May 2, 1892.1 
THE TROPICAL *anTcn«.Tuni8T. 
839 
The difference in prioe of teas from o»oh country 
WM merely freotiousJ. and need not be oonaidered, 
The great and serious difference between the two 
countries, apart from that of quality, is in the cost 
of prodnetion. 1 gathered from the excellent table of 
figures of twonty-aevon Indian tea companies, published 
by Mr. Henry Earnshaw, that the cost of production 
for Indian tea is fid. per lb., and from other reliable 
sourcoa that Oeylon lays its teas in Loudon at a cost 
of 6Jd pec lb. 
Now, what do these figures mean '< They show that 
India, on its 1891 crop of lOfi million lb., made a profit 
of about HdSd, 000 , while Ceylon, on its crop of C8 
millions, made a profit of £990,000. 
Should the price of tea, therefore, fail another Id per 
lb., Indian planters weald cease to earn a profit, 
while the Oeylon tea planting indnstry would bo 
profiting to the extent of 2Jd per lb. on, eay, 80 million 
lb. of tea, equal to £.8 17,000 per annum. 
If we carry the argument still further, we shall find 
that if tOe price of tea reached the low limit of Aid 
per 'lb. (and the Indian properties remained under 
onltivation) they weiild be Buffering a loss of 
over £1,000,000 per annum when Ceylon found itself 
in the po.-itiou of simply paying expenses, 
I do not eay that the price of tea tnll recede to thie 
extent, but 1 do not believe prices have yet touched 
bottom, and will not, I think, do so until a halt is 
made in the expansion of the production of Eritish- 
grown teas. In about three years’ time India and 
Oeylon will be exporting 25 per cent, more tea tbsn 
they did in the past year. New markets develop slowly, 
and consumption will probably be unable to keep 
pane with this extra supply, unless very atreuuons 
efforts are made to push the teas into consumption 
in new fields. 
Coylon baa certainly done her share iiobW in this 
respect, and it behoves her bigger sister, India, to 
move forward in the lead thus given her. 
It requites no great foresight to predict what will 
happen when prices recede further, and that India 
will be the first to suffer from her lethargy in not 
having pushed her teas earlier into new markets. 
Although Ceylnu all round will make a profit shonld 
the price of tea go down another twopence per lb., 
there will be a considerable acreage, however, giving 
small yields and prices below tho average, that will bo 
worked at a loss. 
In India, again, lire majority of properties will be 
sulTering heavy losses. 
rianters, however, will no doubt continue to onlti- 
vste, hoping for better days, and will be slow to 
abandon even non-paying properties. 
The poorer fields will erase first of all to be culti- 
vated; and on e.states where this course does not stop 
tho loss, a point will soon he reached when tho 
nntortuuate proprietor or company can hold out no 
longor, and the gartlen will become abandoned. 
The low prices will hove lire immediate effect of 
preventing new lands being opened ont for planting, 
so that in tho course of a few years, when certain 
areas are thrown out of cultivation, we shall probably 
not only have no iucroase, but possibly a decrease, 
in the output of Eritiah-growu teas. 
When this time has been reached, tho new markets 
will be making themselves felt, and consumption will 
have overtsken supply, so that the position will from 
that period gradually sirongthen, and good profits 
will bo made by those proprietors who have been able 
to tide over the few bad yesre. 
The larid thrown out of onltivation when unpro- 
ductive of proHt wi.I gradually be reopened, as tea 
bushes, unlike coffee, are nut killed by neglect, and 
may possibly improve by allowing them to follow a 
natural statu of existence fur a few years. 
There are many gardens in India which dimbtlees 
produce tea as cheaply as those in Oeylon. I, how- 
uvor, am not dealing with individual properties, for, 
in disouasing this snbjict, tho average results from 
each oonn'ry can only enter into the compariaou. 
Prom what I have stated, it would appear that 
Ceylon holds sn eminently strong position, which 
Will enable it to engage, without fear, in the struggle 
*or tho survival of tho fittest. 
