55$ 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  [March  i,  1893. 
in  proper  quantities,  and  take  proper  exercise,  they 
would  seldom  require  such  stimulants.  But  when- 
ever people  are  poor,  and  are  poorly  fed,  they 
make  up  for  the  “sinking  feeling”  which  such  want 
occasions,  by  tea,  coffee,  tobacco,  opium,  and  worse 
still,  beer  and  spirits.  It  is  said  that  in  Germany, 
those  who  receive  the  lowest  wages,  while  they  are 
obl  ged  to  live  on  bread  and  potatoes,  always  reserve 
a portion  of  their  wages  for  coffee. 
Inn.  I quite  understand  why  they  do  that! 
P.  I should  like  yon  to  understand  it  very  clearly. 
1 will  say  it  to  you  once  more:  “Where  there  is 
good  and  nutritious  food  (containing  a: oh:,  a word 
which  I wili  explain  to  you  some  day),  and  with 
such  nutritious  food  exercise  is  taken,  the  azote  in 
the  food  forms  sufficient  bile ; but,  where  the  food 
is  poor,  or  hard  to  digest,  and  sufficient  exercise  is 
not  taken,  then  sufficient  bile  is  not  formed,  and 
men  use  the  Ihtii ic  in  tea,  or  the  caffeine  in  coffee, 
or  some  other  stimulant  for  the  purpose.” 
L.  Then  the  lesson  we  may  make  about  tea,  is, 
that  if  we  took  great  care  to  have  proper  food  and 
exercise,  we  might  do  without  it,  and  other  stimu- 
lants also. 
P.  Yes:  but  it  is  not  very  likely  that  this  will 
ever  be  the  case.  Until  all  men  give  due  attention 
to  their  food,  there  will  be  some  people  craving  for 
stimulants,  to  make  up  for  their  carelessness.  In 
another  part  of  M.  Liebig’s  book,  there  is  a para- 
graph expressing  this  opinion.  I will  read  it  to  you  : — 
“ It  is  a question  whether,  if  we  had  no  tea,  and 
no  coffee,  the  popular  instinct  would  not  replace 
them.  Every  people  of  the  globe  has  appropriated 
some  such  means  of  acting  on  the  nervous  life, — 
from  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  where  the  Indian 
retires  for  days,  to  enjoy  the  bliss  of  intoxication  with 
Koka,  to  the  Arctic  Regions,  where  the  Kamschat- 
dales  prepare  an  intoxicating  drink  from  a poisonous 
mushroom.” 
Ion.  Or  he  might  add,  when  the  student  in  the 
university,  who  wants  to  study  all  night,  prepares  a 
decoction  containing  either  theine  or  caffeine. 
P.  Yes,  whether  the  university  be  in  England  or 
Germany,  or  elsewhere ; or  whether  it  be  in  the 
cottage  or  mansion,  such  stimulants  are  still  in  use. 
In  the  same  book  it  is  said  concerning  Germany — 
“ In  the  Customs  Union  (Zollvereiu),  more  than 
60,000,000  pounds  of  coffee  are  consumed  every  year  ; 
while  in  Europe  and  America  Tea  forms  part  of  the 
daily  arrangements  of  the  poorest  laborer  and  the 
richest  landowner—  and  the  consumption  of  this 
article  is  more  than  80,000,000  pounds  per  year. 
L.  And  a pound  of  tea  will  last  as  long  as  two 
or  three  pounds  of  coffee. 
ir.  What  a long  lesson  we  are  having  on  the  uses 
of  tea!  Now  I will  sum  it  all  up.  “ Tea  and  other 
stimulants  arc  very  useful  things,  because  they  have  re- 
freshing qualities  which  wale  up  for  the  most  of  good  food.' 
P.  Oh,  indeed!  Is  that  the  lesson  you  make?  I 
make  out  a very  different  case.  Listen!  Tea,  and 
all  other  stimulants  are  (except  in  occasional  cases) 
bad  things,  because  they  enable  peop’c  to  neglect 
their  diet,  a,nd  indulge  in  bad  habits,  without  feeling 
the  natural  consequences.  As  long  as  men  will  use 
such  stimulants  to  remove  for  a time  the  bad  effects 
of  their  neglect,  so  they  will  not  give  the  attention 
they  ought  to  give,  to  their  diet  and  exercise. 
Ion.  To  be  sure,  Willie!  Don’t  you  see  that?  If 
the  tea  and  other  stimulus  U were  taken  away,  then 
peonle  would  be  obliged  to  take  proper  care  of  them- 
selves. 
P.  Shall  I show  you  another  way  in  which  tea 
and  stimulants  are  bad  ? 
W.  Yes  papa,  please. 
P.  Because  they  wear  out  the  body.  We  do  not 
observe  this  fact  so  much,  because  we  take  them 
in  small  quantities,  and  their  action  is  gradual:  but 
as  soon  as  the  stimulants  are  used  in  a little  more 
than  moderate  quantity,  their  effect  becomes  evident. 
