i6 



THE TUOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[JiTLY 2, 1883. 



by Mr. Mackay. He deckletlly affirms that it does pay, ami 

 will continue to tic so if proper care and attention is 

 devoted to the cultivation and manufacture. Sugar of the 

 value of £30 per ton ean now be produced in (Quantities 

 at a cost of £1^-) and with the growth of experience and 

 the use of improved machinery this cost will be lessened. 

 The entire separation of the manufacture of the sugar and 

 the cultivation of the cane has led to very beneficial results 

 in the "West Indies, an<i the author sti-ongly recommends 

 the adoption of a similar course in Australia. With regard 

 to the cultivation of the caue, it is stated that it will not 

 grow far from the sea, and thirty miles is the utmost 

 distance from the coast at which it can be successfully 

 cultivated. A free loose soil is required, rich in lime and 

 vegetable matter, and a very open subsoil. Good sugar 

 country is found in (Queensland, in widely different con- 

 ditions. Sometimes it is covered with dense scrub, some- 

 times with heavy forest, and occasionally it is open and 

 lightly timbered. The latter, however, is rare, and the work 

 of clearing is so expensive that cane-growing is an enterprise 

 which requires a considerable amount of capital. The cost 

 of clearing ordinary forest country is about £12 per acre, 

 and when this has been done a further expenditure, of £3 

 to £4 per acre is necessary in preparing the ground for 

 planting. The average return per acre is about 30 tons of 

 cane, from which 70 per cent of juice may be extracted 

 when good crushing machinery is employed. This quantity 

 of juice should yield from 3^ to 4^ tons of sugar, accord- 

 ing to the quality of the cane and the skill and care em- 

 ployed in the manufacturing processes. From these figures 

 it will be perceived that with sugar at £30 per ton a very 

 handsome profit can be made on the first heavy outlay of 

 capital in preparing the plantation. Full and minute partic- 

 ulars as to the proper method of planting the canes and 

 keeping them in a healthy condition are given by the writer, 

 who also describes and enumerates the various species of 

 cane which have been grown in Queensland, and partic- 

 ularizes those which he considers the best. The exposure 

 of the juice to atmospheric influences and excessive heat 

 in boiling-it are said to be the chief defects in the manu- 

 facturing process as it is generally carried on in Queens- 

 land. Mr. Mackay has employed with success a process 

 in which vacuum pans are used and heat is applied by 

 steam, and he believes that by this means the quality and 

 yield of the sugar are greatly improved. The subjects of 

 clarification and refining are extensively dealt with, and 

 the opinions of many emiuent authorities are quoted on 

 the use of clarifying agents and machinery. The concluding 

 portion of the volume is devoted to the consideration of 

 other sugar-producing plants, and some interesting partic- 

 ulars are given with regard to the sugar beet which is 

 largely cultivatetl in France, the American sugar maple, 

 and the various species of palms which also yield the 

 saccharine crystal. Various species of sorghum which have 

 been introduced in different parts of Australia, and which 

 jrield an excellent syi-up, may also be considered as sugar- 

 producing plants. Mr, Mackay is of opinion that Australia 

 will yet be a great sugar-producing country, and attributes 

 the failure of some of the latest Queensland planters to want 

 of care and knowledge, and waste of capital, through taking 

 up larger areas than they were able to proj^erly cultivate. 

 "The Sugar-cane in Australia" is an eminently useful 

 work, and shows that its author has a good })ractical as 

 well as theoretical knowledge of his subject, which is of 

 very great importance to the future of Australia. The 

 work, which contains several illustrations, is neatly got up, 

 and reflects credit upon the publishers, is issued from the 

 Tointi and Conntrt/ Oflice, Sydney. — AtJefaide Observer. 



PIOKLED TEA. 



Mr. Hardinge's memorandum on the subject is as 

 follows : — 



" There is little doubt that the tea-leaf used by the 

 Burmese, which is imported from Mandalay in its dry, 

 as well as wet state, is obtained from the plant Thea 

 chinenisj the tea -^f commerce growing in its wild state 

 on the slopes of the hills in Upper Bm-mah, to the north 

 and northeast from Mandalay to Ehamo. A leaf taken 

 from a sample of the wet tea sold in the bazaar, has 

 the same minute serrations, and is Uke the ordinary tea- 

 leaf in shape, and possesses the aroma; moreover from 



reliable information received, I find that the Burmese 

 tea-leaf is gathered from a bush or shrub never more 

 than eight or ten feet in height, which grows on the 

 slopes of hills, women and girls being employed in pick- 

 ing the leaf from the higher branches, and little child- 

 ren from the lower ones. 



