322 



[October, 1908. 



EDIBLE PRODUCTS. 



TEAS FROM NATAL. 



In an article on " The Tea Production 

 of the British Empire " in this Bulletin 

 (1904-2-206), reference was made to the 

 tea industry of Natal and a table was 

 given showing the areas of land under 

 cultivation and the quantities of tea 

 produced during the years 1880-1902. 



The introduction of tea into Natal 

 took place in 1877, when seed was for- 

 warded from Calcutta and was planted 

 as soon as it arrived. The varieties in- 

 troduced were "Assam Indigenous" 

 from the Rookang Estate, and " Assam 

 Hybrid " from the Longeeburr Estate. 

 The former has been found to be the 

 more suitable, as it produces more leaf 

 and yields a manufactured tea of 

 superior quality. After various dis- 

 appointments and discouragements, 

 owing to losses caused by drought and 

 the attack of insect pests, no serious 

 attempt was made to extend the culti- 

 vation until 1881. Since this time the 

 area under cultivation has gradually in- 

 creased until it now amounts to about 

 4,000 acres and yields annually 2,000,000 

 lb. of the manufactured article. 



The samples of Natal tea which are 

 the subject of this report were taken 

 from specimens exhibited in the Natal 

 Court of the Imperial Institute and from 

 supplies forwarded to the recent South 

 African Products Exhibition in London, 

 The latter specimens were transferred 

 to the Imperial Institute at the close of 

 the Exhibition, and are now shown with 

 other samples in the Natal Court, 



At the request of the Natal Govern- 

 ment a chemical examination of repre- 

 sentative samples has been carried out 

 in order that a comparison of Natal teas 

 with Indian and China teas could be 

 made. 



The results of the examination are 

 shown in the following table, which in- 

 cludes for comparison the corresponding 

 figures obtained at the Imperial Institute 



for Indian and Cuina 

 Ceylon green teas :— 



teas and also for 



Percentages calculated e 

 material dried at 100° C. 



Estate. 



Description. 



Xatal Teas — 

 Kearsney Grade 1' 



Barnsdale 

 Clifton 



Grade 2* 

 Grade 3* 

 Grade 4* 

 Flowery Pekoe 

 Broken Pekoe 

 Pekoe 

 Pekoe 



91 5-8 261 

 7-6 5-6 28'8 

 7-i 5-2 27-4 



Barnsdale Golden Pekoe 

 ,, Flowery Pekoe 



Aroma Pekoe Souchong 

 ,, Fine Natal „ 



Burrow 

 Green Souchong 

 Average 



Judical Teas [13 samples) 

 Maximum 

 Minimum 

 Average 



China Teas (8) samples— 

 Maximum 

 Minimnm 

 Average 



Ceylon Green Tea- 

 No. 1 

 No. 2 

 Average 



3'9 



3- 6 

 81 



87 5'9 25-0 3-4 



7.6 51 not determined 

 6'9 5'8 not determined 

 5-9(3 5'8 26'2 4'8 

 6.2 4-8 31-4 not deter- 

 mined. 

 44 



4- 2 

 4-0 

 4-1 



5'5 5-5 2V0 

 61 6-3 27-0 



7 - l 5-5 24-3 



8- 5-0 20-9 



7-7 5-2. 33-0 



7 1 5-4 271 



7-8 6'9 35-2 



6 - 4 5-4 27-4 

 7'1 6-0 317 



9- 2 8-2 27'2 



7- 1 6-0 19-0 



8- 2 6-8 24-3 



67 2-6 24-5 



6-2 5 35-0 



6'5 38 297 



4-4 

 4-0 



4-1 



3-6 

 3-8 



37 



2- 6 



3- 



2'9 



7'8 

 6-3 

 67 



6- 8 



7- 

 7-3 



10- 5 

 13 



11- 5 

 11-6 

 10-4 

 107 



10-8 



111 



6-9 

 9-2 



9-3 

 33 

 5-2 



14- 5 

 16"6 



15- 6 



Conclusions. 



A consideration of the foregoing analy- 

 tical figures shows that these Natal teas 

 may be divided into two groups, which 

 differ considerably in composition : (1) 

 those from the Kearsney Estate, and (2) 

 those from all other sources. 



The specimens from the Kearsney 

 Estate, grades 1 to 4, were all good black 

 looking teas, concaining from 3'1 to 3*9 

 per cent, of caffeine and from f)"3 to 7*8 

 per cent, of tannin. The other two speci- 

 mens of " Flowery Pekoe " and " Broken 

 Pekoe " from the same source also con- 

 tained a low percentage of tannin, viz., 

 7'0 to 7*3 per cent. These figures must 

 be regarded as very satisfactory, since 

 the average percentage of caffeine (3 '5) 

 is only a little below the amount present 

 in the Indian teas examined, and on the 



:;: These four samples were taken from speci- 

 mens in the Natal Court of the Imperial Insti- 

 tute ; the remainder were from the South 

 African Products Exhibition. 



f "Extractive matter" or " extract : ' is the 

 percentage dissolved by treating agiven quantity 

 of the tea with one hundered times its weight 

 of boiling water, and allowing it to infuse for 

 ten minutes. 



t Determined by 

 Loventhal's process. 



Procter's modification of 



