302 THE WORLD'S LUMBER ROOM. 



so that we can look at their consumption in this way only 

 as a very wasteful proceeding. Even in their damaged state 

 some were perfectly eatable, and many a slice was eaten by 

 the man in charge of the furnace. 



Tea is now seldom burnt, having once set the chimney 

 on fire ; but cargoes of tea are sometimes condemned. 

 Any one walking down the Mahloo road in Shanghai 

 will see, on either side, trays of old tea-leaves drying in 

 the sun, and exposed, not only to the dust, but to the 

 attentions ot the pigs, dogs, and children, which play and 

 walk about among them. Many tons of this " Mahloo 

 mixture," as it is called, are made and exported, and some 

 of it is occasionally seized in London, and properly con- 

 demned, for no one but the consignees could possibly 

 grudge it to the fields. 



No doubt the waste from tomato-canning went for 

 manure until an enterprising American conceived the idea 

 of turning it into tomato catsup, from which he realises 

 handsome profits, as he pays nothing for his material. The 

 wholesale houses are, no doubt, glad to be rid of it, and 

 to them he sends clean tubs to receive all the skins and 

 parings. The tubs are removed every day, and the con- 

 tents ground up, fermented, and flavoured. 



Jute refuse is another of the substances formerly con- 

 sidered fit only to rot and be applied to the soil, whereas 

 now it is mixed with flax, hemp, and silk, and made into 

 excellent paper. And a somewhat similar history may 

 be told of the cotton-seed, which was left to form offensive 

 accumulations in some places, and in others given in small 

 quantities to the cattle, or simply thrown away, or used 



