August i, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



^55 



THE PAEAGUAY TEA TREE. 



The superintendent of gardens and grounds attached to 

 the United States Department of Agriculture mentions in 

 his last report that the department has recently had num- 

 erous inquiries regarding the feasibihty of growing in the 

 United States a plant similar to the Ilex paiaifuui/cnxU, or 

 Paraguay tea tree, from which the leaves are stn])ped and 

 used in infusion as an article of food imder the name of 

 ■mttti', and gires the following description of the cultivation 

 of the tree, and the method employed in the preparation 

 of this article. In rich soils the tree will attain a height 

 of from seventy to ninety feet; it is said to be confined 

 to mountain slopes, never appearing on talile lauds nor the 

 tread plaius which skirt the river bed, while it is plentiful 

 in all the moist valleys that branch out of the extensive chain 

 of mountains that divide the waters of the Parana and 

 Paraguay rivers. For the preparation of huiti proper, the 

 leaves are dried, or roa.sted in cast-iron pans, set in brick- 

 work and heated by fii-es underneatli; when the leaves are 

 sufficiently heated, they are pounded in stamping mills 

 Tvorked by water or steam power until reduced to jiowder, 

 and then packed in bags by means of presses. There are 

 three quahties or sorts of yerba known in the South American 

 markets. The best is said to be ]>repared from the young 

 leaves when they are about half e.vjjanded from the Imd, 

 called caa-crujs\ the second consists of the full-growu leaves, 

 carefully picked and separated from twigs, and frequently 

 the midrib and veins of the leaves are removed: this is 

 called caa-mii-fi' the tliird is the caa-ifjtaid or Yeyva de Pafo^^ 

 made from older leaves, carelessly broken up with the small 

 tranches and leaf-stalks, all of which undergo the roasting 

 and pouuding process together. The leaves are also collected 

 and (b-iedina similar manner to that adopted in the prepai-ation 

 of Chinese tea. This called maii- in leaf, and is prejjared 

 for use by infusion, and taken with milk and sugar in 

 the same way as ordinary tea. Jlatc in powder is also 

 prepared by infusion, by ]>utting into a small vessel about 

 an ounce of the ])0wder. and pouring boiling water over it; 

 as the fine does not fall to the bottom, but remains suspend- 

 ed in the water, the moti- is taken by means of a sucker. 

 that is. a tube terminating in a small hollow ball pierced 

 with very fine holes. Mnii- contains theiue, the same active 

 principle as tea and coffee, but is not possessed of their 

 volatile and enjpyreximatic oils; it contains less es.sential oil, 

 more resin than coffee, but less than is found in tea. Chem- 

 ical analyses show that it contains nearly double the quant- 

 ity of theine that the same weight of gi-aius of coffee con- 

 tains, and about the .vamc quantity as tea leaves. The 

 Brazilians recommended uiaii' as a noiu-ishing, warm, arom- 

 atic, stimulating, and very cheap beverage, its extreme 

 cheapness being a gu;irantee of its genuineness as it is not 

 ■worth adulterating. — Socitti/ of A rts Jmirna!. 



INDIA:— CROP AND WEATHER REPORT. 

 Foe the Week endiug the 17th Jxtly 1S83. 



Geiteeai, Rkm-Vkks.— Heavy rain fell dun'ng the past 

 week along the Western Ghats ft-ora Travaucore as far 

 north as Baroda and Surat. At Baroda the river over- 

 flowed its banks, stopping communication and damaging 

 property-. A break- is much wanted in Sm'at and neigh- 

 hourhood. In Sind prospects are improving with the rise 

 of the river. Seasonable weather prevails over the Car- 

 uatic, but in parts of Mysore and of the Southern Mah- 

 i-atta Counti-y more rain is reeded. C^eneral, and in most 

 places sufficient, rain has fallen throughout the Berars, 

 the Central India States,' and Rajputana. The tanks in 

 Marwar continue empty and water is scarce, but the re- 

 cent rain has much improved prospects. The rainfall has 

 been generally less in Assam and Burma, and slightly in- 

 creased in Bengal conip.ared with the previous week. More 

 rain is, however, required in some districts of Bengal for 

 the rice crop. 



