JttNE I, 1885. 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



8S7 



every year or so. Why, then, should we not grow violets 

 in the same way 1 For all I know, I 



but I never remember to have seen the practice recommended. 

 One objection to it is, that the kinds would not come 

 quite tone, but I believe that violets are less liable to 

 sport than many thiugs ; and even if they did, it would 

 not in a general way matter much, and there would 

 always be a chance of getting something new. 



A certain amount of shade from the hot summer sun 

 would seem to constitute an element of success in violet 

 culture. At the same time, violets thrive very well in 

 certain places grown as a field crop, and in the full blaze 

 of the sun. This is, however, only where the soil is 

 naturally favourable, being, generally speaking, a loam 

 of a somewhat holding but otherwise free nature, ihe 

 greater amount of fresh pure air, too, enjoyed in an open 

 field tempers the heat of the sua and robs it of its 

 debilitating effect. The violet often pines and dies 111 

 small gardens, because the atmosphere becomes overheated 

 and deprived of its life-giving properties. It is, therefore, 

 advisable in such places to select a position screened 

 from the midday sun. Having my choice, I would prefer 

 a border where the sun came until about twelve or one 

 o'clock, as in July and August, which are the most trying 

 months for violets, the most drying tune of the day is 

 during the early hours of the afternoon. Thus placed, 

 and watered overhead about four o'clock, the plants are, 

 in a great measure, guarded against the exhausting effects 

 of a fierce sun and an arid atmosphere. The north sides 

 of trees or of a building are often recommended as the 

 most suitable position for violets, and in the southern 

 counties they are probably very favourable places, as in 

 warm districts and on light soils red spider is so diffic- 

 ult to grapple with in hot summer, when the pUnts 

 are in the fierce sun throughout the day. In a north 

 aspect, on the contrary, it is seldom troublesome. As 

 a rule, however, I should be inclined to depend upon a 

 dee]) root run in well stirred and enriched ground, in 

 eon, unction with a mulch of rotten manure and copious 

 waterings and frequent sprinklings overhead to keep the 

 insect at bav. If it does attack very vigorous plants, 

 it rarely becomes their master. It is only debilitated' 

 specimens that are ruined by its ravages. Certainly in 

 the northern districts of this country I would not pre- 

 ferably make violet plantations in a north aspect, but 

 rather where the sun comes during the greater portion 

 of the day. 



There are two ways of making new violet plantations. 

 Either the old plants may be divided after flowering, or 

 the young runners can be taken when they have become 

 fairly well rooted. Where the plants have not become 

 crowded, and there is sufficient space for the plants to 

 form nice balls of fibres before removal, they will, if 

 carefully transplanted, scarcely miss the moving, and. if 

 well attended to. will grow into large specimens by late 

 autumn. If, however, they are likely to be crowded.it 

 is better to cut them off and dibble them in 111 tine 

 soil in a shady position, keeping the soil moist until 

 they are well 'enough rooted to go into their permanent 

 quarters. Old plants should be divided and set out in 

 rows 1 ft. apart and o in. from plant to plant as soon 

 as the blooming time is over, then they make good- 

 sized specimens full of buds by autumn. When grown 

 in frames they should be placed there early in October, 

 so as to get good root-hold by winter. Violets m pots 

 are very acceptable for the window and greenhouse ; only 

 a few dowers wi 1 fill a good-sized room with delicious 

 fragrance. — Field. 



♦ 



TEA MADE FROM VACOIKIUM ARCTO.STArilYLOK. 



BY W. T. THISELYON IIYKU, F.K.S., 



Assistant Director, Royal Gardens, Kew. 



Mr. Holmes's note in the Pharmaceutical Journal (Jan. 



17, pp. 573 — 1) pretty well exhausts the history of this 



curious product. But it will be convenient to record m 



une pages the few other facts that bav come under 



our notice at Kew. 



