Oct,  i,  1892,] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST, 
287 
nterest  in  America  or  China,  the  handsome  balance 
of  $5,500,000  ! Why  cannot  we  have  some  of  it  ? 
There  is  the  same  field  here  today  as  in  the  time 
of  Low,  Grinnell,  Howland  and  Train,  when 
we  were  the  owners  of  the  China  trade.  Why  do 
not  our  business  men  take  advantage  of  the 
opportunity  ? 
A few  words  of  advice  to  tea-drinkers  may  not 
be  malapropos.  When  I left  the  United  States  I was 
considered  a fair  judge  of  tea.  Now,  after  having 
visited  Ceylon,  Formosa  and  the  Amoy  district,  I 
find  I knew  nothing  of  tea.  We  Americans  don’t 
know  the  first  principles  of  making  tea.  The  de- 
licate leaf  should  never  touch  metal.  It  should  be 
kept  in  paper,  wood,  glass  or  porcelain.  To  make 
it,  put  a small  quantity  in  a porcelain  cup,  fill  the 
latter  with  boiling  water,  cover  it  up  with  a porce- 
lain saucer  and  let  it  stand  three  minutes. 
Then,  if  you  desire  to  be  an  epicure,  drink 
only  the  upper  layer  of  the  golden  liquid,  throw 
the  rest  away,  rinse  the  cup,  and  begin  draw- 
ing de  novo.  Never  use  sugar  any  more  than  you 
would  sweeten  Chambertin  or  pour  molasses  into 
Mumm’s  extra  dry.  Do  not  use  milk.  It  ruins  the 
flavor  of  the  tea,  and  the  combination  ruins  the  stomach. 
The  cloudiness  produced  by  adding  milk  to  tea  arises 
from  the  action  of  the  tannin  upon  the  casein,  and 
is,  chemioally  speaking,  pure  leather. 
Above  all  things,  do  not  boil  tea.  The  heat  drives 
off  the  perfume,  spoils  the  flavor,  and  extracts  the 
tannin,  the  astringent  principle.  If  the  boiling  be  done 
in  a tin  or  iron  pot  the  tannin  attaoks  the  metal  and 
makes  the  liquid  black.  This  fluid  is  simply  diluted  ink. 
Never  let  the  tea  stand  except  in  a tightly  closed 
porcelain  pot.  Standing  ohanges  it  from  a delicious, 
wholesome  beverage  into  an  ill-tasting  and  bitter 
liquor.  Better  make  it  in  small  quantities,  and  make 
it  often.  In  summer,  when  you  want  to  cool  off 
quickly,  sip  the  tea  boiling  hot,  with  a slice  of  previously- 
peeled  lemon,  or  nicer  still,  of  orange  without  the 
rind,  floating  in  it.  In  winter,  especially  when  you 
have  a cold  and  require  a sudorific,  add  a wineglass- 
full  of  arrack  to  it  and  drink  it  down  as  hot  as  you 
can  stand  it.  It  will  bring  out  a profuse  perspiration 
when  punch  or  hot  Scotch  fails  to  thaw  you  out. 
Beware  of  green  tea  ! It  is  an  abomination  and  a 
fraud.  In  the  first  place  it  is  the  unripe  leaf  and 
bears  the  same  relation  to  the  real  artiole  that  the 
green  does  to  the  ripe  peach.  The  green  tea  of 
commerce  derives  its  rare  color  from  being  cured, 
or  rather  killed,  on  dirty  copper  pans,  from  being 
mixed  with  weeds  and  shrubs,  from  being  stained 
with  indigo  and  chrome-yellow,  from  being  colored 
with  verdigris,  grass  juice,  or  chlorophyl.  Every 
green  dye  known  to  commerce  has  been  used  to 
produce  that  much  admired  but  death-dealing  color, 
excepting  it  may  be  Paris  green.  As  soon  as  the 
use  of  that  poisonous  substance  will  give  a profit 
of  a cent  a pound,  no  doubt  it  will  be  liberally 
used  by  the  mercenary  Mongolian  merchant  and 
the  much  more  mercenary  cultured  European 
tea  trader. 
I will  venture  the  statement  that  there  is  no 
fine  tea  in  the  United  States.  "What  goes  to  our 
country  is  the  cheap  stuff  used  here  by  the  coolies 
and  jail  inmates. 
When  an  American  housekeeper  pays  $1  per 
pound  for  her  Oolong  or  English  Breakfast,  she  is 
buying  what  is  sold  here  for  25  cents.  No  really  gord 
tea  is  sold  here  for  less  than  §1  per  pound  by  the 
wholesale.  If  laid  down  in  the  market  at  home  it 
could  not  be  sold  for  less  than  $1  75. 
'The  tea-plant  is  very  sensitive.  It  flourishes  best 
on  a mountain  side,  where  it  is  neither  very  warm 
nor  cool ; where  the  soil  is  dry,  but  the  rains  and 
dews  are  frequent;  where  the  force  of  the  wind  is 
broken  bv  adjacent  woods  or  hill;  where  there  is  a 
maximum  of  sunlight,  and  according  to  the  Celestials, 
of  moonlight ; and  where  the  surrounding  gronnd  is 
kept  free  from  weeds  or  other  vegetable  growths. 
