AUGUST i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
93 
cupa, dagger and sword hilts, the saddles and even 
the harness and trappings, of oriental magnates. Very 
few people in Europe have an idea of the enormous 
quantities of inferior and even good rubies that are 
in demand for these purposes." 
" The company's gain must be a proportionate loss 
to the unfortunate Burmese. What about the 'native 
rights' that figured so frequently in the despatches?" 
" There were no 'native rights.' Anyone acquainted 
with Burmese affairs, and above all the official, must 
have known that ull property in that kingdom vested 
in the Crown absolutely and entirely. It has devolved 
from Theebaw to Her Most Gracious Majesty, whom, 
as one of her most loyal subjects, I venture to con- 
gratulate upon her acquisition ; and so I must bid you 
good day." — Mining World and Engineering Record. 
VEGETARIANS ON COFFEE. 
For some time past an animated discussion has 
been carried on in the columns of the Vegetarian 
(London, Eng.,) in relation to coffee, tea and cocoa, the 
use of all three being condemned by many advocates of 
a strictly vegetarian diet. Many of the views expressed 
are as novel as they seen ludicrous. For instance, one 
advocates boiling the raw beans into a thin soup, advo- 
cating the plan as follows : — 
" The coffee-bean and the cocoa-nib are berries, closely 
analogous to other beans, and should therefore promise 
to come within the category of wholesome food. But 
then it must be remembered that coffee-beans, before 
they are used, are invariably roasted, which produces 
a specific change in their chemical constitution. Just 
as when almonds are burnt, and in the process are con- 
verted from a sweet, wholesome food into poisonous 
material, strongly saturated with prussic acid ; so cof- 
fee-berries, when they are roasted, undergo a change 
which is very much for the worse.. Were the coffee- 
berries to be simply boiled into a thin soup, as other 
beans are, there would probably be but little danger 
in their use, though in this direction my remarks 
must be speculative rather than dogmatic. 
''I have made some experiments in using the raw cof- 
fee beans, butwithout much.success at present. As pro- 
cured at the grocer's they are singularly tough and 
tasteless, and require a great deal of mastication before 
swallowing. Here, however, we are of course con- 
fronted by the same difficulty as exists in the case of 
olives and some other seeds — that it is practically im- 
possible to secure them in England in their natural, 
fresh, ripe state. Dried peas are very poor substitute 
for green peas fresh from the pod, and I doubt not 
that fresh coffee-beans contain possibilities of palata- 
tive pleasure, of which we know next to nothing at 
all. Experiments with cocoa-mbs are much more 
likely to prove successful ; though somewhat bitter, 
they are not at all unpleasant, and many a legend of 
Indian warfare goes to prove that raw cocoa nibs are 
highly appreciated for their stuying powers by less 
civilized, and consequently less critical, gourmets. 
"Possibly the issues now contested may resolve them- 
selves into a question of chemioal constitution, and 
that new coffee may be rich with potential blessing for 
generations yet unborn, as ro.isted coffee has been 
heavy with curses for generations yet unburied." 
Another regards coffee valueless as to its nutritious 
constituents and a poisonous article for use, and ad- 
vooates aB a substitute for coffee, as a curative article, 
'' the aoorn to be well dried, peeled, cut into small 
dice half the size of coffee seeds, then roasted, pounded 
or ground, and infused in the same manner as is 
coffee." 
While a lew argue thus, countless millions at- 
test the truth of Lord Bacon's assertion, thai cof- 
fee " comforteth the heart and aideth digestion."— 
American Grocer. 
+ 
Natal Coal.— We (Herald) hear that the 10ft. 
seam exposed on the Horn River by Professor 
North on the farm Baliengeigh has been struck 
in the shaft at the high level, ami a large out- 
put may be looked for so soon as the railway 
lino is completed.— Natal Mercury, May 15th. 
The Demand for coolie labour in Fiji appears 
to be on the increase. There are already many 
thousands of ooolies in the islands, and a vessel 
has just arrived at Suva with another bateh of 
600 for the plantations. Tired of the unreasonable 
restrictions enforced upon them by the Government 
ordinances, the planters now appear to have made 
up their minds to depend upon coolie labour 
alone. To give them their due, the Indians have 
given great satisfaction in Fiji since their employ- 
ment has been adopted, and it might not be a 
bad idea for the Queenslanders to follow the ex- 
ample of the Fijian planters, and have done with all 
the official humbug which surrounds the employ- 
ment of the Kanaka. — Colonies and India. 
Tea Culture and Preparation Morningside 
Eakwana, 14th June 1889. — 1. Mr. Armstrong is res- 
ponsible for the statement " A strong healthy flush, 
resulting in heavy pluckings, will give the best 
tea," — given before the Maskeliya Planters' Asso- 
ciation in August 1885. This is not my experience. 
I have generally found that the best tea, both as 
regards strength and flavour, is made during the 
four to five months previous to pruning. I am 
of opinion that the flavour and strength of tea 
commences to deteriorate, if pruning is delayed 
longer than eighteen months on the hills — by the 
hills I mean over 3,500 feet elevation — and from 
twelve to fifteen months in the lowcountry. — 2. I 
have had little experience in the manuring of tea; 
but from the little I have had my impression 
is that from manuring — with cattle manure I am 
only alluding to — the strength of the liquor is im- 
proved, but I am very sceptical if the flavour 
being improved. Manuring with cattle manure 
forces the trees to give out strong healthy shoots, 
which, with ordinary care in the plucking and 
manufacturing, gives improved strength in the cup. 
— 3. I do not believe in fine plucking, but in me- 
dium plucking, viz. : the bud or tip, two next leaves 
and half the third leaf not counting the tip. If 
these were plucked from every nine to ten days, 
they should result in good commercial teas. I am 
very strongly of opinion that the making of good 
tea begins in the fi>ld. If the leaf comes into the 
factory broken and heated from the pluckers press- 
ing the leaf into the baskets, good tea is, I think, 
an impossibility. Such lpaf gives an uneven wither, 
and without a good even natural wither, good tea 
cannot be expected. The flavour, 1 think, greatly 
deteriorates if the green leaf is left over the second 
day in the factory or elsewhere without rolling off, 
and I also think that from ten to fifteen minutes 
in the sun to start the wither, and left to cool before 
putting into the roller, does not hurt the flavour to 
any depreciable degree. In plucking " strong healthy 
flushes." the leaf should be weighed at least 
three times a day, and the good pluckers should be 
allowed if necessary to weigh their leaf as often 
as they wish, so as to prevent the heating and 
pressing down in the small plucking baskets. At 
the three different elevations, viz.: 300ft., 1,800ft., 
and 4,000 ft,, I have now been tea planting, I have 
always found that if the leaf is brought into the 
faotory, as it shouM be brought into the factory, 
without the leaf being broken or heated or too 
muoh handled, good tea with strength and flavour will 
always follow. Every estate ha^ more or less flavour, 
but only the estates of high elevation have and can 
have that delicate and delicious flavour the brokers 
prize so muoh. I am oertainly not of opinion that 
the moon when at its full gives flavour to the tea, 
as one of your correspondents thinks, but I do 
think that the flush grows much quicker when 
there is a moon, and consequently is sooner ready 
to be pluoked. — H. R. D. 
