528 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Feb. i, 1895. 
spot value of second-hand German is lljd, against 
lOjd at the same time last year, and 9Jd in 1h:i2, 
but during the year has been as high as Is Jd ; 
manufacturers have maintained their price at Is 2d, 
and have refrained from offering against each other, 
and with the low range of value of the raw article 
the margin of profit has thus been greatly increased. 
During the year considerable quantities of specu- 
latively-held quinine have been sold, and the position 
of genuine holders in the trade has been consequently 
strengthened. — Wilson, Smithett & (Jo's Circular, 
January 4th. 
♦ 
DRUG REPORT. 
(From Chemist and Druggist.) 
London, January 3rd. 
Caffeine. — The English manufacturers still quote 16s 
per lb for small wholesale quantities. It is possible, how- 
ever, to buy about 6d per lb below their quotation* from 
second-hand holders. Market quiet. Messrs. C F Bohrin- 
ger and Sohne, of Mannheim, take exception to the state- 
ment published in our issue of December 15th last 
(page 859) that the quantity of the German caffeine, 
which was then being offered on tha market slightly 
below the price quoted by the English makers of the 
drug, was not considered equal to that of the English. 
They say that, as they are well known to be the prin- 
cipal makers of caffeine od the Continent, such a sugges- 
tion may do them injury. We cannot admit that our 
statement bears the interpretation which the firm seem 
to attach to it — viz, that German caffeine is, de facto, 
inferior to English. At most it may be construed as a 
declaration that, justly or unjustly, many buyers on the 
English market nave a predilection in favour of the 
English-made article. We certainly did not say that that 
predilection was well founded. In fact, from inquiries 
which we have since made, we have no hesitation in 
stating that we believe that the article supplied by 
Messrs. B and S is in every respect equal to the best 
caffeine made in this country. 
Essential Oils— Citronella oil is slow of sale, at lid 
to Hid per lb on the spot, and *il of Lemongrass ditto 
at 1 Jd to ljd per oz. 
TEA AND SCANDAL. 
Under the pseudonym of " Tom Treddlehoyle " Mr. 
Charles Rodgers has written many amusing sketches 
illustrative ot the Lancashire Dialect. One of them is 
entitled " Sum Thowts abaght Nan Bunt's Chresmas 
Tea Party," from which I give you the extracts 
concerning tea, leaving out the scandal which is 
only locally interesting : 
Nan Bunt's Chresmas Tea Party. 
Fine Mistriss Bunt Shoo did invite 
Five gossaps all ta Tea ; 
And az the smooking cups went raand 
They cuddant let Nabors be. 
The'r tongues they went like new-rung bells, 
The'r Chins just like a spring ; 
An nieny a cup of Tea went coud, 
While they wor gossaping. 
No Nabor near did owt escape, 
Thaze praters cud invent ; 
Backbiting wor ther sole maath-piece, 
An mischief thare intent. 
Mike Mortal. 
Ben Bunt * 
Nay 1 Nay! drop it, preya, an let foaks alloan, 
for ha ben lisning to yer tawk wal am reight slekt : 
yo wimmin-foaks nivver naws wen ta gie ovvar, 
wen yo start a maggin. Ha alias think at tea 
brews moar mischief then owt thear iz it nashan 
beside, for it tells all it naws, an a gud deal moar 
beside, that's wun reason wha am ageant teatoatal 
trade, cos ha naw weel enuf at chatter-watter caant 
speik well a noabde, an if ha mud hev my mind, ad 
hev all't teapots thrawn inta chancery, an 't kups 
an 't sausurs speng wewd aboou't clawds, an tea 
kettals, an all 't rest at parafanalea blawn away 
in a wirlwind to Sibearea : na that's mind ; then 
thear woddant be sa much illefying goaing off, am 
suar, wun amang another ; foaks ad mind ther awn 
consarns, an not be magging and tawking abaght 
this boddy an 'tuther boddy, for tea brews an surka- 
lates moar mischief amang t nabaz, then all 't ale 
thear iz it kingdom put tagether, for when a chap 
goaz tut public-hause, and gets a toathree pints a 
ale, it maeks him sing an look cheerful], an if he 
happenze ta hev owt on hiz mind abaght onnv boddy. 
he tells am to ther faices] wot he thinks like, bat 
tea maeks an az crab'd am az ill-tempered az 
wesher-wimmin on a rainy day : am another 
thing it maeks am pool faices az long az jack planes, 
an call foakes I ...-hint ther backs, a shame ta be 
ead : hey, it brings ta mind wot Mike Mortal sez 
up at same subject, — 
Thus plain to all, this Kt-lile-iiioth 
Duz nowt but uiischeef uiaek . 
