1012 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1882, 
planters have gone in for quantity at the expense of 
quality. ... A number of parcels of withered leaves 
have been shipped to London and realized under 6d per 
lb."— Argus, 80th June 1881. 
Or as he did at the meeting of China tea merchants, 
when he showed samples of Indian tea in bottles, 
■which he asserted were thick, gummy, and dirty, 
&c, and which he confirms in his letter to the Age 
of 31st October? 
This statement clearly shows his want of knowledge 
of what he is wriung about. That some of the Indi- 
an teas turn thick with standing is certain, but 
never gummy and dirty, which is as untrue as all 
his other statements. 
This thickening in Indian tea is only found in few 
samples highly prized by many bu\ ers, and why ? 
Because it indicates that the tea is so strong that a hot 
solution cannot hold the extract on cooling. Wliy did 
Mr. Everard not try more water, or less lea ? But, really 
I am giving a technical education to this gentleman 
free of expense; and amongst other fallacies that be 
stuck to, aud I have cured him of, is his idea that 
Chiin se gr<en teas were not artificially coloured ; but 
I was glad r,o see, in his last letter on the subject, 
the admission that even the best of such teas (green) 
have a slight bloom given to them artificially. 
Whilst on the- scientific portion of this subject, I 
may as well refer to Mr. Everard'e assertion {vide his 
letter, 31st October) that the reporters at the cele- 
brated burlesque meeting held at the Melbourne Ex- 
change had reported him wrongly, and that he did 
not say "theine was extracted from tea." But we 
have only Mr. Everaid's word against the repoiters' ; 
and, as Mr. E. admits in the above letter that the 
tannin is extracted, but not the theine, it is easy to 
see he is out of his depth, and very ignorant of > he sub- 
ject he is writing about, for tannin cannot be taken out 
of lea without also talcing the theine ; and, therefore, 
there i9 not a doubt in my own mind but that Mr. 
Everard did say — "The Chinese ex racted the the ne 
and tannin, which the Indians allowed to remain in 
—not knowing better bow to prepare it" (tea); and 
Mr. Everard said this without knowing exactly what 
was the meaning of the term he was using. 
Allow me to give extracts from the highest author- 
ities on tea analysis : — ■ 
" In tea the t heine exists in combination wiih tannin. 
Theine exists in tea in the form of tannate of 
theine." — Wanhlyn. 
"Theine exists in combination with fannin in tea." 
— Bell. 
Indisputable evidence, I should think, that mecha- 
nically it is impossible to remove any portion of tannin 
from tea without also removing its equivalents theine. 
In his letter Mr. Everard endeavours to score a 
point by stating — "And I also pointed out that the 
scientists themselves admitted, by their own published 
leports, that there was more theine in Chinese tea 
than Indian." Mr. E. is wrong again : we stopped 
giving the theine terminations because of the time it 
cook to make tbem, and particularly the cost, which 
was a guinea for each theine termination. 
But here is the analysis of 570 half-chests of Foo- 
cb&w tea, purchased by Mr. Everard himself, at public 
auction, in Eraser's rooms, on the 6th October, 1S81 : — 
Industrial and Technological Muskum 
Laboratory, 17th October 1881. 
Upon Anal// fix they gave: — 
Per centage of Per centage of Per centage of Per centage of 
Isumber. Mineral Ash Extract. Soluble Salts. Theine. 
32.1... 5-32... 28' 18... 2-78... 0'19 
347... 5-20... 31-44... 2-00... Only a trace 
31s... 5'52... 34-od... 2-26... 026 
351... 5-02... 28-50... 2-64... (r23 
362... 6-20... 32-24... 3-14.. Only a trace 
All the samples contain exhaus'ed leaves, and in most 
the tea is in a veiy broken condition. 
Excess of stalks bei"g very marked in Lot 351, which 
is faced with plumbago. 
Perished leaves are plentiful in lots 323, 352, and 347. 
The latter contains foreign st ms. 
348 also contains foreign stems. 
Lot 323 contains rice husks and foreign stems. 
(Signed) J. Co-mo Newbery, 
N.B. — Number 323 was not purchased by Mr. Everard. 
The rest of the numbers are his pui chafes. 
As Indian teas have never gone below 2 92 and run 
over 4 00 per cent., 1 -trust I bave conclusively shown 
the value of Mr. Everard'e statement that Chinese tea 
shows more theine than Indian. [While Mr. Cosmo 
Newbery, a man of the highest possible character, 
proved that China teas, purchased by Everard, to be 
sold again, were made up of "exhausted" and "perished 
leaves," " foreign stems," &c,— Ed.] 
With regard to the T<a News, with which I have 
nothing whatever to do, it is merely a rehash of reports, 
letters, &c, that have appeared in the newspapers, 
and as, Mr. Editor, you republished it in full in 
your issue of l7tn October 1681, I presume you found 
nothing specially wrong in its conteuts. [Probably the 
truth is that the permanent editor, who copied the 
Tea News, with tacit approval, was absent when Mr. 
Everard's letter was received, and its false statements 
accepted as true — Ed.] 
Such trade puffs as the Tea News appear constantly 
in a condensed form in the newspapers of the day, and 
are a feature of the 19th century. 
Allow me to ask you why the vendors of our old 
favourite, citrate of magnesia, don't hold a meeting to 
condemn the manner in which the new favourite, Euo's 
Fruit Salt, is puffed ? 
Mr. Everard draws his conclusions from the Tea 
News; the writer of the Tea News draws his from 
the extracts (which are true in themselves) that have 
already appeared in the daily press ; both writers 
draw their own conclusions and both are unfair, in 
the absence or omission of the contixt. 
The China tea merchants would have done far better 
(if they had such confhience in their teas as they 
protest they have) by appealing to the highest trib- 
unal we bave, viz., the analytical chemist, and we 
have many such in Melbourne. 
Mere talk and abuse wijl not settle the question — 
" Is China tea adulterated or not?" 
After all, the real attack has been on Messrs. Cosmo 
Newbery, and Dunn, the chemical analysts, who have 
repeatedly proved they are thoroughly masters of the 
subjects they discuss. These gentlemen, as. far back 
as 1877, have issued periodical rtpoits on the food 
supply of Melbourne, and more paiticularly on con- 
fectionery, milk, tea, coffee, cocoa, chocolate, mus- 
tard, preserves, aerated waters, ales and porters, spirits, 
vinegar, kerosene, &c, pointing out theadulteiations 
or defects they have found in each, and nearly all 
these reports have appeared in the Argus, and, un- 
questionably, have done much good. Therefore, instead 
of denouncing these gentlemen, I think the tl anks 
of the community are due to them for their invalu- 
able services. 
Mr. Newbery pertinently puts it: — "The China 
tea dealers have had a meeting to denounce our ana- 
lysea and statements. I shall expect to see the milk- 
men, confectioners, and others now do the same. 
1 can only say that, since we commenced our 
labours, the last examinations showed no lead in con- 
fectionery, but which was found in it before ; kerosene 
was highly explosive, but a recent examination showed 
all brauds to be well over the standard. Many other 
articles now show improvement in tbe right direction, 
and tea must also come up to standard. We recognize 
no country or make of tea; but when we find the grocer 
retailing to the consumer an article not pure tea, or 
