THE TROPlOtt. AtJHItnJLTORlST 
455 
January i, 1892.I 
After giviog e few of the trees to the Ourator of the 
Botaoio Garf'ene and the Director-General of Poreeta, 
there will be about 25 available for experimental pur- 
poees on the departmeni’e expeiimcutal farms at the 
Kiohmond Biver and amongst surrounding farms- — 
Sidney Mail. 
[In Ceylon the tree called ilUpai by the Tamils 
and migaha by the Sinhalese {Bairia longi/olia) 
is closely allied to the Mabwa tree of India. We 
have seen the road abont two miles towards Dimbnla 
from Nawalapitiya eovtred with masses of the white 
blossoms, SB with wreaths of snow. — Ed. T. A.] 
^ 
THE TEA TRADE. 
The rapidity of the growth of the India and Ceylon, 
and of the decline of the China, tea trade is re- 
markably exempliSed by the BritUb Board ofTrade 
returns for the first nine months of the current year. 
During that period the importation into the United 
Kingdom amounted to lt>0{ millions of lb. or 17j 
millions mure than in the seme period of 1890; the 
home ooneumpt:UD was H9J millions, or nearly fij) 
millions more than last year; the exportation was 
23J milliuus, or 5 millions less than in 1990 ; 
nod the stock ol all kinds, on the SOih September, 
was 87 4-5th millions, against 81J millions in 1890. 
and Stij millions in 1889. The importation from 
India showed a doorcase of 3 millions, and from 
China of 2 4-5th millions, the total being 
01 millions from the former and 45 millione, 
from the latter country ; hut Ceylon, with its ISj 
millions, showed an increase of llj millions of pouuos 
for tho nice mouths. Thus the importation from 
China was 3J millions less than that from Ceylon, and 
was no less than C-IJ millions le-s than that from 
both India and Ceylon. Tho quantity of India tea 
taken for home oonsuinplion was nearly 71 millions, or 
nearly twice that of China tea, namely 39 millions, or 
of Ceylon tea, which was 374 millions. Two-thirds of 
the tea now cousumel in the United Kingdom is 
obtaitiu I from India and Ceylon. The exportation of 
India tnd Ceylon tea is incunsidcratle, as it amounted 
to only 8i millions for tho two products in tho nine 
months hut tho exportation of China tea was 18§ 
millions in 1891, and 241 milliuis in 1890. The foreign 
demand for China tea in the London market thru fell 
off a fourth in the present year ; and it will moat pro- 
bably conlinne to decline, for India and Oeylen teas 
are heing largely shipped direct, via the Suez Canal, 
to the Coniine nt, and when once the taste for them hag 
been acquired oonsumers cannot be easily persuaded to 
go back to tho unblended tea from China. Tho fol- 
lowing extract from a Loudon Market Report of the 
2Ut nllimo shows the estimation in which India ami 
China teas respectively are low held by the trade: — 
“The Indian suctions today totsUed 8,177 packages, 
and passed throughout with epirit, prices ruling gener- 
ally steady and strong for fine teaa. At the China 
auctions of 10,572 packages, again a quantity of first 
crop Mingebows and Kintuoks about 5,500 packages 
were forced off at phenomenally low prices, quality 
considered. Good first crop Chiug Wo’s Kaisaw 
and Savunua also were hammered for the buit 
prices obtainable, some being described in catalogue 
as fine thorny truly represented the light in which tho 
imporlera received them before the sale.” 