While Ale it calls foak to ther faic-.-, 
To calls behind ther back. 
. . . Na doant let me drive ye all away we wot 
ha been saying : Sit yer senze doane, its nobbat 
just nine o'clock. Nan Hunt. — Gud neet to ye all. 
if yer goin : gud neet, Peggy, an be suer an doant 
taek na noatis at wot arr Ben's been sayin. cos it 
wor nobbat iz nonsense like. Gud neet. 
A good many books have been published with- 
in the last twenty years or so upon the "Ame- 
rican" language, and I have just been dipping into 
one by M. Scheie de Veere, called " Americanisms : 
the English of the New World 1872." It contains 
not only a Slang Vocabulary but chapters on " The 
Indian, Immigrants from Abroad, Politics, Trade, 
&c." From that on ' Natural History ' I cull the 
following : — 
The herbs of the land suffer under the unfortu- 
nate tendency Americans have to soften initial vowels 
by an additional Y : as they say year for ear, and 
even yere for here, chiefly in Maryland and south- 
ward, so they also say over a wider region, yarh 
for herb, and yarh-tra is a very common article, 
especially in the New England States. " Then we 
had an Erie Railroad " "splendid breakfast: bean- 
coffee, i/rrh-tea, leather-steafr. and rain-water milk.'' 
(New York Tribune, January 23rd, 1871). That arti- 
cle of Tea is altogether a great mystery in the 
United States. While their fast clippers Wing fresh teas 
in enormons quantities, and the new raihvay from 
the Pacific enables the best qualities to reach the 
great markets in still shorter time after the crop has been 
gathered, Americans drink, perhaps, a greater variet y 
of decoctions under the name of tea than any other 
nation. It was a great puzzle to benevolent ladies 
who, at the begining of the late civil war, tried to 
make themselves useful in tending and nursing the 
wounded soldiers. The question " will you nave 
a cup of tea?" was very apt to elicit the counter 
question, " what kind of tea have you got. Sage — 
or sass — or store-tea ?" It was soon discovered that 
store-tea was all over the interior of the country the 
name for genuine tea, or at least such as is sold 
under that title in "stores." Tay, however, they 
pronounced it, the Irish of Swift — 
" And sneers as learnedly as they 
Like females o'er their morning tea," 
whenever they were Southerners, following here also 
the good old English custom, derived from the Chinese : 
Here, thou great Anna, whom three realms obey, 
Dost sometimes counsel take, and sometimes tea." 
(Pope.) 
Saye-tea, and Afinf-tea were, of course, familiar to all 
nurses, and Sass-tea, made itself known as Sassafras- 
tea, a decoction made of the tender shoots and the 
roots of a laurel (sassafras officinals), the bark of 
which has an exceedingly pleasant taste and fra- 
grance, and valuable medicinal properties. Spice- 
tea is in like manner, made from another laurel 
common at the South, the spice-bush (Laurus ben- 
zoin : Linn), the bark of which is very spicy and 
much valued in fever, whence it is also known as 
fever-bush. Jersey-tea, (Ceanothus Americana) is known 
to New Jersey only, and Bohea-tea, means a dark 
tea made of every other herb and plant in America 
— only not of the Chinese shrub known by that 
name. South-sea-tea, or Yopon (Hex vomitoria) occurs 
, North and South, and in spite of its formidable, 
scientific name, makes a pleasant and slightly in- 
! toxicating tea — at least so say the people of North 
Carolina, in whose state it is indigenous. They dry 
the leaves by a slow heat and then make an infu- 
sion of it, which may be quite palp.table, as the 
I plants belong to the same family from which; in 
