  we  cannot  aftbrd  to  be  generous. 
Planters  may  say: — “Oh  ! we  can  do  very  well  with 
exchange  at  Is  3d  or  Is  4d”  ; but  that  you  know 
is  not  the  question.  It  is,  “ Can  we  aftbrd  to  pre- 
sent our  adversaiies  witli  10  to  15  per  cent,  of 
the  value,  to  enable  them  to  compete  rvith  us  ?” 
Is  there  any  call  to  give  them  any  advantage 
at  all  ? 
* But  Japan  is  a great  rival  in  the  United  States 
—Ed.  7'.. I, 
