7o 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST, 
[July  i,  1892, 
That  journal  had,  it  appeared,  oontained  some 
editorial  remarks  on  the  subject  of  the  tea  trade 
which  had  not  been  seen  by  me,  and  Mr.  Ferguson 
has  taken  the  opportunity  of  their  appearance  to 
submit  to  the  British  public  a very  complete 
account  of  the  Ceylon  tea  industry,  in  a form  and 
after  a manner  which  we  have  no  doubt  will 
secure  attentive  reading  by  a very  wide  circle. 
No  doubt  you  will  receive  from  your  absent  co-editor 
oopies  of  these  letters,  and  will  enable  your  readers 
to  judge  for  themselves  of  the  benefioial  influence 
they  are  likely  to  have.  We  know  them  to  be 
muoh  appreciated  here  in  London,  and  it  is  the 
general  belief  that  no  letters  or  articles  hereto- 
fore published  on  the  subject  of  Ceylon  tea  can 
surpass  or  even  equal  them  in  interest  and  possible 
usefulness. 
ARABI  PASHA’S  RELATIONS  WITH  MR.  LIPT0N, 
The  Western  Morning  News  of  the  19th  insi,. 
refers  to  the  report  that  Arabi  has  taken  service 
under  Mr.  Lipton  as  superintendent  of  one  of  the 
tea  estates  belonging  to  the  latter.  The  paragraph 
oonoludes: — “ If  this  is  so,  they  (Messrs.  Lipton)  no 
doubt  count  upon  the  words  “ Grown  by  Arabi 
Pasha”  acting  as  an  inducement  to  purchasers,  and 
so  recouping  them  for  their  outlay. 
TEA  GROWN  IN  ENGLAND. 
The  Morning  Advertiser  tells  us  that  at  a recent 
meeting  at  Exeter  Hall  the  Princess  Louise  and 
some  of  her  friends  were  presented  with  cups  of 
tea  brewed  from  tea  leaf  grown  and  prepared  in 
England.  It  is  said  the  bush  was  grown  at 
Putney,  of  oourse  being  a forced  plant.  It  was 
Mr.  John  Roger,  a gentleman  who  has  had  ex- 
perience of  tea  planting  in  Ceylon,  who  prepared 
the  leaf,  and  he  states  that  he  gathered  the  leaves 
in  the  morning  and  that  the  whole  prooes3  of 
fitting  them  for  the  teapot  was  accomplished  within 
a working  day  of  eight  hours.  The  Morning  Ad- 
vertiser does  not  think  that  the  sucoess  of  this 
experiment  would  warrant  the  least  hope  that  (he 
tea  plant  could  ever  be  acclimatized  here  for 
commercial  purposes.  Absence  of  intense  sunshine 
rather  than  the  frosts  of  winter  must  forbid  this, 
and  that  paper  remarks  that  of  late  years  “ we 
have  had  scarcely  enough  sunshine  to  ripen  our 
native  blaokberry.”  With  reference  to  this  matter 
the  following  letterappeared  in  the  St.  James's  Gazette 
of  the  2 1st: — “Sir, — We  shall  be  glad  if  you  will  allow 
us  to  state  that  the  tea  plants  mentioned  by  Mr.  Roger 
on  our  property,  were  foroed  on  by  Mr.  Ioeton  at  our 
request  and  expense,  and  that  the  tea  made  from 
them  was  made  by  Mr.  Roger  for  us.  We  shall 
be  pleased  to  answer  any  inquiries. — We  are,  sir, 
your  obedient  servants,  tho  Ceylon  Tea  Agency, 
71,  Eastoheap.” 
THE  INDIAN  AGRI-HORTICURLTUAL 
SOCIETY. 
The  following  extracts  are  from  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Agricultural  and  Horticultural  Society  of 
India  : — 
Kreat.  (Aiulrographis  paniculata.) 
The  following  letter  was  received  from  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Socidte  d’  Acclimatation  of  Mauritius  : — 
“I  have  read  in  the  Tropical  Agriculturist,  Vol. 
X,  No.  11,  of  May  1891,  page  771,  an  extract  entitled 
‘ Remedy  for  Malaria,  in  which  Mr.  Yates  Hunter, 
late  Brigade  Surgeon  of  the  Bombay  Army,  stated 
that  the  plant  named  1 Indian  Kreat  is  now  admitted 
to  be,  in  many  respects,  superior  to  quinine.’  I beg 
you  will  be  good  enough  to  give  me  any  informotion 
regarding  that  plant  and  also  on  its  therapeutic  value, 
and  you  would  greatly  oblige  me  were  you  kind  enough 
to  send  me  seeds  of  that  plant.— Daruty  de  GrandpiA.” 
The  reply  sent  on  the  5th  January  was  as  follows  : — 
Sir,— I am  in  receipt  of  your  'letter  of  the  21st 
November  last,  in  which  you  enquire  about  Kreat, 
a reputed  remedy  for  malarial  fever.  The  name 
Kreat,  or  as  it  was  formerly  spelled  Great  is  one 
of  the  native  synonyms  for  the  Andrographis  pani- 
culata (Lees)  a common  weed  in  most  parts  of  India. 
