4o8 
THE TROPICAL AOWmOLTURIST. 
[December i, i8qi. 
one dollar for common to medium gradee, the latter 
being throughout the season most in request. The 
second crop was moro satisfactory in quality than the 
first, and towards the middle of July some slight 
oonoessions on the part of holders, oonpled with 
enconraging advices from the consuming markets, led 
to considerable business, the lower grades again inceting 
with moat inquiry. Increased firmness on the part of 
sellers followed, supplies being also withheld with a 
view to forcing np prices, and as the season prngre.ssed , 
a marked deterioration both in the quantity and 
quality became noticeable. A decline of M per cent, in 
tiuesi freights materially assisted the Japanese in 
maintaining values, notwithstanding the high rates of 
exchange then ruling, and business continued on 
about the same basis until the end of September, 
holders taking advantage of every opportunity 
to raise prices until they reached such a point as to 
render farther buying unremnnorative, especially 
in view of the inferior selection and paucity of 
stocks, which by this time had dwindled down to 
some 270,000 Ib. The financial crisis in Europe, in 
the fall of the year, |iut a sudden stop to business in 
the United States of America, the effect of which 
was quickly felt in Japan and the season was virtn- 
ally closed by the end of October, although, tis 
usual, a few dosnltory pnrohasfs continued to bo 
made, amounting to come 530,000 Ib. The total 
business for the season wa.s 21,039,431 lb., that fur 
1889 having been 18,245,735 lb. 
An inore.sse in exp >rts of 3^ million pounds is by 
no means to be overlooked more especially in an 
advanced eeuntry like Japan, which will iirobably 
import all tne latest maohirory, when she realises that 
by cheap and improved methods of maunfseturo she 
can obtain a share of the custom of the world. The 
flavonr of the Japan leaf is said to be more delicate 
than Oeylon or Indian, and nearer in approach to 
China. As we know, in England the popular taste has 
turned, and the tea-drinking public demands stronger 
and more pungent liquors than the Fekues and Oon- 
gens of Hankow and Formosa supply. Hut both in 
Itnsaia and the United States — two groat consumers — 
the dclioaoy of (be Utter is still appreciated, and it 
appears as if many years must elapse before our 
British-grown loaf is liked, nor will the job be 
easier if .Tapan can supply China grades at Indian 
prices. As we have constantly urged in these columns, 
it behoves the whole tea-planting community to 
spare no labour nor osre in the cultivation and the 
msDufsoturo of leaf, and to flood the markets 
with low grades is to nndergo the very great risk 
of throwing away tlio advantage now gained. Already 
a warning note has been sounded against the ill-effects 
of tea, in the argument that has been waged over 
alcoholic drinks. Excess of tannin undoubtedly is as 
doterimeiital to the human frame as alcohol, and it is 
possible to tnrn out of a tea factory leaf an infusion 
of which is hardly a whit less poisonous than the do- 
oootions of grape that find their way out of Franco 
under the name of brandy. [The oomparisoii is most 
unjust to teas. Strength depends on tannin, but an 
infusion properly made contains only an innocent pro- 
portion of this ingredient.— E d. 7'. ^.J 
The increased activity of tea cultivation in Japan 
should bring borne to planters in this country the 
necessity of keeping up the quality and not siicrifioing 
everything to a pcrfluioiis pride in outturn of pounds 
por acre. putting together the London brokers’ 
reports on Travanoore tea and the Isst accounts which 
our Peermaad correspondent sent us we are afraid I bore 
is a tendency to err in this way down south, for uutil 
a short while ago Travanoore tea ooiiinianded as good 
value as Ceylon, whereas for some weeks past now 
its average is 20 per cent. lower tlian that Island, and 
from 30 to 35 per cent below Assam.— J/aiisos Times. 
♦ 
The Auerbaoh quinine factory have obtained a 
contract from the Dutoh Government for the supply 
of 500 kilos, (about 10,000 oz.) of sulphate of quinine 
standing the test of the new l)utoh Phatmaoopoeia. 
— Chemist and Druggist, 
The China Tea Trade Irrevocably Doomed. 
