Java teas in general are particularly small in leaf, dull-black in color, but exceedingly well made and handsome in appearance, almost perfect in style, approximating more to Indias in make, color and character, but do not keep well, becoming rank and sour on brief exposure to the atmosphere. The liquor of all of them is also deficient in strength and flavor, being devoid of any pronounced fragrance or distinctive aroma, defects attributable in a great measure to faulty and imperfect manufacture, as well as to the fact that they are picked from the plants the year round and allowed no resting or recuperating period. The annual product averages about 15,000,000 pounds, packed in large wooden cases weighing from 100 to 120 pounds, and shipped principally to Holland, Germany and England, only small lots occasionally being received in this country. At the present time the cultivation of tea is mainly confined to the province of Preanger, in the western part of the island, the industry being in the hands of experienced planters, who spare no pains to increase the product and quality of the article. Notwithstanding their care, however, they cannot congratulate themselves on the profits resulting therefrom, the price continuing to fall, the planters being forced to expend their utmost energies to save their plantations from ruin, this being not only the case with recent enterprises, but also with the older plantations that have been flourishing for many years. In addition to decline in price, the Java tea plantations have been ravaged by an insect known as the _Theluis_ (tea louse), which each year destroys in value hundreds of thousands of florins, but at the same time there is noticeable a distinct improvement in the quality of the tea produced there. Until very recently they were only used in Europe when mixed with China teas on account of the excessive quantity of tannin which they contain, and known tendency to rapid decay, the improvement in quality now rendering that process needless, the introduction of Assam plants enabling the planters to compete with India and Ceylon. OTHER VARIETIES OF TEA.