If it bo true that the English nation and 
Anetralian Oolonies will not again go back to tha 
common grades of China tea, even if they could be 
had ponce per lb. nndot the price of Brilisb-grown 
teas, then (he tea planters of India and Oeylon may 
look with nnoonoern on the future. It will nut do, 
however, for them to listlessly look on and allow 
the tea trade to drift until it settles down somehow* 
If they hope to stave off bad times, I would veoturo 
to suggest the following advice 1. To absolutely 
cease planting up more land with tea. 2. To endea- 
vour to keep a good standard of quality, and not be 
tempted, when prices improve, to saenfioe quality for 
quantity. 3. To maintain, with liberal funds, their 
organisation for pushing teas into new markets. 4. 
To effect economies, if possible, in the cost of pro- 
d action. 
1 have faith in Oeylon planters working shoulder 
to shonlder, as they have so often done before, when 
they see clearly that a united effort and a strong 
pull all together will bring them through tboir dan- 
gers ; but the absence of cohesion among Indian 
planters, I fear, will only aecentuate the possibility 
of their drifting into asperilons position. 
The tea enterprise in both countries is (taken as a 
whole) sound, but as critioal times, althongli only tem- 
porary, seem to be in store, more apeoially for India, 
it might be well for the leading companies, proprietors, 
gr planting associatings to collectively endeavoni to sea 
how best they may mitigate, if not altogether avert, 
what might otherwise prove to be a situation of no in- 
considerable gravity.— ■jours, &o. SOBOTAToa. 
London, Maroh 15tb. 
THE GIBBS DRYING MACHINE 
is thus noticed in The Hw/ar Cane.;— 
This machinery, which is adopted for all manufac- 
tures in which the prodneta are required to be dried, 
and which for several years hae been adopted in Lon- 
don and in Australia, Java, and other countries for 
the drying of sugar and megass, has recently under- 
gone improvements in its application to tea-drying. 
The Gibbs Potent Pure Hot Air Pnmace, after many 
experiments, has proved a perfect snceeas In supplying 
the means of obtaining either from cool or wood, or 
both, a hot air so pure that It can bo inhaled with- 
out injury or inconvenience, and is therefore suitable 
for application to the most delicately flovonred tea, 
coffee, Ac., or other produce without possibility of 
taint. It is now not only possible but easy and eco- 
nomical to obtain the utmost amount of heat from 
coal without any deleterious accompaniments. It may 
interest our readers to loam that most favomable 
reports have been received from various parts of 
'"tIio Me"rwhich tho Patent Drying Cylin- 
ders (SCO advertisement columns) have been success- 
fnlly adapted is Uiat of coffee drying. 
Sbmo months ago Messrs. Gibbs sent out one 
of their Dryers to a largo house in Bio do Janeiro, 
Brazil, and by tho last mail from this country they 
have been advised that at a public trial hold the 
machine gave groat satisfaction, tho opinion being 
that it is the boat of the many dryers in the market. 
The apparatus in qneatioii consists of a horizontal 
rotating cylinder SG ft. long by 8ft.fi in. diameter, 
through the centre of which at one end a circular 
tube or air-flnet projects some 13 feet; this tube U 
open at one end. and connected with a fan, which 
drows a supply of heated air from a specially con- 
structed furnace, capable of burning wood, coal, or 
other fuel. ^ ... 
The opposite end of tho air-duct is fitted wnth a 
perforated iron plate tlirough which tho heated air- 
cuiTonta ore distributed into tho cylinder. 
Both ends of tho cylinder are partially closed with 
wire mesh discs, which, while retaining the coffee, 
allow free escape for any yapom-. 
In tho shell of the cylinder are a series of apcttnres 
or ports covered by Blldos. 
Tlie modus operandi is briefly as follows 
Tho cylinder is first placed upon a slight incli- 
