Nov. i, 1894.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
309 
warm season, the slanting light of the descending aun, 
or tbe sobered traaBlucencv of twilight have subdued 
the vivaoity of the early day. Yet under the iufluence 
of the benign stimulant many trains of thoaght which 
will boar recalling, mHy suggest themselves to some 
of our quiet circle, and prove cot uninteresting to a 
oertaia uumber of readers." 
Again at page 21 : — " Tea oups a r e not coffee-cups. 
They do not hold so much. Their pdlid infusion is 
but a feeble stimulant compared with the blaok deeoc- 
tion served at tbe morning board. And so perhaps, 
if wisdom like yours were compatible wi'h yeiralike 
mine, I should drop my pe;i and make no further 
attempts upon your patience." 
And at page 71-—" If the reader thinks that all 
theee talking teacups came together by mere accident, 
as people meet at a boarding boose, I may as wtll tell 
him at once that be is m staken. Doss ha suppose 
we want to be knoan and talked about in pubic 
as ' Tea caps' ? Nj : so far as we g've to tbe community 
some records of the talks at our table our thoughts 
become public property, but the sacred personality of 
every Teacup mast be properly respected. If any 
wonder at the presence of one of onr namber, w^o e 
eaceutrioities might seem to render him an unJt sir- 
able associate of the company, he should remember 
that some people may have relatives whom they feel 
bound to keep their eye on ; besides, the crackedTea 
cup brings oat the ring of the sound ones as nothing 
e'se does. Remember alsn that the soundt st teacup 
does not always hold the best tea, tor the or oked 
teaoup tbe worst." 
I borrowed from the Library of the Royal Asiatio 
Society a book by G. C. Stent oalled " Entombed 
Alive,' and other soDgs and ballads, from the^Chiuese," 
as 1 thought there might be something about Tea, 
and I was not mistaken. There is a loDg poem on an 
earthen teapot that was made out of a inur iered nun's 
ashes, and that oon-uderably startled its purchaser ; 
for he was just going to use it " when a voice from 
within, Rjarud out 'Don't begin! That's my no<e ! 
What the deuce are yon doing f" I may give you 
the whole of it eorue day, but at present I merely 
give the tea-extracts from ano'her funny poem called 
"Inverted Facts," which tells }OU tuat " Killing a 
man is not considered a crime — so long as you kill 
him but once at a time." The following refer to tea : — 
When a person gets tipsy it's always on tea; 
The favourite perch of a mule ii a tree. 
* * * * 
The tiger's an insert it livei in the sea, 
Its oluef occupatloj is gathering tea. 
If you wish to make tea, that, is easily done, 
Boll your water at night In the shade of the suu. 
* * * * .• 
A cat is a dog, and young kittens are pups ; 
Plates are tja-po:a and kettles, but chopsticks are 
cups. 
I have already sent you ma ly slang terms connected 
with Tia. H re are so ne more. Much tea pot, A 
Negro footman Ban- struggle, hun-worry, (military). 
A tea-maeting given to soldier*. And ia Stu^oton- 
Spraohe (German stuient's slang) kondition is Cife, 
Taee-Gpsedsoh.'ft (Coffee or Tea-m a etini< ) Auf den 
Thee komme>, Von einer sache iibel weir konaraeu 
(to oorni off badly from an affair.) The following 
instauoes of the nse of cat-lap and cold tea are quote 1 
from J. S- Farmer's 'alan; and i>s a ia ogu s.' 
Cat- lap. 182-i. Soott. Redg*uutlet. Ch. xiii. "We 
have te i aud coffee abjarJ . . . You aro at the 
aire to HWj such cat-lap." 1861 . M. E. B addon. Aurort 
Floyd. Ca. xvii. "I've washed the tea for 'ee " 
BMd the 'softy,' I thought you'd 1 k 3 a oj' p. 'The 
Tariuer «hruggod hia shonlders " " I can't say I'm 
particular attacae 1 t 1 th • cit lap," he said laugh ng, 
Cold tea. IQ'JO. D.ot. Oa .t. Cr w. Cold 2Wt-Brandy. 
1693. Remonstrance of the bachelors iu Harl. Misc 
(ed. Park) iv. 505. " Siuc-> taoir sex has been so 
familiar with bruily (blasphemed by the name of 
cold tea.) 1838 0. J. Dumphie. The Chameleon. 235. 
