Junk i, i88j.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
6 1 
additional growth, the following moderate value at the 
present time is arrived at, viz. : — 
47 Acres of 2\ year old Tea, at ... £50 = £2.350 
123 do H do do 30 „ 3,690 
12 do Cardamoms 20 ,, 240 
5,400 Cinchona Trees over 1 year old 4s „ 1,080 
6,000 do do recently planted Is „ 300 
•333,876 Tea Plants in Nursery, at 
10s. per mile ,, 166 
952 acres of Forest Land, at £5 per acre £5 ,, 4,760 
4,207 do Chona Land, at £2 per acre £2 ,, 2,414 
2,335 acres, of the aggregate value Of ... ,, £15,000 
(The valuations of tea and cinchona seem to us high: 
above the rates recommended in our Handbook. 
Tne appendix to the prospectus consists of extracts, 
jhiefly from the Observer, on the subject of tea, cin- 
chona, cardamoms and vanilla in Ceylon.— Ed.] 
CULTIVATION OP THE FIG IN TURKEY. 
The United States' Consul at Smyrna states that the 
Aidin district is the only one which produces rigs 
for exportation. The fruit will grow anywhere in the 
neighbourhood of Smyrna, of a good qaulity for con- 
sumption, in a green state; but the 4idin plain is 
unique in its climate and soil as being favourable for 
the proper curing of the fig. The thermometer seldom 
falls below throe or four degree under freezing point, 
and in the summer seldom rises above 130 degrees 
Fahrenheit in the sun. In Aidin, the winters are 
generally wet, the dry weather commencing in May 
and continuing till the end of October. Any rain at 
the end of July, or during the month of August and 
September, when the fruit is under the process of 
drying.iujures the quality by causing it to burst, hardens 
the skin, gives the fig a dark colour, and spoils its 
keeping quality. Heavy dews will cause the same 
evils. 
The fig tree will grow in almost any soil; a rich 
heavy soil is, however, preferable ; but to produce figs 
that will dry well and please the merchant, the soil 
ought to be of a good depth, and of a rich, light, sandy 
nature ; this, if the weather be favourable, will produce 
large ligs, of a white thin skin, and of the finest 
quality. Before planting, the ground is well ploughed 
two or three times, to a good depth, well fertilised, and 
freed from all weeds and extraneous roots. The fig is 
propagated from slips, selected with as many fruity 
buds as possible. To form a tree, two slips are planted, 
one foot apart, and then joined at the top. The trees, 
if planted in rich soil, should be placed about 30 feet 
apart, and for poor soil, about 25 feet distant from each 
other. The cuttings are planted in the mouth of March, 
two in each hole, at about 9 inches or a foot apart at 
the root end, and during the growth of the trees, the 
ground is ploughed up two or three times during the 
winter or spring, and the space between them is used 
to cultivate cotton, sesame, or Indian corn. — Indian 
Agriculturist. 
CHE ADULTERATION OP TEA IN AUSTRALIA. 
A lew mouths ago we gave the results of a series 
>f analyses of milk sold in Melbourne, made at the 
laboratory attached to the Industrial and Technological 
.Museum by Mr. Frederic Dunn, under the supervision 
Of Mr. .1. Cosmo Ncwbery. From the same source we 
hwve dow obtained some particulars of the analysis of 
Banj specimens of tea purchased in Melbourne. Great 
reliance is naturally and deservedly placed by the 
public on the reports on various articles of food occasion- 
ally emanating from this laboratory. Such reports 
usually refer to analyses spontaneously undertaken, and 
the particular sources whence the articles experimented 
upon are obtained are not divulged. Consequently, 
they cannot be considered as advertisements either of 
the merits or defects of any individual product. More- 
over, they are not usually paid for by any private 
person. The laboratory, too, is a branch of the public 
service, and the gentlemen employed therein are not 
directly under the control of any Minister of the Crown. 
Very much work has been done at this laboratory in the 
direction of exposing food adulterations; and if this 
work has not resulted in as great a diminution of the 
sophistication of the articles we habitually eat and 
drink as could be wished, it is not the fault of the 
scientists who make the analyses, but of public 
authorities who neglect to utilise or pay due heed 
to the information contained in their reports. With 
regard to the experiments on teas now under con- 
sideration there is much of disquieting character in the 
information supplied by Mr. LhinD, as it shows that 
a large proportion of the tea that goes into consump- 
tion in Melbourne is shamefully debased. But it also 
shows that the white and yellow rogues who derive 
a profit from the systematic corruption of this article 
of food could, under a proper law efficiently ad- 
ministered, be punished or, at all events, checkmated. 
In England, grocers are frequently fined for selling 
adulterated tea ; but here adulterations of all de- 
scriptions are allowed to go unpunished. 
However opinions may vary as to the effects of tea 
on the animal economy, there can be no doubt, that 
injury is done to health by using adulterated tea. 
At any rate, if any persons do entertain doubts on 
that point, they had better refer to recent proceed- 
ings in the Medical Society of Victoria, when the 
subject of tea-drinking was before that body. Nor is 
it necessary to describe the process by which analysts 
detect the sophistication of tea. The various methods 
of adulteration of tea may be defined as the addition 
of "leaves other than those of tea, except those used 
for scenting ; exhausted tea leaves and damaged tea ; 
an undue proportion of stalks or vegetable matter 
foreign to tea of any kind whatever ; foreign mineral 
matter, especially sand, quartz, soapstone, China clay, 
magnetic oxide of iron, &c. Lastly, the substanoes 
used for artificially colouring or painting the teas, as 
ferrocyanide of iron, or Prussian blue, indigo, tur- 
meric, &c." 
Probably most of the sophistication to which tea 
consumed here is subjected, is done in China. lu 
that direction the Celestials have acquired a degree 
of skill far and away beyond that to which 
Europeans have attained. In Melbourne, very man}' 
families buy theii\teas from Chinese hawkers, whose 
ways are "quite too winning," the lollies which 
Chinky Chinky Chopsticks gives to the young ones 
at the door being a very successful bait to induce, 
the housewife to deal with him. Their teas are highly 
scented with a good "grip" on the palate ; in fact 
they are such teas as the Canton short-leaf mix- 
tures, which will be referred to further on. The 
use of such teas is gradually depraving the public 
taste. Housekeepers request their grocer to supply 
them with a similar article, and he asks the wholesale 
merchant to enable him to meet the demand, and 
thus the evil increases. 
The quality of tea is judged, not only by its aroma 
and by the flavour and colour of the infusion, but 
by the amount of soluble matter or "extract," as 
it is called, which it yields. But, generally speak- 
ing, tea is classified according to the proportion oi 
extract, mineral ash, soluble salts, and theiue ob- 
tained. This rule, however, is subject to modifica- 
tion, inasmuch as chemical analysis sometimes re- 
veals that the leaves have beeu mixed with some 
foreign matter, evidenily added to give extract. Genu- 
ine tea contains between -1 and 6 per ceut of mi- 
neral matter, 3 per cent, of which consists of solu- 
ble suits, and yields in its ordinary air-dried con- 
dition extract ranging from 32 to over 50 per ceut. 
