43® 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 18S2. 



Coffee. — The French are said to consume four 

 times, the Americans eight times, and the Germans 

 twelve times, as much coffee per head aa the English. 

 —British Trade Jmunal. 



Malt Coffek. — A patent has been published at the 

 ii stance of Arthur Conroy and Mioliael Conroy, both 

 of Liverpool, entitled "Improvements in the treat- 

 n:eut of malt to produce an article of diet, which may 

 be used as a substitute for coffee. " Eoasted ground 

 coffee is exhausted with boiling water ; with the extract 

 thus formed, raw and roasted malt are saturated, and 

 then dried. The result is a material closely resembling 

 real coffee in taste and appearance, but possessing an 

 invaluable property of the malt diastase, viz., that of 

 cau'ing sta.ehy substances, such as bread, &c., to dis- 

 solve in the stomach, and in tliis way it materially 

 assists digestion. It is, too, said to be more nutriti- 

 ous than ordinary coffee, as the phosphates and 

 albuminous matters of the malt remain in the mixture. 

 — Planters Gazette. 



How TO Make Tea. — Some remarks recently ap- 

 peared in a tr&de journal on this subject. The writer 

 says : — Fill the kettle with cold water from the cistern, 

 boil quickly. AVhen the water is at the boil, not boiled, 

 pour into the teapot a little to heat it up, pour out 

 and let the teapot dry ; put in the tea in the dry pot, 

 let it stand so for two minutes, then pour in the 

 boiling water and draw ten minutes ; use a little cream, 

 sugar to taste, and you have a delicious cup of tea. 

 To give my reasons why this short date should be 

 so, I give the analysis of a pound of tine Assam tea, 

 taken from au authority in the trade : 



Ounces. Grains. 



Water 



Tbeine ... 



Ca^ieine .J !'l'.':) ... 



Aromatic Oil .:. *. '... 



tJxun 



Sugar 



Fat 



Tannic Acid 



Woody Fibre ... 



Mineral Matter 

 How, the volatile oil contained in tea is the component 

 part which gives it llavour, and which, when long drawn 

 evaporates. The theiue or caseine contained in tea 

 refreshes and gives repose, and assists digestion, while 

 the tannin, of which (here is a large proportion, is a 

 powerful astringent. This lunnin comes out when the 

 tea is overdrawn. The theine and oil evaporate, and 

 we have nothing but a bitter and unwholesome bever- 

 age which destroys digestion, excites the nerves, and 

 hurts the health. Tha time was when tweiity minutes 

 was not too long to draw fine pure Congou; that was 

 when China teas were alone consumed, and the manu- 

 facture was very dilferent. Teas were so difficult to 

 get to shipping ports, and the time thus employed was so 

 long, that unless the tea was extremely well cured, well 

 dried and tightlj rolled before it had arrived at Canton it 

 would liave been unfit for shipment, but now with 

 open ports all over Cliina teas are rapidly and poorly 

 cured, the manufactures knowing that when they com- 

 mence to d^'ieriorato they will be on the liauds of the 

 grocer. Hence it will be found th.at China teas and 

 al'-o Assams do not require the old-fashioned time to 

 ■draw. This it would be well to remember, for what, 

 after all, is tea? At best it is but a beverage; its 

 nourishing properties are very few ; it is rather more 

 of a stimulant, and to make it enjoyable it should 

 be made and used to create the greatest amount of 

 happiness and pleasure. To do so every grocer should 

 educate his customer. I would ask every grocer to 

 try three experiments in tea making : 1st Make it 

 as I have described; 2nd. Make it with boiled water 

 and draw double my time; 3rd. Put in the same 

 quantity in old boiled water that I have done with mine, 

 and you will find it does not draw ; then do as some 

 wives do, add another spoonful of tea to bring up the 

 strength and he will iiud » strong decoction. 



