740 
THE TRQPfOAL AQffltStJLTU R1 ST. 
[May i, 1890. 
in value between his " sale " sample and his shipment 
but takes the form of a heavy penalty inflicted for 
his failure to ship the rice which he found it im- 
possible to procure. 
By these unwise severities the development of the 
trade has been checked ; some shippers have ceased to 
deal in white Bengal rice, and others have preferred 
the risk of selling " after arrival " at home to that 
of selling " according to sample." It may be a slight 
consolation to Indian shippers to know that hardly as 
they have been used, their neighbours in Japan have 
been suffering even more severely from a similar 
cause. Japan shipped fully three times as much rice to 
Europe during 1889 as was exported from Bengal to 
the same destination. The greater part of these ship- 
ments appear to have gone to the European Conti- 
nent, where, it is said, " as much as two shillings per 
oent. (equal to 25 per cent, of the shipping value) were 
awarded for inferior quality." It is not surprising to 
learn that "these decisions have been the subject of 
much criticism emong the shippers, and they have 
decided, almott as a body, not to enter upon further 
engagements ualesB on the basis of Lond >n arbitra- 
toin." We fear that our friends in Japan will find 
that in referring these disputes to London for settle- 
ment, they have not greatly bettered their position 
though it may be that they have chosen the less of 
two evils. It will have been seen from the foregoing 
remarks that the rice trade of Bengal is in an un- 
satisfactory state, and that if its development is to 
be encouraged transactions must take place on a more 
equitable basis. The Secretary of State has of late 
given muoh attention to the improvement of the 
quality of Indian wheat, with a view to the extension 
of the trade in this article. We have little faith in 
the reforms which, mainly by his influence, the corn 
trade associations at home have been induced to adopt, 
but the offioials of the India Office might, with ad- 
vantage to all concerned, read homilies on equity and 
moderation at a " conference " of London rice brokers. 
— Englishman. 
TROUT ON THE NILGIRIS. 
Some of our readers may be interested to learn, that 
the last lot of trout ova imported from England, and 
which arrived in Madras last December, under the 
care of Mr. W. L. Edmiston, has proved a success. 
Guided by previous experience, the hatching arrange- 
ments, which were carried out on the Dodabetta 
Estate, under the supervision of Dr. Ross, were all 
that oonld be desired, and resulted in 2,094 healthy 
trout fry which have been distributed in the follow- 
ing streams and reservoirs : — Pykara river 988, Eme- 
rald Valley river 340, Ooty Lake 180, Marlimund reser- 
voir 90, Dodabetta reservoir 80, and Dodabetta estate 
breeding pond 416. Both the Pykara and Emerald 
Valley rivers are as promising trout streams as can be 
desired, and appear to have all the requisite conditions 
of food supply and good water. It may therefore be 
conolnded that trout have at last, and after several 
failures, been successfully introduced to the Nilgiris, 
and if they increase and multiply, as it is hoped they 
will, the much-abused Game Association will not have 
lived in vain. In addition to these fry, which were 
procured at the expense of the Association, Mr. Wap- 
share has put 10,000 ova direct into the upper waters 
of the Pykara River, which he imported at his own 
expense. It is confidently hoped that a good per- 
centage of these will have hatched, and will mate- 
rially assist in the stocking of the river. — M. Mail, 
March 11th. 
♦ 
NOTES AND PRODUCE. 
Tea — Caffeine — Cinnamon. 
The Lane is on tlie tip'-toe of expectation iu regard to 
the tea duty, and various doubts and anticipations are 
expressed to what is to happen. The question asked 
i : In the event 'i' reduction or abolition, will the alter- 
ation take instant effoci, or will it be prospective? 
In view of anticipations about the tea duty and its 
possible abolition, the following particulars given in a 
Wincing Lane ciroular, showing the effect of a high 
or low duty upon consumption, will be interesting : — 
" In 1852, the last year when the duty was 2s2|d per 
lb., the quantity of all kinds of tea entered for home 
consumption in the United Kingdom was 55,000,0001b. 