A great deal has been aaid about the superior deli- 
cacy of the flavour of China tea ; but the cousumer 
who cannot afford the fancy price demanded for 
fancy China lea appreciates tho broad, even rough 
flavour of the brew from India or Ceylon tea, and is 
content to dispense with tho possibly more refined 
flavour of the highest, or tho, to him, nnattainablo 
descriplinns of China tea. Ponnd for pound the India 
and Ceylon teaa go farther in consumption, or are 
ehenper in use, and aro much more tasty than the 
China teas of an ordinary description. Russia, America, 
and Australia still consume Chiua teas to the exclusion 
of other teas*; but this preference is due to an nnfa- 
• Not now correct of Australia, — En. T. A. 
miliarity with those other teas which may not last 
long. Ceylon . tea is being pushed in Anstralia 
and New Zealand ; and the Chicago Exhibition will 
offer an excellent opportunity for pushing both India and 
Ceylon teaa in the United States. In England tea from 
Ceylon was regarded as a cariosity only half-a-dozen 
years ago ; but now it is rold and pnffed by every 
grocer, and there is scarcely a railway atation, or buffet 
which is not adorned with an ornamental poater, or 
card, setting forth tho virtues of some special tea firom 
the spie^ island. The growth from email beginnings of 
the India tea trade seemed marvollons, bnt it is put 
in the shade by the rate of expansion of tho tea trade 
of Ceylon: By all aecoantstbe island has by no meaua 
reached the maximum of its produotive power ; and it 
seems probable that, having succeeded in passing its 
China rival in the British market, it will at an early date 
run its India rival very close for pre-eminence. The 
Chinese will not ha slow to consume the tea grown in 
their Empire for which the ontaide world makes no 
efirr ; but there is comparatively very little home 
coDsnmption of tea iu India and Ceylon, The 
native in this part of the world has yet to acquire a 
taste for tea ; bnt when he dees acquire it, or when suoh 
tsste, or appetite, is as general in India and Ceylon as 
it is in China, there may be no small difiiculty in meet- 
ing the local demand that will arise, end in satisfying 
also the iuereasing requirements of the world at large. 
—S. Mail. 
SEEDING OF THE 13.VMBOO. 
The hardier species of Bamboo oxo becoming 
deservedly more popular year by year for the adorn- 
ment of English pleasure-grounds. One thing, 
however, seems not unlikely to be lost sight of by 
many, viz., the fact that tno culms of the Bamboo 
flower but once, the plant perishing immediately 
after tho ripening of tne seed. The nsefulnoss of 
the many species of Bamboo now introduced into 
England in tho embelishment of our gardens cannot 
be questioned, at the same time there is yet to bo 
considered the eventuality of the flowering, seeding, 
and consequent death of the plants — which no art 
of til© goidener can stay — after they have reached 
the climax of their grace and beanty. It would bo, 
I inmgino, almost impossible to determine the age 
at whicli these hardy Bamboos will produce flowers 
when grown in this country ; most probably tho term 
of years wiU differ with the i^arious species. 
With regard to the great Bamboo of tropical India, 
Bambnsa arnndincea, it is a well ascertained fact, 
that the coming to maturity of this mgantic gross 
only occurs after a growth of some fifty yesja' dura- 
tion ; and as the phenomenon of its flowering, seed- 
ing, and subsequent death in India and other climes 
— where it covers with its huge and picturesque 
clumps many square miles of country — can have been 
seen but by few Englishmen of the present gener- 
ation, some account of tho extraordinary spectacle 
by an eye-witness may prove of some little interest 
to the readers of this journal. 
It is unnecessary, of course, to give any lengthy 
description of the plant ; snffico it to say, that in the 
locality in India where I had the rare fortune of 
witnessing the flowering and seeding of this gigantic 
member of the grass family on a large scale, the 
culms frequently attain a height of from CO to 70 
feet, and a diameter at their thickest port of from 8 
to 10 inches. These cnims ore furnished with lateral 
branches, thronghont their whole lon^h adorned with 
a profusion of light green leaves. The plant is de- 
ciduous, shedding its leaves in India during the dry 
season, which are again renewed on the approach of 
the spring showers. The clomps present tne appear- 
ance of colossal plumes of feathers, ana when seen 
in full loaf are beautiful beyond description. 
The soil of tho tracts of country Iho Bamboo 
affects in South India is mostly of a shallow nature, 
with ft gritty, ferruginons subsoil, and it is not found 
where the rainfall is excessive. Wlien the clumps 
are in fnll vigour, the culms are produced of the above 
dimensions with amazing rapidity. 
