J 76 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[August i, 1881 
growth seems inevitable, and those shippers who, 
taking this into consideration, have only paid enhanced 
prices for fine teas may probably find that they were 
]usti(ied in doing so, but because the whole crop 
proves to be inferior appears to us to be a very poor 
reason for raising the price all round, or at least for 
qualities such as our correspondent mentions. Taking 
a calm unbiassed view of the whole matter, we can 
form no other conclusion than that shippers are run- 
ning enormous risks, which circumstances, at any 
rate at present, do not justify. As soon as the in- 
feriority of the China crop will be known in London, 
the inevitable result, to our mind, will be to con- 
siderably enhance the value of Indian teas and to the 
Same extent depreciate the value of China teas. The 
public at Home is by this time so accustomed to obtain 
tea of really good quality for Is 8d per lb., that 
they will not be easily satisfied with anything ia- 
ferior. This tea is made up of a judicious mixture 
of Indian and China, and to make up for the de- 
ficiencies of the latter more Indian will be used and 
less money paid for the China. 
THE MYSTERY OF THE TEA-TRADE. 
To thp. Editor of the. North-China Herald. 
Dear Sir, —If you will allow me through the 
medium of your colinniiH to call the attention of 
tea-buyers in Hankow to the following facts, it may 
perhaps he productive of some good. 
A week ago a gentleman from Kiukiang forwarded 
to me here a sample of a purchase of tea, he had 
just made at Tls. 28, or say, equal here to Tls. 32. 
I may meution incidentally that his purchase shows 
relatively such good value that it is worth in Hankow 
Tls. 32, Tls, 2 more than he paid for it. 
Being anxious to see whether present purchases 
showed any reasonable, chance of resulting favourably, 
I compared it with teas bought last seaeon at the 
opening of the market, but I found the difference 
in quality so enormous that no fair comparison could 
be made. I therefore took a similar district tea that 
I had purchased here in Shanghai last December at 
Tls. 21, and great was my astonishment when I found 
this to be fully Tls. 3 superior to the muster sent 
me. To be quite sure that I was not unduly favour- 
ing my own purchase I sent a muster of it to Kiukiang, 
asking my friend to compare it with his. I yester- 
day received his answer to the effect that my tea 
was fully equal to his. 
My tea has been recently sold in London at Is Id 
per lb. I am there f ore confronted with this difficulty. 
Leaving on one side my own opinion as to the superi- 
ority of my purchase and taking the present buyer's 
own statement, teas no better than recent sales in 
London at Is Id are now being hurried forward cost- 
ing Is 7d at Is Sd and that with a present prospect 
of heavy supplies from China, the certainty of a 
large increase from India, diminished demand for 
China teas at Home, and an increased stock carried 
over from last season. I have, Sir, been intimately 
acquainted with- the tea- trade for the last eighteen 
years, hut I have yet to learn how shipping under 
such conditio is can result otherwise than in a terrible 
loss.— I am, dear sir, faithfully yours, Chaa Szee. 
28th May. 
A New Two-legged Enemy of Cinchona !— Have 
you been told of the new enemy of the cinchona tree 
that we have found out ? The coolies taking off the 
bark about a foot up from the ground, and selling it 
\n the villages. The wily native finds a decoction 01 
it good for fever. I came across (this morning) one 
of my finest trees that had been robbed. You "hould 
give cinchona planters the hint to keep watch. It is 
not merely the loss of the bark, but the tree is 
iable to bo injured if not destroyed, should they 
riDg the trees. 
Coffee and Chicory.— We commend an article on 
another page from a London trade organ to the atten- 
tion of the planters, or rather the Visiting Agents 
who opposed the Memorial on Coffee Adulteration at 
hat general meetiug. The Produce Market Review 
says that there are " large classes of the British pub- 
lic who may be said to be practically acquainted 
with the taste of coffee, although they are very fami- 
liar with tnat of chicory." It turns out that some 
Colombo merchants who could not have signed Mr. 
Wall's draft, praying that the tale of all admixtures 
should be stopped, are quite ready to support the 
Memorial as amended and brought forward at the 
planters' meeting. 
Milk a Solvent of Quinine.— It is not generally 
known that milk is not only a good solvent of qui- 
nine, hut that it also disguises its bitterness. A 
writer in a medical journal states that if one grain 
of the sulphate be dissolved in an ounce of milk 
the solution is searcely perceptibly bitter. A dose 
of five grains may he taken in two ounces of milk 
without tendering it unpleasant, and if taken in a 
tumblerful of milk the bitterness disappears. Another 
surgeon recommends the use of a solution of quinine 
in glycerine, in the proportion of one grain to one 
dram, the dose to be taken in a wineglassful of milk.— 
Home Paper. 
Gum Leaves. — A correspondent of the Bcndigo Inde- 
pendent thus testifies to the curative properties of gum 
leaves: — "I will relate something respecting the 
curative properties of the gum leaves. I am acquainted 
with three persons who have been thoroughly cured 
of rheumatism by sleeping on beds made entirely of 
those leaves. Those used were of a round shape, and 
of a sticky nature, growing on young plants, and the 
nearest to the ground. It is also well known that a 
dozen of these leaves made into a decoction of tea are 
good for a cold or for inflamed eyes. Further, if a 
few of the leaves are rubbed smartly between the 
palms of the han^s and immediately held to the nostrils, 
taking a lengthy hard sniff, a most refreshing sensa- 
tion will be the result." 
Nature is, as Mr. Squeers remarked, "" a rum 'un" 
and it is possible enough that in her arcana there 
are more secrets than the scientific philosophy of 
Liebig, or Lawes, or Gilbert have penetrated. M. 
Georges Ville, a French chemist of high standing after 
lengthened experience of the nature as that of Mr. 
Lawes, has come to a different conclusion, and does 
not leave us in such a slough of despond as our 
English teacher. M. Ville is of opinion that by 
returning to the soil one-half of the nifrogen extracted 
by the crops, (the other half being supplied from the 
atmosphere), calcic phosphate, potash, and lime, all 
these substantives being plentiful, we shall not only 
be able to prevent the exhaustion of the soil, no 
matter how heavy the crops may be which are grown 
upon it, but that we shall endow it with the maxi- 
mum of fertility consistent with the climate and gene- 
ral local condition. — Madras Mail. 
The Use of the Cactus.— The following is from 
St. James's Gazette:— "If what a San Francisco paper 
says is true," the New York Graphic remarks, "a 
really great discovery has been made, which may 
convert the far western deserts, where nought but the 
cactus now grows, into the chief wine-growing districts 
of the American continent. A man inserted cuttings 
from some vines into the trunks of the cactus-plants, 
and, the result was that the vines grew forth as luxuri- 
antly as on the most fruitful land, and this vjithout 
cultivation or watering. Not only did he succeed in 
raising fine grapes, but he also found that melons, 
tomatoes, and cucumbers could be grown on the cactus. 
That hitherto much-abused plant may now prove one of 
the greatest blessings of man, and the arid and sandy 
desert may yet become more productive than the riclu 
well watered prairie." 
