46 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST 
[July  i,  1892. 
have  the  best  of  everything.  I should  like  to  feel 
that  we  had  entertained  our  friends  in  America  with 
tea  at  $>200  a pound,  for  I recently  read  of  the  sale 
of  tea  you  speak  of  in  London  at  S183.'  I was  so 
carried  away  with  her  national  pride,  that  I forth- 
with offered,  if  she  would  permit  me,  to  send  her 
some  of  our  best  Bhud  tea,  with  my  compliments. 
After  her  departure  my  mind  turned  to  other  whims 
that  rich  Americans  had  indulged  in,  and  I concluded 
that  nowhere  are  there  so  many  people  willing  to 
spend  fabulous  sums  for  the  gratification  of  their 
pride  and  fancies.” 
HOW  THE  PBINCE8S  OF  WALES  MAKES  TEA. 
The  Hamburg  correspondent  of  the  London  Item 
relates  some  interesting  gossip  concerning  the  Prin- 
cess of  Wales  and  her  recent  visit  to  that  famous 
watering  place.  She  invariably  breakfasted  in  a 
rivate  dining  room  of  the  principal  restaurant,  the 
oor  of  which  was  always  left  open.  It  was 
noticed  that  the  Princess  made  her  own  tea.  The 
hot  water  vras  served  at  the  table.  She  carried  with 
her  a little  parcel  of  Ceylon  tea,  and  with  her 
fingers  took  up  and  placed  in  the  tea  urn  a very 
small  quantity,  apparently  insufficient  for  a single 
cup,  though  usually  she  prepared  enough  for  several 
cups  for  herself  and  some  for  her  daughters  ; most 
of  them,  however,  drank  coffee.  The  Ceylon  tea  is 
made  of  the  blossoms  or  buds  of  the  tea  plant  and 
not  of  the  leaves  themselves.  It  is  only  necessary, 
therefore,  to  use  a very  small  quantity  as  compared 
with  the  amount  ordinary  required.  The  fragrance 
of  the  tea  was  such,  says  the  writer  in  the  Item, 
that  it  filled  the  outer  dining  room.  One  of  the 
inquisitive  guests  made  inquiries  in  reference  to  its 
cost,  and  was  told  shat  it  was  called  Bhud  tea, 
and  was  imported  expressly  for  the  use  of  the  Prin- 
cess. More  than  this  she  could  not  learn.  Ceylon 
tea  since  its  use  by  the  Princess  has  become 
known,  has  been  greatly  favored  by  English  tea 
drinkers,  and  the  importations  of  it  during  the  last 
few  years  have  marvellously  increased.  So  successful 
has  the  business  become  that  a branch  of  the  London 
house  has  been  established  in  New  York,  with  its 
offices  in  the  Judge  building.  No.  110  Fifth  Avenue. 
The  Ceylon  teas  imported  by  this  company  have 
within  a few  months  achieved  a wonderful  reputa- 
tion in  the  United  States.  It  was  Bhud  Ceylon 
tea  that  was  served  at  the  banquet  to  President 
Harrison  while  he  was  visiting  Mount  McGregor. 
The  cost  of  the  tea  served  at  this  banquet  was 
$23  a pound. 
One  of  the  diffioult  things  to  do  in  any  country  is  to 
get  a woman  to  change  her  way  of  doing  housework. 
She  will  change  her  dress  ; she  is  used  to  that.  Put 
her  way  of  steeping  tea  ? 
She  will  come  to  it.  Now  is  the  time. 
wabning 
If  you  steep  this  tea  American  fashion,  that  ia,  boil 
it  and  let  it  stand  with  the  leaves  in  it  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes,  you  spoil  it.  That  is  not  the  way  to  make 
good  tea. 
Not  one  in  a thousand  American  families  ever  tasted 
good  tea  ; you  do  not  know  what  it  is. 
Good  tea  is  the  proper  leaf  prepared  as  it  ought  to 
be.  It  is  obeering,  refreshing,  agreeable,  gentle,  and 
harmless  ; not  pungent,  bitter,  puckery,  stomach-dis- 
turbing,  and  nerve  undoing. 
The  goodness  of  tea  is  drawn  from  tho  leaf  by  steep- 
tog  it  in  boiling  fresh  water,  the  instant  it  boils,  from 
two  to  seven  minutes  off  the  stove.  After  that  what  is 
got  from  the  leaf  is  color  and  bitterness  ; strength,  but 
not  tea  strength  ; a strength  to  tan  leather-steep  it  a 
little  longer  and  you  can  tan  leather  with  it. 
But  tea  is  not  all  alike,  and  water  differs.  Tea 
grown  on  the  higher  mountain-levels  requires  the 
longer  steeping.  Hard  water  takes  more  time 
than  soft. 
The  flavor  depends  on  the  tea  itself  in  the  first 
place  and  then  on  the  steeping.  Too  short  or  too  long, 
too  oold  or  too  hot,  and  the  flavour  is  either  not  got  or 
spoiled. 
With  these  hints  a careful  taste  may  be  left  to  And 
out  the  time  required  to  develop  the  finest  flavor  your 
lea  is  capab'e  of. 
