Dec,  Ij  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
423 
is  ‘ berby.’  Why  not  ? Is  not  tea  an  herb  P Would 
you  have  it  metallic  ? Exouse  the  herby  taste 
for  a week ; you  will,  find  it  outgrowing  excuse. 
Your  taste  is  righting  itself. 
AMERICANS  DRINK  THE  WORST  TEA. 
“ The  worst  tea  in  the  world  are  sold  to  this 
conn' ry.  English  Breakfast  tea  is  a name  invented 
to  humbug  with;  there  is  no  such  tea.  American  teas 
are  weighted  and  colored;  some  of  them  steeped 
and  the  leaves  ‘manufactured’  over  again.  It  is 
useless  to  say  they  are  poisonous— people  do  not  die 
of  them.  Taste  is  perverted.  Give  it  time  to  reoover. 
Drink  the  herby  tea  for  a week,  but  be  sure  that 
you  follow  directions  in  making  it.” 
This  is  a fair  introduction  of  tea — pure,  clean, 
fine  tea — an  attempt  to  get  it  made  right,  steeped 
right  and  judged  deliberately,  with  some  allowance 
for  taste,  misled  by  long  habic 
CULTIVATE  A TASTE  FOR  FINE  TEA. 
Is  it  wortb  your  while  to  reform  your  taste  in  the 
trifle  of  tea?  In  a week  you  will  kuow.  Let  us  send 
yon  a sample.  A primer  goes  with  it  with  clear  and 
full  ins  rartions  for  steeping.  As  often  happens,  they 
need  it  most  who  least  suspect  it.  You  shall  say 
you  never  knew  the  comfort,  the  cheer,  the  power 
of  t a.  And  the  tea  would  be  oheap  if  the  price 
were  double. 
§1,000  FOR  FIVE  POUNDS  OF  TEA. 
Mr.  May  related  this  interesting  incident : — '*  As 
I was  sitting  in  my  private  office  one  morning,  not 
long  ago,  I heard  a well-bred  woman’s  voice  in 
the  outer  office  asking  our  native  Ceylon  servant  if 
the  company  could  furnish  her  with  Golden  Tip  Ceylon 
tea,  worth  §2U0  a pound.  I was  not  long  in  present- 
ing myself,  aud  infcrmed  her  that  the  last  sale  of 
Goldeu  Tip  Ceylon  tea  brought  at  publio  auction  §183 
in  London  and  was  brought  by  an  English  lord,  that 
it  would  be  impossible  to  say  when  the  next  parcel 
would  be  offered,  and  that  only  five  to  fight  pounds 
cam6  to  the  London  market  at  a time,  and  that  only 
occasionally.  There  must  have  been  some  of  the  curi- 
OMty  I felt  as  to  what  she  could  want  with  such  costly 
tea  depioted  on  my  couuienance,  for  after  a short 
pause  she  said  : “ I would  gladly  purchase  five  pounds 
at  §200  a pound,  as  I am  going  to  give  a tea.  I 
am  constantly  goiDg  abroad,  and  alwavs  proclaim,  when 
provoked  to  do  so,  that  we  Americans  have  the  best 
of  everything.  I shnuld  like  to  f,el  that  we  had  enter- 
tainod  our  frirnie  in  America  with  tea  at  §200  a 
pound,  for  I rtcentlv  read  of  the  sale  of  tea  you  speak 
of  in  London  at  §183.”  I was  so  carri  -d  away  with 
her  national  pride,  that  I forthwith  offered,  if  she 
would  permit  me,  to  send  her  some  of  our  best 
Bbad  tea,  with  my  compliments.  After  her  departure 
my  mind  turned  to  other  whims  that  rich  Americans 
had  indulged  in,  and  I concluded  that  nowhere  are 
there  so  many  people  willing  to  spend  fabulous  sums 
for  the  gratification  of  their  pride  and  fancies.” — New 
York  Mail  and  Express. 
REMINISCENCES  OP  A TRAVANCORE 
PLANTER.— II. 
The  first  tea  bu-hes  that  I saw  in  Travancore  were 
some  planted  in  the  garden  ot  Mr.  John  Grant’s 
hospitable  bungalow  at  Mahendragberry,  on  the  As- 
samboo  Hills,  where  an  old  friend  and  myself  arrived 
fresh  from  home  in  the  beginning  of  1871.  I did 
not  pay  muoh  attention  to  ihem,  as  my  mind  was 
at  that  time  full  of  ooffee  ; but,  so  far  as  I remember, 
there  were  two  varieties,  planted  on  each  side  of 
a garden  path,  one  being  Assam  indigenous,  and 
the  other  Assam  hybrid.  There  were,  I think,  only  a 
few  buBhes,  and  they  were  allowed  to  grow  up  to 
their  natural  height.  No  use  was  made  of  their  leaves, 
and  they  were  less  objects  of  economy  than  ouriosity, 
though  I believe  in  alter  years  their  seeds  were  fouod 
particularly  useful,  and  these  few  trees  are  the  ancestors 
of  many  tea  estates  in  Assambo  \ Whether  these  were 
the  first  tea  bushes  plante  1 iu  Travancore  I cannot 
say  for  certain,  l lit  I lancy  those  planted  by  Mr. 
