66 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1884, 



10. Decayed, charred, rotten, perished, or 

 partly perished and diseased leaves, 



all sizes ... ... 10"63 



11. Final remnant left on filtering paper 

 containing some tea dust, but also 

 minute particles of decayed and 

 rotten vegetable and animal matter, 

 may be described as sand, dirt, and 

 filth... 



2-02 



Loss through infusion or otherwise.. 



-24-94 



72-53 

 27-47 



100-00 

 When- bending over the moist leaves spread out after 



continuous boiling, the smell is not at all like that of 



good sound tea, but rather the exact counterpart of the 



damp earthy smell evolved from decayed vegetable matter 



often noticeable during autnmu months. 



With regard to the scented orange pekoe (so called) 



and condemned by me, the examination of one sample 



of 100 grains gave the following result : — 



grains. 



Dry hard tea stalks... ... 15-28 



Tea seeds... ... ... 2-38 



Other rubbish, consisting, of gravel, shell, 



husks, rice, bark, &c. ... 2-52 



Nodules, the agglutinated accretions of rub- 

 bish, but containing particles of tea ... 11-64 



31-82 in 106 



grains of tea. 



Further investigation was unnecessary ; the nodule is 

 a work of art, displaying to advantage the ingenuity, 

 patience, and thrift of the Chinese manipulator. 



J. O. Moody. 



DELETERIOUS TEAS. 

 The Customs department dealt with the balance of the 

 challenged teas ex "Amalfi," which were stated to be impure 

 and unfit for human consumption, on Saturday. It will be 

 remembered that on the previous day Mr. Langridge, 

 acting upon the expert evidence of Messrs. Johnson and 

 Blackett, the analytical chemists, and the advice of his 

 responsible officers, condemned 287 half-chests of the 

 -'Amalfi" tea, for which " sight entries " had been passed 

 at the Customs by Messrs. Charles Lister & Co., merch- 

 ants. A further lot of 463 half-chests, for which a 

 " sight entry " had been passed at the Customs by Mr. 

 A. Harvey, were at the same time detained by the senior 

 tea inspector, who declined to pass the consignment on 

 the ground that the tea was deprived of its proper quality 

 and virtue by exhaustion. Samples of the tea, four in 

 number, were, as a .matter of course, at once forwarded 

 to the Government analytical chemist, and upon the advice 

 of Mr. Musgrove, the secretary of Customs, the Commis- 

 sioner directed an independent report to be obtained from 

 Mr. O. R. Blackett, the object being to leave no stone 

 unturned to enable I he proper quality of the import to be 

 promptly ascertained. Of these samples, the first, which 

 represented a line of 130 half-chests, was described by 

 Mr. Johnson as genniue tea. The extract was given at 25 

 per cent, the soluble ash at 2-1, the insoluble at 39, and 

 the total at 6 ; and to this was added the following gen- 

 eral note : — " Soluble ash low, but probably from natural 

 causes. Soluble extract very low, but probably from natural 

 causes also." Damage by sea water and adulteration were 

 not perceptible. The second sample, representing 120 half- 

 chests, was reported to be really tea, the extract of which 

 was given at 25, soluble ash 235, insoluble 3-4, total 5'75, 

 It was also poiuted out that it was a very low cheap tea. 

 but apparently genuine. The tea had not been mixed, 

 stained, or coloured in any way, and there were no per- 

 ceptible traces of damage by sea or fresh water. The third 

 sample, taken from a line of 122 half-chests, was reported 

 on in almost identical terms. The tea extract was given 

 at 32 per cent, the soluble ash 1-85, insoluble ash 375, 

 and the total 56. Mr. Johnson was of opinion that this 

 was a sample of apparently genuine tea, though the sol- 

 uble salt was very low. The tea extract in the fourth and 

 last sample was given at 27 per cent, whilst the soluble 

 ash was 16, the insoluble 4, aud the total, 5b\ To this 



analysis Mr. Johnson added the following note: — "Soluble 

 salt so low as to lead to the belief that iu this case some- 

 what of exhaustion has taken place. Soluble extract also 

 very low." Traces of damage by sea water or adulteration 

 were not perceptible. Similar samples were placed in tho 

 bauds of Mr. Blackett, who reported as follows : — " I have 

 analysed the four samples of tea received under seal from 

 you yesterday. Results as follow : — 



Soluble Insoluble 

 Ash. Residue. 



No. 



Extract . 



Ash. 



Free from sand aud foreign matters ; no evidence of sophistic- 

 ation ; not exhausted ; common quality." 



After carefully examining iuto the whole matter, the res- 

 ponsible officers of the department decided on Saturday to 

 pass Harvey's tea, as there was not sufficient evidence in 

 the reports of the analysts to justify a more rigorous ad- 

 ministration of the act. — Melbourne Argus. 



IMPURE TEAS. 



About a month ago (23rd April) the ship "Amalfi" 

 arrived from Hamburg by way of London, bringing 

 as part of her cargo 750 half-chests of tea, which 

 were speedily rumoured to be unsound. As Mr. 

 Bluudell, the senior tea expert, refused to pass 

 this tea, the services of analytical chemists were called 

 in. Mr. Johnson, the first consulted, gave two rather 

 contradictory reports — first, that the tea was probably 

 mixed with exhausted leaves, and that it was not 

 damaged in any perceptible way ; and next, that the 

 tea was a sound tea if the damaged parts were removed. 

 Unable to reconcile these perplexing reports Mr. 

 Lnngridge called in Mr. Blackett as umpire, and Mr. 

 Blackett reported that only one sample examined had 

 any approach to a fair proportion of soluble ash. 

 " Broken leaves, stalks and small tea debris character- 

 ized them all. Rotten leaves were found in abund- 

 ance." Mr. Langridge has very properly adopted Mr. 

 Blackett's report, aud forbidden the tea to go into 

 consumption. The result is that it has been purchased 

 by the trade at a halfpenny a pound, and will be 

 passed off upon some unwary community ! While the 

 morals of the tea selling trade are in this profoundly 

 unsatisfactory state, it is not reassuring to notice that 

 there was great difficulty iu procuring a conviction. 

 It is not the law that is in fault, but the regulations 

 framed for carrying out the act that are i.ot sufficiently 

 precise. The Government have the power, under clause 

 7 of the act, to revise these, and they should certainly do 

 it; or the old legend of "death in the pot" will bpcome 

 appropriate. Probably it was a mistake in tho act to 

 let exhausted tea be given back to the importers for 

 re-shipment. We ought to aim at protecting our 

 neighbours as well as ourselves ; and, indeed, for that 

 matter, we have uo security that some of this tea may 

 not find its way to Warrnambool, or from Albury back 

 again into Victoria. 



A further shipment of common low cODgou teas 

 having come forward by the steamer "Potosi," 

 consigned on shipper's account to the care of Messrs. 

 Dalgety, Blackwood and Co., that firm have addressed 

 letters to the Commissioner of Customs and to the 

 chairman of the board of health, calling their attention 

 to the fact, and requesting that the teas may be 

 analyzed and examined prior to their being offered for 

 sale in the market. The Central Board of Health has 

 sent on the samples to Mr. Cosmo Newbery for 

 examination and analysis. It need hardly be said that 

 if every firm to whom low class teas are sent would 

 adopt the highly creditable example sent by Messrs. 

 Dalgety, Blackwood aud Co., none of those unpleasant 

 contradictions which have figured in the press in 

 connection with challenged teas would have been 

 possible,— Melbourne Age, May 2ilh. 



