June 2, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGBICULTURIST. 



931 



where bonbons are manutactured apparently in quantities 

 enough to fill all the honbonnifres of the juvenile world. 

 The place seemed really more like a mill — that is, a flour 

 mill — than a chocolate turn-out, for everything here—the 

 floor, the ceiling, and all surroundings — was covered with a 

 white efflorescent deposit, while pulverised particles of sim- 

 ilar substance permeated the very air and every nook and 

 cranny in the place. As for the girls working here, they were 

 Hke so many pretty little milleresses, and seemed to perform 

 their task of manufacturing those deUcious chocolate creams, 

 which some of us with a sweet tooth wot of, with a skilful 

 expertness which constant practice in filling the tiny moulds 

 could only teach. They manage to fill each mould with 

 just sufticient of the cream and no more, thereby prevent- 

 ing waste of time, if not of materials. Hardly is this done 

 than the " creams " solidify, and when cooled they are taken 

 to another department and coated with chocolate, where- 

 upon all that has to be done is to eat them ! — Public 

 Opinion, 



CINCHONA BAKK, BALSAM OF PERU, &c. 

 Some important facts have been assertained concerning 

 the development of bark, which may probably throw some 

 Ught upon the best mode of cultivating cinchona trees for 

 the bark. A. Gehmacher finds that the growth of bark is 

 influenced greatly by pressure, that the less the pressure 

 the more numerous the cork cells become, and the greater 

 the pressure the more they diminish. The bast fibres also 

 increase considerably in number with diminution of pressure; 

 when the pressure is very great very few bast fibres or none 

 at all are formed. The bast fibres also increase in size with 

 diminished pres- are. Apropos of what has been remarked 

 concerning the value of cinchona barks. Dr. de Vrij writes 

 that at Amsterdam on February 29 last he observed that 

 two lots of Ledgeriana bark containing 4'05 per cent of pure 

 quinine were sold at 3s. Til. per half kilogramme, whilst 

 one lot of red bark containing 7'35 per cent of total alkaloids 

 and only I'I8 per cent of piu'e quinine was sold at3.>' 5d. per 

 halt kilogramme. The latter was, however, in long quills 

 having a fine appearance. It is obvious, therefore, that price 

 alone is no indication of alkaloidal contents. He also re- 

 marks that the presence of cinchonidine in many samples of 

 commercial quinine is easily detected by the optical test re- 

 commended a few years] ago by Professor A. 0. 

 Oudemans. 



When balsam of Peru arrives at Acajutla and La Libertad, 

 the ports on the " balsam coast " from which it is chiefly 

 shipped, it is in a crude state, usually of a grey-green to a 

 dirty yellow colour, and requires to be submitted to a pro- 

 cess of piu'ification before it is fit for exportation. Concern- 

 ing this process a correspondent of Messrs. Gehe & Co. fur- 

 nishes some interesting information. He states that a first 

 clarification is effected by allowing the crude balsam to stand 

 in a large iron vessel capable of holding six or seven hundred 

 pounds during a week or a fortnight, by which time the 

 heavier impurities sink to the bottom and the lighter ones 

 float as a scum on the siu'face. The clear balsam, which has 

 already attained its characteristic black-brown colour, is then 

 drawn off through a tap fixed about four inches from the 

 bottom of the vessel and run into a tinned iron boiler set 

 over an open fire and boiled moderately for two or three 

 hours. All scum is removed as it makes its appearance, and 

 the boiling is continued as long as any continues to be form- 

 ed. It can easily be understood that the physical properties 

 of the balsam will differ according to the temperature to which 

 it is submitted during this boUing, and it is alleged that the 

 lower specific gravity observed in balsam of Peru during 

 recent years is attributable to a modification it undergoes in 

 this operation, and is quite consistent with the genuineness of 

 a given sample. 



Besides the foregoing the new quarterly report 

 of Messrs. Gehe has several interesting notes. It is 

 mentioned that whilst a few years since the price ot quin- 

 idine ''conquinine) was double that of cinchonidine, ciuchon- 

 adine has lately found so much favour in the United States 

 that its price has now become relatively higher than that 

 of quinidijie. This tendency has been favoured by the large 

 qu.antitics of cuprea bark that have been worked during 

 the last few years, since in it quinine is accompanied 

 only by quinidine and by no cinchonidine. — Pharmaceutical 

 Journal^ 



HOW SHOULD TEA BE BEEWED ? 



