778 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[April i, 1885 



as paid the work. We have generally put the cost of 

 thinning a Fine or Fir plantation done at so early an age 

 that no profit was looked for, or expected, at 5s. to 6s. 

 per acre, and this, as must appear self explanatory, is 

 simply adding that sum to the cost of forming the plant- 

 ation. If uot actually doing so, it practically is so, for it 

 must be years yet before any profitable return ought to 

 be obtained from the plantation. AVhat is earnestly 

 desired to be made plain is, that while there is an ap- 

 parent loss incurred by thinning Pine and Fir plant- 

 ations before they are capable of yielding profitable re- 

 turns, there is yet actmlly less loss by this than by the 

 other and more" common practice of delaying thinning till 

 a certain amount of revenue is derived for the thinnings. 

 Another adverse circumstance presents itself in the 

 difficulty of handling the thinning axe. The trees had 

 been planted at about -l.V feet apart, and if grown to 

 fifteen years old, or even ten years in some cases, the 

 tallest will be 15 to 20 feet high, and the side branches 

 of the adjoining trees twisted and interlaced with each 

 other; if quite dead they are easily broken off, at least in 

 the case of Scots Pine, but if only partially dead, and 

 the crop is Larch or Spruce, they are tough and wiry, 

 aud consequently entail much toil and labour in per- 

 forming the work. The laborious, disagreeable, and ex- 

 pensive work of this first thinning is not yet over, for 

 the thinnings, whether pruned out or taken out of the 

 plantation with the branches on, require to be carried 

 through a dense thicket of spray. The crop as now 

 thinned stands at about 600 trees per acre of Scots Fir 

 or Spruce, and about 1,200 if Larch ; but the trees have 

 not yet shed their branches, nor are they to be pruned 

 off by artificial means, not yet havfcig fulfilled the end 

 and purpose Nature designed by them. 



The ideal commercial tree is a branchless trunk of 

 cylindrical form— tall, clean, straight, and free form knots 

 and blemishes. A branchless trunk, however, though a 

 subject to be longed for, especially as a commercial pro- 

 duct, is neither easy to secure nor to be regarded other 

 than a prodigy equally rare and costly. It will be seen 

 by any one who takes notice of it, that in a forest com- 

 posed of trees of different sizes, but of nearly the same 

 age, such as are common in the Pine forests and woods 

 of Strathspey, Deeside, Morayshire, Inverness-shire, Ross- 

 shire and other parts of the country both north and south, 

 that clean grown trees with fewest branches are soonest 

 ripe nud mature, but fall an early prey to disease. It is 

 no rare thing to find a fine clean tree clear of branches 

 tno near the top, of 100 year's growth, containing only 10, 

 cubic feet of timber or even less, ripe and ready to cut 

 gmwing at the rate of a quarter of a cubic foot annu- 

 ally, and depositing layers of wood scarcely one-sixteenth 

 of an inch thick, literally adding a quarter of a foot to 

 the surface, and losing as much or more from natural 

 internal deoay, and worth only 5s. Beside this tree grows 

 another, well branched, containing over 50 cubic feet, 

 and still making wood ; growing at the rate of H cubic 

 foot yearly, and depositing annual layers about one-eighth 

 inch thick, and worth at least 25s. each.— Gardeners' 

 Cltrotrieh. 



VALUE OF TEA, COFFEE AND COCOA AS FOOD. 



Some very interesting particulars of the relative merits 

 of the above-named articles as food is given in a recent 

 hand-book published under the auspices of the Inter- 

 national Health Exhibition by Alexander Wyuter P.lyth, 

 M. R.0.S.,&c. Aftercalling attention, to the numerous vari- 

 etiesof tea, the writer refers to the complexity of substances 

 that are to be extracted, ami enumerates no less than 

 sixteen components, viz., essential oil, theiue, botric acid, 

 quercetine, tannin, qnercilrinic acid, gallic acid, oxalic acid, 

 gum, chlorophyh resin, wax, albumen, woody and coloring 

 matters and ash. 



