June i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
going on in the human system, reduce the amount 
of solid food necessary, diminish too the wear and tear 
of the body and consequent lassitude of the mind, and 
maintain the vigor of both upon a smaller amount of 
food. Tea does this more pleasantly, perhaps than any 
of the others; but it does more than they do for old 
people in supplementing the impaired powers of diges- 
tion, and helping tliem to maintain their flesh, and up- 
hold the system in health longer than they otherwise 
would. It is no wonder, therefore, that tea has be- 
come one of the necessaries of life ; and the sexagenarian 
invalid, too poor to buy a bit of meat for her meal, 
takes her pot of tea with what she has, and knows 
that she feels lighter, happier, and better fitted for 
her toil, and enjoys life more than if she had no tea. 
Unconsciously she echoes what the Chinese said 
centuries ago, " Drink it and the animal spirits will 
be lively and clear." 
The third substauce (which is contained in tea more 
than in the other beverages mentioned) forms also an 
important ingredient in betel-nut and gambier, so 
extensively chewed in Southern Asia, viz., tannin or 
tannic acid. This gives the astringent taste to tea-leaves 
on their infusion, and is found to amount to seventeen 
per cent, in well-dried black tea, and much more than 
that in green tea, especially the Japan leaf. The effects 
of ":annin are not clearly ascertained as apart; from the 
oil and the theine, but Johnston considers them as 
conducing to the exhilarating, satisfying, and narcotic 
action of the beverage. 
A remaining ingredient worthy of notice in tea, in 
common with other foods is gluten. This forms one- 
fourth of the weight of the leaves, but in order to 
derive the greatest good from it which proper methods 
of cooking might bring out, we must contrive a mode 
of eating the leaves. The nutritious property of the 
gluten accounts for the general use of brick tea through- 
out the Asiatic plateau. Hue says he drank the dish 
in default of something better, for he was unaccustomed 
to it, but his cameleers would often take twenty to 
forty cups a day. If the sanitary effects of tea upon 
the system are so great and wholesome, its influence 
since its general introduction among occidentals cannot 
be overlooked. The domestic, quiet life and habits of 
the Chinese owe much of their strength to their con- 
stant use of this beverage, for the weak infusion which 
they sip allows them to spend all the time they 
choose at the tea-table. If they were in the habit of 
sipping even their weak whiskey in the same way, 
misery, poverty, quarrels, and sickness would take the 
place of thrift, quiet, and industry. The general tem- 
perance seen among them is owmg to the tea much 
more than any other cause. It has, moreover, won its 
way with us, till in the present generation the 
associations 1 hat cluster around the tea-table form an 
integral part of the social life among English-speaking 
peoples. One of the most likely means to restrict the 
use of spirits among them is to substitute the use of 
warm beverages of all kinds by those whose system 
has not become vitiated. Tea is one of the greatest 
benefits to the Chinese, Japanese, and Mongols, and 
its universal use for at least fifteen centuries throughout 
their territories has proven its satisfaction as a nervine, 
a stimulant, and a beverage. If one passing through 
the streets of Peking, Canton, or Ohosaka, and see- 
ing the good-natured hilarity of the groups of laborers 
and loiterers around the clta-kwaa and the cha-ya of 
those cities, doubts the value of tea as a harmonizer 
and satisfier of human wants and passions, it must be 
taken as a proof of his own unsatisfied cravings. 
It is a necessary of life to all classes of natives, 
and that its ubo is not injurious is abundantly evi- 
dent from its general acceptance and increasing 
adoption : the prejudice against the beverage out of 
China may be attributed chiefly to the use of strong 
green tea, which is no doabt prejudicial. If those 
who have given it up on this account will adopt a 
weaker infusion of black tea, general experience is 
proof that it will do them no harm, and they may 
be sure that they will not be so likely to be deceived 
by a colored article. Neither the Chinese nor Japanese 
use milk or sugar in their tea, and the peculiar taste 
nd aroma is much better perceived without thotie 
additions. Tea, when clear, cannot be drunk so 
strong without tasting an unpleasant bitte:ness, 
which these diluents partly hide. 