There  are  farms  in  Formosa,  Fo-Kien,  and  other 
tea  districts  where  these  conditions  exist  unchangingly, 
whose  tea  orop  is  as  famous  and  distinctly  known  in 
the  Eastern  world  as  the  various  chataux  of  Franoe 
are  to  the  wine  experts  of  Europe.  Just  as  the  mil- 
lionaires of  Europe  control  certain  vineyards,  so  do 
the  millionaires  of  the  flowery  kingdom  control  tea 
plantations,  whose  annual  output  is  worth  a king’s 
raDsom. 
Another  point  of  the  many  we  have  to  learn 
from  the  Chinese  is  the  proper  mode  of  packiLg 
the  leaf.  That  which  goes  to  Amerioa  is  dumped 
as  soon  as  it  is  “fired,”  burning  hot  into  a lead- 
lined  box,  the  lead  is  soldered,  and  the  airtight 
coffin  is  sent  around  the  globe  in  the  hot  hold  of  a 
steamer.  The  tea  sweats  and  undergoes  many 
changes,  which  alter  its  flavor  altogether,  and  vitiate 
its  quality. 
The  Mongolian  packs  the  poorest  kind  in  strong 
paper  packages,  and  these  in  turn  in  mortuary  lead ; 
the  better  kind  in  soft  tin  paper  covered  boxes ; still 
better  ones  in  silver  foil  inside  of  1-pound  cases, 
made  of  spirit,  sun-dried  bamboo,  and  the  best  in 
porcelain  jars  and  vases.  He  packs  in  eighths  and 
quarters  of  a pound,  so  that  if  a few  leaves  are  im- 
properly treated  or  not  cured  they  will  not  con- 
taminate much  surrounding  tea. 
The  Russians  compress  the  tea  into  bricks,  or 
cover  it  with  silver  foil  and  many  paper  wrappings, 
or  else  put  it  into  glazed  jars. 
The  principle  is  the  same — the  subdivision  of  the 
tea  and  the  prevention  of  risks  attending  larger 
packages  or  in  bigger  bulk,  such  as  heating,  sweating 
and  moulding. 
This  principle  we  have  yet  to  learn  and  apply, 
and  will  be  fully  rewarded  by  the  exquisite  pleas- 
ure to  be  found  in  a cup  of  truly  fine  tea.  The 
color  is  a delicate  gold ; each  leaf  unfolds  into  a 
perfect  olive  oval:  its  fragrance,  delicate  and  yet 
penetrating,  dainty  but  distinguishable  above  all  other 
perfumes. — American  Grocer,  April  13. 
THE  RED  CEYLON  PEACH. 
Editor,  Farmer  and  Fruit  Grower. 
I am  sending  you  today  by  express  a few  Red  Oeylon 
Peaches.  All  my  trees  were  loaded  again  this  year.  I 
have  been  here  four  years  and  every  year  the  trees 
have  had  to  be  propped  up  to  prevent  the  branches 
from  breaking.  In  this  part  of  Florida,  at  any  rate, 
the  Red  Oeylon  is  a sure  crop  ; it  is  very  strong  grow- 
ing and  seems  to  be  freo  from  all  disease,  but  I do 
not  think  it  is  long  lived,  and  it  is  best  to  keep  up  a 
succession  by  raising  new  seedlings  every  year.  All 
the  seedlings  I have  seen  came  quite  true. 
The  oldest  trees  I have  are  about  eight  years  old, 
and  (hey  are  fine  big  trees;  they  branch  oat  low  from 
the  ground  and  don’t  form  a single  stem  like  many 
peaches.  Some  of  the  branches  are  about  fifteen  feet 
long  and  never  grow  straight  up,  as  the  fruit  bends 
them  so  that  they  always  remain  arched.  Of  coarse 
if  I had  thinned  the  fruit  the  peaches  I send  you 
would  be  larger,  bat  I didn’t  have  time  to  do  it.  The 
Red  Oeylon  Peach,  though  not  the  finest  to  eat  raw, 
preserves  and  cans  better  than  any  other  I know,  and, 
beiog  a freestone,  is  less  trouble  to  put  up  than  a cliDg. 
It  should  prove  a valuable  peaoh  to  cross  with  other 
varieties.  It  ripens  about  the  same  time  as  the 
Peento. 
Trusting  the  peaches  will  arrive  in  good  condition! 
believe  me  yours  truly,  Louis  Bosanqubt.^j 
Fruitland  Park,  Fla. 
The  peaches  were  received  iu  excellent  condition. 
Most  of  them  were  evidently  picked  before  they  were 
quite  ripe.  The  mature  specimens  were  of  a fairly 
good  size  for  this  dry  season — shape,  roundish  oblong 
compressed,  a conspicuous  suture  cn  one  side  at  the 
stem  end,  a bulge  cn  the  same  side  at  the  blossom  end  ; 
with  the  peculiar  reouived  point  like  the  Honey,  but 
not  so  long  and  sharp  ; skin  yellow  and  green,  washed 
with  dull  red ; flesh  white,  red  next  to  the  stone, 
moderately  juicy  and  of  a pronounoed  acid ; perfect 
freestone. — Florida  Dispatch,  Jane  16. 
[“  The  Red  Ceylon  Peaoh”  is,  we  presume,  a 
fanoy  name,  for  there  is  certainly  no  peaoh  indi- 
genous to  Ceylon,— Ed,  T.A.] 
