626 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February i, 1883. 



vessel ccsts thu planter 2$ eOO to send by rail fnin 

 Porto N'lvo station to Rio deJunciro (a distance of 261 

 kilometers.) 



The lecturer, after c'ealing with the subject of tax- 

 ation whicb so weigiis d .wn the agricul ural classes, 

 concluded by a reference to the question of slavery, and 

 recommended those interested not to be alarmed at the 

 emancipation propagnnda. 



WOKKING OF THE AUSTRALIAN TEA ACT. 



On several oooasious of late we have directed atten- 

 tion to tlie manner iu which the Commissioner of 

 Customs has permitted the plain reading of the Tea 

 Act to be violated. A cm respondent residing at 

 Bunueeluke West writes to us as follows: — 



"Sir, — I forward you by tliis mail a sample of tea 

 sold m the town nf Ea=t Charlton. Will you be kind 

 enough lo examine the same as to quality, as I think 

 that it is used tea made up over again. Tliere are 

 pieces of hard stuff, such like broken cofifee ; also, to 

 me, very peculiar stalks. By giving your 0|jinion of 

 th« same in the correspondence column of The Aije ^ou 

 will grealtly oblige. — Yours, &c. — L'ungeeluke." 



The sample was handed to Mr. iJunn, who, has 

 kindly furnished us with the following report : — 

 Industrial and Technological Museum, 

 " Laboratory, 12th December. 



"Report on sample of Kaisow buds received from 

 the commercial editor of the The Age newspaper. 

 Upon analysis it gave — 



Percentage of mineral ash ... ... 5 '06 



,, soluble salts ... ... 2'S2 



,, extract (total) 34 5b' 



„ theine 042 



" The samples was faced with a material resembling 

 plumbago, and about 22 per cent, of broken tea seeds 

 were ditected. 



" The low percentage of soluble salts, extract and 

 theine condemn this tea as a very inferior and ad- 

 ulteriited sample. Fredkeic Dunn." 



We have shown this tea to one of the best experts 

 in Melbourne with the following result : 



Leaf.— Rather large, curled, mixed, brownish, black- 

 ish, full of tea seed, and havily faced to give it a 

 dark appearance. 



The infused leaves ehow a little good tea, liut the 

 bulk is made up for rilibons. 



Several samples of Kaisow buds to hand this season 

 from Foo Chow have been condemned by the Customs 

 authorities, and in one case reshipped to China. We 

 are at a loss to know how this sample (new season's) 

 passed through. The reiterated etatesments of tea 

 men from too Chow — to wit Mr. John M. Foibe.«, 

 juu., iu his letter to the chairman of the meeting of 

 tea merchants, dated 22nd October, 1881, viz. : — 

 "After an experience of 16 years in China I can 

 safely say that so far as 1 know there is no suprious 

 or adulterated tea shipped from Foo Chow to the 

 colonies" — must now be considered as fallacious, and 

 it only shows that the Chinese who hoodwink the 

 customs iiere iu Victoria by getting through thousand 

 of pounds' worth of goods free of duty are equally 

 able to work round a tea man of 16 years experience 

 in China.— Melbourne Aije. Dec. 16th. 



FIJI TEA. 

 Mr. James E. Mason, of the Alpha tea and coffee 

 estate, Taviuui, Fiji, has forwarded to Mr. J. 0. 

