460 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[January i, 1892. 
THE AMSTERDAM CINCHONA 
AUCTIONS. 
{Telei/rum from Our Correspondent.) 
Amsiekdan. Thnrailay EvoDing. 
At tuJay'a oioohoan auotiuu 3,ti91 packa^-u nf baik 
were Bold ut »o aversRo utiit ol 6 oeuis (=1 1-lGJ pur 
Ib.j, showing a barely eleady market. Mauuluulurere' 
backs in quills, brokeu quills, aud chips sold at 11 to 
56 cents ( - 2d to Old. pec lb.) ditto loot at 10 to 16 
cents (2jd lo Sldperlb.). Drnggi.sta' barks in quills, 
brokeu quills, aud chips brought from 13 to 130 oouts 
(=216 lo 23 per lb.), and ditto toot 11 to 16 cents 
(=2d to 2Jd per lb.) The principal buyers were the 
Auerbach lactory, Messrs. C- L. Schepp & Zosu, of 
Kotterdam, the Brunswick Works, and the Amster- 
dam Works.— CAmisf and Druggiit, Nov. Idth. 
THE INDIAN TEA COMMUNITY. 
To the Editor of the Jlome and Colonial Mail. 
air, While it can hardly, of course, be said that the 
Indian lea inlustry is, at the present time, altogether 
in a bad way ; yet, looking to the competition of 
Ceylon and to the great increase in the production in 
India itself, there is no doubt that the situation is such 
as to give rise to some anxiety as regards the immedi- 
ate future. 
Taking current Mincing Lane prices, as represented 
by the sales of the priucipal well-known London com- 
panies’ marks, aud comparing them with thu averages 
realised lor these companies’ entice ocups in 1890, 1 am 
driven to the conclnaion that many ot them are at 
present oblaining much lower prices, and that, in the 
case of some, it is quo tiouablo whether tho price of the 
produce is much in excess of the actual coat of pro- 
duction. In order to bring this home, attention may, 
with advantage, be drawn lo tho following comparison 
of current prices with those ruling duiiug the last three 
years, taken from Messrs. Uow, Wilson, and Stanton’s 
weekly oitoular 
I’ekoe Souchong 
Common Pekoe 
Medium Pekoe 
1888. 
7K 
8ld 
9.:i 
Total 
1889. 1890. 1891. drop. 
6Jd 8d 5Jd 2id 
Bid 8Jd 6jd 2a 
lOJ 9id 8jd lid 
What is, then, the attitude which the tea commnnity 
is prepared to take up in the light of this ra'.hor painful 
eonclusion I This is a serious and an important ques- 
tion. 
It is undoubtedly a satisfactory feature ot recent 
years that there has been an increasing tendency on 
the part of te.i pcodneera to draw together and combine 
for their own mutual protection, and in various direc- 
tions evidence is not wanting of the desire for such 
mutual support, which only requires some stirring up to 
ensure its manifestation. It, however, the great 
industry is to progress, aud if it is to continue^ to bo 
profttabie to its members, much mote than has hitbecCo 
been doue muat in the future be done to ensnreihis. 
The spirit of *' No man for a Party, bnt all men for the 
Cause ” must be much more sttonglyevokod. There 
must be more working together, more ot the “ shoulder 
to shoulder” which has won Britons their battles, 
alike in war and in peaceful oompetition. 
This point can bnt be urged upon your numerous 
resders, and those who have been backward must he 
urged to come forward now ; butter late thau never. 
There are many schemes at present on the tapis 
for extending oonsumption and improving the proa- 
peots of the tea grower, and it will not bo difficult 
for your readers to iuform themselves of what theso 
are. Let them enquire diligently, aod then give their 
support willingly and liberally. One-tealh of I per 
cent of the capital invested Indian toa would furnish 
a fund of woll-nigh iTO,O0O. 
