32 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July 2, 1894. 
always said I had a talon for it ' said Mrs. P. to 
fome of bet guests, who praised her tea-makiog. 
" For my part I don't think ta'ons has much to 
do with it. It's stinginess generally that makes bad 
tea. If yoa use plenty, the confusion is sure to bo 
good." .... Meanwhile Mrs. P. says, '• there 
was such iagolar feeling all the evening, and every- 
body was so anonymous in praising her tea, that 
she hopes it won't be the last time she shall ee3 her 
frieDds heaped about in friendly concave." 
A Ballade of 5 o'c. Tea (Afteu Austin Dou$ is.) 
Served in most delicate ware, — 
Dresden or Sevres,— where you spy 
Dainty devices and rare, 
Hues that enrapture the eyo ; 
Hands that are shapely anrl white 
Pour out tlie fragraut Bohea, 
Beauty presides at this rile 
This is your 5 o'clock Tea ! 
a 
Perched iu the midst of the fair, 
Masher, resplendent, yet ehy, 
Awkwardly Bhlfls in his chair. 
He will gain courage by-and-bye. 
Beaux so antique, most polite, 
Prattle in garrulous glee, 
Here in their element quite. 
This Is your 5 o'clock Tea ! 
8 
Characters melt into air, 
Good reputations must die, 
Think you " my Lady " will spare 
For all that you murmur "Oh fy !" 
Colloquies vapid and trite, 
Slanderous tongues running free, 
Small emanations of spite, 
This is your 5 o'clock Tea ! 
Envoy : — Sugar and cream can excite 
Envy and malice we see ; 
Satirists cry with delight— 
This is your 5 o'clock Tea ! 
Orchis— F. B. Doveton. 
We have got quite hardened now-a-days to hearing 
not only a few nourishing, but many wishy-washy, 
drinks dubb'd Teas, such as Beef Tea, Hot Tea, 
&c. ; but it is curious to note how very early 
this habit began. In 1699 John Evelyn published 
a little work called "Aceraria, A. Discourse of Sallets,'> 
and in recipe No. 27 I real as follows : — " Flowers. — 
Some of them are pickled and divers of them make 
also very pleasant and wholesome Theas, as do likewise 
the wild Time, Bu^lo^s, Mint, &c. Penny-Royal. — 
Ol this plant disoreetly dried, is made a most 
wholesome and excellent Tea." I was amused to fee 
that one of the above flowers, happening to come at 
the end of a line, wis divided not in'o Bei-gloBS- 
(ox-tongue) as it should have beon, but into Bug 
loss as though grod agaiuBt B. flats or Norfolk — 
Howards ! 
A. M. Febguson. 
PLANTING IN NEGOMBO DISTRICT. 
COCONUTS AND CINNAMON. 
At last we are having the monsoon rains and the 
first half of June has been rather wet, 8 - 70 inches 
being the rainfall for the fortnight as against 6 37 
inohes in the corresponding period of the previous 
year. But this year April and May together only 
gave 6-85 inohea, whereas in April 1893 alone we 
had 13-44 inches followed by 8 22 inohes in May. 
During the past two months harvesting of cin- 
namon was much hindered and retarded and as the 
growth of the bushes has been very unsatisfactory, 
owing to diminished rainfall since July last. The 
crop of 1893-94 is likely to be a small one. 
From the same cause there will be a general 
short-fall in the orop of coconuts, but it will not be 
so serious ss in the case of cinnamon. Among 
other advant&ges which the one has over the 
other the cooonut planter can generally count on 
the certainty of securing the crop on his trees, 
whereas the cinnamon planter is greatly dependent 
on the weather for harvesting the produoe of his 
bushes. 
INDIAN PATENTS. 
Calcutta, the 24th May 1894. 
Applications iu respect of the undermentioned in- 
ventions have been filed, during the week euo"ii 19th 
May 1891 :— 
Witheriug or L'inpini: Tea Leaf.— No. 150 of 1894.— 
Samuel Cloland Davidson, of Sirocco Engineering 
AVorke, Belfast, Ireland, M?rohant. for improvement 
in the prccess of withering or limping tea leaf in the 
course of its manufucture into black tea acid iu appa- 
ratus therefor. --Indian Engineer. 
CROWN LAND IN JAVA. 
In the Ams'.erdam letter (May 30th) of the L and 
C. Ex/tress, we read : — 
It 13 said that the Government intends to suspend 
the issue of waste grounds in Java, in order to direct 
more attention to the working of the other islands 
in the Archipelago. 
JAVA COFFEE CHOP. 
Amstebdam, May 30. — According to a tel. grain from 
the Governor-General of Netherlands India, dated 
May 26th the Government's coffee crop in Java is 
estimated for this year at 306.980 picnle. Thisquintity 
is about double as much as estiom'e 1 last year, and 
the out-tnrn of the private crop will alts > be consi- 
derably more, by which tho agricultural companies 
hope to regain the losses sustained by the email crop 
of 1893. From the East cf Java, however, reports 
are received that the great expectations are not fully 
realised, as the fruit seems to have suffered much 
from tire heavy rains. —L. and C. Express. 
OYER-l'RODUCTION : IN REFERENCE 
SPECIALLY, TO TEA. 
Many of the leading journals both in Europe and 
America have recently contained— or have reprinted 
—articles relative to tho above subject. The 
consensus of opinion expressed throughout these 
is that the whole world is suffering, and must 
continue to suffer, from the fact that the prodaciog 
power of the present day is, as the result in part 
to the wide employment of machinery, in exesss of 
that of consumption. It is hardly necessary for us 
to restate the arguments adduced to demonstrate 
this fact. They must be, we fanoy, patent to every- 
one who considers seriously the pressnt depressed 
prices of nearly every article of food or of personal 
use. It is undoubtedly the disproportion between 
the two items mentioned, that is responsible for the 
difficulties that now beset us. Population has not 
increased in any correspondicg ratio to the enor- 
mous increase of capacity for raisiDg food stuffs. 
Our own leading industry furnishes a strong 
illustration in favour of this contention. Where 
would our tea industry have been, had we not 
succeeded in largely ousting from consumption the 
teas of China? What has most aided our planters 
in their struggle for existence, has no doubt caused 
some trouble, and poBsibly distress, to the Chinese 
tea-cultivators and middlemen. It has ever been 
the case that success in one quarter can only 
b9 secured by a reduction in the prosperity of 
another. 
Hitherto, under the action of this invariable 
law, .the leading industry of Ceylon baa attained 
to a high point. The question to be faced 
is as to whether the industry, so far a 
production is conoernej, is fast reaching its 
prescribed maximum. Already, as we know, there 
are not wanting signs which "he who ruu may 
read" that the present demand is more than met 