In 1877, Mr. George Maw, F.L.S., brought froi 

 Minor a small sample- "I tie- tea obtained al Br 

 Anatolia Mr. Maw informed us that it was sold for 

 about S,l. per pound, and hi ascertained that it was 



made From Vac ."',,, Arctostaphylos (see 'Kew Report," 

 1877, p. 4"o. Mr. Holmes mentions on the authority of 

 Mr. Allen that in Lazistan and Tredizond it was first 

 made in 1877: but in that year, at any rate in Anatolia, 

 its use seems to have been sufficiently common to attract 

 Mr. Maw's attentior. 



The tea next came under our notice in the Report by 

 Consul Biliotti "On the Town and Port of Samsoon, and 

 on the Circassian Colony in the district."* Mr. Biliotti 

 states that the Circassian families "consume large quantities 

 of sugar, and have introduced the use of tea ; but there 

 being a sort of native tea produced at Amassia and 

 Tokat, the yearly importation of this article from Great 

 Britain does not exceed 1,500 pounds." We thought it 

 was worth while drawing the attention of the Foreign 

 Office to the matter, with a view of ascertaining the 

 nature of this tea-substitute. Mr. Biliotti took a good 

 deal of trouble, and obtained and forwarded to Kew 

 specimens of tea and of the plant produciug it from 

 Amassia and Tokat, in the province of Roum, and also 

 from Rizeh in Trebizond. Writing from Trebizoud, he 

 says: — "As it grows profusely here wild on high mountains 

 (not below an altitude of 500 feet, so far as I have been 

 able to ascertain), it would be of invaluable advantage 

 for the population to know whether the plant belongs 

 to the genus Tea. and whether cultivation would improve 

 the quality of the tea now produced, which lacks in 

 flavour. This may also be due to the natives using un- 

 skilful means for drying the leaves." 



The tea sent had exactly the appearance and aroma of 

 coarse black tea; so much so. that the Customs author- 

 ities insisted on charging duty upon it. 



The specimens sent were identified by Professor Oliver 

 as Vaccinium Arctostaphylos, without hesitation. He re- 

 marks that the plant is figured by Tournefort in his 

 'Voyage in the Levant;' but though that traveller men- 

 tions the taste of the leaves, he says nothing about its 

 being used as tea. This confirms what Mr. Holmes says 

 as to its use for this purpose being a practice of recent 

 date. 



The Board of Trade to whom samples of the tea were 

 communicated, submitted them to Messrs. George White 

 h Co, the well-known firm of tea brokers. They re- 

 mark that common China tea, selling 5^/. to 6d. per pound, 

 shows better value in every respect, and the admixture 

 of the "Trebizond tea" could hardly reduce the cost, 

 while it would certainly not improve its flavour. 



Though Hie aroma of the "Trebizond tea" was so 

 agreeable, the taste of a decoction was harsh and mawk- 

 ish, with no appreciable resemblance to that of true tea. 

 I sent a sample to Dr. Rchorlemmer, of Owens College, 

 Manchester, who has paid some attention to the chemistry 

 of tea-substitutes. Ledum pain sire, belonging to the next 

 natural family. Ericaceae, yields Labrador tea, and it seems 

 odd that two nearly related plants should be pitched 

 upon in such distant parts of the world for the same 

 purpose, if there were no physiological basis for their 

 selection. But I have not heard whether Dr. Schorlemmer 

 has detected any principle in Trebizond tea which would 

 account for its extensive use. 



Since the above was in type we have been favoured 

 by the Board of Trade with a copy of a memorandum 

 (dated January 15, 1885) by M. Nuraa Doulcet, H.M. 

 Y ice-Consul at Samsoon. 



I append a transaction which, I think, finally exhausts 

 the subject: — 



1. The tea in question became a commercial article in 

 1880; at first its consumption was limited to the "country 

 and particularly to those districts in which Circassian 

 colonies hail been founded. 



2. It is manufactured by Circassian planters in the 

 neighbourhood of Amassia, Tokat and Horek, all in the 

 province of Roum, at a short distance from the forest 

 which clothes the mountain chain called Beldagh, and on 

 which the plant which furnishes the tea in question grows 



lance. 



aide to ascertain the process of 

 manufacture which takes place within the houses of the 



- 'Commercial Reports from Her Majesty's Consuls, 

 1884,' Pari 1. p 117. 