"The average price of Burmese dry tea in Rangoon 

 compressed into balls f sample marked No. 1) is from 

 R85 to R90 per 100 viss (365 lb.), and is used by 

 them (just as we do in infusion) sweetened with palm- 

 jaggery, but is not used to a very great extent. It is 

 said that the better classes of the Burmese here now 

 prefer the cheaper China tea in infusion. It is noted 

 that the Burmese tea can be purchased here by retail, at 

 little over five annas per lb. 



" Dry tea-leaf compressed into large cakes (sample No. 2)' 

 of a coarser description, is also imported into British 

 Burmah from Mandalay, and sells here from RSO to 

 R«5 per 100 viss (305 ib.,) and is consumed by the 

 poorer classes in infusion. 



" But it is the wet tea-leaf which enters into all the 

 domestic or religious ceremonials of the Burmese, which 

 is the most consumed by them, for no marriage, or 

 birfh, or death, or ear-piercing, or feast, or any other 

 event would be complete without the introduction of 

 delicious morsels of the tret tea in (what is known) its 

 pickled state, to be eaten by the guests invited thereat. 

 It is also la\dshly given to the Boongyees, who no doubt 

 are its largest consumers. The information obtained is, 

 that after the leaf has been gathered on the hills, it is 

 packed in baskets and brought down to the waterside, 

 damped, and sent down to Mandalay, where the follow- 

 ing process of * curing' or fermenting the leaf is practised. 

 It is first steamed and then spread out on mats to dry ; 

 when dry, the leaf is deposited in a pit lined with bam- 

 boos or the large leaves of a tree common in Upper 

 Burmah, and pressed down, layer over layer, until the 

 pit is filled up. when it is covered over with the branches 

 and leaves of trees and earth heaped over it. The tea- 

 le f is left in that state for a month or six weeks, when 

 it is considered fit for market use, being often sold on 

 the spot while the leaf is in the pit, (each pit, according 

 to size, being supposed to hold a certain number of viss), 

 otherwise the leaf is tightly compressed into those curiously 

 shaped bamboo baskets with two heads or knobs on 

 the top (so famihar to travellers on the Irrawaddy) ; 

 the baskets are then submerged for days in a creek near by, 

 heavy weight being placed on them to prevent them floating 

 up; they are then taken out and shipped into Lower 

 Burmah, the great secret being always to keep the tea wet. 



" The leaf as prepared above (sample No. 5) is eaten 

 in its moist state, and undergoes no process of cooking. 

 The addition of a httle til-seed oil, a few slices of fried 

 garlic, a sprinkle of salt and til-seed, and sometimes a 

 little scrape of coconut, is all that is required to make 

 it the most enjoyable zest a Burman cares to partake of. 



'' The wholesale price of the wet tea in Mandalay is 

 from RI59 per 100 viss, and the retail selling price in 

 Rangoon is R2-8 per viss of 365 Ib. 



" One Pho Thoung, a wealthy trader of the Kyouktada 

 quarter, and also Commissariat contractor, engaged a few 

 Shans and Bm'inese, and sent them to Bengal, and from 

 thence to certain Chittagong tea gai'dens, to manipulate 

 the tea-leaf in its wet state (as eaten by the Burmese), 

 and since that time similarly prepared wet tea, as received 

 from Mandalay, has become an article of import into 

 Rangoon by the sea-board from Chittagong. It sells in 

 the bazaars here from R120 to R125 per 100 viss, 

 or a little cheaper than the Upper Burmah leaf, but it 

 is said the Burmese prefer the latter. 



" One curious custom which obtains amongst the Burm- 

 ese engaged in the wet tea-leaf trade, has beea related 

 to me with the greatest gravity and good faith. Should 

 any person, male or female, living in the house of a 

 dealer who may have a stock of, say, 50 or 100 viss in his 

 house, get very sick, and if death is apprehended, he im- 

 mediately removes his stock into another building, for were 

 such person to die while the tea was in the house, the 

 whole of it would turn bad and be completely spoilt. It 

 appears this has happiMn-d over and over, and they implicitly 

 believe in this incredible phenomenon. — IiuJii/n T'luuters' 

 Gazette. 