Cotton Seed before the American civil war was 

 supposed to be worthless, except for fertilizing pur- 

 poses, the business of expressing the oil which it con- 

 tains has now become a profitable business, which is 

 indicated by the fact that there are 70 odd mills de- 

 voted to it. From each ton of seed is produced 35 

 gallons of oil, which can be sold at from 40 to 50 

 cents per gallon. Seven hundred and fifty pounds of 

 oil cake likewise are obtained, worth $13. The hulls, 

 worth |4, are disposed of as a part of the yield. For 

 lubricating machinery, for grinding with white lead and 

 mixing paints, and for salad dressing (in the guise of 

 the product of the Spanish olive), cotton seed oil is in 

 extensive use vegetable and animal oils also have an 

 extensive rival in it. — Bio Neivs. 



Putrefaction and Antislptics.— In the course of 

 researches on this subject, M. Le Bon has lately ob- 

 tained results which seem to have important practical 

 bearings. The so-called "normal liquid" he uied for 

 putrefaction was an aqueous solution containing hashed 

 meat to the extent of a tenth of its weight. He 

 finds (1) that the disinfectant power of any antiseptic is 

 weaker the older the putrefaction (new products are 

 given off, in time, by the putrefying liquid, that 

 are not so easily destroyed). (2) Measuring the power 

 of antiseptics by their disinfactent properties on a 

 given weight of the normal liquid, the strongest dis- 

 infectants appear to be (in order), permanganate of 

 potash, chloride of lime, sulphate of iron acidified 

 with acetic acid, carbolic acid, and the glyoerobo- 

 rates of sodium and potassium. (3) There is no par. 

 allelism between disinfectant action and action on mi- 

 crobes (or minute organism). Thus, permanganate of 

 potash, 60 strong in the former respect, has no appre- 

 ciable action on microbes ; alcohol, a strong preventer 

 of rnicrobes, is very weak as a disinfectant. Nor 

 (4) is there parallelism between the power of prevent- 

 ing putrefaction and that of stopping it when it has 

 arisen. Alcohol and carbolic acid, preservative agents 

 par excellence, have very little effect on putrefaction 

 once commenced (5) Wttb exception of a very small 

 number of substances that are strong poisons (as 

 bichloride of mercury), most antiseptics, and notably 

 carbolic acid, have very little action on bacteria, 

 M. Le Bon has at present carbolized solutions several 

 months old, and rich in bacteria ; indeed, he thinks, 

 this acid one of the best liquids for preserving live 

 bacteria a long time. (6) There is no parallelism 

 between the virulent power of a substance in putrefaction 

 and the toxical power of volatile compounds given off 

 by it ; indeed these properties seem to be even in 

 inverse ratio. A frog is placed in an enclosure with 

 some of the liquid. When putrefaction sets in, a 

 very fetid odour is produced, and the liquid swarms 

 with bacteria, and is known to be very virulent if in- 

 jected under the skin of an animal ; but tlie frog 

 merely breathing the effluvia, takes no harm. After 

 two months the liquid ceases to have virulent pro- 

 perties, but the animal breathing its volatile pro- 

 duets is killed. (7) The very small quantity of pro- 

 duets of advanced putrefaction necessary to kill an 

 animal by simple mixture with air proves these vo- 

 latile alkaloids to be extremely poisonous. M. Le 

 Bon ascertained that they are so tu man. He knows 

 only a very small number of substances, such as 

 nicotine, prussic acid, aud the new alkaloid he lately 

 extracted from tobacco, that are as poisonous. (8) The 

 experiments explain the evils arising from bodies 

 Jong buried, and prove that the atmosphere of 

 cemeteries (contrary to what has been affirmed on 

 tile score of there being few microbes present), 

 may be very dangerous. In connexion with typhoid 

 fever, too, and other affections, the volatile alkaloids 

 produced by action of microbes on certain organic 

 substances, are doubtless largely active. — London 

 Times. 



