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THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  i,  1892. 
During  the  depressed  state  of  the  industry  in  1880- 
81,  I,  and  a few  friends,  star'ed  a small  company  in 
this  country  to  educate  the  taste  of  the  public  up  to 
an  appreciation  of  Ind'an  tee,  without  any  admixture 
of  tea  from  other  countries.  The  first  and  second 
years  of  this  venture  were  most  disheartening,  and 
we  were  about  to  abandon  it  with  the  loss  of  the  small 
capital  invested  therein,  when  at  the  commencemt  nt  of 
the  third  year,  a turn  came,  and  we  then  began  to 
more  than  cover  expenses.  From  that  time  forward 
the  improvement  went  on  with  rapid  strides  and  we  have 
since  earned  an  averatze  dividend  of  20  per  cent,  on 
the  small  capital  of  £5,000  invested. 
I am  quite  sure  that  similar  results  may  be 
looked  for  from  the  Valais  Indien,  but  we  must 
have  more  capital  to  ocntiuue  the  enlerpiiso,  and 
we  appeal  in  our  report  to  our  existing  shareholders 
to  subscribe  further — and  to  those  connected  wi'li 
the  Indian  tea  industry  generally,  who  aro  not  share- 
holders— to  subscribe  something  iu  proportion  to  their 
stake  in  the  industry. 
I do  not  wish  to  make  invidious  comparison, 
but  it  is  a remarkable  fact  that  in  this,  as  in  all  other 
efforts  that  have  been  made  during  the  last  few 
years  to  extend  the  use  and  improve  the  posit:on  of 
Indian  tea,  the  onus  has  fallen  almost  exclusively 
on  the  tea  growers  of  Assam  and  Daijeeling,  the  very 
districts  which  have  leist  to  gain  by  such  exertions, 
feemg  that  the  character  of  their  product  is  more 
assur  'd,  and  requires  less  support  than  that  of  the 
newer  districts  of  Oach&r  and  Sylhet  and  the  Dooars. 
The  enterpiise  and  energy  of  our  frients  io  06ylon 
have  brought  their  tea  most  favourably  before  the 
public,  and  have  caused  their  industry  to  attain  the 
well-deserved  success  which  we  find  it  enjo\s. 
I can  only  conclude  by  recommending  the  subject 
of  my  discourse  to  the  attention  of  all  who  are  inter- 
ested in  the  extension  of  the  consumption  of  Indian  tea 
|u  new  quarters  of  the  globe.— H and  C.  Mail,  Oct.  14. 
TO  GIVE  FLOWERS  AN  ARTIFICIAL  COLOR. 
Subsequent  upon  the  notes  which  we  printed  from 
our  Paris  correspondent  regarding  the  artificial  colo- 
ration of  flowers,  we  have  had  some  inquiry  as  to 
how  the  trick  is  done.  We  have  given  one  method 
of  doing  it  which  is  successful,  but  perhaps  the 
simplest  method,  says  the  Chemist  and  Druggist,  is  that 
suggested  by  Mr.  Wm.  Brockbank,  in  the  Gardner’s 
Chronicle.  It  is  to  place  the  cut  flower  in  solutions 
of  aniline  and  similar  dyes.  Aniline  scarlet  dissolved 
in  water  to  about  the  transparency  of  claret  has 
a very  rapid  action  on  flowers,  coloring  them  pink 
and  scarlet.  Indigo  carmine  produces  beautiful  blue 
tints.  The  two  combined  dye  various  shades  of  purple, 
with  curious  mottled  effects,  some  parts  of  the  flower 
becoming  pink  and  other  parts  blue  and  purple. 
Greens  are  produced  by  using  the  blue  dye  with  the 
yellow.  Indigo  and  cochineal  are  not  very  satisfac- 
tory. Amongst  some  of  the  effects  produced  are  the 
following.  Lily  of  the  valley  flowers  become  beauti- 
fully tinged  with  pink  or  blue  in  six  hours,  narcissi 
are  changed  from  pure  white  to  deep  scarlet  in  twelve 
hours,  and  delicate  shades  of  pink  are  imparted  to 
them  in  a very  short  time.  Yellow  daffodils  are 
beautifully  striped  with  dark  scarlet  in  twelve  hours  ; 
the  edges  of  the  corona  also  become  deeply  tinged, 
and  the  veining  of  the  perianth  becomes  very  strongly 
marked.  It  is  well  to  note  that  it  is  by  the  passage 
of  the  colored  solutions  through  the  vascular  tissue 
of  the  flowers  that  the  effect  is  produced,  and  the 
result  is  beautifully  seen  in  white  tulips,  which  in  a 
few  hours  become  prettily  marked  with  pink,  blue, 
or  whatever  the  colour  of  the  solution  may  be.  So 
also  with  snowdrops,  leucojums,  white  lilac,  and  many 
other  familiar  flowers. 
Very  singular  results  are  obtained  in  the  variega- 
ted leaves  of  the  aucuba  and  ivy.  Single  leaves  with 
their  stalks  placed  in  aniline  dye-water,  begau  to 
color  in  about  three  hours,  and  in  twelve  hours  had 
their  margins  deeply  coloured.  Forced  leaves  of  the 
Swedish  turnip  grown  in  the  dark  are  very  suscep- 
tible to  color. — Pharmaceutical  Era. 
