92 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[At'G. 2 , 1897 . 
•warehouses during the bulking process, that has 
to he complained of ; and the undoul)ted fact that 
foreign substances — pieces of stick, dust &c. 
— get into the tea while repacking, ex- 
cites the great objection to London bulking on 
the part of proprietary planters. There is in- 
dubitable evidence of this fact afforded — evidence 
■which even Mr. Lipton cannot get over — in the 
gradual accumulation of tea up to a considerable 
quantity in the London warehouses. AVhere does 
such tea come from and what happens when 
a London buyer of tea finds that a chest is short 
weight of the quantity marked upon it ? He 
lays the box on one side, telephones to the 
warehouse naming consignment, maik of chest 
and weight short ; and at once a man comes up 
from the warehouse to see and test the case, — 
and as often as not with the short weight of 
tea in a paper package, so that he may at 
once close the complaint if a correct one ! Again, 
where does this tea come from ? — and how in 
tlie face of such an absolutely unjust and 
iniquitous system, Mr. Lipton’s tea buyers can 
have the utter indifference to proprietary in- 
terests to say, “We will only buy London- 
bulked tea,” surprises us beyond measure. 
Surely Mr. Lipton liimself — as a Ceylon tea 
estates proprietor, a professed friend of the 
industry and of the colony— cannot have been 
consulted in this decision ; and surely it cannot 
be one that is approved of by his experienced 
Agent on the spot (Mr. F. Duplock)? It is, 
moreover, quite evident that a whole commu- 
nity of careful, upright, fair-dealing men— the 
tea planters of Ceylon— are to be punished for 
the sake of a few “black sheep ’’ — careless 
superintendents -about their factory work— 
amongst them ? This is neither politic nor 
equitable. We do not at all deny that 
there is a percentage— perhaps only a trac- 
tion of a per cent— of careless “ estate 
bulking ” ; but surely it is not impossible 
for buyers to keep a' note of the olfending 
“mark” and take care nob to buy that estate’s 
tea— at any rate after a second faulty experi 
eece ever again ? ^Ve are the very last to 
defend the careless superintendent ; although, 
we feel that, in some eases, the projuietor may 
have to share the blame in not granting a suffi- 
ciency of aid in factory work ; and 
we know that there are cases in the 
experience of Colombo Agency houses which 
show downriglit neglect in the estate fac- 
tory. One such case related to us, we may 
mention. A. lot of 18 chests of tea is sent to 
Colombo Agents to be offered for sale : samples 
are drawn from three boxes ; afterwards another 
sample for some reason is sent for and it proves 
so utterly ditferent that an examination of the 
Avhole lot takes place when it is found that 6 out 
of the 18 lioxes contain dilferent and greatly 
inferioi- tea, aUhougli all were reported to he 
“ bulked” the same. Now, in such a case, unless 
a satisfactory cx|)hinatiou was afforded, prompt 
and decided' punishment should follow. 
Nevertheless we maintain that the cases where 
anything like careless “bulking” occurs, are very 
fevv and far between. We know estates by the 
score— if not hundred— where, for a serie.s of 
Years there has never been the slightest com- 
plaint in leference to “ bulking.” Now-, why 
should such— the vast majority of— Ceylon estates 
be subjected to an additional tax, and theii teas 
be ilepreciated in a London warehouse, because 
there are a few factories which are careless 
about their “bulking” ? We think that, on reconsi- 
deration, even Mr. Lipton’s “ house” will see its 
mistake. Certainly, we feel sure that Mr. 
Lipton himself — to whom we directly ap|)eal as 
a proprietor w-ith experience of Ceylon tea 
estates — will see the unfairness of subjecting a 
w’hole community of planters to the disadvan- 
tages which would follow were all the tea 
buyers to refuse to buy save on London 
“ bulking.” We would ask Mr. Lipton’s 
London tea managers, therefore, to rescind their 
obnoxious rule and, instead, to take a note of any 
offending Ceylon estates’ marks, — avoid them in 
the future, and, if they like, publicly report 
them, e.“pecially after a second otfence. 
BEE CULTUKE AT THE SCHOOL OF 
AGRICULTURE. 
Arrangements are being made for carrying 
on an experiment in Apiculture at the Scliool 
of Agriculture, and a couple of hives especially 
constructed to suit the habits of the Ceylon 
honey bee under the supervision of Mr. Charles 
Andree of Kurunegala, who has had consider- 
ble ex))erience in bee-keeping in Ceylon, may 
be now seen at the School. 
♦- 
PLANTING AND PRODUCE. 
Outlook for the Tea Trade in China. — A great expan- 
sion in the foreign trade of China is recorded by Mr. H. 
Kopsch. the Secretary of the Imperial Maritime Cus- 
toms, in his report for 1896, but in tea there is 
again a considerable falling-off. The decline of 
China’s trade in tea is no new feature. That has 
been persistently dwindling for years past under 
the competition of India and Ceylon. And as 
to its prospects, this is the best that Mr. 
Kopsch can say : — “ That the resuscitation of 
the China tea trade is not regarded as hopeless is 
evinced by the formation of a ‘ Foochow Tea Im- 
provement Company,’ for the preparation of tea after 
the Indian and Ceylon methods.” He does not regard 
it as improbable that in time this new departure 
will commend itself to the Chinese tea growers, and 
that although the market for China teas in the 
United Kingdom may never be recovered, an Asi.itic 
demand for the finer qualities of them may slowly 
develop. 
New Season’s China Teas. — The time has come 
round again for the opening of another season for 
China teas at Kiukiang, and we may soon hear of 
the first steamer leaving Hankow with new Monings 
for the London market. This commencement of the 
1897-98 season, says the Grocer, does not possess 
anything like the same amount of importance to 
the home trade as openings of the season did 
years ago, when those teas occupied a far 
higher place in the estimation of the dealers 
generally than they do now ; and after the 
losses and disappointments more recently expe- 
rienced, it would be unwise to indulge in sanguine 
expectations of a very successful business in the 
article in the near future. Compared with the popu- 
larity it enjoyed in the “■ seventies,” when the yearly 
consumption in this country averaged about 122 , 000,000 
lb, China tea has gone almost entirely out of use 
— in 1896 only 19,831,680 lb were officially returned 
as having been consumed in the United Kingdom. 
Thcordinary consumer’s liking for this kind of tea has 
certainly died out; and it is only when Indian and 
Ceylon teas temporarily run short, and are relatively 
dear at 7d to 8 d per lb for common quality, that 
the wholesale dealers, in the struggle to keep 
up a cheap (shilling) canister, will condescend to 
look at China descriptions. These then, by reason 
of their exceeding cneapness, become a tempting 