The  plant  is  described  in  the  Flora  of  British  India 
(Yol.  IV.,  p.  501).  As  regards  its  therpeutic 
value,  it  is  officinal  in  the  Indian  Pharmacopoeia, 
and  I enclose  the  reference  made  to  it  in  the 
Pharmacopoeia  Indica  (W7aring  1868).  There  are 
allusions  to  the  drug  in  all  the  more  recent  writers 
on  Mate,  ia  Medico.,  and  I give  extracts  showing  the 
estimate  in  which  it  has  been  held.  Dr.  O Shaugh- 
nessy  in  the  Bengal  Dispensatory  and  Pharmaco- 
poeia (Calcutta  1S41)  described  the  plant  and  says: 
— “ Celebrated  as  stomachic  bitter  and  used  ' in 
cholera  and  dysentery.  It  is  the  basis  of  the  cele- 
brated Drogue  amere  ; this  is  a compound  of  mastic- 
frankincense,  resin,  myrrh,  aloe,  and  Ceat  root 
steeped  in  brandy  for  a month,  and  the  tincture 
strained  and  bottled.” 
The  Peirmacopoeia  Indica  says  : — “ The  drug  is  ana- 
logous to  quassia  in  action,  and  is  used  in  general 
debility  and  in  convalescence  after  fevers,  and  in 
the  advanced  stages  of  dysentry  it  has  been  found 
serviceable.'  In  the  appendix  to  the  same  work, 
Fleming  (asiatic  Researches,  Vol,  XI),  Ainslie( Materia 
Medica,  Vol.  I),  Drury  (Useful  Plants  of  India)  and 
Waring  (Annals  of  Med.  Ser.,  Vol.  V)  as  well  as 
Roxburgh  are  referred  to. 
In  the  ‘ Indigenous  Drugs  of  India  ’ (Kannylall  Dey 
Calcutta,  1867)  it  is  stated  the  Creat,  Calapnath, 
Kalmeg,  Muhalita  (these  names  being  synonymous), 
is  the  basis  of  the  well-known  “ domestic  medicine, 
Aloie,"  and  this  is  also  mentioned  in  “ The  Materia 
Medica  of  the  Hindus”  (Udhoy  ChandDutt,  Calcutta, 
1877).  Dr.  Dymock,  in  his  ‘ Vegetable  Materia 
Medica  of  Western  India,’  refers  to  Dutt  and 
Forskahl,  and  to  the  latter’s  remark  that  Kreat  is 
common  in  Arabia,  and  is  there  called  Wizr.  He 
also  quotes  Ainslie  as  stating  that  the  plant  was  in- 
troduced to  the  sonthem  parts  of  the  Indian  peninsula 
from  the  Isle  of  France,  and  Fliickiger  and  Hanbury, 
“ who  point  out  that  it  has  been  wrongly  supposed  that 
the  drug  is  a constituent  of  the  famous  bitter  tincture 
called  by  the  Portuguese  of  India  Droga  Amara.”  The 
same  author  quoting  from  the  Pharmacographia,  gives 
the  chemical,  compositions  as  follows  : — 
“ The  aqueous  infusion  of  the  herb  exhibits  a slight 
acid  reaction,  and  has  ail  intensely  bitter  taste,  which 
appears  due  to  an  ;ndifferent  non-basie  principle,  for 
the  usual  re-agents  do  not  indicate  the  presence  of  an 
alkaloid.  Tannic  acid  on  the  other  hand  produces  an 
abundant  precipitate,  a compound  of  itself  with  the 
bitter  principle.  The  infusion  is  but  little  altered  by 
the  salts  of  iron ; it  contains  a considerable  quantity 
of  chloride  of  sodium.” 
Dr.  Dymock  says: — “In  Bombay  the  herb  is  very 
common  in  shady  situations,  and  is  much  used  by  the 
natives  as  a domestic  remedy  for  fever,  in  combina- 
tion with  aromatics,  especially  lemon-grass.” 
In  Watts'  Dictionary  of  the  Economic  Products 
of  India  Vol.  I.,  Calcutta  119)  in  addition  to  the 
authorities  I have  quoted,  the  opinions  of  several 
medical  men  in  different  parts  of  India  are  given. 
Dr.  J.  Laucaster  mentions  that  “ decoctions  of  all 
parts  of  the  plant  act  as  a mild  antiperiodic.”  Dr. 
J.  J.  Piatton  says  it  is  a “ febrifuge  used  fn  infur- 
sioo,”  and  Df.  Kinsley  refers  to  its  use  by  a gipsy  tribe 
in  Madras  in  the  form  of  a pill  mixed  with  tamarind 
pulp,  as  an  antidote  to  cobra  poison.  The  “ Pharma- 
cographia Indica,”  a work  now  in  progress  (Education 
Society’s  Press,  BjcuIIb,  Bombay),  and  of  which  two 
volumes  have  been  published,  has  unfortunately  not 
touched  on  tho  Acanthacse  yet,  or  more  chemical  de- 
tails would  bs  forthcoming.  I will  have  the  pleasure  of 
sending  you  the  seeds  when  they  ripen  but  fancy  the 
plant  must  be  oommon  in  Mauritius. 
TEA  SOILS,  PLANTS,  AND  MANURES. 
The  following  is  some  correspondence  in  reference  to 
the  First  Report  on  progress  made  in  the  inquiry 
relating  to  Tea  Soils,  Plants,  and  Manures : — 
