THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 189 
ceptible to moisture, and if left open of course rapidly 
deteriorated, tie was one of the judges of the essays 
referred to by Sir Henry Peek : the competition took 
place in 1862, it was not a very large prize, and he 
thought too much importance had been attached to 
the essay, which at any rate was now quite out of 
date. He did not think the process referred to had 
anything to do with the tannin, it was keeping the 
tea infused too long which brought out the tannin. 
Mr. Wii. Mackenzie said the book referred to 
by Sir Henry Peek was twenty-five years old ; at 
the time machinery had not been introduced into 
India, and no tea at all was grown in Ceylon, 
so that the author's remarks could not be held 
accountable for any supposed defects in the quality. 
It was proverbial again that doctors differed in 
opinion. China tea was kept a long time because 
it was not used, but Ceylon tea went off so rapidly 
that there was no occasion to keep it. When there 
was a constant supply of freshly -grown tea, they did 
not want stuff which had been kept several years. 
If they wanted to keep, they would make it 
differently, but then it would not be welcomed in 
every household as it Was now. They evidently 
made tea in Ceylon which suited the public taste, 
or there would not be such a demand for it, aha' 
he hoped before long that it would take the same 
hold of other countries. 
Mr. Waltek Reid asked if Mr. Stanton could 
throw any light on the question, what kind of le- 
verages the increased consumption of tea was dis- 
placing — coffee and cocoa, or aichulic drinks ? With 
regard to future competition in the tea trade, there 
were several countries wliich might at no distant 
data produce tea ; for instance, certain parts of 
Brazil were well suited for the cultivation, if there 
were a good supply of labour, and possibly Aus- 
tralia, which was now a large consumer, might some 
day produce her own, and even export it. The 
question of tannin was certainly one of importance ; 
not only Sir A. (. larke, but a large numuer of the 
medical profession were of opinion that there 
was considerable danger from an abuse of tea. 
If you put a beverage into the hands of the masses, 
you could not limit the quantity they would drink, 
and the result was that the tannin acted injuriously 
on the digestive organs. There were two ways 
of getting rid of tannin : one was, to pick out only 
delicate leaves, which would be more expensive, but 
which were certainly better, and contained very little 
tannin ; and the other was either in the process of 
manufacture to extract the tannian without extract, 
ing the theine, or to add something which would 
render the tannin innocuous ; for he was afraid 
they would never be able to get everyone to treat 
tea properly in the preparation of the beverage. 
The theine was what Mr. Christy called the 
caffeine, but he preferred the old name, because 
there was some doubt whether it was really the 
same substance as caffeine. There was a large 
opening for the preparation of this article. Why 
should the planters of Assam send the leaves over 
here for us to extract the theine, and then throw 
the leaves away, when they might prepare it on the 
spot, and send it direct to America, or oven to 
England, where, no doubt, there were many also 
who would like to be able to carry a cup of tea 
about with them. It must be remembered that 
theine was volatile; and it wes quite possible that the 
proportion found in the leaves when offered to the 
consumer might depend, in seme measure, on the 
mode of preparation. 
Mr. John Hughes said he might read a few 
figures which he had recently obtained, as so much 
had been said about tannin. He took three kinds 
of tea, Assam, Ceylon, and China, and found the 
per-centage of tannin present to be as follows :— 
AfcerSmin. infusion After 30 min. 
Assam .. 10-'ii 11-76 
Ceylon .. 8'60 10-88 
China .. 7'80 9- 10 
The difference, therefore, was very small indeed be- 
teen China and Ceylon, and would hardly be noticed. 
Jt depended a great dea on how the tea ftae made, 
and he was surprised that Mr. Stanton had not given 
«ome directions on that point. He would also 
recommend people to ask their grocerd to, supply 
them with either India, Ceylon, or China tea, and 
•not with mixtures, such is he wa« sum tu aav sevmed 
to be getting very general. He did not think the 
increase in the consumption of Cevlon tea was so 
;much due to the taste of tl)e public as to the opera- 
tions of certain gentlemen in Loudon, who found it 
to their interest in preparing their '•blends '' to use 
Ceylon tea. He had visited Ceylon on two or three 
occasions, and on behalf of the tea planters he asked 
that the teas they sent over should be judged on their 
own merits, and nothing would do more to recom- 
mend them than to use them pure and simple rather 
than in a blend. 
The CiiAntMAN said he thought Sir Henry Peek was 
mistaken in his explanation of the strength of As- 
sam tea ; the real explanation was that it was manu- 
factured within a few hours of being gathered. China 
tea v. ;is produced by small fanners who, when they 
had gathered the leaves, had to take them, six. oijrht, 
or perhaps fifteen miles, before they w ere manufac- 
tured, and as the tea was grown in a hot. damp cli- 
mate, a considerable amount of fermentation set up 
in the course of a very few hour*, and detracted from 
the strength, since the most valuable portion, the 
volatile caffeine, was loft. Then the Assam tea was 
an altogether different species fiom the Chinese tea. 
Many years ago the Government of India went to 
immense expense in importing Chinese tea plants, 
I and for many years they were spread o\er Assam; 
! then it was found accidentally that there was a 
species of tea growing in the jungle, which at first 
was thought to be unfit for use. but an enterprising 
Englishman manufactured some of the leaves and 
sent them over, when the experts in Mincing-lane 
pronounced it the finest tea ever sent to London. 
This plant was gradually developed, and for many 
years it was cultivated under great difficulties, for when 
ever it w as in proximity to the Chinese plant the latter 
hybridised it, with very injurious effects. The indi- 
genous plant produced a tea of higher strength and 
quality, more rich in cafferiue, than the China, and 
a far "larger quantity of leaf per acre. Consequently, 
for the last i45 years, there had been a struggle on 
the part of the planters to eradicate the China plants, 
which had been imported at such expense. It was 
a mistake to suppose that the tea plant was intro- 
duced to China from Assam, because it was quite 
a distinct species. In Assam, tea was manu- 
factured on a large scale : 500 acres was con- 
sidered about the minimum extent for a garden ; 
there was extensive machinery, and the plant was 
manufactured into tea within eight or ten hours 
after it was gathered. Very often tramways were 
laid down in order to facilitate the transport of the 
leaves to the factory, and of course nothing of 
this kind could be done by the small Chinese 
cultivators. He thought there was very little fear of 
competition from either Brazil or Australia. The 
tea plant required for its proper cultivation an ex- 
tremely damp climate. In that past of Assam which 
produced the finest tea in the world, the rainfall wa6 
about 160 inches in the year, and in addition to a 
heavy rainfall and a high temperature, you wanted a 
largp supply of cheap labour. This combination was 
certainly not to be found in Australia, and he doubted 
if it would be found in any part of Brazil. The evidence 
produced bv Mr. Hughes on the tannin question was 
pretty conclusive ; the difference was comparatively 
small, and no more than would be accounted for 
by the richness of the Assam tea in extractive matter 
generally. But he really thought this tannin ques- 
tion was, to a great extent, - a mere bugbear; and 
that if a thoroughly scientific analysis were made, 
it would be found there was nothing in it. All he 
could say was that on a long march, and where troops 
were exposed to great hardships, a cup of Assam tea was 
one of the most sustaining and invigorating beverages 
a soldier could have. The advantages which the tea in- 
dustry had conferred on the Indian Empire could hardly 
be exaggerated. Forty years ago the province of Assam 
was a wilderness covered with jungle and swamp, the 
abode of the tiger and wild animala of all Kinds, 
