Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-07-28
FOR THE
FAMINE IN TEA
The Trouble in Gilman the Importers
Say, Will Have a Disastrous Kt-
feet on the Price and Quail
ity Of the Chinese Herb.

Tea IS going to be scarce!
That Is what the tea dealers say, and
they ought to know.
In vain there are those who whisper
THAT h tea of commerce comes from
Cuba and that the real Canton and the
excellent Picking brands have never been
further away h Porto Rico and the
Hawaiis. The importers insist that the
war in China will make tea scarce and
that the herb will be as hard to obtain
as the pure ginger of IndSa.
What the potato is to the Irih farmer,
and the apple to the New Englander;
that the wheat is to the western grower
and corn to the middle and northern
states, what tobacco is to the south, even
SO and more is tea to the Chinaman!
The women and children may employ
their spare time in making little articles
of b~ric-a-brac and the rest of the family
may toss together the American fire.
crackers at spare intervals. but the
raising of tea is a steady industry. a
profitable employment which comes
dow from father to son in tine land
which the kind emperor and empress
have allowed them to cultivate.
The tea crop is just ready to We har-
vested. The first growth is gathered.
Fast steamers are now on their way from
Europe and Russia NO China. They go
by the Mediterranean and Suez canal,
and they stop at Ceylon and Singapole e.
They go from hence to Shanghai n up
the Yang-tse-Kiang 700 miles into the In
terror of China They stop at the city OF
Hankow. which is the greatest tea mar
ket in the world. Here they load as
quickly as possible n steam back home
as fast as they can. These tea ships
run a race every year, and the steamer
which gets in first receives h highest
price for it's tea. Should the Yang-tse
river be closed by var IN late summer
it will result in a great loss to the tea
merchants.
be increased. and it's export will probably
be greater than ever The Japanese tea
is by no means so good as that ct China,
so it is said. 1t is nerve-exciting, and il
it stands it becomes bitter. The major
ity of people of this country do not know
what good tea is.
They like green tea, and the mix the
green and black together in a most bar
barous way. They think they are pay
ing a high price when they give 81 for
a pound of tea. and it will be surprising
to many of them to know that there Is
tea in China which is worth s25 a pound,
and tea which costs more than 500 a
pound. -
The Chinese tea which we get for a
dollar a pound brings about rs cents a
pound I'm China, and what the Chinese
call good tea is worth at least a dollar a
pound wholesale in China, and 1t would
bring in the United States So a pound.
Tea which costs $40 a pound is by no
means among rich Cinnamon.
and there are some Chinese nabobs who
serve up $50 tea to their guests. The
man who knows nothing of tea, but
thinks he knows a good deal, wants the
liquor to be dark colored and considers
this a sign of strength. The best Chinese
tea is often as clear as crystal, and THE
color of good tea should be a very light
yellow. hardly as dark as light amber.
THE FIRST CROP.
The first caves Of the tea plant are the
tenderest, and tine first picking of course
brings the most money. We use every
year about $11. 000, 900 worth OF Chinese
tea, and we are fast becoming big con-
sumers of Ceylon and India tea. u The
Chinese do not hin that milk or sugar
shoul be used with tea Boiling water