184 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sept,  i,  i8q2. 
A gentleman,  who  has  shown  a lively  interest  in  this 
journal,  has  sent  us  the  following  communication, 
which  is  so  pertinent  and  to  the  point  that  we  give  it 
in  extensc  : — 
AN  INTERVIEW  ON  THE  TEA  QUESTION  WITH  THE 
OLDEST  FIRM  IN  THE  TRADE. 
Having  rpad  an  article  In  the  Magazine- Journal  last 
week,  entitled  “ The  Nation  Slowly  Poisoned,”  to  the 
effect  that  this  undesirable  state  of  things  was  being  , 
brought  about  by  the  extensive  consumption  of  Indian 
and  Ceylon  teas,  I wended  my  way  Citywards,  and  at 
No.  57.  Fenchurch-street,  was  introduced  to  the  head 
of  the  firm  of  Davison,  Newman  & Co.,  who,  I was 
given  to  understand,  is  one  of  the  highest  authorities 
on  this  important  domestic  question. 
Whether  the  busy  gentleman  who  acceded  to  my 
request  was  Mr.  Davison,  Mr.  Newman,  or 
the  “Oo.,”  did  not  tiauspire.  He  was  “ the  head 
of  the  firm,”  and  I should  say,  from  a phre- 
nological point  of  view,  a very  good  head  too. 
Plunging  in  medias  res  as  to  whether  or  no 
the  statements  contained  in  the  article  referred  to 
were  not,  like  many  of  the  teas  we  drink,  somewhat 
“highly  coloured,”  my  informant  replied,  “I  think 
so.”  He  then  proceeded  to  say  that  Sir  Andrew  Clark 
had  summed  up  the  situation  in  a sentence  in  his 
lecture  to  the  students  at  the  London  Hospital : “If 
you  want  to  have,  either  for  yourselves  or  for  your 
patients,  tea  which  will  not  injnre  and  which  will 
refresh,  get  black  China  tea  ” 
“But,”  I interrupted,  “I  understand  there  is  no  good  1 
China  tea  in  the  market.” 
“In  the  market — no.  It  is  all  bought  np  by  firms 
like  our  own  when  it  arrives  at  the  commencement 
of  the  season.  We  have  plenty,  and  many  ether 
merchants  are  possibly  well  stocked,  but  unfortunately 
the  British  public  has  become  so  aocustomed  to  the 
cheap  and ” 
“Nasty,”  I suggested. 
“No,  I cannot  say  that.  We  wi'l  say  so  wedded 
to  cheap  and  strong  qualities  of  Indian  and  Oeylou 
that  they  do  not  relish  the  more  delioate  importations 
from  China.  Neither  do  they  relish  paying  the  higher 
price  of  really  fine  China  Souchong.” 
It  was  not  an  original  remark,  I know,  hot  I Bum- 
bled out,  “The  British  publio’s  a bass.” 
“I  fear  so,”  acquiesced  “the  head,”  for  if  only  half 
the  allegations  be  true  against  the  muchly  advertised 
low  priced  teas,  the  public  will  pay  very  dearly  for 
its  imaginary  economy.” 
“I  presume,”  I put  in,  “these  severe  strictures  do 
not  apply  to  the  better  qualities  from  India  and  Ceylon.” 
“Oh  dear,  no,”  replied  my  informant,  ‘‘but  I should 
never  recommend  the  choicest  produots  of  those  places 
in  preference  to  those  of  China  ” 
‘•And  now,  sir,”  1 asked  (for  I was,  and  am  still, 
in  the  dark  as  to  his  beiDg  Davison,  Newman,  or 
the  “Oe.”),  “ am  I right  in  stating  that  your  firm  is  the 
oldest  established  house  in  the  trade?” 
“I  think  so.  The  house  was  founded  in  1650  by 
Mr.  Daniel  Rawlinson,  who  was  succeeded  by  Sir 
Thomas  Rawlinson  (the  Lord  Mayor  of  1706),  aod  in 
1763  it  became  Rawlinson,  Davison,  and  Newman, 
which  title  was  altered  some  fourteen  years  after 
to  that  of  its  present  appellation,  Davison,  New- 
man & Oo.  For  240  years,  that  is,  from  1650  to 
1890  the  house  of  which  I have  the  honour 
to  be  the  head  (“  No  more  on  that  head,”  I was 
about  to  remark,  but  didn’t)  occupied  the  same  premises 
a few  doors  off,  but  in  1890  we  were  obliged  to 
make  a change,  for  the  old  building  was  pulled  down.” 