— The Tea Heport of 23rd Got. of Messrs. Purdon 
& Co. of Shanghai says ; — 
Disastrons sales are still being wired out, obiefly 
teas on native aoconnt, the percentage of loss reach- 
ing as high us 50 per oent ; these losses should prove 
a lesson to the Chinese and show them that their 
teas are not wanted. Advices from Russia are very 
diecunruging, the fall in the rouble exchange and 
the internal distress having a very bad effect on trade 
in general. The large quantity of ‘high cost’ teas 
shipped to Russia last season will be soffleient to 
keep that market stocked for fully two years, and M 
>t is vniy apparent that tbe Loudon market only 
require ‘ tea for prioe,’ next season’s prospect of a 
fine Drop is very remote, Unless the export duty and 
tbe leklii duties are reduced, the China tea trade is 
irrevocably doomed, and it behoves the authorities to 
act promptly and prevent what will otherwise prove 
to bo a national disaster. 
DoniNa tbe first six months of tbe current year 
the trade demand ran on common teas, on the 2()th 
Juno Pekoe Souchongs roaliBing sevenpenoe-half- 
penny to nincponce per pound whilst Broken and 
Orange Pekoes sold for ninopenoo-farthing to a 
shilling per pound. Of course, a few of the finest 
marks sold at fancy prices, as they always do. On 
the first arrivals of the South West Monsoon teas, 
which are always inferior owing to the difficulty of 
manufacturing tea in wet weather, the trade 
demand turned round to the finer doHoriptions, and 
common kinds are now unduly depressed ami 
neglected. Whilst Ptkoe Souchongs have given way 
quite twopence per pound, Broken and Orange 
Pekoes and the better classes generally have ad- 
vanced from twopence to fourpenoe per pound. Of 
oourse, as there is not a supply of these to meet 
a monthly demand of five and a quarter million 
pounds, the improving quality of the recent arrivals 
will soon begin to attract attention, for after all 
it is tbe oommon teas that furnish the supply of 
tbe masses. But without adequiito tasting they have 
not a fair obance . — Financial Times. 
Ceylon Women abd Osylon Tea.— Mr. R. E. Pineo 
sends us a copy of Frank Leelis’s Illustrated Paper, 
containing the portraits of “ A Oingalose Girl” and 
•' A Tamil Girl,” They are both good-looking, but 
the ’• Cingalese ” girl is evidently a Tamil. The 
following letterpress aoeompanies the illustration 
The earliest notice of Ceylon is probably contained 
in the Hindoo poem ” Rilmlyana.” The tradition 
banded down that Buddha traversed Oeylon, leaving 
his foot-print on Adams Peak, cannot be vouched for, 
but is believed by all Buddhists. The antiquity of 
Oeylon reaches back to 543 b. c. Eugland, in 1798, 
made Oeylon a crown colony. It is one of the garden 
spots of the world, and contains about 25,000 square 
miles, or 10,233,000 acres. It is especially celebrated 
for its oiepbauts j aed its valuable gems, viz., sap- 
phires, rubies, cat’s-eyes, alexandi'ites, and its most 
exquisite pearls help to add to the charms of the fair 
sex all oyer the civilized world. Moreover, it produces 
— according to the English, who are considered the 
best judges — the most delightfully Havered tea knowu 
and the export of which rose from twenty-three pounds 
in 1873 to about .61,000,000 pounds in 1890. The pro- 
sent population (composed of a few Europeans, but 
chietly of Tamils, Moors, Cingalese, Malays, etc.) is 
about 3,000.000, and Colombo, the capital, contaiiia 
about 120,000 inhabitants. Like the oity of the groat 
World’s Fair, a single product helps to make its citizens 
not only weiiltby, but important. Chieago boasts its 
pork, Oeylon itg (e*. jjo business interview or politi- 
cal conclave ever takes place on the island in which 
Cey leu ten is not a necessary factor. Tbe splendid break- 
water, which waobnilt at a cost o! §4,000,000, gives the 
stranger within its gates a sense of absolute soourity 
upon reaching the harbor of Oolorabo. Wo are indebted 
to Mr. S. Elwood May, the president of th ■ Ceylon 
Planters’ Tea Company, of New York, London, and 
Colombo, for the use of the aooompauying illastratious 
