268 TEMPERATURE USED AT JAVA 



On the contrary, I have great pleasure in bearing 

 testimony to the general exactness of his descrip- 

 tions and great minuteness of detail, as well as to 

 the philanthropic and benign spirit which pervades 

 his work — it is refreshing to hear the Planter in 

 a remote colony advocating the cause of the Peasant, 

 and upholding the Christian principle that " the 

 labourer is worthy of his hire. " In short his work 

 on the cultivation and manipulation of tea at Java 

 is well worthy of a literal translation into our own 

 language, and would form a useful manual in the 

 hands of all persons engaged in the cultivation of 

 tea. The difference between this author's results 

 and mine, I ascribe to the difference of size, thick- 

 ness, and depth of the vessel used ; and partly also 

 to his mode of holding the thermometer, which 

 indicates that it was one, the bulb of which could 

 not be laid bare. I have already observed that I 

 am disposed to believe that the temperature em- 

 ployed at Java, especially for green tea, is too low ; 

 or that there may be some error in the mode of 

 computing it. But we will here assume it to be 

 correct ; and as I have already admitted that some 

 Java teas, black and green, are equal to the average 

 quality of Chinese tea, then it may be asked — If 

 teas of equal quality can be produced at tempera- 

 tures so different, in what consists the advantage of 

 the Chinese methods over those of Java ? They 

 appear to be these — economy of time, labour and 

 fuel ; and consequently of expense. Moreover, the 



