May i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRlCULTUmST, 
743 
TEA FOE AMERICA: 
ANOTHER GRAND SCHEME. 
(By the " Peripatetic Planter." J 
It is too early yet to report progress re the 
"Associated Tea Planters " (American Scheme) ; but 
I am now at liberty to be more precise in reference 
to that rival enterprise which I hinted at in your issue 
of the 25th December last, as being already planted 
upon information already carefully collected by a 
special prospecting tour in the United States ; whilst 
the Syndicate here have been busy attending to pros- 
pectuses in lieu of "prospecting.'' 
Mr. S. 0. Davidson of Sirocco renown, is the enter- 
prising spirit, inspiring, directing, »nd financing this 
rival, and senior venture. For a long time Mr. David- 
son has been employing a special representative in 
collecting all the necessary prelimiuaryinformation, and 
in making - his preparations. These are most detailed 
and complete, as goes without saying when Mr. 
Davidson is the responsible chief. The head Depot 
is in Holland house, No, 1436, Broadway, New York , 
and the complete fittiogs for that Depot have been 
constructed under Mr. Davidson's personal supervision 
— to measurements and plane in Belfast, and these 
fittings are in that Oriental style which makes his 
depots in Belfast, &c, such a special feature of 
that and other towns. These fntings have even been 
erected in Belfast, exactly as they will be in the Depot 
itself, in New York, to make sure of every detail. Mr. 
Arthur, the Manager, is an old planttr, not a New- 
Yorker, either by birth or adoption. He sails tomorrow, 
with every point at his fingers' ends concerning the start 
and the carrying on of the " Sirocco Crusade " over 
m America. The campaign is 'o be conducted as a 
Planter's effort, not a Trade one, and Mr Davidson 
has hopes that he may be able to hold his own even 
among the sharp New Yorkers. As the preparation, 
for this start have been going on for more than a year 
it will be evident that this enterprise takes prece- 
dence in rank of priority, to that of the " Associated 
Planters." It will also be evident that a year spent 
in judicious prospecting and planting is a year's 
start well spent. To most people it will also appear 
that an enterprise, managed by one capable chief, 
unhampered by any distant and only partially infor- 
med Directorate, stands a good chance of distancing 
any hampered rival, even had the start been equally 
well organized. Moreover, Mr. Davidson haH special 
facilities for landing his tea in New York at a rate 
considerably below that of any rival, which facilities 
he has taken infinite trouble to obtain, but I have 
not received his permission to mention what they are. 
Suffice it, that knowing what they are, I can attest, that 
except by purchasing exceptionally cheap lines in Lon- 
don — which Mr. Davidson is equally in a position 
to do — I do not see how a rival can acquire the equi- 
valent of these special advantages, without taking an 
amount of pains and trouble scarcely to be looked 
for from a Directorate. " Sirocco Tea " will be pur- 
chasable in New York (to start with) in any quantity 
from lb. to chests, next month. Thus, it will be seen, 
that once again has Mr. Davidson come forward in 
the interests of Indian tea, which already owes so 
much to him for the success with which he has popu- 
larized it all over the North of Ireland, parts of 
Scotland, and the North of England. It is devoutly 
to be hoped that similar success may attend his new 
departure in America, as a much needed relief to 
the London market. It will be very interestiog indeed, 
to w itch the comparative success and progress of 
the two methods of opening new markets ; the one 
governed by a multitude of councillors, the other by one 
■ chief. May they both live long and prosper, in friendly 
emulation. — Indian Planters 1 Gazette. 
TEA LOOSENS DR. TALMAGE'S TONGJE. 
(From the New York Observer.) 
The bottle rules the sensual world, but the tea- 
cup is queen in all the fair dominions. Once this 
leaf was very rare, and fifty dollars a pound ; and 
when the East India Company made a present to 
the king of two pounds and two ounces, it was 
considered worth a mark in history. But now 
Uncle Sam and his wife every year pour thirty-four 
million pounds of it into their saucers. Twelve 
hundred years ago, a Chinese scholar by the name 
of Lo Yu wrote of tea, '■ It tempers the spirits and 
harmonizes the mind, dispels lassitude and relieves 
fatigue, awakens thought and prevents drowsiness, 
lightens and refreshes the body and clears the per- 
ceptive faculties." Our own observation is that there 
is nothing that so loosens the hinge of the tongue, 
soothes the temper, exhilarate? the diaphragm, kindles 
sociality and makes the future promising. Like one 
of the small gla.-ses in the wall of Barnum's old 
museum, through which you could see mouutaius 
bathed in sunshine, so as you drink from the tea. cup, 
and get on towards the bottom so that it is suffi- 
ciently elevated, you can see anything glorious that 
that you want to. We had a great aunt who 
used to come from town with the pockets of 
her bombazine dress standing way out with nice 
things for the children, but she would come in looking 
as black as a thunder-cloud until she had got through 
with her first, cup of tea, when she would empty her 
right pocket ot sugar-plums, and having finisued her 
second cup would empty the other pocket, and after 
she had taken an extra third cup, because she felt so 
very chilly, it took all the sitting room and the parlor 
and kitchen to contain her exhilaration. Be not sur- 
prised if, after your fneDds are seated at the table, the 
conversation depends very much on the kind of tea 
that the housewife pours for the guests. If it be gen- 
uine Young Hyson, the leaves of which are gathered 
early in the season, the talk will be fresh and spirited, 
and sunshiny. If it be what the Chinese call pearl tea, 
but our merchants bave named gunpowder, the con- 
versation will be explosive, and somebody's reputation 
will be killed before you get through. If it be green 
tea, prepared by large intu-ion of Prussian blue and 
gypsum, or black tea, mixed with pulverized black 
lead, you may expect there will be a poisonous effect in 
the conversation and the moral health damaged. The 
English Parliament found that there had come into 
that country two million pounds of what the mer- 
chants call " he tea," and, as far as I can estimate, 
about the same amount has been imported into the 
United States ; and when the housewife pours into 
the cups of her guests a decoction of this " lie tea," 
the group are sure to fall to talking about their 
neighbours, and misrepresenting everything they touch. 
One meeting of a " sowing society " up in Canada 
where this tea was served resulted in two lawsuits 
for slander, four black eyes that were not originally 
of that color, the expulsion of the minister, and the 
abrupt removal from the top of the sexton's head of 
all capillary adornment. 
The above from Dr. Talmage is characteristic of the 
man. and his method of preaching. If this tendency 
to exaggeration is due to tea we trust the distin- 
guished clergyman will soon substitute therefore cocoa 
shells or milk. According to Dr. Battershall, United 
States chemist, charged with examining teas imported 
into the United States, "lie- tea " is 6eldom met with 
iu this country, and we therefore absolve Dr. Talmage 
from any suspicion that he has been drinking that 
sort. Why couldn 't he have told us what sort he 
used ? for there are countless thousands who would 
gladly buy that kind, an infusion of which "makes 
the future promising." — American Grocer. 
. . 
INSECT PESTS. 
An important initiative experiment towards com- 
bating the various insect pests that from time to 
time cause such devastation to our corps is, we 
believe, occupying the serious attention of the looal 
Agricultural Department. A vast number of laborious 
experiments have been carried out in America under 
the auspices of the " Bureau of Economic Entomo- 
logy " of the Department of Agriculrure iu that State, 
with the result that certain preparations have been 
perfected, and methods and appliances for applying 
them with success invented. But what concerns this 
country more immediately is that the insect pests 