[p. 373 Vol. II] The history of the culture and 
trade in tea by Samuel Ball of Canton in 1835, 
may yet be considered as an authority upon the 
subject. The growth in the use of tea is instructive 
too, rising from an importation of about eighty 
pounds into England in 1670, tiil it had so well 
vindicated its virtues and enlarged its use among 
that people, that in 1880 one hundred and eighty 
million lb. were required -to supply them: and more 
than that was exported elsewhere from China. 
Export of Tea from China during ten years. 
(Vol II. p. 404.] 
Year. Black. Green. Leaf. Dust. Brick. Total 
1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 
1830 
1881 
Peculs 
1,420,170 
1,274,232 
1,444,249 
1,438,611 
1,415,349 
1,552,174 
1,517,617 
1,523,419 
1,661 325 
1,636,724 
Peculs Peculs 
256,464 
235,413 
212,834 
210,282| 
189,714 
197.522 
172,826 
183,234 
188,623 
238,064 
85 
372 
Peculs 
950 
416 
3,504 
2,594 
3,799 
12,158 
14,236 
5,270 
14,201 
15,186 
Peculs 
93,994 
107,330 
74,792 
166,900 
153,951 
147,810 
194,277 
275,540 
232,969 
247,498 
Peculs 
1,774,663 
1,617,763 
1,735,379 
1,818,387 
1.762,8S7 
1,909,700 
1,898,956 
1,987,463 
2,097,118 
2,137,472 
(The Pecul weighs 133£ lb.) 
[The import of tea from China into Britain alone, 
culminated in 1886, with 104,229 313 lb. In 1887 the 
quantity went down to 90,581,753 lb. in consequence of 
inferiority in the China article and the rapid advance in 
public favour of Indian and Ceylon tea of which 
the imports, in 1887 were : Indian 83,112,272 lb ; 
Ceylon 9,941,8601b.; total 93,054,132 lb— Ed. T. A.~\ 
A Tea Exhibition in Japan. — Says the Japan 
Weekly Mail of March 16th : — Arrangements are 
being made to open an exhibition of tea at Kobe 
during nest month. 
The Ameeican Tea Company, is the sub- 
ject of reference in two very pointed letters in 
our columns today, and we see that Mr. Pineo is 
to canvas U~va on the Company's behalf. We 
have no doubt that a canvass of this kind will 
be specially successful. 
Mica. — Messrs. Kichard Baker & Co. the well- 
known brokers, of Mincing Lane, have recently 
drawn up a report on some samples of mica sub- 
mitted to them. We give some extracts from this 
report, as it ought to be of considerable interest 
to our colonial readers, considering the discovery 
in mica recently made. Messrs. Richard Baker & 
Co. report that the sample submitted is the best 
and largest they have ever seen of Australian mica, 
and it certainly denotes a valuable deposit of sound, 
clear, and large slabs of merchantable mica. The 
sample brought in is from the surface, the clay 
and cracks about it proving this, but as one digs 
deeper better quality will be obtained. Regarding 
the shipment of mica from Australia, it is advised 
that small shipments should be sent at first of as 
good mica as can be obtained, the slabs to be as 
large, clear, and sound as possible, and to be well 
trimed of waste and cracky mica. The kind of mica 
most desired are slabs so large that 3 inches by 4 
inches, minimum sizes can be cut, and prices depend 
entirely on how much can be got out of a slab, and 
its size and quality, and freedom from cracks. The 
price ranges from 4s to 7s per lb. and upwards for 
cut mica, perfect quality and sizes, from 3 by 4 
to 8 by 10 inches. It is no use shipping slabs that 
would cut less, perfectly sound, than 3 by 4 inches, 
— Colonies <& India, 
