Oct. r, 1897.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 283 
TEA IN CALCUTTA ; FACTORY BULKING. 
(From William Moran ct- Co.’s Market Report.) 
Calcutta, Sept. 1. 
Factoby Bulking.— In a circular dated 23rd August 
just issued by the Indian Tea Association, the pro- 
ceedings are reported of a meeting held in London, at- 
tended by most of the influential men of the Indian 
and Ceylon Tea Trade. Mr. Peek, the Chairman of 
the Dealers’ Association, said : “ The Trade would 
like to know where the Tea was bulked, but they pre- 
ferred hulking in the Factori/, because Tea got injured by 
being hulked in London." He further stated with regard 
to Teas not bulked on the Factory : “ That what 
professed to be a sample of the bulk in some instances, 
was not what it purported to be, the result being, that 
the Trade not only had parcels of Tea thrown up by 
their customers, but often lost an account in conse- 
quence.” In the face of this very decided opinion in 
favour of Bulking on the factory, we invite Agents and 
Managers to give it their attention, no chance should 
be lost to give Indian Tea every advantage iu our 
power, to further its popularity with the consumer. 
Owing to the heavy arrivals of our Crop, during the 
rainy months in London, and the present system which 
prevails of bulking all Teas, exposure to the d.amp at- 
mosphere is unavoidable, even under the most careful 
superintendence, as the bulking rooms, by the Fire In- 
surance rules, cannot be artificially heated and many 
fine parcels suffer in consequence and lose their flavour. 
If Factory bulking can be made really reliable, we think, 
it will prove a great boon to the Trade. 
TEA PLANTING IN ANNAM. 
A French paper states that after a long series of 
efforts and attempts which have been pursued with 
indomitable patience two Frenchmen have at last 
succeeded in giving to Annam a new industry in tea 
planting. It was in 1780 that the first attempt took 
place without any result ; but in 1835 a French 
missionary residing at Phu-Thuong succeeded with a 
great deal of energy in getting some tea plantations 
started, but he was obliged to return to France, and 
thus the result of his energy was for a time dormant. 
Another missionary, after the insurrection of 1885, 
succeeded to some extent in making the population 
understand the value of tea planting. From that time all 
the neighbouring villages vied with each othsr to such 
an extent that now all the hillocks of Tung-Sen, 
Kien-Kien, Phu-Hoa, &c., are covered with tea, 
where formerly nothing but unhealthy shrubs were 
growing. Subsequently some French merchants 
came, they rented a few plots, and undertook to 
propagate by example in practising on their own 
plantations a well understood pruning, thus making 
the plants strong and healthy. A mission was 
sent to China, another to .lava and Ceylon. A 
temporary factory was created in 1895, and today 
the cause has been so well fought that all the dis- 
trict of Phu-Thuong is devoted to the methodical 
culture of tea. A large brick and stone factory 
was constructed at Phu-Thuong at the beginning of 
this year, where the tea leaves are prepared as at 
Java and Ceylon, but without the addition of the- 
perfume to which the Chinese have accustomed the 
Europeans. — L. and C. E.xpress, Aug. 27. 
PAPA W- JUICE. 
A 301b-case of the concrete juice of the papaw [Carica 
Papaya), shipped from Ceylon, was included in the 
drug-sales recently. It consisted of small irregular 
masses of a light brown colour, having an odour 
somewhat resembling that of Para-rubber. Papaw- 
juice is obtained by scarification from the unripe 
fruits, and is generally employed medicinally in 
countries where the tree is found. The active prin- 
ciple papain is readily precipitated by the auction of 
alcohol. Many virtues are attributed to papaw-juice ; it 
is said to have the property of rendering tough meat 
tender, is used in the treatment of dyspepsia, diphtheria 
and as an anthelmintic, and is also recommended or 
eczema. The lot in question was sold at 5s per lb., 
“subject to approval.”— CAsHtwt and Druggist, Aug. 28. 
TEA SHARES AS AN INVESTMENT: 
INDIA AND CEYLON. 
In our recent article we tabulated the uet revenue 
receipts for 1895 of nearly one hundrjd tea-produc- 
ing Companies of India and Ceyioii. These statis- 
tics showed that 57 Indian Companies, with an ag- 
gregate paid-up capital of T4, 730, 523, .last year earned 
a net profit of T4i7,197, equal to 9'45 per cent, and 
37 Ceylon Companies, with a capital of T2,531,112, 
made £272,229, equal to iO'75 per cent. Together, 
the ninety-four Companies with a paid up share capi- 
tal of f 7,2ol,635, made t'719,420 iii net profits, equal 
to 9'90 per cent, ail round. These figures, we re- 
marked at the time, pointed to tea-growing as a very 
remunerative underiaking, and it being, in our 
opinion, a sound and weil-estabiished industry, we 
unhesitatingly commended the debenture and pre- 
ference shares generally as affording opportunities 
for safe investment. We added, however, that 
there were circumstances affecting the future of 
the trade which needed to be carefully considered 
in estimating the value of the ordinary shares as a 
permanent investment. The consideration of these 
circumstances is the purpose of the present aitioie. 
The immediate danger which threatens the tea trade 
is that of over-production, with all its associated evils. 
Hitherto India and Ceylon planters have had a com- 
petitive market in which to place their increas d 
outturn, but that market has now been won and 
fully supplied. The British market has shown tre- 
mendous elasticity in the past for the teas of India 
and Ceylon, but it has been very greatly at the 
expense of those of Chinese growth. China is now 
almost completely beaten out of competition, there- 
fore the expansion of the home market for tea in 
the future must depend upon additional consump- 
tion per head, and the uatuial increase iu the popula- 
tion. It is improbable that these possible sources 
of increased demand will be sufficient to take the 
increase in the crop which would result merely 
from improved cultivation of the old gardens, and 
it is altogether impossible that the British market 
can by any means take up the enormous increase in the 
out-turn which must result from the very large ex- 
tensions which are being made. The trade therefore 
depends upon the opening up of new markets — in 
Europe, America, Australia, and South Atrica. Each 
of these continents offers the possibilities for a large 
trade, but in many instances they are pioneer, not 
competitive market.s. Speaking broadly, they are not 
already occupied by another variety of tea, with which 
the product of the Indian and Ceylon gardens has 
only to be brought into competition to win, hands 
down. 
In considering the value of the ordinary shares of 
British tea companies, it is of primary importance 
to gauge what probability there is of British-grown 
tea finding acceptance in these new countries. A 
large increase in the out-turn in the immediate future 
may be taken for granted. If it needs to be substan- 
tiated. we have only to refer to the extensions of 
their old gardens which are being, or have recently 
been made, by nearly every company — in some 
cases very Large extensions — and the new areas 
which are being brought into cultivation. 
We are informed by an old planter of 
many years experience, that had there been sufficient 
labour to have gathered the whole of the Ceylon crop 
of last year, the market would have been glutteo. 
This shows how imminent the danger of over- 
production is. There is no doubt that when, in the 
course of years, the young plants which have been put 
iu during the last year or two, come into lull bearing 
the inci ease must be something enormous. It is 
quite unnecessary to labour the point of how disas- 
trous must be the effect of tliis large increase on 
the price of tea, unless the demand of the new 
markets is couunensurate with tne increase of one 
out-turn. 
What are the prospects of new markets ? Take first 
America. The consumption of tea iu the United States 
in 1890-92 was about eighty-two or eighty-three million 
lb.; in 1893 the imports were 88,000,000 lb. j in 1894, 
