"No one will'question theingeuuity and plausibility which you have stated jour views, my dear Wye Hoong. You ave supported them with a few facts and not unfairly drawn upon a rich imagination. Perhaps the best way for me to meet you would, in the first place, be to Answer the few questions you put to me and then to offer a remark or two on the subject generally. does derive " good deal of its strength Ast.. ere is no doubt that Indian tea from a soil made artificially rich, but I am not atoll sure that the same ranson applies to Ceylon leaf, and therefore I have no reason to think that China tea would do other then largely benefit b; what you call "¢ynechanical treatment." What is wanted. in China are new areas for the cultivation of the plant. Too many of the well-known Gistriots are practically played out. Old froos make too much wood, and bear too large leaves to admit of any great amount of succulence, hence in a Inrge degree the absence of what is called keeping power. We have it on the authority of experts that there is marked improvement in the quality of the later samples of machine-made Foochow teas, one of whom goes on to say "It must be exceedingly gratifying to the promoters to have attained such excellency, and to my mind it is only a question of time when they will be able to make as good and beautiful tea, if not of og, ino quality, as is to-day produced in Tadia ant Ceylon." think that, China in an. "sapable of standing what you tea is quite & - "4 heroic treatment of the pleasantly termi ti. ® Mpls any March is _ac"unittedly the best machine of its kind. Iz em sins for you teamen to make the path eas," £0" the in; troduction of a system which, ho" Coa other merit, in certain wet seasons save incalculable losses.
2nd,—I do not pretend to say that the finvout of a fow fine Ningchows, Keemuns or Oanfas would be improved by the proposed treatment, but they are not the tea Consumed by the great and growing British tea drinking public.
"The real demand for China tea is tes for price, a demand which can well be met in the heavy supplies from the Oopack and Oonshm districts, It is that large class of tea purchasable at from is. 9 to Tls. 20 per picul that would be improved by the lise of machinery, and it is the treatment of such teas in particular that, the movers in the new departure have in view.
3rd.—Doubtless the Sirocco does impart a maltiness to the flavour of all teas; but the consuming public in England has been educated to the taste, they like it and that is exactly what it is proposed to supply it with, Personally I think. that a. complete suit of machinery to treat leaf from the plucking to the: ing native mind the enormous advantages of the new system. At the same time some tentative measure, such as you suggest, would be better than none atoll. Speaking generally, the time appears opportune for a trial of the machine upon our China tess. The sooner the attempt is made to recover our lost position in the tea trade the better, and if some definite steps are not immediately taken, why, the experiment will be delayed for another year at least, may be to ths Ides of March.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.