As has been frequently pointed out lu your 
oolumns, the industry already possesses an organiza- 
tion both in Loudon and in Calcutta, whoso object 
is to further the best intorotts of tho planting com- 
munity ; and as component parts of the organisa- 
tion we have "good men aud trne,” men who 
“ mean business,” and have the cause— their own 
osuso and that of their brethren— a heart. Tlieso 
Orgauizitious, however, aud tho mister spirits who 
work for the otuse — let it be said with rogret — do 
not always receive that cordial support and backing 
which is duo thorn. It cannot bo too strongly nrged 
that all — that every man who has any, however sinall 
ail interest in ludisu planting, should enrol themselves 
in the ranks of o;.c or other of the toa uBsociatiuus, 
and not only enrol themselves and pay their guinea 
Bubacription, but that they should work as one man, 
in every diriotioii, to atrength'.n the organisation and 
increase the inllueiico of thcas bodies and thereby 
help, if nothing else,, ti fill tbeir own pockets fuller 
than would otherwise be tbs case. After all, I am 
merely appealing to self-interest, aud lowest stimulus. 
The world's c.msumption of tc.i must be increased 
if wo are to oantiuue to draw profit from our plant- 
ing enterprise, and to effect this at all cajiidly is .i 
difficult matter and can only be done by oombinatioii 
and by push. ludisii toa must bo promulgated aud 
its merits more widely preached, and motioy must 
be spent and " bread thrown broadcast on the waters,” 
so that it may come to shore in future days. — Amours 
truly, Observeb. 
Loudon, Nov. Uth, 1891. 
■ — ♦ 
"WICKED” TEA. 
In the lllustraUd London .Vewa of Nov. 7th, in the 
Ladies’ Column, Mrs. Fenwick-Millor wiitos ; — 
Tea, that precious refuge of the iiinoteentli-coiitury 
woman, has been much talked of lately. Here, as 
in the case of a lady's reputation, to bo "talked of " 
means to bo abused. Une critic doclarea that it is no 
longer women who are tho worst tea-drunkards ; that 
the University undergrade has now far surpassed the 
weakness ot the other sex. "Wicked ’’ toa is Sir 
Andrew Clark's description of the liquor as it is 
frequently offered, lie is complaining ut tho toa com- 
monly dispensed as a bevorogo by ladies in the after- 
noon, which is allowed to stand in the teapot tor 
half ail hour after being made, aud warmed up for 
now-coraers by pouring a flood of hot water on tho over- 
drawn loaves. This la “wicked ’ tea. That which is 
physiologically righteous, according to tho learned 
physiciau, must have stood only five miuutos after 
being made : it should be orginally black China tea 
— not Indian — and the old-fashioned allowauoo of one 
spoonful for each consumer and one over for " tho 
pot ” is the right quantity. Finally, a lady’s artiolo 
in a magazine doclaros that women “ degrade theiu- 
Bolves" oy their out-of-door lunches, which usually 
consist of tea and buns ; she avers that this habit of 
lunching on tea, so long as it bo continued, will keep 
women feeble, nervous, and comparatively useless 
creatures. 
Those complaints, all appearing in. tho world of 
periodical literature, but in very diverse quarters, at 
one moment, may bo taken as an illnstration of tho 
cycle of ideas. If wo observe, wo shall find that no- 
tions reappear at regular intervals, like comets. All 
this about tea has been said beforu ; but, for all that, 
it is just as well to have our miuds iiiiprossed uow 
and again with the degree of truth that tho lucubra- 
tions contain. 
Studious moil aro, and always have been, quite as 
great coiisumora of tea as women, and for the best of 
all reasons — that there is not any beverage so stimula- 
ting to tho nerves with so little necessary evil at- 
tendant on the stimulation. Tho evil of a stimulant 
may by measured by, first its temporary, and next 
its pormauent, results on the constitution. Thoso 
which produce depression oorrospoiiding to or deeper 
than tho stimulation tlioy produce, aud those which 
after a time injure tho structure of tho bodily organs, 
are dangerous, Now, tea cau chirllonge tho world of 
stimulants on both grounds. Tho groat authority on 
food, Dr, E. Smith, says, “ Tea promotes all vital 
actions " ; Dr. Barkea, tho standard writer on liygiono, 
avers, “ 'Tea seems to have a dooidedly stimulativo 
and restorative action on the nervous system, and no 
depression follows”; whiio tho great chemist Liebig 