It is worthy of romark that oold tea was a slang name 
for brandy iu the 16th century." 
Even as tbe Chinese have their Lie Tea, so I 
shall, I fear, under cover of my title smuggle in many 
a paragraph thdt has little resemblance to tea, but 
it may be t.iken as the sugar or milk, which some 
people cannot take their tea without. In Crowther's 
Yoruba (West Afrioan) Vocabulary tbe word Oya is said 
to mean "The wife of Thunder, a goddess to wLom the 
river Niger is dedicated, which therefore is caled 
O1I6 o*a." Doesn't it remind oue of our lovely 
Nanu O a, which is the name by-the-bye, wherewith 
I hava callel our new housu iu Hampstead. 
A. M. Ferguson. 
ECONOMIC PLANTS IN SOUTHERN 
INDIA. 
From the latest Report of M. A. Laweon, Esq., 
Government Botanist and Direotor of Government 
Cinchona Plantations, &o., Nilgiris, we quote as 
follows : — 
Polygonum sachalinense. — This has been cracked 
up in may quarters a a fodder yielding an enormous 
crop. It is said that it will yield 95 to 190 tons 
of greon stuff an acre per annum. But these figures 
cannot be taken seriously. There are many Polygo- 
nums on thesa hill?, suoh as P. rude, P. JVepalense, 
P. Chinense, &c , which cattle eat freely, either fresh 
or whea converted iuto silage; but they are all said 
to have a tendency to scour the animals when fed. 
so'ely upon them. 
Cassia Auuiculata. — Messrs. Cooper, Allen and 
Co., of Cawnpore, asked for information respecting 
the cultivation of the Cassia auriculata, and were 
told that, so far as was known in this department 
the plan twas never cultivated, but was obtained as a 
minor forest product ; but that if they wished to 
cultivate it, it wns believed that it would not need 
irrigation, as in a wild state it grows in hot dry 
places. It was alsa pointed out to M> ssrs. Cooper, 
Allen and Co. that if they undertook it* oultiva'ion, 
they should allow it to grow for several years before 
barking the shrubs ; as Mr. Cooper's analyses had 
conclusively proved that the bark taken from old 
st6ras wss many times richer in taioning than that 
tikeu fr m youug stems or branches. 
Ipomcea Cymcsa. — The District Forest-officer, Chin- 
glepur, sent specimens of a plant which was identi- 
fied as the Ipomcea cymosa, called in Tamil Pundi 
kodi, and the fibres of the rojts of which are said 
to be used extensively in the Chingleput district 
for making brushes used in white-washing. 
Rubbkr. — In January last Me?s r s. Raja and Co., 
a Madras firm, wrote for information re«p cting 
India-rubber. Toey wanted to know where it could 
be obtained in large quantities for commercial pur- 
pose*. They were informed that beyond tha pro- 
duction of an inferior kind which could be had 
from the Wynaat and Milabir, no rubber was pro- 
duced in the Madras Preddency ; and that their best 
plan was, therefore, to address the Coueervator of 
Forests, As am, where the better norts are produce! 
from the Ficus elastica. A specimen of the rubber from 
trees in th-? Wynaad was forwardel to them to ex- 
per msnt upon. They sent this sample to their ageuss in 
Europe, who reported that it was not a desirable 
article, and the ntmoit it might fetch in the London 
market was one penny a pound, so that for tbe present 
at leatt this inferior commercial pr >duet of Southern 
In lia mav be regarded as lyiug outside the pale of 
all markets. 
Coffee Hybrids. — In July last a gentleman inter- 
ested in coffee planting in the WynaaJ asked if the 
Arabian ooffee (Coffea Arabica) and the Liberiin coffee 
(Coffea Liberica) when planted sida by side would 
pro uco a hybrittbat would be more likely to resist 
th • a'ticks of Hemeilia vastatrix than either of the 
pireuta It is not likely that this would be the case 
tint it is a po"nt whioh experiment alone oould settle. 
Farther, in the loan run it is not likely that the 
Li >erian ooffes wi 1 prove any more immune to the 
a t icks of the Hemeilia than the Arabian coffee. 
Robber-yielding Tbbes.— In February last the 
Ceara, and Caatdloa treej growing in the Barliysr 
Gardens were again tapped, but with Che most di*. 
