May I, 1894,] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
735 
THE LATEST BOOK ON TEA.* 
We now revert, as promised, to a fuller notioe of 
this valuable addit'oa (o the literature of tea. 
Mr. Bamber's "Text Book" indeed covers the 
whole groand, as our readers may see from the 
full "title and oontents" appended. Everyone, 
therefore, who wishes to know all abont the tea 
plant from the earliest times should read this book. 
They will find within its pages much that is in- 
teresting, whioh cannot even be mentioned here, since 
in a necessarily short notioe, it is impossible to 
do more than glance at what we may consider 
a few of the more salient lessons bearing upon 
our own oiroumstanoeB and requirements in Oeylon. 
Of course, much of Mr. Bamber's experience in 
India would have to be greatly modified in Ceylon ; 
for, while the scientific data and chemical facts 
aooumulated will be found to hold good under 
all oircumstanoes, yet in our island so many 
degrees nearer to the equator, climatic influences 
must compel many modifications in practice, as 
Mr. Bamber himself admits in the Preface already 
quoted by us. A great part of the contents, there- 
fore, we shall poss over merely remarking that 
the leEsons and experiments in Agricultural Chemis- 
try recorded in the book as specially applicable to 
the cultivation of tea, though most valuable and 
int^reotiog, are., after all, only snoh as must be 
repeated in Ceylon for local application ; and 
that in Mr. M. Cochran, the Ceylon planters have 
the medium, whenever they choose to employ him, 
for asaertaining the nature of the soils in which 
their tea grows, the mo.^t suitable manures to apply, 
and the chemical value of such manures by 
ftualyses before purchase. 
Before proceeding to that part of the Text Book, 
which, we think, will have most attraction for the 
Ceylon planter, we may notioe one or two passages 
giving epeoially interesting facts concerning tea. 
On page 150, Mr. Bamber gives a liot of the 
organic constituents of which the tea-leaf is com- 
posed. They consist of no less a number than 
fifteen ; but of these, Mr. Bamber says, " the most 
important as affeotirg the quality and strength 
of tea are the esBential oil, theine and tannin, the 
other constituents affecting it only according to their 
solubility in water." Conoerniag the essential oil 
Mr- Bamber says : — " Nothwithstanding the small 
quantity usually present it is of great importance, 
owing 10 its powerful ethereal odour to which the 
flavour Bnil eroma of tea is largely due. Tea 
lo es its delicate aroma whin not protected in 
air-tight cases, showing the necessity of imme- 
diate packing after manufacture." We make no 
comment upon this, leaving our readers to draw 
their own conclusions from their own experience. 
But Mr. Bamber does not fail to point that, 
" under the system of high firing so frequently 
adopted, a considerable loss of the chief flavour- 
ing constituent, the essential oil, results." That 
litile of this "aroma" can ever reach the con- 
sumer in Europe must, however, be evident when 
we consider other facts we find scattered through 
the pages of this book. If the flavour and the 
aroma, due to the essential oil, can only be pre- 
served by the tea being kept packed in air-tight cases, 
their retention becomes hopeless in face of the 
fact that once arrived at the Onstom-housa in 
London the contents of snoh oaeea are turned 
out and aftewards seldom properly repacked. The 
natural result is that absorption of moistore im- 
mediatley commences, till we are told by Dr. Divei, 
* A Text Book on the " Cbemiatry and Agrlcoltore 
of Tea including the Growth and Manufacture," by 
M. Kelway Bamber, m.b.a.c,, m.b.a.s. Eng., p.o.s.. 
Member of the Society of Arts, London) Late 
Cheaxiat to the Indian Tea AisooiatioD, Caloatta. 
in Appendix II,, that "when tea oomes hot from the 
firing operation it is without any water, but analysis 
of tea iu Europe have been published giving as 
much as 16-17 per cent, of water, and 10 per 
cent is regarded there as the normal proportion I 
Thus it will be seen that every nine pounds 
of tea put up in Japan or Chioa (of which tea 
he was writing in 1879) will on retailing in the 
United States or Europe, run to ten pounds, the 
tea containing tbe wattr, remaining dry to the 
touch." Tea passing direct from producer (or 
packpr) to consumer ought therefore, to be superior 
in aroma ; while another inference would seem to 
I be that the moist climate of Colombo is but the 
ill-adsptei for repacking or blending purposes ? 
That the essential oil is present in the green 
leaf, Mr. Bamber asserts against the opinion of 
some other chemists, " but," he says, " the 
quantity is considerably; inoreased during the pro 
' ofss of manufacture, provided the temperature 
employed at the different stages of firing be 
carefully regulated." This increase does not, he 
thinks, arise from any further chemical develop- 
ment ; but is due rather to the " bursting of the 
interior cells of the leaf by the sudden expansion 
of the sap, during the first process of firing and 
its consequent liberate n. Of the next chief 
constituent of the tea leaf, theine, we learn a 
good deal, much of which will doubtless surprise 
the Oeylon planter, as for instance when he is told 
(by Dr. Diver) that "the quantities of the Iheine 
have not been found to be at all in any 
direct relation to the recognized value or appre- 
ciation of tea." A table is given showing the 
quantity per cent of theine in 28 samples of 
Ceylon and Indian teas, varying in price from 7d 
to_ 3s a pound, the inference drawn being that 
" it is evident from data given, as compared with 
the prices mentioned, that the marketable value of 
tea is not to any great extent dependent on, or 
proportional to, the amount of theine it may 
contain, however important that constituent may 
be in other respects; neither can the ' strength ' 
of tea, as that term is generally understood, be 
taken as proportionate to the amount of theine, 
which is evident from the results 26 (" weak tea 
4 35 per cent."), and 27 (" strong tea 4-43 per 
cent.") in whioh the diSerenoe is very slight"!" 
Further we learn from Mr. Bamber himself that 
"the theine undergoes no change during the pro- 
cess of manufacture, there being the same amount 
when calculated on the dry matter of tbe leaf, 
both before and after manufacture." The dis- 
cussion of this subject in the book is very interest- 
ing as it brings us into touch with the system 
under which tea is finally tested and valued." We 
are of those who believe that soienoe can and 
will yet do muob to help the planter both in the 
factory and tbe field ; yet we cannot overlook the 
fact that tea experts, upon whose final judgment 
and report all tea stands or falls in the home market, 
depacd solely upon the palate and the appearance 
of the liquor and infused leaf to the eye. Probably 
the most expert tea-taster and valuer has as little 
scientific knowledge as the ordinary planter, and 
would be equally at a lo=!8 to explain why one tea 
is more valuable than another iu the terms of 
chemical science. In this connection Mr, Bamber 
admits that ' the presence of slightly varying 
quantities of Lb.ine would not add to the strength 
or color of the liquor, and would not affect its 
commercial value to an appreciable extent." But 
be adds : "At the same time the tea with the 
higher peioentage of theine would have • greatei 
beneficial efieot on the human aystem, only thia 
faot ia not regarded," When tea ia Infused for 
five minatea we are told that only "about 60 
