762 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [May i, 1895. 
ECHOES OF SCIENCE. 
Which is the largest forest ? American students 
of the subject are not agreed on the point. • Canada 
has a forest in the Hudson Bay and Labrador region 
1,000 by 1,700 miles in extent. Another great 
forest stretches from Washington Slate to Alaska. 
The Amazon basin comprises perhaps. 2,100 by 
1,300 miles of forest. Central Africa has a forest 
region 3,000 miles from north to south, and of un- 
known width from east to west. Again, the 
"taigas" and "urmans" or vast pine, Larch, and 
cedar, forests of Siberia are 3, 000 miles from east 
to west, and 1,000 from north to south. The 
natives call them " places where t he mind is lost." 
We are glad to learn that the marvellous 
petrified forest of Apache County, Arizona, which 
was being desecrated by the unchecked com- 
mercial spirit, is in a fair way of being saved 
from wholesale destruction. The Arizona Legis- 
lative Assembly have presented a memorial to 
Congress, praying that the district be withdrawn 
from entry until such time as it can be pre- 
served to the nation as a public park. Globe. 
"ENGLISH TEA." 
The Home and Colonial Mail deals with what 
it sarcastically describes as "a brilliant sugges- 
tion" evidently culled from the Horticultural 
Review by the Westminster Gazette. The extract 
from the latter is as follows : — 
" Another suggestion tor the depressed agriculturist. 
The tea plant will not grow in England, but an accli- 
matised shrub, the ' Chitnonanthus-fragrans.' first 
brought from Japan to England by Admiral Harvey, 
seems we gather from the Horticultural Review, to pos- 
sess the essential requisites of tea. There are three or 
four varieties, all equally serviceable for making a be- 
verage from the leaves, which is not much unlike the 
best green tea when milk and sugar are added. The 
shrub, we are told, thrives well at Buckhurst Hill', 
Essex, G-errard Cross, Bucks, on a sandy soil with a 
southern aspect, and ' would do equally well in Kent, 
Sussex, Hants, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall, where 
many thousand acres now vacant, or yielding unpro- 
ductive crops might be made serviceable and create a 
new and profitable industry.' The Ceylon tea is 
threatening to drive the China tea out of the market ; 
it would be curious if ' English tea ' should ultimately 
supersede both the products of China and Ceylon 1" 
Commenting on this the Home and Coloivial Mail 
It would indeed be ' curious ' if English tea should 
ultimately supersede both the products of India, Coy- 
Ion, and China ; the writer, by the way, has apparently 
never heard of India as a tea-producing country. We 
do not think much of this new and brilliant suggestion 
for depressed agriculturists at home, and can only 
imagine that the writer in the Horticultural Review, and 
he of the Westminster, are having a joke at the depress- 
ed agriculturist's expense." 
THE RIVALRY BETWEEN CEYLON AND 
INDIAN TEA. 
Glancing over a report of the annual meet- 
ing ot the Lungla Tea Company in the Home 
and Colonial Mail we lind reference made to the 
rivalry between Ceylon and Indian tea. The 
Chairman (Mr. M. Fox) is reported to have said : — 
With the decline of China imports there was, he 
maintained, agood fortune for Indian tea, and he appre- 
hended no fear from Ceylon as a rival, as the length 
of tether in extending had, he thought, been reached. 
Mr Tye suggested that the result of the war between 
China and Japan might lead to the exploitation of 
the former country, which might then become a rival 
to India. . , , ' ' , 
The Chairman, m reply, stated that lie was more 
afraid of Ceylon as a rival than China. 
Mr. Tye contended that Ceylon tea would never touch 
Judia" in quality. 
In reply to Mr. Seton. the Chairman stated that the 
satisfactory results of the past season were to be attri- 
buted to finer plucking, gieater care in the tea house, 
and better machinery rather than to the fact that the 
season had been an exceptionally good one. 
The Chairman, in reply toa further questions expreva- 
ed his entire satisfaction with the labour question so far 
as the company was concerned, and maintained that 
great credit was due to the manager and his assistant. 
The system of cash payments three times a day was 
very popular. 
CKYHtN TEA IN AMEHICA. 
One of the warmest friends of Ceylon and Indian 
tea — Fin ley Acker, of Philadelphia expresses the 
following opinion in reply to an editorial inquiry : 
" I think in the course of time Ceylon ten may 
be sold to a considerable extent fis a straight tea, 
but I believe that people will only learn to like 
it gradually. In the great majority of canes 
where people are invited to drink Congou or Cey- 
lon tea for the first time, the usual exclamation 
is that they ' don't like the flavor.' They think 
it lists a rose flavor or an herby flavor. 
"My opinion is that for the present the u>e of 
Ceylon lea in blending is, perhaps, the most prac- 
tical use to which it can be put ; ami yet, even in 
blending, unless the party is w illing to make a 
number of experiments in order to get perfect 
results, he may be greatly disappointed." — Ameri- 
can Grocer. 
But the Editor of the Interstate Grocer published 
in St. Louis — the great rival to Chicago as a 
distributing centre — does not quite agree with the 
above. He says : — " This is a personal opinion and 
one which, in view of the success attained by Ceylon 
and Indian teas in England during the past decade, 
is hardly warranted. The taste for tea is an 
acquired one and simply because the flavor of 
Indian or Ceylou tea is more pronounced titan the 
average run of unfermented China or Japan tea 
there is no reason why the people of the United 
States should not ultimately show a preference 
for them. The statement that " people will only 
learn to like Ceylon tea gradually" is perfectly 
correct, but the general tone of the communica- 
tion is evidently intended to damn Ceylon tea 
with faint praise. The future of Ceylon tea in the 
United States will depend altogether on the 
methods adopted by the Ceylon tea planters for its 
introduction. There is no question as to its 
superiority over the average Japan tea and it will 
more than hold its own with China." 
Ceylon Tea in - America: The Committee ok 
THIRTY. — We call attention to the proceedings 
of this Committee reported by Mr. Philip else- 
where. It is impossible to judge of the wisdom 
of several of the decisions recorded until the 
Delegate's letters on which they are based, see 
the light. But we are unfeignedly sorry to see 
that a Ceylon Court at the Atlanta Exhibition is 
given up. We suppose the money required was 
considered too much to vote out of the fund for 
any one object. We only trust that the fund may 
be wisely used in other directions, and that on 
more time may be lost ; for time is assuredly 
money to planting producers in a case of this kind. 
DEAFNESS. 
An essay describing a really 
genuine Cure for Deafness, 
Ringing in Ears, &c. , no matter how severe or long- 
standing, will he sent post free. — Artificial Ear- 
drums and similar appliances entirely superseded. 
Address THOMAS KEMl'E, Victoria Cham- 
bers, 19, Southampton Buildings, Holboen, 
London. 
