348 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  i,  1892 
it  will  ba  a keen  race  between  the  three;  and  then 
the  condition  of  the  public  health  wi'l  be  in  a 
perilous  state. 
“ Whit  will  the  medical  profession  say  if  this — 
by  no  'means  remote — contingency  should  come  to 
pass?” 
AN  OLD  STORY  RETOLD. 
Then  follows  a long  chem'cal  treatise  on  tea  in  sup- 
port of  the  argument,  temp  red  with  a kind  of  dietet  c 
philosophy,  of  which  the  following  is  a specimen:  — 
“The  late  Mr.  Isaac  C ewdsou— a very  worthy  man, 
well  v<  rsed  in  tea — was  the  first  to  stimulate  us  in  oar 
study  of  this  important  question  ; and  his  opinion  is 
Worthy  of  being  Lera  quoted,  in  support  of  our  own 
personal  contention  and  physical  experience  when  drink- 
ing tea,  namely  that  ‘ tha  small  extra  amount  of  theino 
given  up  by  Indian  and  Oeylon  teas,  as  compared  with 
China  tea  is  overpowered  and  neutralised  by  their 
much  greater  amount  of  tanLiu,’  and  therefere  proves 
the  truth  of  Mr.  Orewdson’s  personal  sensations 
to  which  ho  gave  expression  long  before  Ceylon  ten 
was  known  ‘ Indian  tea  satisfies,  hut  does  not 
refresh  ; China  tea  refreshes  wi  bout  a feeling  of 
over-satisfaction,  and  is  rot  folowei  by  a sense  ot 
depression  and  heaviness  such  as  i3  caused  by  Indian 
tea.’  Many  of  the  best  all  round  judges  of  tea — who 
are  engaged  in  the  trade— have  entirely  discarded 
Indian  and  Ceylon  teas  in  favour  of  China  for  their 
own  drinking  became  of  the  effect  they  feel  after 
drinking  the  different  varieties.” 
THEY  REGRET  THE  DECADENCE  OF  THE  CHINA  TRADE. 
The  opinion  of  this  “ worthy  man  well  versed  in 
tea,”  seems  to  have  stimulated  Mr.  Cranston  to 
some  purpose.  It  seems  to  us,  however,  that  the  gist 
of  the  whole  thing  is  to  be  found  in  the  following  : — 
“ We,  the  undersigned,  importers,  brokers  and  whole- 
sale tea  dealers,  regretting  the  decadence  of  the 
China-tea  trade,  in  which  we  have  no  pecuniary  in- 
terests, other  than  that  of  sellirg  aud  buying  on  the 
market — like  our  neighbours — and  have  studied  early 
proof  copies  of  Mr.  Stuart  Cranstou’s  memorial  to 
the  Right  Hon.  G.  J.  Goschen,  Chancellor  of  the 
Exobequer  upon  the  question  of  ‘Tbeine  versus 
Tannin,’  we  cordially  endorse  his  arguments  ; an  t from 
our  position  as  dealers  in  all  k'nds  of  teas  and  our 
experience  as  tea  tasters,  we  are  able  to  roughly 
substantiate  the  accuracy  of  analysis  by  P.ofessor 
Dittmar*  ll.d.,  f.r.s.,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  tannin; 
the  amounts  of  taDnin  stated  against  tha  indi- 
vidual teas  describe  1 by  Mr.  Stuart  Cranston  co-form 
to  our  sensatioi  s of  palate  at  the  tasting  board  day 
by  day  ; and  believing  that  the  gravity  of  that  ques- 
tion in  its  beaiing  on  the  public  healh  merits  the 
utmost  publicity,  we  humbly  crave  of  the  right  hoo. 
gentleman  that  he  will  receive  the  memorial  and 
deal  with  it  according  as  he  in  his  enlightened  judg- 
ment and  ability  may  determine  : — Harvey  Twining, 
Rchd.  Twining  and  Go.;  J.  Mason  Harrison.  Harri- 
sons  and  Orossfield  ; E.  H.  Absolom,  Meares,  Absol dm 
and  Young;  Thomas  Hilhouse,  Rchd.  Hilhouse  aud 
Sons;  Williamson,  Cloudsley  and  Webb;  Browne, 
Rosenheim  and  Oo. ; Thomas  F.  Eisterbrook,  for  Wm. 
Ford  and  Sons  ; George  Clark  and  Oo  , Hankow,  China ; 
H.S.  Hanoook,  of  Hanoook,  Bros,  and  Co.,  Brokers  ; 
Rothwell  Marshall  and  Oo.,  Brokers,  59,  Eistcheap ; 
Alexander  Campbell,  Kewkiang,  China ; Moffat  and 
Heath,  Brokers,  38,  Mincing  Lane  ; H.  Jobbins,  Broker, 
9,  Mincing  Lane;  H.  F.  Cornish,  late  Broker,  9,  Min- 
cing Lane;  Herbert  Townend  and  Oo.,  Brokers,  39, 
Eastcheap ; W.  W.  King  and  Son,  Hankow  aud 
Shangba’,  China ; Wilson,  Collins  and  WilsoD,  25, 
Eastcheap  ; R.  Beazley  and  Co.,  Idol  Lane  ; Ciesar, 
Hyde  and  Co.,  exporters,  27,  Mincing  Lane  ; Moss  and 
Bluhm,  exporters,  32,  Fenchureh  Street;  Edwin 
Gamman  & Co,  importers,  65,  Fenchureh  Street, 
Theodor  and  Rawlins,  brokers,  71,  Eistcheap; 
Hamilton  Brothers  and  Co.,  157,  Fenohurch  Street  ; 
Henry  Caras  Wilson,  manager  for  the  Asiatic  Tea 
Agency ; James  Sanderson  and  Co  , St.  George’s  House, 
Eastcbe»D;  Fergusson  and  Odell,  brokers,  5,  Great 
Tower  Street.” 
