September 2, 1889.] THF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
171 
and 90 per cent " He tea." It is sometimes sold 
as "imperial" or "gunpowder" tea, and is stated 
to be extensively consumed in Franoe and Spain. 
No 4 is " scented caper tea " consisting of tea- 
dust 'made up into little shot-like pellets by means 
of "congee paste" (i.e. boiled rice), and said to 
be "chiefly used in the English coal mining districts. ' 
The tannin and theine in the samples of pure 
Indian tea quoted above are considerably higher than 
the same constituents in six samples of Boseneath 
tea which I have just analysed. I estimated only 
the' tannin and theine in the extract, which was 
obtained by boiling the tea (without any previous 
bruising or powdering) for an hour in a measured 
quantity of water, taking no account of what 
might be left in the insoluble leaf. I believe in 
the analyses by the American chemists also, only 
the tannin and theine in the extract are taken 
into account ; but Dr. Battershall does not make 
this point quiti clear. I am of opinion that there 
are Indian teas, in which the percentage of tannin 
and theine falls very much lower than the lowest 
of the Indian teas quoted by Dr. Battershall. 
Along with the analyses of the six samples of 
Boseneath tea, I give results obtained from a sample 
of Neil^herry tea which I analysed at the same time 
£ 1-3 H .> w 
5'S.oi 
w 2.2.2.0 
° «■ .ES 
S Bp d 
in H 
u ci c 
g am: : 
C " 3)5 
1: ^ m ij. 1 
PJ J. >f- O £ 
No. 1— Pekoe Souchong 
Medium Plucking 
No. 2 -Pekoe Souchong 
Pine Plucking 
No. 3— Pekoe, Medium 
-*--io-io.d;^5oS^ Plucking 
PlOO^OJOfflWCOCOOl 
£„„ _ No. 4— Pekoe, Fine Pluck 
^ -x> 1— bo cc to co m .criw mg 
'■ o o Ol 00 CO do 01 
u,co No. 5— Broken Pekoe Me 
-osi^co^ diumP\ucking 
Nooywi o od oi co o o 
frSSSSS^nl^^S No. 6-Broken Pekoe Pine 
Plucking 
„ Co cn 
<] <o 00 to 1 w»- 10 
l 2f 00 do to ~ -h Co to — . 
wco No. 
t£ CD 
7— Tea from the Neil- 
gherries 
Mr. Jas. A. Henderson, of Messrs. Whittall & Co., 
whose lull repoit I herewith send, kindly furnished 
me with the commercial values of the samples : — 
Tea Department. — Whittall & Co. 
No. 917. 
Colombo, 18th July 1889. 
M. Cochran, Esq. 
Dear Sir, — We append characters and valuations 
of samples submitted for report. 
Mark 
Quantity and 
Desciiptiou. 
Character, 
Present 
London 
value. 
No. 1 Samples P. Sou. 
No. '2 
7*d for 
leaf. 
Blackish greyish even ' 
well twisted leaf good 
strength J 
Blackish greyish rather 
even leaf so^ e ends, 
Liquor good' ' strength ]■ i)id ahout 
brisk, a little pungent 
No. 3 
No. 4 
No. 5 
No. « 
No. 7 
(Blackish little greyish "\ 
p e k | rather even well twisted I lOJd for 
*j leaf some ends, Liquor ( leaf. 
I good strengt h J 
; Blackish little brownish \ 
well twisted tippy leaf. I Is ljd to 
Liquor good body and [ 2d about 
flavour I 
I Blackish little greyish \ 
Bro. Pek. evei ' we ' 1 twis t te< ]. leaf ] t d 
good show of tippy, j about 
I Liquor good streugth ' 
/ Blac,<ish, little brownish \ 
even well twiste 1 hand- 1 . , . , 
J some tippy leaf, Liquor I ^ '9. 8a 
fair strength good qua- aDouli 
Uity and flavour ) 
Tea from the Neilgherries — Sample I , 
gon.- off. Judged by leaf ( 7 * a about 
NOTE. — It is impossible to be very accurate in the valu- 
ations of these samples, as they have gone off. 
Jas. A. Henderson. 
I was not surpiised to bear that the Neilgherry 
sample ha l "gone off," as it had been several 
months in Ceylon. I got it from a friend, and do 
not know under what circumstances it was ob- 
tained ; but it shows that the particular flavour 
and aroma, by which the tea taster judges of the 
value of teas, must be rather fugitive qualities ; 
when even the Ceylon samples had "gone off" 
between the 8th May and 18th July. The samples 
were put into stoppered bottles immediately on 
receipt, and were only opened a few times, chiefly 
for the purpose of removing portions for analysis. 
If the values were to be estimated acoording to 
their respective amounts of extract, soluble ash, 
tannin and theine added together, the three quali- 
ties of medium plucking would be in the pro- 
portions 53-06, 57 92, and 58-2; and the three 
qualities of fine piucknig, in the proportions 
59 45, 59-82, and 60-92. The average figures then 
would be, for medium plucking, 56-39 ; for fine 
plucking, 60-06 ; or, if we take the figures for 
the extract only, which really includes the tannin, 
theine and the soluble ash, the averages would 
be for medium plucking, 4,*57;for fine plucking, 
42-5. It would appear, therefore, that while there 
is a substantial difference in the commercial 
value in favour of fine plucking, there is a very 
trifling difference in the chemical composition of the 
two qualities. 
The analyses of these Ceylon samples shows, in a 
marked degree, the cleanliness in the preparation 
of our commercial teas. The amount of ash in- 
soluble in acid, which means sand, only averaged 
•09 per cent, or half that of the Indian samples. 
These latter again have less than a third of the 
amount of sand or insoluble ash in the Formosa, 
Congou, Young Hyson, Gunpowder and Japan teas. 
It is to be regretted that, as yet, there is no 
very reliable process for estimating the volatile oil 
in tea ; as this might furnish valuable data for 
valuation ; but those determinations which have 
been published only show a range of from -6 to "87 
per cent. 
In conclusion, I should mention, that the Ceylon 
teas analysed were grown upon old coffee soil at 
medium elevation. 
Teas grown upon new clearings might be expected 
to show higher percentages of theine, as this alkaloid 
contains a large proportion of nitrogen. 
M. COCHRAN. 
Mr. Marshall Ward, f. r. s., Professor of Botany 
at Cooper's Hill, has written a volume on the 
' Diseases in Timber' for Messrs. Macmillan's 
" Nature Series." — London Athenccum, July 17th. 
Linnean Society, June 20th. — Mr. Carruthers, 
¥ r s., President, in the chair. — Dr. H. Trimen 
exhibited specimens and drawings of the tuberoulated 
lime of Ceylon, and made some interesting remarks 
thereon.— Nature, July ll.h. 
