and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— October, 1912. 348 



HANDLING TEA IN LONDON. 



Under the heading, ' Handling Tea in Lon- 

 don,' the Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, New 

 York, describes the methods followed in the 

 metropolis by those who handle tea from its 

 arrival. The article is accompanied by illustra- 

 tions, including one of the tea auctions, and it 

 concludes with a reference to old and modern 

 tea blending. The writer, Mr A Ibbetson, says: 

 ' During recent years great changes have taken 

 place in the London wholesale tea trade. In the 

 old days the grocer made it his business to 

 understand the teas he dealt in and, conse- 

 quently, when he desired to replenish his 

 stocks he always bought Indians, Ceylons, etc., 

 in original packages, tasting the samples sub- 

 mitted to him carefully in the water of his dis- 

 trict, and after selecting those which suited his 

 purpose he would blend them himself — produc- 

 ing as far as possible a tea which had character 

 and individuality. Times have changed, how- 

 ever, and although some distributors buy origi- 

 nal teas and do their own blending, yet many 

 buy what they require already blended. The 

 majority of the large London iealers have 

 moved with the times and have at their com- 

 mand the latest and most efficient cutting, 

 blending, weighing, and packing machinery. 

 Owing to the large stocks held by the London 

 houses and the up-to-date character of the ma- 

 chinery uced, it is possible to turn out a blend 

 at a very low cost. In fact, by the aid of elec- 

 tricity the tea in the original packages is not 

 touched by hand from the time it is received to 

 when it is either repacked in chests or half- 

 chests or weighed into packets as small as one 

 ounce. The grocer, therefore, has a fine oppor- 

 tunity of retaining his tea trade if he will only 

 study in a reasonable way the requirements of 

 his customers. The quantity now consumed in 

 England is over six pounds per capita. At the 

 present time the family grocer is not selling his 

 share of tea and he, unfortunately, hardly 

 realises what an important asset it may become 



to his business if vigorously pushed The 



tea trade is magnificent and wonderful, and 

 there is ample scope for all those engaged in it, 

 but brains and palate will count for little if 

 only the cheapest teas are wanted. It is up to 

 all, therefore, to do everything possible to ele- 

 vate the trade, and by intelligent effort to edu- 

 cate the public, so that instead of the cheapest 

 the best will be demanded.' 



VEGETABLE BUTTER. 



Butter, as the term (from a Greek word mean- 

 ing " oxcheese "] implies, was originally a name 

 for a product obtained from the milk of the 

 cow, and afterwards, by extension, for a like 

 substance obtained from the milk of other ani- 

 mals, such as the ewe and goat. By a further 

 extension, the name has been applied to certain 

 fixed vegetable oils, the melting point, consis- 

 tency and aspect of which resemble butter of 

 animal origin, such as " butter of cocoa," a 

 concrete oil of a sweet and agreeable taste 

 obtained from the kernels of the fruit of Theo- 

 broma cacao or " chocolate-nut tree ; " butter of 



"Bambnk," an oil obtained from a species of 

 almond in Senegal, and used medicinally ; and 

 " butter of nutmegs " or " butter of maces," 

 a sebaceous substance expressed in the East 

 Indies from the arillus of the fruit of Myris- 

 tica moschata. To the plants yielding such 

 oils has been applied the name of "butter- 

 trees," and to the oils themselves the term 

 " vegetable butter." " The butter-tree " of 

 Nepal is the Baesia butyracea, the seeds of 

 which yield by pressure a semigold oil, which 

 thickens and becomes of the consistency of lard. 

 It is called " phoolma, " " choree," or vegetable 

 butter," and is used for culinary purposes, and 

 by the natives of rankjfor anointing the body. 

 The seed of Bassia latifolia, the " mahava-tree" 

 of Bengal, yields a greenish, white oil which is 

 of the consistency of butter, and which is used 

 as such by the poorer classes. From the flowers 

 of the tree is distilled a spirit resembling whisky 

 which the natives like bi tter and consume 

 in large quantities, Another species of the 

 same genius, B. longifolia, the illupie-tree, 

 affords an oil similar to that obtained from the 

 two preceding trees, and which is used by the 

 Ceylonese for culinary purposes. The "butter- 

 tree ; ' of Africa, the seeds of which produce the 

 " galam butter " or "shea-butter," mentioned 

 by Mungo Park in his travels, is a species of 

 the same genius B. Parkii. The fruit when ripe 

 is the size of a peach, and, after being dried in 

 the sun, is pounded in a mortar until reduced 

 to flour. It is then mixed with water and 

 boiled for a short time, when greasy particles 

 become detached and rise to the surface, 

 whence they are then skimmed. When cold 

 the oil is of the consistency- of butter and will 

 keep fresh for two years.- " Scientific American." 



THE SAPUGABA NUT. 



The tree (Lecythis Zabucajo) producing thy 

 sapucaia nut is a native of Uuiana, Brazil and 

 Venezuela, where it grows to a great size, and 

 bears its seeds in a large, very hard fruit pro- 

 vided with a lid at the top, which, falling away 

 when it is mature, lots the seeds escape. The~e 

 are what are commonly known as the nuts ; they 

 may be obtained often in the fruit shops in 

 England, where they are sometimes sold in 

 preference to the Brazil nuts, which are borne 

 by a plant Bertholletia excels®) belonging to the 

 same Natural Order: as a matter of fact they 

 possses a better flavour — sweet and somewhat 

 resembling that of the almond — and are more 

 easily digested than the Brazi nut. They yield 

 an oil which, like that of the last mentioned 

 nut, is employed in South America as a food oil 

 and for soapmaking ; it shares with this oil the 

 disadvantage that it becomes rancid in a very 

 short time. 



By the courtesy of the Trinidal Department 

 of Agriculture, plants of Lecylhis Zabv.cajo have 

 been'supplied to the Dominica Botanic Garden, 

 and that Department is co-operating further 

 with the Commissioner of Agriculture by 

 sending plants of the same kind to other 

 Botanic Stations in the Lesfer Antilles. 

 — Agricultural News. 