Madeas.' — General prospects fair. 



Mysoee and Cookr. — Good rain in Simoga and Kadwi 

 districts ; light rain in other districts ; standing crojjs in 

 ^ood condition ; prospects favourable; no material change 

 in prices. 



BuKME.SE Frdits. — Every eteamer from Moulmain 

 and ilie toath now brings large consigunieuls of dorians 

 to Rangoon. This fruit, the lind of which has a most 

 overpowering and peculiar smell, is in high favour 

 with the Burmese and with many Fnropeans. Every 

 year special steamers are sent from Rangoon to Man. 

 dalay with shipments for the use of the king and 

 the palace, and as they have often already under- 

 gone a sea voyage from Movlmain or Tavoy, the con- 

 dition of the bulk when they arrive at JMaudalay 

 after a further four days' voyage may be imagined. 

 But the palace people get about 2 per cent of the 

 cargo good, and they and the villages on the river 

 bank h;ive at any rate the benefit of the smell of the 

 remainder. Another fruit or seed with a still more 

 nn.xioHS odour than th'- doiiau fincU great favor with 

 the Burmese, who eat it with their napjii and curries. 

 It ie called tanienthee, and like the dorian is just 

 coming into season. The effects of lankntlite eating 

 may be experienced by going wi"hiQ a few f et of 

 any one who has been indulging in it. Its odour is 

 as impossible to conceal as the fumes of liquor on 

 the toper altera night's debauch Inever heard low, 

 ever of its having any bad effect on the Burmese, 

 who consider it an excellent tonic, digestive and ap- 

 petiser. I have met with some old stagers amongst 

 Europeans who can stand I his fruit too, but their 

 numbers are insignificant compared to the European 

 lovers of dorian. The mangosteen, too, is brought 

 liere in largequantities from Moulmain and the Straits. 

 I never heard of any one who did not appreciate this 

 cooling and delicious fruit. We have a few trees in 

 some of the gardens here, but they do not thrive well. 

 In Moulmain the Chinese gardeners grow large quan- 

 tities, and the fruit is so plentiful hero at times, that 

 the price is aeldom over R2 per hundred in the sea- 

 sou from July to September. Good dorians, be it re- 

 membered, eell here at a rupee to El-S each I In- 

 the Burmese times no subject was allowed to own a 

 dorian tree, which was as strict a Government mo- 

 nopoly OS the teak tree, is in our (w u time, possibly 

 to this fact may be attribulid the small number of 

 fruitbearing dorian trees theie are in Eangoop. In the 

 southern districts which have bccu under British rule 

 so much longer, they are plentiful enough and can 

 be bought at from R? to RIO per hundred in the 

 gardens, although the price rises considerably when 

 steamers are about leaving for Rangoon. — Fm'Hci of 

 India Rangoon Cor. 



Irkig.wion — The extent to which irrigation has 

 been curried throughout all the cultivated region of 

 the Madras Presidency is truely extrao-dinary. An 

 im|jerfect record of the number of tanks in fourteen 

 districts shows them to amount to 43,000 in repair 

 and 10,000 out of repair, or 53,000 in all. It would 

 be a moderate estimate of the length of embaukraent 

 for each to tix it at half a mile ; and the number of 

 masonry works in sluices of irrigation, waste weirs, 

 &c., would probably be not overrated at six. These 

 data, only assumed to give some definite idea of 

 the extent of the system, would give close upon 

 30,000 miles of embankment, sufficient to put a girdle 

 round the globe not less than G feet thick, and 300,000 

 separate masonry works. The whole of this gigantic 

 machinery of irrigation is of purely native origiu, and 

 it is a fact that not one new tank has ever been 

 made by ua ; and the concurrent testimony of those 

 best informed upon the subject shows that a great 

 many fine works of the kind have been allowed to 

 fall into utter disrepair and uselessness. The revenue 

 dependent on existing works is roughly estimated at 

 150 lakbs. 



WELLS' "ROUGH ON CORNS." 

 Ask for Wells' "Bough on Corns.' ~ih(\. Quick relief, 

 complete, permanent cure. Corns, warts, bunions. B. S. 

 Mauox & Co., Eombay,Geueral Agents. 



