THE  TROPICAI 
agriculturist. 
867 
June  i,  1897.] 
been  raised  to  7i  i)cr  cent,  witliont  furtlier  noti- 
fication than  a <leniaml  at  tlie  Cu.stoniliouse  for 
the  increased  duty.  In  .such  matters  tlie  autho- 
ritie.s  mig'nt  be  reasonably  e.xpected  to  }?ive  im- 
porters adequate  notice,  instead  of  sprinKinj' such 
a change  uixuitliem  wicliout  any  warning. — Natal 
Mcrcurif,  April  2. 
^ 
TKA  ('UUP  ESTIMATES  AND  DISTPJCTS. 
The  ditficulty  attending  tlie  estimating  of  the 
tea  crop  for  districts  tliat  may  be  .said  to  run 
into,  or  overlap,  cacli  other,  may  be  judged  from 
the  following  e.vtract  of  a letter  sent  to  us  by 
Mr.  Alex.  Wardrop  of  New  Eori*.‘'t,  De.ltora;  — 
*•  Pvefevring  to  yonr  letter  of  fHth  April,  [ have 
collected  statistics  of  aereagi'  tinder  tea  in  the 
Nilambe  district,  which  show  a total  of  1,'S75  acres 
of  tea  in  bearing  and  acres  uot  in  bearing.  I 
would  point  out,  however,  that  probably  all  the  Upper 
Nilambe  estates  have  already  been  included  in  the 
Pussellawa  return,  as  these  places  belong  to  that 
P..i.  as  do  also  some  in  Ramboda  and  others  near 
Gampola.  The  Pussellawa  district,  as  defined  in  the 
Directory,  cannot  claim  anything  like  the  17,000  odd 
acres  In'  tea  with  which  it  is  credited  in  the  pub- 
lished returns.” 
Of  course,  the  Committee  of  the  Planters  Asso- 
ciation in  calling  for  crop  estimates  must  have 
taken  care  to  define  the  several  districts.  It 
would  be  safest,  we  think,  to  follow  the  Estates 
Directory  as  it  is  in  everybody’s  hand  and  one 
estimator  could  not  then  fail  to  know  what  the 
other  was  doing. 
^ 
TEAS  IN  UNITED  STATES  : REPORT  PRE- 
PARED BY  A COMMISSION  OF  EXPERTS. 
The  following  has  been  sent  to  ns  by  our  Tea 
Commissioner  in  America:— 
It  will  be  remembered  that  under  the  Act  of  Con- 
gress approved  March  2nd,  1897,  and  entitled  “ An 
act  to  prevent  the  importation  of  impure  and  un- 
wholesome tea,”  it  was  provided  that  a board  of  seven 
tea  experts  should  be  appointed  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  to  establish  standards  in  advance  of  the 
tea  season  for  the  guidance  of  the  tea  examiners 
at  the  various  ports.  The  following  gentlemen  were 
appointed  upon  this  board E.  A.  Sohoyer,  of 
E.  A.  Schoyer  & Co..  Chicago ; A.  B.  Upham, 
of  Sprague,  Warner  & Co.,  Chicago  ; H.  G. 
Woodworth,  of  Robinson  & Woodworth,  Boston. 
A.  P.  Irwin,  of  Irwin  McBride,  Catherwood  & 
Co.,  Philadelphia;  Wm.  P.  Roome,  of  Wm. 
P.  Roome  & Co.,  New  York;  Thos.  A.  Phelan,  of 
Geo.  W-  Lane  & Co.,  New  York  ; R.  B.  Bain  of 
San  Francisco.  The  law  provided  that  a Chairman 
should  be  elected  by  the  board,  to  whom  all  com- 
munications should  be  directed,  and  upon  the  first 
meeting  of  the  board  in  the  Appraiser’s  Office,  in  this 
city.  Thos.  A.  Phelan  was  elected  Chairman.  Mr. 
Phelan  in  an  interview  with  a representative  of  this 
journal  yesterday  summarized  the  work  of  the  board 
as  follows  : 
“ The  Board  devoted  itself  to  the  establishing  of 
standards  the  whole  of  last  week  and  have  estab- 
lished the  following  standards  : — 
No.  1 — Formosa  Oolong. 
No.  2 — Foochow  Oolong. 
No.  3 — Amoy  Oolong. 
No.  4 — North  China  Congou. 
No.  5 — South  China  Congou. 
No.  6 — India  Tea. 
No.  7 — Ceylon  Tea. 
“ In  each  of  these  standards  the  maximum  per- 
centage of  dust  and  fannings  must  be  of  limited 
amount  to  be  settled  latter.  This  percentage  of  dust 
and  fannings  is  liable  to  be  made  up  of  extraneous 
matter. 
No.  8. — Piugsuey  green  tea. 
