Feb, i, 1895.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
Marling the complaint in the cafce o,f the 
New York patients referred to ! We trust that 
the Editor of the British. Medical Jfournal 
(Mr. Ernest Hart) whose visit is shortly ex- 
pected, will have something to say in his in- 
fluential editorial columns, which may help to 
set the American people right. 
♦ 
HAWAIIAN TEA. 
The Hawaiian Tea and Coffee Company is grow- 
ing tea on their plantation near Kailua. Parties 
commissioned to investigate the industry report 
to the Planters' Labour and Supply Company as 
follows : " The plants are two years old, and 
trimmed down to about two and a half feet in 
height. The company was actually producing a 
lair commercial article of tea, which your commit- 
tee had the pleasure of seeing, handling and tast- 
ing. Our surprise was not so much in the growth, 
number of plants or quality of the tea, as in the 
methods of gathering and preparing it for market. 
We had been informed that Chinese and Jap- 
anese teas were all prepared by hands. Here it is 
all done by machinery, and the human hand never 
has to touch it, which should be a recommenda- 
tion. Your committee cannot see why an article 
equalling the famous English breakfast tea may 
not be thus produced. Mr. Miller believes this 
can be produced for 10 cents per pound. We were 
pleased with the ingenuity shown on this planta- 
tion. Nothing was clone by hand that could be as 
well done with a machine. The picking of the tea 
by a machine that made no mistake was to be ad- 
mired for its simplicity, cheapness and efficiency 
that it gathered by wholesale only young, tender 
leaves, never old ones, although there were an 
abundance of the latter on the frees. "-^American 
(iroifr. 
TEA AND SCANDAL. 
Did you ever hear of Janet Reid, the Scotch poetess? 
She flourished somewhere about the middle of this 
century and was a sterling character. Her compo- 
sitions were in the style of ballads and were evidently 
appreciated for their motive if not for thsix merit fci 
they passed through many editions. The specimen 
I give below is marked in the British Museum "thirty- 
Second edition" and is staled 
u.\ a Comfortable Cup of tea. 
I wonder how people in drunkenness can delight; 
For drunkenness often ends in spite. 
A comfortable cup of tea will neither harm you 
nor me, 
Those w ho only take a cup of tea, 
To their neighbours they'll have another to gie. 
Round the tea-talde there's contentment and peace 
They choose a respectable man to say the grace. 
The third command at the tea-table is seldom broke, 
With one another they often pass a harmless joke. 
Hut with the drunkavd it is not often so, 
(iod'slaw they often break, and prove one another's foe. 
If people would look forward to grey hairs and 
clothing thin. 
They would hang the little gin stoup on a pin, 
And slip awa' home with drunken groat. 
Ami think on the time they may need a new coat. 
If working people would save threepence a week, 
They would sometimes have need for it when they 
are sick. 
Though it is but a halfpennj a day, 
Perhaps thej would see ueed when one their hairs 
grew grey. 
To Beggarj With drink many a one does come, 
For in my lifetime 1 have seen some, 
Thomas Boston speaks of an inn by the way, 
1 1 nt people should not very long there stay. 
I wish all drunken people the tilth of Galatians to 
read, 
And with sober people begin to take up their head. 
And them that do love a n 1 cup of tea. 
It is not like whisky and that you'll see ; 
These are the proper .company for you and me. 
Tea-parties meet 01 friendship and peace. 
To young or old they 11 never bring disgrace. 
All drunkards 1 hope will lake nil advice from me, 
(i'ue over drinking whisky and take a cup of lea. 
1 hope good people (hut's goodness will not forget. 
While round the tea table they do sit. 
In a work on "Gastronomy" by J. Berchoux, 
published in 1810, I find the following lines (with 
reference to a clown) : — 
" After strolling around, to his cottage restored, 
As great heVbeeome, if as drunk as a lord \" 
I make a present of the above to Dr. Murray for 
his great Dictionary, as an early instance of the 
phrase Us drunk as a lord. In the same poem are two 
other lines, which will be of more interest to Ceylon 
readers : — 
You of cinnamon know, though so varied its use 
That 'tis Ceylon alone can that treasure produce. 
Amongst the collections of ("single sheets) in the 
British Museum, I quite by chance came across one 
entitled "A comical and diverting Dialogue between 
a farmer, a butcher, a miller, a publican, a tea- 
dealer, a cheese-monger, a milkman, a baker 
and their old friend the Devil. London, 1830 ?" The 
above-mentioned personages have a meeting, with their 
' old friend ' in the chair, at which they all describe 
the ways in which they swindle the public, of course 
the milkman has his chalk and water, and the tea- 
dealer says : " That's right, keep the game alive. I 
mix beans with coffee, and sloe leaves with tea." 
In looking up slang terms connected with coffee 
(which I hope to send to you later on) I took a note 
of a few terms which I thought might prove amus- 
ing to various classes of Ceylon readers. Barr'ere 
explains Caiman as being used by the 'Ecole Norinale 
School for " usher," but Villatte in his 'Parisismen' 
gives the equivalent as " Bettler (Beggar)." Bamjy 
111 Cevlon and India refers to a tea-leaf, whereas at 
Winchester School it means "brown sugar." Caout- 
chouc is a ' clown ' from his clastic qualities, I sup- 
pose. You already know the difference between 
cocoa, cacao, coca, and coco-nut ; but do you 
know what coco without the nut is ? Barrere 
says : Cdlin. A small tin fountain which the retail- 
ers of coco carry on their backs. Coco is a cooling 
draught made of liquorice, lemon and water. Coco 
(military) horse. La botte d coco trumpet call for 
stables : (literally, la botte dc join d coco, the bundle 
of hay for cocoj. (Popular) coco, brandy: head. (Fa- 
miliar) coco 'epileptique, champagne wine. 
I see in the December number of the Girl's Own 
Paper that Harry E.Bevany, Ceylon, receives 'ho- 
nourable mention ' and is ' very highly commended ' 
for his efforts to guess the amusing cryptographic 
pictorial puzzles, which that magazine contains everv 
month. I wish him success as a fellow-sufferer. 
In an American Directory I have found the fol- 
lowing curious names : — Elizabeth and George Tea- 
garden : Sarah and William Teas. 
Hofflichkeit im fernen Westen (Politeness in the 
Far West). A., zu B., den er mit dem Revolver 
ins Bein geschossen (A., to B., whom he has shot in 
the leg with his revolver): Verzeihen Sie, ich habe 
Sie verkannt (Excuse me, I mistook you [for some- 
body else].). B.. "0 bitte sehr !" (•• Q don't men- 
tion it!") 
A. M. Ferguson. 
It is Estimated that over fifty thousand acres of 
forest land was burnt by incendiary agency in the 
Punjab last year. This record compares very un- 
favourably with that of 1892-93, when the total" area 
affected by forest fires was less than three thousand 
acres. In discussing the questio.i of incendiarism, 
the Cmier.'utor of Forests rem irks that the ac- 
cumulation of pine needles in some districts threatens 
every second or third year to prevent the growth of 
grass, " and in these circumstances somo Zemindar 
is pretty sure to be found who will face the small 
risk of being detected and sent to Jail for applying 
what seems to him the appropriate remedy." it is 
suggested that the grant of special grazing privileges 
in the case of forests which escape for several voais 
in succession is likely to prove more effectual than 
1 the fear of punishment. — M. Mail, .Ian. - Jt*. 