Mr.  Cranston’s  pamphlet  must  be  met  by  a counter- 
blast, or  it  may  work  some  mischief.  There  are  points 
in  it  to  be  refuted,  and  doubtless  the  Indian  and  Oeylon 
Tea  Associations  will  deal  with  the  chemistry  of  it. 
As  a sensational  attack  on  the  Indian  and  Oeylon  tea 
trade,  issued  to  the  Press  in  the  dull  season,  it  is, 
no  doubt,  a clever  move;  and  it  is  clear  that,  if  Mr. 
Staart  Cranston  has  taken  all  this  trouble  out  of  con- 
sideration for  the  health  of  his  fellow-oreatures, 
Glasgow  possesses  a real  philanthropist, — ff.  and  C, 
JIail,  Sept,  80. 
GUTTA  PERCHA  MANUFACTURE. 
The  Gutta  Percha  Manufacturing  Oo.,  Ltd.,  pub- 
lishes its  prospectus  in  the  Bangkok  papers.  The 
oapital  is  §600,000,  and  the  object  of  the  oompaoy 
is  to  get  gutta-percha  from  the  leaves  and  twigs,  in- 
stead of  cutting  down  the  trees,  according  to  M. 
Rigole’s  patent.  The  great  meri's  claimed  for  this 
invention  is  that  it  allows  the  trees  fiom  which  the 
gutta  is  extracted  to  be  utilised  continuously  darmg 
their  natural  life.  It  is  proposed  to  purchase  the 
Pulo  Obia  Estate  (§40,000)  aud  establish  a factory 
and  plantation  there,  in  addition  to  the  arrangements 
for  procuring  a regular  supply  of  leaves  and  twigs 
from  Borneo  and  Johore.  The  working  oapital  is  to 
be  §275,000;  §80,000  for  the  factory.  §20,000  (half 
purchase  money)  for  Pulau  Obin,  M.  Rigole  §30,000, 
planting  66,000  trees  §10,000,  contingencies  §20,000 
funds  in  hand  §110,000,  The  annual  expenditure  in 
manufacturing  6, 0“0  pikuls  of  guttapercha  is  ealeu  ated 
at  §1,123,500  giving  a total  net  profit  of  ^971,500 
per  annum  or  150  per  cent,  per  annum  on  the  whole 
capital.  The  Bangkok  Times  says: — 
The  history  of  how  M.  Rigole  came  to  hit 
upon  the  process  which  the  new  Company  will 
purchase  hereafter  is  curiously  interesting.  Same 
four  years  ago  MM.  SHigmann-Lui  and  Serullas 
— the  latter  a botanist,  and  the  son  of  a dis- 
tinguished savant — came  out  to  the  East  under  the 
auspices  of  the  French  Government,  to  inquire 
into  the  methods  of  guttapercha  gathering,  with 
a view  to  introducing  seoientifio  processes.  They 
visited  Tonquin,  the  Malay  Peninsula,  Java,  Sumatra, 
and  other  likely  piec  e,  everywhere  Qndiug  the  natives 
pursuing  the  wasteful  polioy  of  felling  the  gutta- 
bearing  trees,  with  infinite  labour,  and  with  a mini- 
mum of  results.  Tha  modus  operand's  might  be 
compared  to  that  of  a bntoher  slaughtering  a cow 
for  the  sake  of  her  milk,  insteai  of  judiciously  titil- 
lating her  under  periodically.  The  experiments  which 
M.  Serull  as  made  were  valuable  in  so  far  as  they 
indicated  the  particular  variety  to  the  Isonandra  or 
gutta-bearing  trees,  which  gave  the  best  results,  and 
the  possibility  of  tapping  them  without  injury.  By 
inspissating  the  sap  thus  obtained  he  produced  a 
sort  of  gutta-percha,  samples  of  which  he  submitted 
to  a Siugapjre  syndicate.  Tests,  however,  showed 
that  bis  process  oxidised  the  gum,  and  as  that 
rendered  it  useless  for  insulating  purposes  it  was 
valueless  to  elec  ricians,  the  largest  consumers.  The- 
process,  too,  proved  excessively  expensive. 
Contemporaneously  with  thes6  research  sea  French  1 
doctor  named  M.  Dieudonne  Rigole  was  pur  uing 
similar  investigations.  After  spending  some  years  in 
Tonquin  in  the  service  of  the  Government  his  atten- 
tion was  drawn  to  the  importance  of  the  question, 
and  at  his  own  expense  he  visited  the  forests  of. 
Sumatra  about  three  years  ago.  There  he  made  the 
important  discovery  that  the  greatest  peroentage  of 
sap  was  to  be  found  in  the  twigs  and  leaves  of  the 
trees,  and  not— as  the  Malays  imagined — in  the  trunk. 
The  next  difficulty  was  the  production  of  chemioally  pure 
gutta-percha  at  a remunerative  rate.  This  difficulty  he 
satisfactorily  overcame  nearly  a year  ago,  the  samples 
exhibited  at  private  tests, both  in  Paris  and  Singapore  ad- 
mittedly possessing  far  higher  insulating  properties  than 
any  hitherto  put  on  the  market,  and  commanding  corre- 
spondingly high  prices,  while  the  cost  of  manufacture 
was  greatly  diminished.  The  value  cf  the  discovery 
was  at  once  apparent  to  M Rigole’s  supporters,  and 
111 