 Moody, tea expert, of Melbourne, samples of the fir.it 

 Fijiau tea produced in his part of the world ; at the 

 same time writing that early mxt year he hoped to 

 pluck off 30 acres planted with tea, and that the 



ea ' pies sent were hastily made in a b^irrel with a 

 fryiugpan of charcoal. Mr. J. 0. Moody reports : — 

 "Fiji Pekoe leaf: H.indsome, small, even, golden 

 tipped pekoe, evenly and well fermented. Fiji Pekoe 

 liquor ; Very strong.', full, rieh and iningent pekoe 

 fl^ivrr, thick, with deep red infusion. Au invaluable 

 tea for mixing, and worth ahout 23 6fl per lb. in 

 bond. Fiji Pekoe Souchong leaf: Welt made, wiry, 

 twisted, rich, bl.ick. tippy leaf, evently and well fer- 

 mented Fiji Pekoe Souoiiong liquor : Strong, full, rich 

 and ripe true pekoe souchong flavor, with goe>d, bright, 

 red infusion. A tine tea to drink alone, and worth 

 about Is 9d per lb, in bond. These teas have the 

 character "f good Ceylon growths, and are in every 

 respect suitable teas for general consumption, ami such 

 samples are siti'e to meet with ready sale in Austral- 

 asia or Great Britain." Mr. Frederic Dunn analys. 

 Industrial and Technological Museum Liiboratory, under 

 date the 12th December, 18S2, reports on same samples. 

 U|ion analysis they gave : — Pekoe : Percentage of 

 moismre, !) 00 ; percentage of mineral ash, 4 '36 ; per- 

 centage of extract, (total), 45 '80 ; percentage of soluble 

 salts, 2'98 ; percentage of thine, 1'73. Pekoe Souchong : 

 Percentage of moisture, 8'85 ; percentage of mineral 

 ash, 440; percentage of extract (total), 48'28 ; per- 

 centage of soluble salts, 3'OIJ ; percent.age of thme, 

 186. The percentage of mineral ash and soluble salts 

 found iu the-e teas closily resembles the amount 

 obtained from C^vlou exhibition teas. Taking into con- 

 sideration that the samples are the result of an tx- 

 perimental trial, the result are highly satisfactory, and 

 the auul^ses speak well for Fiji teas. — Age. 



The Ceylon Rubber iNDtrsTRY. — The full siguiflca- 

 tiou of the latest harvesting report (3 ounces Irom 6 

 months' tapping of a tree 18 months old) will only 

 be understood when we mention that our cor- 

 reepondint estimates that a yield of four ounces 

 per annum will give a satisfactory prohc. Rubber 

 iu Ceylon promises to pay as well as Cinchona — where 

 the tree flourishes, in both cases. Wo read in the 

 Rio N'WS that the rubber harvest on the Rio Funis, 

 province of Amazouas, it is anticipated, will be below 

 that of last year because of the heavy rains. 



SuGAB Factories in Brazil. — 'We see from the report 

 of the Quissanam Central Sugar Factory that the results 

 of past half year's working have proved extremely satis- 

 factory, improved machinery and appliances having had 

 much influence in bringing the same about. There can 

 be no douht that the concentration on a large .scale of 

 means and skill in the operations of sugar manufacture 

 must yield profitable results, because the cost of making 

 under such conditions is relatively much less than that 

 of small factories, besides the advantage accruing to planters 

 from being relieved of great outlay in sugar mills, and 

 of the cost of maintaining them, is obvious, and it would 

 seem that they are not slow to recognise the fact if wc 

 may judge from the support which the Central Sugar Factory 

 system is receiving in Brazil. — South American Journal. 



AiiGENTiNE Sugar. — There are few industries in the Plate 

 that show more progres.sive march than sugar. A few years 

 ago who ever heard of Argentine sugar ? When General 

 Mitre turned the first sod of the Central Argentine Railway 

 in the presence of the late JNIr. "Wheelright and the dignitaries 

 of the land, aithougii the speeches on the occasion were 

 eloquent and gushing, and some allusion was made to cotton, 

 nothing was said about sugar, and none that day foresaw 

 that, Ijcfore the cycle of 17 short years, all the waggons 

 on the railway would be insufficient to bring down to 

 Kosairo the sugar of a single province — Tucuman. If any 

 man at that inaugural fete had risen at the far end of 

 the table and with flowing tumbler drunk to the Tucuman 

 sugar crop of 1SS2, marking it at l,300,ii00 arrobes, although 

 the guests might have drunk the toast, jt would have been 

 more in compliment to the toaster than to their convic- 

 tions, or even their hopes. — ISouth American Journal. 