“ I believe  I am  not  the  first  scribe  who  has  had  the 
pleasure  of  referring  to  your  ‘ historic  bouse.’  ” 
“ Oh  dear,  no.  You  will  find  the  firm  referred  to 
more  than  once  by  Samuel Pepys  in  his  diary,  for  Dan 
Rawlinson,  the  founder,  was  an  intimate  friend  of  the 
great  diarist,  and  the  house  is  also  alluded  to  as  a very 
old  established  grocery  business  in  ‘ The  History  of 
Signboards.’  ” 
Commenting  on  the  foregoing,  we  cannot  refrain  from 
observing  that  although  the  remarks  made  by  one  who  is 
evidently  conversant  with  the  tea  trade  aufond  partly 
traverses  the  statements  made  by  the  eminent  medico, 
we  cannot  qnarrel  with  those  remarks,  as  they  are 
evidently  based  on  an  experience  almost  unique  in  any 
trade.  Mr.  Samnel  Pepys,  the  immortal  diarist,  was  a 
great  lover  of  a dish  of  good  tea,  and  be  bought,  or 
rather  his  beautiful  and  youthful  wife  bought,  her 
chest  regularly  of  this  firm.  In  those  d^ys  it  was  not 
known  that  tea  could  be  cultivated  with  any  hope  of 
success  in  India,  but  the  probability  is  that  had  the 
East  India  Companv  known  that  it  coold  be  done, 
they  would  have  initiated  a business  which  has  only 
come  into  vogue  during  the  present  generation.  In 
this  case  th°  growth  would  have  been  mellowed  down 
by  the  long  and  gradual  process  of  two  hundred  sea- 
sons’ refining.  This  is  where  tho  Chinese  teas  have 
advantage  over  onr  Indian  growths,  but  in  any  case 
the  contribution  which  Messrs.  Davison,  Newman  and 
Co.  have  made  in  this  issue  to  tea  literature  i«  dis- 
tinctly a feature,  ar.d  well  worth  the  reading. — 
Magazine- Journal,  June  18th. 
[The  representative  of  a firm  dealing  in  China 
tea  naturally  endorsed  Sir  Andrew  Clark’s  view. — 
Ed.T.A.J 
A Parcel  of  Burmese  Tea  Seed  (says  the  Ran- 
goon Gazette)  sent  by  Mr.  Oliver,  Conservator  of 
Forests,  Burma,  to  the  Superintendent  of  the  Royal 
Botanic  Gardens,  Calcutta,  has  been  identified  as 
genuine  Camellia  theifera , the  Assam  wild  tea.  The 
general  apptArrnce  d ff«rs  very  considerably  from 
that  of  hina  tea  or  of  the  hybrids  generally  culti- 
vated, and  it  is  interesting  to  find  a form  in 
cultivation  which  does  not  differ,  at  any  rate  per- 
ceptibly, from  the  wild  tea.  The  specimens  were 
collected  in  the  Mansi  sub-division,  Katha,  but  the 
original  plants  are  said  to  have  been  brought  from 
the  forest  on  the  Mai^gthon  hills,  where  they  grow 
wild.  The  tea  is  used  for  eating  only.  The  youDg 
leaves  cr  placpd  for  a short  time  in  boiling  water, 
then  slightly  rolled  and  packed  tightly  into  bamboo 
baskets.  The  baskets  with  the  tea  in  them  are  then 
kept  under  water  or  buried  in  the  ground  until  the 
tea  is  sent  to  market. 
Improved  Culture  of  Land. — The  Pioneer 
in  an  article  on  “ A Department  of  Agricultural 
Engineering,”  writes  : — If  by  scratching  the  ground, 
and  cropping  it  twice  a year,  we  can  obtain  the  same 
outturn  as  by  the  scientific  cultivation  of  a fraction  of 
the  area,  why  should  we  not  choose  the  simpler 
plan  ? In  the  face  of  a growing  population,  this 
argument  in  favour  of  agriculture  by  faith  without 
works  is  obviously  unsound.  The  more  capital  and 
labour  we  can  put  into  the  soil,  provided  we  obtain 
an  adequate  return,  the  more  valuable  a property 
we  possess  in  it.  If,  as  Sir  Arthur  Cotton  says  he 
has  done,  we  can,  by  systematic  deep  cultivation, 
obtain  sevenfold  crops  at  a better  rate  of  profit 
than  that  usually  obtained,  it  is  certainly,  in  view 
of  the  increasing  demand  for  land,  to  our  advantage 
to  do  likewise.  This  agricultural  feat  is  said  to  be 
performed  simply  by  the  aeration  of  the  subsoil  by 
very  deep  cultivation.  But  there  is  deep  cultivation, 
and  deep  cultivation.  The  deep  ploughing  that  turns 
over  the  soil  in  heavy  masses,  is  of  little  use,  and  in 
this  respect  the  country  plough  is  in  its  action 
superior  to  the  English  one.  The  process  by  which 
the  happiest  results  are  said  to  have  been  obtained 
is  briefly  as  follows.  The  upper  three  or  four  inches 
of  mould,  which  is  as  a rule  all  that  is  capable  of 
nourishing  the  young  plants,  is  stripped  off  the 
ground.  The  subsoil  is  dug  up  to  a depth  of  two  or 
three  feet  and  thoroughly  pulverized,  no  clod  being 
left  unbroken.  The  vegetable  mould  is  then  replaced. 
This  costly  process  need  only  be  repeated  at  many 
years'  interval,  so  that  practically  only  the  interest 
on  the  initial  outlay  is  chargeable  against  the  value 
of  the  produce.  Lord  Tweeddale,  who  has  carried 
out  this  system  to  a considerable  extent,  mixed  np 
two  inches  additional  every  year  with  the  old  worked 
soil,  till  he  was  ploughing  sixteen  inehes  deep  in 
I one  furrow. 
