634 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[March i, 189s. 
in the consumption of tea and sugar. He said that 
he supposed in the commercial history of this country 
there never was a period of greater prosperity than 
the years 1871-73. Prices were rising rapidly, trade 
was improving by leaps and bounds, and there 
were many other evidences of prosperity ; yet 
he ventured to think that a careful comparison 
of the last three years with the years to which 
he had referred would show that the great 
bulk of the labouring people of this country were 
better off now than they were then. Since tli it 
time an addition of 7,000,000 had been made to 
the population, representing 140,000 heads of families, 
three-fourths of whom belonged to the working 
classes, and yet he believed that there were fewer 
men out of employment now than in the years 
1871-3. Pauperism had been reduced by at least 
one-half, wage3 had been increased in money, an! 
still more by the value men could get for their 
money. The average consumption per head of the 
population had increased in the same period ; of 
sugar by 02 per cent., of tea by 30 per cent., 
and of tobacco by 19 per cent. All these facts 
showed, to his mind, that there was a silver 
lining to this black cloud of depression 
which was overlying agriculture, and that even 
the agricultural population were infinitely better off 
now than in the prosperous period of 1871-3. Mr. Keir 
Hardie, referring to this statement, said : " It might 
be true that more tea and sugar and other luxuries 
were being consumed, but that did not necessarily 
point to prosperity. He should put it down to ex- 
actly the opposite cause. He knew a district in 
Scotland where tea had taken the place of more 
substantial food, and in the poorer districts of 
London weak tea was the staple article of diet, 
because people could not afford more wholesome 
food." The inference that tea is not wholesome 
food is probably founded upon those " Arabian 
Nights " stories about strong tea and madness which 
have been made to do duty so often. At one time 
it is strong tea which is the bane of poor folk, now 
it is weak tea. 
Direct Tea Shipments to Manchester. — Manches- 
ter is making a bold effort to become a centre for- 
th^ importation and distribution of tea. Thess. " Lin- 
lithgow," belonging to Messrs. Iiaeburn and Verel 
the owners of the steamers which bring a large 
portion of the Indian tea crop to London, is 
now loading at Calcutta for Manchester, and 
specially calling at Ceylon to complete with 
further consignments of tea for Manchester. 
The firm who have so far succeeded in arrang- 
ing to open up direct shipments of tea from 
India and Ceylon to Manchester is Messrs. Johnson, 
Dodds, and Co., of London and Calcutta. The 
"Linlithgow" was expected to leave Ceylon on February 
10, and arrive in Manchester about a month later. 
The rate of freight which the steamship owners have 
taken for the conveyance of the tea to Manchester 
is the same rate as is paid to London, and this will 
enable the tea to be sold in Manchester at the same 
price as in London. Manchester is doing its best to 
succeed where Liverpool and Glasgow have failed. 
Indian Tea Prospects. — "Indian Cha," writing on 
this subject, prophesises very satisfactory results to 
the holders of good tea stock. He says: — "I do not 
think the present strong position of tea can be better 
exemplified than by the fact than on September 17th 
last the exports were 8i millions of pounds in excess 
as cmpared with 1893," and on January 15th this 
excess had dwindled down to a little over 100,000 lb. 
In the case of such facts, and that consumption at 
home monthly is exceeding the visible supply, deal- 
ers then will, when rather late for the crop of 1894 
to de ive the benefit, become alive to the fact that 
our present prices are not too high, and 1895 ought 
to yield still better results to holders of good tea 
stock." 
The Tisa-Bkrwing Question. — The question as to 
the right method of brewing tea is occasionally dis- 
cussed in the papers, and opinions, as usual, vary, 
considerably. Mr. Arthur Sfcradling, writing to the 
Globe apropos a remark made by a writer in that 
journal on the subject, takes exception to the length 
of time mentioned. He says : u Your 1 Echoes of 
Science' in this evening's insue conclude with the 
postulate that "most educated people know that tea 
should only be infused for a few minutes.' Mtv 1, in 
the triple capacity of a quondam resident in tea-grow- 
ing lauds, a medical mm, and one addicted to the 
1 scalded nerb ' to the verge of vice, suggest the substi- 
tution of seconds for minutes f Let your readers 
who would try a cup of the infusion in Chinese »t\le 
half or three-pirts fill a small pot with ( hi a tea, 
or rather less of the more highly tired and pungent 
teas of Ceylon and Hindosian ; brin^ the water '.-j a 
temperature of 170 deg.— not boiling; then hold the 
kettle over the teapot, and the teapot over the cup, 
and allow the water simply to flow through the Leaves. 
The result is a liquor containing the maximum 
amount of caffein (or thein, if thai term be preferred, 
the two being one and the same thing in chemical 
structure) with a minimum of the stomach-destroying 
tannin, delicious, innocuous, as stimulating to brain 
and nerve as wine, and a magnificent diuretic. I 
venture to predict, from the experience- of a quarter 
of a century's constant prescription, that those who 
taste tea made so will never voluntarily revert to the 
conventional stew, the astringencv of which we are 
driven by instinct to palliate by the addition of pre- 
cipitative albumen in the form of milk — well that it 
should be so, since there is no solace or substitute in 
the world to compensate adequately for the lo -s of tea. 
Mate, tli 3 Paraguayan Verba easily procured but sin- 
gularly little known here — is perhaps the nearest ap- 
proach to a compromise." 
The Consumption of Non-Alcoholic Dhinks. — A 
Parliamentary return, illustrated by diagrams, has 
recently beeu issued showing the consumption, from 
the year 18j1 up to the latest date, of alcoholic 
and non-alcoholic beverages and of tobacco com- 
pared with the increase of population. This return, 
which has been prepared by the authorities of the 
Custom House, snows that of beverages the aug- 
mentation in the consumption of the non-alcoholic 
drinks — tea, coffee, cocoa, and chicory — has far 
exceeded that of the alcoholic liquors, the former 
have risen from 125,000,000 lb. in 18i51 to 2<i.>,OOO.000lb. 
in 1893. The figure in the diagram relating to these 
articles is a sharp and continuous gradient upwards. 
On the other hand, the consumption of British and for- 
eigu wines and spirits has risen from 35,000,000 
gallons in the same period to about 51,000,000 gal- 
lons, but it was considerably higher from 1872 to 
1878 than it is now.— U. <t < . Mail. Feb. 15. 
THE EXPERIMENTAL TEA GARDEN. 
CUKEPIPE: MAURITIUS. 
The cultivation of tea appears to attract the at- 
tention of those who feel that the future of the 
sugar industry is fraught with apprehension almost 
approaching consternation. The uncontradicted as- 
sertion , that the garden has already cost about 
R45,000, and that the receipts have not exceeded 
E6,000, may at the first blush, appear so startling 
as to deter many thinking of giving the industry a 
trial from embarking in the enterprize. It 
must be borne in mind that many of the 
items which appear in the books of the estate 
on the debit side — such as superintendence, build- 
ings, machinery etc — are considerably in excess — pro- 
portionately to the acreage in bearing than they 
would have been if a larger area- had, in the fsr^t 
instance, beeu brought under cultivation. It would 
appear that the committee of management, deter- 
mined not to leave a stone unturned to firing the 
experiment to a successful issue, engaged the ser- 
vices of a thoroughly practical man to superintend 
the work. The services of such a one command 
adequate remuneration, and building and machinery 
are necessary accessories to the preparation of the 
leaf. Tae amount that must of necessity appear to 
the debit of these items, would in all probability, 
not have been any larger, had the garden been much 
more extensive. 