“ As  this  standard  is  of  better  make  or  stylo  than 
was  necessary  to  represent  the  quo.lity  of  infusion 
the  rule  must  be  specially  emphasized  to  examine 
with  reference  to  liquor  and  infused  leaf  only. 
No.  9. — (.V)  Country  green  tea. 
No.  10. — (h)  Country  green  tea. 
No.  11.— .1:1  pan  tea,  pan  fired. 
No.  12. — J pan  tea,  sundriecl. 
No.  13. — .lupan  tea,  basket  fired. 
“ Dust  and  fannings,  in  the  last  three  mentioned 
standards,  a e not  to  e.xceod  a limited  amount,  to 
be  settled  latter. 
No.  11. — .Japan  tea,  dust  or  fannings. 
No.  l.">. — Scented  orange  Pekoe. 
No.  IC> — Capers. 
“It  is  understood  that  tin-  coinpnri.son  of  the 
stiuidatils  with  tc.as  ilelivoi cd  must  bo  made  upon 
tlio  drawing  ol  the  tea  as  well  as  the  appearance  of 
the  leaf  after  infusion,  and  that  little  or  no  consider- 
ation will  be  given  to  the  make  or  style  or  color  of 
the  teas  in  the  dry  leaf. 
“ The  standards  selected  for  Oolong,  including  For- 
mosa, Foochow  and  Amoy  teas,  are  about  two  grades 
above  the  very  lowest  quality  that  has  heiet  fore  been 
admitted,  so  that  hereafter  anything  under  what  would 
be  called  good  common  to  fair  Oolong  will  be  excluded. 
The  same  applies  to  Congou  teas  as  well  as  to  India 
and  Ceylon, 
“ Great  care  was  given  to  the  selection  of  standards 
for  Pingsuey  green  tea,  as  this  is  a kind  of  tea 
which  has  heretofoie  been  mixed  with  spurious  leaf 
and  has  had  an  excessive  amount  of  coloring  matter, 
making  it  unfit  for  use.  The  standard  selected  is 
absolutely  pure,  haviog  entire  freedom  from  any 
scum,  and  it  also  has  a clean  green  leaf  after  infn- 
sion,  so  that  such  a tea  in  the  future  will  be 
free  from  all  objection  and  have  some  merit.  The 
same  applies  to  the  two  standards  selected  for  country 
green  teas,  which  practically  exclude  all  the  kinds 
known  as  low  grade  of  Shanghai  packed,  excepting, 
perhaps,  the  very  beat  of  this  description.  It  will 
also  exclude  what  is  known  as  ‘ Smoky  Tychow  tea?,’ 
with  scum  in  the  liquor. 
“ The  Japan  tea  standards  represent  about  two 
grades  above  the  lowest  quality  heretofore  admitted 
and  might  be  called  in  the  trade  as  good  common 
to  low  medium  grade.  They  are  free  from  any  ob- 
jection in  drawing  quality  or  scum,  or  exhausted 
leaf.  The  same  applies  to  the  dust  or  fannings 
which  will  probably  exclude  about  1-4  to  1-3  of  th« 
amount  of  dust  and  fannings  previously  admitted, 
including  all  with  excessive  coloring  matter  and  scum. 
“ The  standards  selected  for  scented  orange  Pekoe 
and  capers  are  of  the  very  finest  quality  and  have  no 
objectionable  characteristics. 
“ It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Tea  Examiners  at  the 
three  ports  of  entry,  Chicago,  New  York  and  San 
Francisco,  will  be  men  of  such  character  as  to  be 
thoroughly  reliable  in  order  to  make  this  law  effec- 
tive. Upon  these  three  men  will  depend  whether 
this  bill  will  be  a success  in  carring  out  the  object 
of  providing  for  the  American  people  teas  absolutely 
pure  and  without  objection.  If  they  do  their  duty 
the  finest  crop  of  tea  that  has  ever  come  to  America 
will  be  in  the  possession  of  the  American  people 
next  season,  beginning  June  1st.” 
♦ 
PRUNING,  PLUCKING  AND  PREPARATION 
OF  TEA. 
Dooars,  April  17. — Preparation  in  the  factory  is  now 
more  carefully  supervised,  and,  owing  to  improved 
machinery  and  good  buildings,  carried  out  in  a more 
systematic  manner.  To  make  good  tea  there  can  be 
no  hard  and  fast  line  drawn  between  field  work 
and  factory  work.  The  greater  the  care  taken  fro  n 
the  pruning  of  the  bush  in  the  cold  weather  up  to 
the  time  it  is  packed,  the  better  the  quality  is  likely 
to  be.  No  one  has  yet  discovered,  and  I don’t  think 
ever  will,  a system  whereby  leaf  which  baa  been  grown 
op  sickly  bushes  due  to  bad  pruning  and  bad  caltiva- 