Maltby  at  the  Peermaad  Residency  are  older,  though 
latter,  ae  \ said  m my  former  article,  are  og 
very  inferior  jat.  When  I went  to  Peermaad  at  the 
end  of  1871  there  were  patches  of  China  or  China 
hybrid  tea  round  every  bnngalow.  But  little  use  was 
made  of  it,  and  though  occasionally  some  bold  man 
made  experiments  in  tea  manufacture,  making 
his  “ boys  ” roll  the  leaf,  and  firing  it  in  the 
common  chatty  or  the  domestio  frying  pan,  the 
reenlt  was  not  altogether  pleasing.  The  hot, 
might  sip  his  home-made  tea  wiih  a smack  of  plea- 
sure aDd  trv  to  deceive  himself  into  a sense  of  enjoy, 
ment,  but  his  guest  was  not  so  amenable.  He  would 
not  like  that  tea ; he  evaD,  with  great  politeness 
suggested  comparisons  between  its  flavour  aud  that 
of  nauseous  drugs,  and  the  result  was  that  these  little 
flickering  attempts  at  tea-making  always  died  out,  and 
domestic  tea  came  up  to  the  hills  in  packets  with  the 
other  stores.  One  estate,  which  had  a few  acres  of 
tea  planted  od  grass-land,  was  bold  enough  to  make  a 
whole  break  of  tea  aod  ship  it  to  the  Loodon  market. 
But  the  result  was  very  disappointing.  The  Brokers 
wiote  disparaging — not  to  say  insulting — remarks  on 
the  shipment  ; the  price  obtained  was  unprofitable,  and 
the  experiment  was  not  repeated.  Some  samples  from 
the  1 Mary  Yille  ’ garden  near  the  Peermaad  Resi- 
dency were  favourably  reported  on  by  the  London 
Brokers,  but  I do  not  think  this  resulted  in  any  tea 
being  shipped  home,  the  tea  from  this  little  experi- 
mental garden  being  sold  annually  at  Alleppy,  where 
cardamoms  and  other  Travancore  Siroar  produce  are 
disposed  of. 
I believe  the  first  tea  clearing  in  Travancore  for 
which  forestland  was  felled,  and  the  produce  of  which 
has  regularly  gone  to  the  London  market  was  planted  on 
the  PenBhuret  Estate  iu  the  Peermaad  District  in  1877. 
The  manager  had  at  the  lime  100  acres  of  coffee, 
but,  owing  to  leaf-disease  aud  heavy  monsoons,  was 
having  a bad  time  of  it.  Every  Spriug  the  trees 
looked  beautiful.  They  were  covered  with  dark  green 
leaves,  the  blossoms  came  and  set,  and  a big  orop 
seemed  too  great  a certainty  to  bet  on.  Then  the 
Sjuib-West  Monsoon  came  raging  and  threshing 
among  the  trees ; the  dire  red  fungus  ate  away  the 
leaves;  the  branches  died  back,  and  held  oat,  as  if  in 
derision,  their  bare  black  tips;  and  the  immature 
berries,  weary  of  the  rain  and  wind  and  leaf-disease, 
were  lyiDg  on  the  ground  in  bushels.  Some  stuck  to 
their  posts  on  the  branches,  and  swelled  and  ripened 
into  pickable  cherry,  bnt  these  were,  if  possible,  more 
disappointing  than  their  fallen  friends.  They  were 
comely  to  the  eye,  but  there  was  no  coffes  inside  them 
— Dotbing  but  a black  smelling  math  of  soddtn  rot. 
Ruin  seemed  advancing  on  that  manager  by  leaps  and 
bounds.  He  tried  manuring ; but  it  was  of  no  use — 
the  manure  might  affect  the  soil,  but  Lot  the 
weather  or  the  olimate.  Then  he  considered 
deeply,  and  argued  with  himself  thus: — “If 
China  tea  grown  on  grass-land  does  well,  why 
should  not  a good  jat  grown  on  forest-land  do 
better  ?”  There  was  no  debate  on  the  question,  whioh 
was  carried  nem.  con.  Several  maunds  of  good  Assam 
hybrid  seed  were  ordered  from  the  Nilgins  ; down 
Went  twenty-five  acres  of  forest,  and  in  the  monsoon 
of  1877  the  seedlings  were  planted.  No  Royal  children 
were  more  anxiously  watohed  than  were  those  young 
plants  in  their  early  struggles  for  existence.  Bnt 
they  well  repaid  all  the  care  t-nd  aDXiety  bestowed 
on  them.  There  was  no  doubt  about  their  growth; 
they  seemed  determined  to  show  the  poor  weather- 
beaten coffee  in  the  adjoining  field  that  they,  at 
any  rate,  had  found  a congenial  home,  and  by  the 
time  they  were  eighteen  months  old  many  of  them 
were  over  six  feet  high.  So  far  it  had  all  been  easy 
work  and  plain  sailing,  but  after  they  had  been 
topped,  and  a new  growth  of  young  leaves  were 
ready  to  pluck,  the  difficulties  of  manuiacture  loomed 
large  on  the  manager,  and  his  efforts  at  making  those 
leaves  into  tea  were  crude  and  peculiar.  There  were 
no  tea-planting  neighbours  to  go  to  for  help  and 
information,  aud  the  assistance  derived  from  books, 
though  very  good  in  its  way,  was  of  less  value  than 
a little  practioal  tuition  would  have  been.  However, 
one  day  he  plucked  some  leaves;  his  coolies  rolled 
them  with  their  hands  and  made  them  up  into  pretty 
little  cones,  and  then  left  tbem  to  ferment,  Thu 
