338 
THE TROPICAL AORIOULTURIST. 
[November a, i8gi . 
of which appeared in this Journal of March that 
year. Those, who would wish to trace it more 
closely, and also to ascertain in detail the great 
wealth and variety of the nalnral products of 
Persia, may Cnd a mass of information brought 
together in “ The Kiver Knrun : an opening to 
Britsh Commerce,” of which Mr. W. Francis 
Ainsworth is the anther (and Messrs. W. H. 
Allen & Co. publishers), and who speaks from 
personal acquaintance of the distriot surroundii'g 
the Karun. One fact is evident from the writings 
and remarks of all authorities on the subject of 
the prospects of British trade in Persia, and that 
is— that whilst competition with Itussiain the more 
northern parts may be difficult owing to her ex- 
ceptionally favourable geographical situation seconded 
by the '* iron road " developments which she is 
ever pushing eastwards and southwards, yet, in 
the southern, and far into the central portions 
of Persia, British oommorce may penetrate with 
success under fair conditions, and defy the com- 
petition of northern traders. » • » 
An idea of the progress which has been made 
latterly is afforded by iho statistics given in the 
report by Mr. Consul-General Boss above quoted, 
which relates to the trade of Southern Persia 
and the Persian Gulf for the year 18S9. Taking 
the bare totals alone we obtain the appended 
comparison for the various places of import and 
expert, with the value of the trade in 1888 : — 
All Import". All Exports. 
1889. 1888. 1889. 1888. 
£ £ £ £ 
Shirax .. .. ;i27,«57 258,522 .. 340,615 149,780 
Bushire.. .. 791,82.'$ 527,235 .. 515,907 378.1 48 
IviogaU.. .. 620,490 732,415 .. 542,000 530,0.56 
Builder Abbas.. 314,!18C 277,128 .. 323,799 271,719 
Bahrain.. .. 276,823 251,083 .. 317,913 307,162 
Arab Coast ports 157.464 138,016 .. 289,692 348,552 
Total 2,518,649 2,181 469 2,330.786 2,291,417 
— Chamber oj Commerce Journal. 
A TALK ABOUT TEA. 
The weather recently in As.sain docs not scorn to 
have been as favourable fur tea-makiug as it might 
have been. Upper Assam, in particniar, has apparuiitly 
been sufferiug from something very like a drought, 
if such a word can be applied to the rainy season. 
From Tezpur 1 hear "wo have had a very, very dry 
time since the commencement of August ; only six 
inches of rain during the whole of August, and 1-83 
inchea up to the lOtli of September.” This is an ab-. 
normally small quantity of rain for what is generally 
the wettest month in Assam. There wore very heavy 
falls of rain daring July, tut this will not carry on 
indefinitely. A hot Angust, with little or no tain to 
speak of, soon dries up the soil, and n heavy couse- 
qnent drop in the outturu is to bo feared. Flauters 
seem to think an early cold weather is impending. 
Notwithstanding (he unusual heat in the day, due to 
want of rain, the mornings are already assuming a 
"cold weather” feel and appearance ; and the "snows” 
— as the distant snowy raountaius' peaks arc looally 
called — stand out in thn early morning as olose and 
clear as they generally begin to do about the end of 
October or beginning of November. Every-oiie is 
complaining of the heat in the day j and the now 
poplar Blackman's fans for withering leaf are at a 
disoonut : the loaf withers in the lofts only too quickly 
without their aid, owing to the abnormal heat. Yet up 
to date moat of the gardens are keeping up to, if not 
ahead of, last year. Oiio big garden m the now well- 
known Dapnta Valley is over 1,000 maunds ahead of 
last year, on a crop of 7,000 maunds for last season ; 
and itfl manager hopea to turn out nearly 9,000 maunds, 
notwithstanding tho scanty rainfsll. But to this in- 
crease a good deal of young tea coming into bearing 
is contributing. Other gardens without now extensions 
oouiing iu to their aid will probably feel tho unusual 
weather severely j and a considerable drop on the 
estimated outturn of tea will probably have to be faced 
by many concerns in Upper Assam. 