It must be remembered, however, that many ot the above, 

 such as wax, coloring matters, albumen, woody fibre, gum, 

 and resin are common constituents of plants and are in 

 no way distinctive of the tea plant. The alkaloid theine, 

 otherwise called caffeine, can be obtained in beautiful silky 

 i rys( ils of the whiteness of snow. There is not much diffic- 

 ulty to demonstrate the presence of theiue in tea, and the 



following method is given : — Place one or two tea leaves in 

 a teaspoon and add a little water ; boil almost to dryness 

 over a spirit lamp ; then add a pinch of dry magnesia aud 

 make the tea leaf and infusion a sort of paste ; on care- 

 fully heating and holding a slip of glass over the spoon, 

 theine will sublime or condense in crystals upon the glass. 



The quantity of theine in tea varies from 1 to 3 per 

 cent, and in a cup holding a half pint of tea there 

 would be on an average thirty-eight graius of solid matter, 

 which would include seven and a half grains of tannin, 

 two and a half grains of theine, and a fraction of a 

 grain of essential oil. The writer, in a table showing the 

 component parts of a pound of tea costing at retail about 

 60 cents, shows that in purchasing a pound of tea a person 

 only purchases nine ounces of active substances, which 

 may be considered from an economical point of view 

 rather a dear article of food. In two cents' worth of 

 fifty-cent tea a person only buys 162 grains of the com- 

 ponents of the tea. 



In speaking about coffee, Mr. Elyth calls attention to 

 the changes in the berry produced by the action of 

 roasting, causing the volatilization of a small portion of the 

 caffeine (theine), a partial change of the sugar into caramel, 

 a general breaking up of the oil and albumen cells, with 

 the extraction of gas and water, and the development of 

 a very powerful and volatile aromatic substance. The 

 table giving the component parts of a pound of coffee 

 shows that a person purchasing a pound of the berry buys 

 only 8$ ounces of useful matter, a little less than in a 

 pound of tea. Calculating coffee to cost from 20 to 36 

 cents at retail, Mr. P.lyth contends that it is comparatively 

 dearer than tea, for the simple reason that so much more 

 of the ground berries have to be used. 



In speaking of chicory, Mr. Blyth considers it a very 

 harmless root with no praticular physiological action. It 

 is added to coffee by some in order to make a weak in- 

 fusion of colfee appear strong. 



In reference to cocoa, the writers calls attention to the 

 variety of cocoa aud chocolate preparations before the 

 public, and submits a table giving an average composition 

 of the majority of popular brands. Mr. Blyth calls atten- 

 tion to two particular constituents of cocoa, viz., theo- 

 bromine aud cocoa butter. Theobromine is an alkaloid some- 

 what analogous to theine in tea and caffeine in coffee. 

 Cocoa butter is a yellow concrete oil of the consistency 

 of tallow. It has a brown color and agreeable taste. It 

 never becomes rancid however long it may be kept. 



If we consider the large amount of starchy matter, fat, 

 albumen, &c, cocoa and chocolate are beyond question 

 the cheapest, as they may be considered as much food as 

 drink. In one pound of cocoa there are no less than 14 

 ounces of useful matter, and at an average of 30 cents 

 the buyer buys for 2 cents 39S graius, or nearly an ounce, 

 more or less nutritious substances. 



Considering that cocoa contains nearly twice as much 

 nutrition as tea and coffee, it is strange that cocoa and 

 chocolate have not become more . popular, particularly 

 with the working class. Still there may be something 

 in the fact that it only contains 1"24 per centof theobrom- 

 ine, the stimulating principle, while tea will average 

 nearly 3 and coffee 2n per cent, of theine. It isnotso 

 much as food that people drink tea and coffee, but as a 

 stimulant, and, no doubt, in countries where the people 

 work the hardest ami suffer from nervous exhaustion, 

 there is where tea and coffee are the most populcr 

 drinks, — A titer ican Grocer, 



TEA MITE AND TEA BUG. 



[The following uncomplimentary notice of Mr. Wood- 

 the Indian Planters' Gazette. 

 received a copy of the book, 



Mason's book appears in 



We may say, that, having 



we find, that, while the tea mite is figured afteran enormous 



fashion, there is no representation of Helopeltis. This is 



disappointing. — En.] 



It will no doubt be in the remembrance of many of our 

 readers how Mr. Wood-Mason was deputed to the tea 

 district^Pat the suggestion of tin' Calcutta agency houses 

 and how, after studying the subject for some months, ho 

 flashed a telegram to the Chief Commissioner of Agsntn 

 who in turn remitted it to the Deputy Commissioner wit 



