622 
THE TR0P1DM. Atmtt30LTUm8T. [March i, 1890 
ing it for commercial purposes was constantly im. 
pressed upon planters by the directors of the gardens 
it was not until 1873 that an experimental shipment 
was sent to London from the Pallakelle estate, where 
a few trees had been planted for ornamental purposes. 
The report on this shipment was so satisfactory that a 
considerable area on the estate was soon planted, and 
the decadence of coffee induced others with suitable 
land to follow the example, most of the plants being 
supplied from nurseries raised on the estate mentioned, 
though several varieties of the plant were also intro- 
duced. Though the enterprise has assumed consider- 
able dimensions, it has been somewhat of a disappoint- 
ment. The quality of the beans is excellent, but the 
plant is very subject to insect pests, and the cultivation 
requires a well-distributed rainfall, rich soil, and shelter 
from wind — conditions not often found associated in 
Ceylon. As the trees get older, and draw nourishment 
from deeper sources, there is reason to expect they 
will be less subject to pests, and less dependent upon 
weather, but there is no immediate prospect of the 
export being large, though it might certainly be 
trebled if the natives, among whom many plants have 
been distributed, took to cultivating it. Most of the 
best cocoa land in Ceylon is in the hands of natives in 
sheltered pockets of rich soil, as the Kandyan valleys ; 
and though in time they will probably awake to the 
advantage of cocoa cultivation, they are generally slow 
to embark upon any new enterprise. 
Cocoa, at three years old, begins to yield, and there 
is no prettier sight than a cocoa tree bending under 
its weight of massive bright pods. The cultivation is 
very simple, and the preparation on the estate consists 
in removing the beans from the ripe pod, and drying 
them sufficiently for safe shipment to European mar- 
kets. When the beans reach the factory they are 
ground, roasted, and husked, and they can either 
be procured in the pure form of cocoa nibs, or in one 
of other of the many preparations of cocoa, after some 
of the fat, of which cocoa beans contain 50 per cent., 
has been extracted. This cocoa fat, or butter, which 
has a remarkable power of not becoming rancid, would 
be used for many manufacturing purposes if it were 
procurable, but, meanwhile, it is chiefly taken up in 
the composition of chocolate cream and sweetmeats of 
various kinds. 
Though the consumption of cocoa — as custom requires 
us, though inaccurately, to spell it — is increasing, the 
increase is but slow ; it is by far the most nutritive of all 
non-alcoholic stimulants, and deserves a far higher place 
as an article of food. 
Adtjltebation. 
Medical testimony is almost unanimously in favour of 
the moderate and judicious use of tea, coffee, and coooa, 
and the criminal statistics of the country show how 
great a social and moral reform the substitution of these 
wholesome non-intoxicant stimulants for deleterious 
intoxicants has effected, but much remains to be done, 
for while there are no more pleasant and nourishing 
beverages than good tea, coffee, or cocoa, there are no 
more nauseous compounds than the beverages frequently 
sold and supplied under their names. 
Those whose means permit of the purchase of tea 
in chests straight from the plantations, or of the treat- 
ment at home of raw coffee or cocoa nibs, should have 
no difficulty in securing excellence, but the vast ma- 
jority are compelled to buy these articles ready for use, 
and are thus practically in the hands, and at the 
mercy, of the tradesmen who supply them. Coffee 
has been at all times much adulterated, but since the 
mixture and sale of chicory and dandelion root with 
coffee was legalised in 1882, and under the shield of 
a Government stamp, it became permissible to sell 
any rubbish as a coffee mixture, the steady decline 
in the consumption of coffee showed how detrimental 
that legislation has been to producer, consumers, and 
revenue. Recent analyses of so-called coffee showing 
in many cases a mere trace of coffee, prove the utter 
demoralisation of the trade ; and as the unit of coffee 
may, for purposes of comparison, be taken at Is. 3d., 
and the unit of chicory and the numerous other adul- 
terants at 3d., it is obvious that it is directly against 
the tradesman's iuterost to sell pure coffee. It is not 
because coffee is scarce, or for want of purchasing 
power, because the Dutcbm .n drink, more than 201b 
per head, and taking 3 lb. of coffee as supplying the 
same quantity of beverage as 1 lb. of tea, HollaLd 
consumes more of the allied beverages than the United 
Kingdom. 
The shameless adulteration of coffee with all sorts 
of vegetable and even animal substances is so freely 
carried out-, that even the legitimised and, at all events, 
harmless chicory is in itself much adulterated. What 
should be one of the greatest competitors in the race 
against aicohol has been virtually sc.atched, and a 
generation is growing up which knows not what c ffee 
means. The various preparations of cocoa are com- 
posed largely of arrowroot and other stirchy substances, 
many of tbem containing but a flavouring of cocoa, 
and it is tf is admixture of uncooked starches which 
gives rise to the prejudice that this most valuable 
article of food is difficult of digestion. 
The enormous expenditure incut red in advertising 
leads to the belief that the Customs tables are no 
gauge of the quantity of food consumed under the 
names of coffee and cocoa, and in addition to the 
10,000,000 lb. of imported chicory, it would be interest- 
ing it' it were possible to learn how many pounds of 
British chicory and dandelion root, of starches, roasted 
grain of all sorts, and vegetable refuse generally, the 
British public unconsciously imbibe. 
The free breakfast table is admirable in theory. The 
pure breakfast-table would be ten times more bene- 
flcial, and is far more practicable. Customs vigilance 
has almost stopped the importation of adulterated tea, 
though much comes into consumption which, though 
not condemned as unfit for human food, is entirely 
lacking in the pleasant and stimulating qualities which 
good tea possesses. Inferior teas, "often the mere 
sweepings of Chinese stores are passed into consump- 
tion with a label such as this— 
"PUEE CEYLON TEA" 
Blended with China. 
in which "blended with Ohina " is almost invisible 
much to the detriment of the British tea growers' 
and much to the loss of the consumer who, it his palate 
and his patience will allow him to consume a packet 
observantly, will find at the end that he has been 
drinking an unpleasant and, to him, an unprofitable 
thing at a greater cost per cup than he could have 
got a good article for, because he requires to use so 
much even to impart a decent colour. Another legalised 
trade practice constantly perpetrated is the adoption 
upon packets of a name very closely resembling that 
perhaps of a well-known plantation in Ceylon ; and 
with the object of checking this, the honest dealer or 
the anxious consumer can always find out at the office 
of the Ceylon Association in London whether such 
names are genuine or not. 
The Tea Duty. 
The tea duty is a question so nearly one of party 
politics, that this is not the platform upon which to 
discuss it; but I shall, in a few words, point out the 
present effect of the duty, and how a reduction or 
abolition might act. The duty, sixpence per pound, 
which brings £4,000,000 into the exchequer, falls, of 
course, proportionately, so much more heavily upon 
low than upon high-class tea, that it offers a premium 
to the importer to send in good tea; and while the 
adulteration of coffee or cocoa beans is easy of chtec- 
tion, a dried and rolh d-up leaf is more liable to- 
spurious imitation; besides, tta requires special pro 
Lection against itself, for the leaves which have been 
once used can be rolled up a t :ain, and as has been 
before pointed out, it is only the very young shoots 
which possess the necessary properties to make good 
tea. A vastly increased quantity of tea might be made 
by waiting until the leaves got older, but then they 
would be defective in all the qualities which constitute 
good tea. Reduce this premium and the proportionate 
Customs vigilance, and you reduce the incentive to 
produce good tea. Remove .them, and yon go a step 
