202 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
[August i, 1881. 
4. Pekoe tea rather wiry gold tipped Pekoe full 
rich flavor}', 2s Gd. 
5. Pekoe Souchong rather even clean, greyish black- 
ieh leaf with tips rich ripe full flavour Is lOd to 2s. 
6. Souchong rather clean greyish blackish leaf 
rather strong full, Is 2d. 
A good collection, of teas and all suitable to the 
Australian trade, though it is doubtful if a paying 
price could be obtained for No. 3, which is worth 
any money. Nos. 1, 2, and 4 bad better be kept to- 
gether and all teas packed in 38 lb. half-chests with 
a few 201b. and 11 lb. packages. 
Jas. Henty & Co., pr. J. O. Moody. 
I concur — D. A. Sibthorp. 
(From the Ceylon Observer, 5th January 1881.) 
Analysis of Average Samples op Ceylon Teas Shews 
Their Superiority to Indian, as well as to 
China, Teas. 
We feel sure that the following Report and Analyses, 
placed at our disposal by the local Secretary to the 
Exhibition Commission, will be read with much satis- 
faction not only by our tea planters but by all inter- 
ested in the prosperity of the Colony. In the midst 
of short crops and miserably low quotations for our 
staple, it is some relief to learn ou unquestionable 
authority of the good prospects before another great 
branch of our -planting industry, and we have no doubt 
the result will be to give a special impulse to the 
extension of tea cultivation in the island. We ap- 
pend the Report of the Ceylon Commissioner: — 
Melbourne,' Dec. 9tb, 1880. 
Dear Mr. Bruce, — The juries are in full work now, 
and I suppose that before the month and year expire 
the awards will be proclaimed. Meantime I have re- 
ceived the analyses of Ceylon teas exhibited, made 
by Mr. Dunn of the Technological Department, under 
the supervision of Mr. Cosmo Newbery, As I wrote 
before, the analyses represent averages, pekoes, sou- 
chongs and so forth, the exceptions being those in 
which only one specimen was shewn. I got a copy 
of Mr. Dunn's report at Messrs. Jas. Heuty & Co.'s 
office last evening, with a promise from Mr. Moody 
that his remarks would reach me early this morning. 
The paper is not yet to hand, but I know what its 
general purport will be, in consequence of a long 
conversation I had with Mr. Dunn and Mr. Moody 
respecting the results obtained, some of which are 
extraordinary, and in the case of the proportion of 
mineral ash anomalous. As noticed previously, the Brit- 
ish, analysts' standard for mineral ash in tea ranges 
from 5 to 8 per cent. So it is recorded in Mr. New- 
bery's office ; but, as I told you previously, the 
result of my own rather extensive reading on .the 
subject led me to believe that the standard for 
genuine tea was 5 to 6 per cent, and that any access- 
over 6 per cent must be due to the mixture of 
foreign substances, from careless preparation and pack- 
ing, or from designed adulteration. On the other 
hand, a percentage of ash much lower than 5 per cent 
would at once raise the suspicion in an analyst's mind 
that he was dealing with washed-out leaves. Mr. 
Dunn's analyses of our Ceylon teas present the con- 
trasts of the lowest proportions of mineral ash and 
the largest of that extract for which tea leaves are 
valued, ever obtained. Mr DunD, as a chemist, felt 
bound to offer such explanation of the anomaly as 
seemed to his mind most satisfactory, and you will 
observe that he adduces as a probable cause the 
rapid growth of the tea plant in Ceylon. That he 
correctly judged (apart from clean and careful pre- 
paration) I have strong proof in the independent 
judgment of my esteemed friend Mr. Josiah Mitchell, 
one of the best authorities on the science- of agri- 
culture in Australia. He came here (to his brother's 
house, where I now reside) last evening, and I stated 
to bim the curious results obtained by Mr. Dunn, 
without mentioning that gentleman's solution of the 
apparent anomaly of minimum mineral ash and 
maximum extract. Mr. Mitchell at once said: — "I 
congratulate you on results which ought to be deemed 
satisfactory to all interested in tea planting in Ceylon. 
The proportions of extract, soluble salts and theine 
to mineral ash prove that the influence of your climate 
is such that of the mineral matter taken by the plant 
from the soil ull but a very small quantity is elabor- 
ated into the properties which make tea leaves 
valuable for consumption and commerce. The result 
of the analyses proves that in Ceylon \he best quality of 
tea can be prouuced with the minimum exhaustion of 
the fertilizing matters in the soil." If, as I believe, 
this is the true solution of the results of Mr. Durn'g 
analyses, I think that you and the Committee, the 
Government, the planters and the rnei chants of Ceylon, 
will feel that here alone is compeu-ation for the 
expense iuvolved in being specially represented at this 
important Exhibition.- Both Messrs. Dunn and Mit- 
chell (especially the former) were deeply interested in 
information 1 gave them of the different conditions 
under which tea w, s grown in Ceylon and in most 
of the tea districts of India and China. In Ceylon, 
I pointed out, tea is grown within 7° of the equator, 
while the vast majority of the gardens of India are 
sitaated 20° farther north. In the case of Darjeel- 
ing, leaving the Terai and Dooars out of view, the 
factor of altitude has to be added to latitude. Some 
tea is grown on the Nilgiris and in a few other dis- 
tricts in Southern India, aud about 11° north, but the 
vast bulk of the teas which India (and I may add 
China) sends into the markets of the world are grown 
between 20° or 30°, some even as far as 34° north 
latitude. The result is that the plant gets a'" winter- 
ing" — there is a stoppage of growth from November 
(in which month, in India, pruning, generally severe, 
is performed) to March. At the commeno-ment of 
the tea-planting enterprise in Ceylon, Indian tea planters 
predicted failure from the absence of winter in our 
island — from the constantly forcing nature of the 
climate. As to quantity per acre, a comparison with 
Assam cannot yet be instituted on a large scalp, but I 
submit that these Melbourne analy*e=, added to the tests 
as tea-tasters applied by Messrs. Moody and Sibthorp, 
and the judgments delivered by them, conclusively 
prove that, in the hot, moist climate of Ceylon, tea 
can be produced which, if carefully prepared, will rank 
with or even above the finest quality sent into the 
markets of the world. We may take it for granted 
that the Indian teas submitted by Mr. Sibthorp, the 
Agent of the Government and Tea Syndicate, to 
Mr. Newbery for analysis were the very best which 
India can produce. Well, the very highest percentage 
of extract obtained was in the case of Cachar pekoe, 
43"85. Our Ceylon orange pekoe gave very nearly 1 
per cent more, viz. 44 - 80. The soluble salts in the 
case of the Ceylon tea, it is true, shewed only 3 '06 
against 322 in that from Cachar; but then, against 
only l - 58 of theine in the Cachar leaf, the Ceylon 
tea gave 2'15. There can be little doubt, therefore, 
as to the first position which the Ceylon orange pekoe 
holds. I fancy that, though the term is not used, 
there was what is called orange pekoe amongst the 
Indian teas analysed, but let us compare our simple 
"pekoe" with the best from Darjeeling: — 
Extract. Soluble Salts. Tbeine. 
Darjeeling pekoe 38 97 3T6 .196 
Ceylon „ 43 80 3 32 D82 
In total extract the Ceylon leaf is superior by very 
nearly 4 per cent ; it is also superior by T(3 per cent 
in soluble salts, while only in theine (the constituent 
in which the Ceylon orange pekoe specially excelled) 
is our pekoe "14 per cent below the Darjeeling tea. 
In the case of pekoe souchong, which will be the 
description of the great bulk of the teas which Ceylon 