VARIOUS  NOTES. 
Tea  Root  (Jabving. — Tlie  article  on  this  sub- 
ject on  page  304,  from  the  Horticultural  Times, 
is  inters  sting  and  may  prove  suggestive.  Root 
stems  of  ooffee  bushes  in  Ceylon  are  converted 
into  legs  for  tables  and  the  more  slender  stems 
into  walking-sticks.  But  we  are  not  aware  that 
our  looal  cabinet-makers  have  turned  their  atten- 
tion to  the  wood,  stem  or  root  of  the  tea  tree. 
Nicely  polished  and  catved  specimens  will,  doubt- 
less, figure  in  the  collections  sent  from  Ceylon  to 
tb6  Chicago  World’s  Fair. 
Japan  Tea. — The  Japan  Gazette  says  : — 
Talka  Shoten  is  a Japanese  tea  firm  in  Kobe 
which  for  years  past  has  been  exporting  black 
tea  prepared  in  Japanese  style  and  also  brick 
tea  to  Vladivostock.  The  brick  tea  has  been 
received  with  greater  favour  than  anticipated, 
but  the  black  tea  is  unpopular  and  is  con- 
sidered much  inferior  to  that  from  China.  This, 
according  to  the  Nichi  Nichi,  is  due  not  only  to 
the  want  of  skill  of  the  Japanese  in  preparing  the 
tea,  but  also  to  the  unfavourableness  of  the  soil 
and  climate  of  Japan.  The  export  of  black  tea  in 
competition  with  that  from  China  is  impracticable, 
and  the  Takeda  has  therefore  decided  to  ship  no 
more  immediately  after  preparation,  but  to  store 
it  iu  godowns  for  a year  or  two  and  then  mix  it 
with  China  tea  for  export.  This  plan,  it  is  thought, 
will  make  the  export  industry  to  Russia  a success, 
though  of  course  the  experiment  remains  to  be  tried. 
The  brick  tea,  we  are  told,  is  prepared  from  the 
black  tea  powder  and  one  would  naturally  expect 
that  it  would  be  received  with  equal  disfavour  as 
the  black  tea.  The  reverse,  however,  has  been  the 
case,  and  our  contemporary  explains  that  this  is 
because  the  brick  tea  manufactured  here  is  pure 
tea,  while  in  China  other  than  tea  leaves  are  usually 
mixed  with  the  tea. 
Considerable  attention  has  lately  been  drawn  to 
the  eucalyptus  or  the  blue  gum  of  Australasia,  and 
the  Forest  Department  would  be  well  advised  did 
they  pay  more  attention  to  its  propagation  in 
Northern  and  Eastern  India.  More  has  been  done 
in  the  Nilghiris,  but  chiefly  by  private  enterprise, 
and  whe.e  large  spaces  are  available  extensive 
planting  might  be  laid  down.  The  bark,  leaves,  and 
fruit  of  the  tree,  all  possess  valuable  qualities,  and 
though  its  use  as  a rain  attractor  has  seemingly 
escaped  notice,  its  great  height  and  quick  growth 
place  it  in  the  first  rank  in  this  respect.  But  perhaps 
the  most  important  recommendation  of  the  tree  lies 
in  the  decoction  made  from  the  leaves  which  is  used 
for  preventing  scaling  in  boilers.  The  oil,  which  we 
presume  is  expressed  from  the  ripe  fruit,*  may  or 
may  not  possess  all  the  therapeutic  qualities  ascribed 
to  it,  and  either  as  an  illuminant  or  lubricant  cannot 
be  expected  to  hold  its  own  against  kerosine  or 
vaseline  ; but  it  may  be  found  useful  in  the  manu- 
ture  of  soap  and  cosmetic.  The  scent  derivable  from 
maceration  of  the  flower  would  hardly  recommend 
itself  to  general  public  favour,  being  almost  overpower- 
ing in  pungency  ; but  doubtless  when  blended  with 
a perfume  less  pronounced,  it  would  be  agreeable 
enough.  The  timber  from  its  liability  to  split  and 
crack  is  unfortunately  not  suited  to  all  purposes, 
though  posts  and  rails  made  from  it  last  a long  time, 
and  if  painted  with  a mixture  of  sulphate  of  copper 
and  gurjan,  or,  perhaps,  eucalyptus  oil,  resist  effec- 
tually the  attacks  of  the  white-ant,  borer,  and  other 
destructive  insects.  As  the  eucalyptus  grows  quite 
as  luxuriantly  in  most  of  our  hill  tracts  as  in 
Tasmania,  it  might  be  as  well  to  ascertain  what 
other  plants  attain  perfection  on  land  affected  by  it 
in  that  colony,  with  a view  of  their  introduction 
here,  and  the  Government  of  India  in  the  Agricultural 
Department  might  reproduce  the  Tasmanian  reports 
in  the  different  Gazettes  for  the  benefit  of  the  public. 
— Indian  Ayriculturi it. 
* We  never  heard  of  oil  from  the  fruit:  it  is 
distilled  from  the  strong-smelling  leaves, — Ed.  T.A, 