In 1854, the duty being reduoed to Is 6d, it was 
61,000,0001b. In 1856, when the duty should have 
been Is according to law, but still remained at l9 9d, 
to which it had been raised by Mr. Gladstone 
in the previous year, instead of Is 3d, the total 
quantity entered was only 63,000,0001b. In 1857 it 
rose to 69,000.0001b, the duty being Is 5d. In 1863 the 
duty was reduced to Is, and the quautity entered for 
consumption rose to 85,000,000 lb., the average price 
of sound common congou being then Is Of .1 per lb. in 
bond. In 1865, when the duty was reduced to 6d, the 
average price of sound common congou in bond 
being lid, the consumption rose to 100,000,000 lb. 
Ten years afterwards (1875), the average price being 
still lid and the duty 6d, the quantity increased to 
145,000,0001b. In 1885 the average prioe of sound 
common congou had fallen to 6|d, the duty being still 
6d, and the quantity entered for home use reached 
1F2.000.000 lb. Last year the quantity entered was 
185,622,0001b., the duty being still 6d, and the average 
price of sound common congou in bond only 4jd. It 
will be seen that when the duty was reduced to 6d 
per lb., twenty-five years ago, the tax represented a 
little over 50 per cent of the bonded price of common 
congou, but now it is the equivalent of 150 per cent !" 
What is Caffeine ? asks the Qrocer. Although coffee 
and tea are usually regarded as containing nothing 
in common beyond their power to furnish agree- 
able beverages, it is a remarkable fact that the 
active principle in each is identical. This has been 
proved "up to the hilt " by many chemists, who, re- 
coguising the economio importance of these conimo- 
(iities, have carefully investigated their properties. 
Caffeine, or methyl-theobromine, as it is more correctly 
termed, is the bitter ingredient of coffee, and was isol- 
ated in a pure condition as long ago as 1821. It is 
curions to notice that no lees thau four different chemists 
— Caventon, Pelletier, Runge, and Robiquet — succeed in 
preparing this substance almost simultaneously, although 
they were working quite independently. Caffeine 
occurs not only iu the berres of the coffee plant, but 
also in the leaves. 
In 1828 Berzelius discovered that tea contained a cer- 
tain bitter principle other than tannin, and to this he 
gave the name of tbeine (Frenoh, the = tea.), and 
although at the time he rather suspected that this 
substance was identical with caffeine, this was not 
proved until later bv Johst and Mulder. Tea contains 
from 2 to 4 per cent of caffeine. Professor Johnston, 
remarking upon the greater proportion of caffeine in 
tea than in coffee, says " that as we generally use a 
greater weight of coffee than we do of tea in preparing 
our beverages, a cup of coff. e of ordinary strength will 
pvobably contain as much theine (i.e., caffeine) asacup 
of tea. 
Green tea contains more caffeine than ordinary black 
tea, and Pereira in his " Materia MeJica" specially 
speaks of it as " diminishing the tendency to sleep." 
Professor Johnston says that tea " excites the brain 
to activity and produces wakefulness." It is evident, 
then, that the physiological action of caffeine (the im- 
portant constituent both of tea and coffee) is to diminish 
the waste of tissue, and as a matter of course, there- 
fore, to diminish the necessity for food to repair 
that waste. It is also evident that the best tea or coffee 
must contain the highest percentage of caffeine, for it 
is to this constituent that they owe the properties 
which have given them their important position in the 
social habits and trade of this eoui.try- 
Tae imports of Ceylon cinnamon into London 
this year to da f e have been nearly double those in 
1889, and the deliveries having fallow off i-omewhat; 
the quantity remaining on hand on the 22nd inst. was 
about 1,600 packages larger than that in the tormer 
year. At the first series of quarterly sales for 1890, 
held last weak, 2,490 bales Ceylon, besides ten parcels 
and'twent} -eight boxes, were offered. Instead of any- 