Thistta  is  the  natural  leaf  of  Ceylon,  prepared  in 
Ceylon  by  modern  British  appliances  ; nothing  hut  tea  ; 
and  r.ot  touched  by  the  hand  except  in  plucking  the 
leaf  from  the  plant.  It  is  natural,  pure  and  clean. 
It  is  two  or  three  times  as  strong  ss  Japan  cr  China 
tea.  Use  therefore  only  half  or  a third  as  mnch  of  it, 
and  steep  it  at  table. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  yon,  there  is  no  economy 
iD  boiling  tea.  Economy  steeps  it  at  tabic,  and  pours 
it  off  the  leaves  in  from  two  to  seven  minutes. 
This  tea  is  new  ; it  has  a strength  and  flavour  un- 
known befoie.  If  you  want  its  utmost  value,  lay  aside 
your  old  ways  and  fo  low  the  new  one. 
It  isn't  new.  The  English  always  make  their  tea  at 
table;  it  would  b>  lard  to  get  them  to  change,  for 
they  know  that  the  proper  flavour  of  tea  is  got  by  steep- 
ing it  right— Americans  do  not  distinguish  that  flavour. 
You  will  find  it  out:  it  is  delicate,  fine,  aroma  ic — 
indescribably  delicate,  fresh  ami  fine.  When  you  get 
it  right  you  will  say  you  would  never  tasted  tea 
before;  you  will  miss  what  you  Dover  quite  liked  in  tea. 
Our  Brands  of  Tea  are 
Bhud  (tea  leaf  buds)  ...  at  $125 
Tiffin  (small  leaves)  ...  at  .90 
Bungalore  (large  leaves)  ...  at  .65 
Our  Brand  cf  Coffee  is 
Lanka  (roasted)  ...  at  .50 
Ask  your  grocer  for  our  brands  and  take  no  others. 
You  thereby  secure  absolute  purity  aud  uniformity  of 
quality. 
The  Ceylon  Planters’  Tea  Company.  Executive  Office 
only  Fifth  Avenue,  cor.  16th  Stree  t,  New  York  City. 
To  preserve  the  full  strength  and  flavour  of  the  tea 
keep  it  in  an  nir-tight  jar. 
You  may  as  well  begin  right — 
Make  this  tea  Bt  the  table. 
CULTIVATION  IN  MALABAR, 
A Coorg  planter  who  has  lately  been  travelling  in 
Malabar  wites  to  us : — “ To  a stranger  it  seems  a 
mystery  what  becomes  of  the  enormous  quantities  of 
pepper  annually  shipped  from  the  ports  on  the  Western 
Oo’st,  mostly  to  the  Continent  of  Europe.  Produc- 
tion is  outstripping  oousumption,  and  the  local  prices 
have  fallen  almost  one- fourth  this  season.  But  the 
high  prices  that  have  ruled  of  late  years  have  greatly 
stimulated  the  cultivation  of  pepper,  as  we  shall  learn 
probably  from  Messrs.  Alston  Low  and  Co.’s  annual 
table  of  statistics  iasued  at  the  end  of  the  season. 
Any  . tree  that  will  hold  the  pepper  vine  in  Malabar  will 
be  found  covered.  Poles  are  planted  for  the  purpose 
and  tho  favourites  seem  to  te  of  the  leguminose 
order,  Erythrina  indica  and  E.  stricla,  the  first  named 
smooth  barked,  the  other  prickly,  called  in  Coorg 
palvan  and  mid  palvan,  iu  Madras  dalap.  I believe. 
The  Erythrina  indica  is  used  freely  in  the  early 
stages  of  coffee  planting  for  shading,  until  more 
enduring  kinds  can  be  raised.  It  produces  soft 
corky  wood,  and  is  short-lived.  Plantations  of 
considerable  extent  of  these  trees  are  to  be  seen 
from  all  the  roads,  in  every  direction,  in  Malabar, 
convered  with  pepper.  The  vines  climb  1C  to  12  feet 
in  height,  and  the  stems  run  to  an  inch  thick  and 
over.  The  cultivation  is  carefully  managed,  and  it 
occurred  to  me  that  coffee  planters  might  take  a 
lesson  from  the  pepper  cultivators,  in  one  respect,  and 
that  is  in  terracing.  Whatever  the  slope  of  the  land 
in  Malabar,  easy  or  steep,  it  will  be  found  terraced 
for  pepper  aud  even  for  coconuts.  The  rainfall  is 
no  lighter  in  Malabar  than  in  that  of  the  favourite 
ooffee  districts  cf  Coorg.  Fields  of  coffee,  in  good 
districts  that  have  been  exhausted  and  abandoned, 
might  be  very  - well  renewed  by  a scientific  system 
of  terracing,  planting  in  manured  holes,  and  oarefully 
shaded  and  cultivated.  I was  told,  too,  by  the  late 
Sir  Oliver  St.  John  that  terracing  is  the  general  system 
of  cultivation  practised  in  Northern  India.  If  this 
careful  preparation  of  the  land  will  pay  the  pepper 
grower,  whose  produce  is  worth  today  R20  a cwt.,  care- 