The above question to many may appear a very simple 

 one. '' Pour boiling water on to the crisp leaves in a scalded 

 teapot, lay it aside in a warm corner for five minutes or 

 so, and there you are ! " But I beg to say, there I am not. 

 Tea-making — or tea-brewing, or whatever else you may call 

 it — is, in my humble opinion, a more important matter, 

 entering into considerations entirely overlooked by the 

 thousand-and-one tea-drinkers usually met round about. 



To begin with the mater. AU agree that soft is prefer- 

 able to hard water for obtaining the best infusion, whether 

 of tea or of anything else. Good. But pure soft or hard 

 water, not being in a general way obtainable, the happy 

 medium naturally steps in, which, taking the country aU 

 round, is more or less the true state of affairs. The happy 

 medium then shall constitute the water we will take. 



Now for the teapot. What sort is the best? Here is 

 another important matter. Those teapots which keep in 

 the heat, must obviously be better than those that let it 

 go. A rough black teapot is one of the best radiators of 

 heat that coijd be invented. Hence black earthenware 

 teapots should not be used. Glazed earthenware or por- 

 celain are much better ; but better still, are highly pohshed 

 metal — particularly silver — teapots ; for they radiate, or part 

 with heat, much less than any other material. Herein, 

 however, there is room for cavil, for two teapots, alike 

 apparently in size, coloiu", and material, may differ widely 

 in their tea-brewing properties. 



To come to the boilinci-matcr. In a general way this is 

 simply poured upon the herb, and the teapot and contents 

 allowed to stand in a warm place for five or ten minutes 

 to brew. Now, as all those who profess to be well-up in 

 tea-making, lay great stress on the proper temperature of 

 the water ; that we will next consider, as the most import- 

 ant question of the whole. 



Water, under the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere, 

 may be taken as boiling at 212 degrees. It is, therefore, 

 of consequence that it should be kept up to the 212 de- 

 grees during the whole operation. But how often is it so 

 kept y Very rarely. In a general way, the boiling water 

 is poured from the kettle into the heated teapot, and the 

 latter placed perhaps on the hob, perhaps on the bare 

 table, or under a cosy. But how much has the infusion 

 cooled during the process ? A good deal. In the first place 

 the water cools in its passage, short as it is, through the 

 air from the kettle to the teapot ; next (however well the 

 teapot may have been heated), it is seldom kept as hot as 

 boiling water ; and, thirdly, it is often removed to a place 

 where the temperature is still firrther lowered. By this 

 method it will be seen that by the time the teapot is full, 

 the temperature will have considerably fallen — perhaps 10, 

 1.5, or even as much as 20 degrees. To show how speedily 

 the heat of boiling water declines, it is only necessary to 

 remove the kettle from the fire for a few seconds and 

 afterwards replace it, when its recovery will be by no means 

 so sudden as might be expected. Radiation is directly at 

 the bottom of this ; for the instant the kettle is taken off 

 the fire it parts with its heat at a double-quick rate, being 

 faciUtated in every way by its rough, black exterior. 



All this may appear to many people like treating a com- 

 mon subject with a great amount of ceremony, but they 

 must not forget one thing, that there are thirty millions 

 of inhabitants in Great Britain, mostly tea-drinkers, and 

 that fact is quite suflncient to justify a longer communic- 

 ation on the subject than this. 



For many years it has always been a well-understood rule 

 in the making of tea, that to obtain perfect infusion it 

 was necessary that the water in the teapot should alisol- 

 vtelii reach the boilinif-poijit, or 212 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 But in how many houses (particularly from the middle 

 classes upwards) is that permitted ? Perhaps not one in 

 ten thousand. 



Such being the case, there is an easy mode of getting 

 over the difficulty. Take an ordinary metal teapot — that 

 commonly known as block-tin will do very well — and make 

 the tea in the ordinary way. Now place the pot on the 

 fire (or what is much better, the gas-stove), and bring it 

 light up to the boiling-plant ; but the instant that is ac- 

 complished, t)trn off the r/as, lea\ing the pot on the hob or 

 stove for a minute or two. It will now be found that the 

 infusion is as thorough and complete as it is possible to 

 make it. 