Dibrugarh tells the .same story. ISp.asmodio showers, 
oocasionally heavy, I'lit very mnoh localized, are the 
order of the day. Ucavy clouds, thunder and light- 
ning all round, but very liitlu of that good, ateady, 
soaking rain, that fills the heart of thu planter with, 
joy, and oovera his boats with mud, is reported. 
Everything seems to foretell an early cessation of the 
rams, and all but very low lyiiig gardens are sure to 
sulfur iu outturn in coiisiqneuce. But “ every sorrow 
has its twiu joy. ” It the oompar.itivo failuiu of 
the rains is general, the general, outturn of 
the distriot will fall cousiileratly below estimates ; 
and when this fact is pubiioly appreciated, a rise iu 
prices may bo looked for in the homo market. There 
is eonsiderablo room for » rise in prices at present. 
Just now they are tending to ench an ai erago that the 
planter may bo forgiveu for parodying the much- 
vexed queeti II "Is lilo woitb living?’ by querying 
" Is tea worth making ? ” And yet it goea on being 
made, and new exteneiona and new gaidtua are being 
opened out aa freely as m the palmy days of old, 
when a twelve-auua avernge was as common as a six- 
iinna one is uow-a-daya, which briuga lorward tho 
great question " Does tea pay ? ” l’h«ro is an enor- 
mous amount of capital sunk iu tea, and a great num- 
ber of anxious sbareholdeis wonld like n satisfaotory 
answer to tho question “ Does tea pay 'f ” There is 
iiu doubt that, lur acme of the old giiidena, put out 
on bad or unsuitable soil, viith poor jat — wrutohed 
China plant inoapablu uuder the best management of 
making over four maunds pet acre — it will not pay. 
And the numerous exteunioua one hears of arerecogui- 
tiuu of that fact, fur gardena that, owing to bad soil 
or infecior class of plant, oaniiot be k.ckod or coaxed 
into more than three to four maunds put aero, the 
only iiepo is to extend on bi'ttir soil with higher class 
seed, with a view to eventually abandoning the old 
unpcuduolive area that does not pay the cost of keep- 
ing up. But for the latter class of gatdoua opoued 
out on good ricn soil with high class plant, capable 
of yielding anything from eight to twelve, or iu some 
cases even fifteen maunds per acre, tea will pay hand- 
somely, and go on paying oven iu the face of a 
loner market than has yet been reached. 8ome of 
the statistics of private gardens opened out 
within tho last tight or ten years would, if 
published, bo deemed inutediblo by the gene- 
ral tea sharebulding public, or if believed 
iu they would create a frantio rush to " got iulo 
tea j” for these gardens wbioh pay such liaudsorao 
profits, and of which one hears little or nothing, have 
been opened up by practical, expirionoed planters who 
have 0 U 08 I.U their land with ample local knowledge, 
and in some cates bought their experionco pretty 
dearly. And tu make a couooru that pays as seme uf 
these private oonotrus do, or to get into them when 
made, is only given to the iiiitbited few. Wo hear or 
read in tho published share quotations of dividends of 
fifteen and twenty pec cent. But of tho plums and 
prizes of Ua-plantiug the outside publio hears nothing at 
all : and, il told of tia gardens that pay twenty-five and 
thirty per cent,— or of a garden that, in ita tenth year, 
gave a clear profit of over one hundred per cent on tho 
original capital iuvestod, — would turn a deaf snd iu- 
oredulous ear. And yet such a profit has been made, 
although, it is not quito so good as it appears on tho 
surface. It was a matter of lutegoing any intermediate 
profits for nine years. After the third year, at au out- 
lay of some H70, 000 roughly, the garden began to pay. 
The partners agreed to put all profits baoS into the 
ceiioorii insteml of drawing them out, thereby oxteudiug 
aitia, increasing plant block and labour forou ouusider- 
ably. Tbe first divisiun of profits took jilaoe, say, iu 
thu teutb year, wbou a lakh aud-a-balf of rupet-s clear 
profit ou the season's working was divisible. Thus au 
original out of pooket outlay of 1170,000, with ita 
earned increments for nine years, brought back the 
original capital and sometbing uver u huudrej per 
cent to tho pockets of the fortunate partners. This 
seems to bo a very satisfactory answer to the question. 
Will tea pay f" aud it is a fact. Everything comes 