It  is  said  of  the  frequent  use  of  Tea,  that  it  answers 
the  purpose  for  a time,  but  the  object  is  attained 
at  “ a fearful  price” — the  destruction  of  health,  and 
vigour  of  body  and  mind  being  the  penalty.  Tea  is 
worse  iu  this  respect  than  coffee,  as  its  effects  are 
more  permanent. 
The  property  in  tea  which  has  such  injurious 
effects,  is  weakened  by  keeping  the  le  ives  for  a long 
time.  Fresh  tea  is  so  stimulating,  that  it  is  seldom 
used  until  it  has  been  kept  twelve  months.  The 
injurious  property  may  also  be  weakened  by  hat , 
for  green  tea  is  more  exciting  than  black,  because 
when  being  prepared  it-  is  not  “roasted  ” so  often. 
Tea  is  a very  improper  drink  for  young  children  : 
it  produces  too  strong  an  excitement,  and  causes  a 
diseased  state  of  the  brain  and  nerves.  It  has  been 
said  by  a well-known  physician,  that  “it  ought  by  no 
means  to  be  the  common  diet  of  boarding  schools. 
Tf  it  be  sometimes  allowed  to  the  children  as  a treat, 
they  should  be  informed  that  it  might,  if  used  fre- 
quently, injure  their  strength  and  constitution.” 
Before  we  leave  the  subject  of  tea,  I must  not 
forget  to  mention  that,  although  it  may  produce 
bad  effects,  the  effects  of  stimulants  which  contain 
alcohol,  instead  of  theine  or  caffeine  (such  as  beer  and 
spirits)  are  far  worse.  So  dreadful  are  many  of  the 
evils  which  these  stimulants  bring,  that  a great 
society,  called  the  National  Temperance  Society,  has 
been  formed  both  in  England  and  in  Scotland,  to 
induce  the  British  Nation  to  abstain  totally  from 
their  use. 
I.  Have  many  people  abstained  from  using  them  ? 
P.  Yes,  great  numbers ; especially  drunkards,  who 
have  suffered  from  their  bad  effects : and  when  these 
societies  do  more  to  teach  poor  people  how  to  spend 
their  money  in  buying  the  best  food,  and  how  to 
regulate  their  diet  and  exercise,  then  these  people 
will  be  able  to  give  up  stimulants  more  easily, — they 
will  not  /rant  them.  It  has  been  found  in  the  re- 
ports of  large  towns,  that  when  wages  have  beeu 
high,  or  food  has  been  plentiful,  there  has  not  been 
much  drunkenness : but  that  when  there  has  been 
scarcity  and  poverty,  drunkenness  has  increased ; 
for  when  the  poor  cannot  obtain  the  natural  refresh- 
ment for  the  body  from  wholesome  food,  they  get 
artificial  refreshment  from  stimulants. 
There ! wo  must  not  go  any  further  into  the  ques- 
tion of  stimulants  in  general.  We  have  made  too  long 
a subject  of  it  already.  I should,  however,  like  you. 
when  we  print  this  lesson,  to  read  it  over  several 
times.  Then,  perhaps,  you  will  see  that  it  will  be 
one  of  your  duties  so  to  attend  to  the  diet  and  exer- 
cise of  your  body,  as  to  enjoy  life  without  the  help 
of  stimulants. 
( To  be  continued. ) 
: 
PLANTING  PRODUCTS. 
( From  the  Thirty-ninth  Annual  Report  of  the 
Ceylon  Planters’  Association 
held  17th  Feb.  1893.) 
Tea. — The  season  was  an  unfavourable  one,  and  in 
most  instances  crops  fell  short  of  estimates.  The 
abncrmal  season  affected  quality  also — with  poorer 
quali'y  for  the  first  half  of  the  year,  your  teas  had  to 
compete  with  exceptionally  fine  teas,  approaching  fanoy 
make  from  Indis,  that  the  market  took  off  freely  for  a 
time  at  high  pric.  s,  which,  however,  gave  way  and  the 
same  teas  fell  3 ’.  a lb.  Lter  in  the  season:  not  only  this 
but  an  exaggerated  report  of  jour  rut-turn  got  abroad, 
and  it  was  no  wonder  jour  average  fell  in  July  to  8Jd., 
the  lowest  point  touched.  Your  average  in  London  for 
the  first  9 months  of  the  year  was  9d.,  for  the  last  3 
months  lid.  The  general  average  for  the  year  being 
9Jd.  against  10d.  for  1891-  The  Chamber  of  Commerce 
returns  show  a total  export  for  the  year  of  71,153,357 
lb.  as  against  68,274,420  ;b.  for  1891,  or  an  increase  of 
2,879,237  lb.,  the  increase  in  1891  over  1890  being 
21,372,866  lb.  Steady  progress  has  been  made  in  most 
foreign  markets,  i.e.,  other  than  Loudon.  Thus  Aus- 
tralia shows  the  large  ai  d sati  faotory  inorease  of 
1,955,556  lb.  or  5,166,154  lb.  in  1892  as  against  3,210,598 
lb.  id  189L.  G rmauy  aleo  shows  an  iuoreaso  of  30,786  lb. 
or  123,077  lb.  in  1892  as  against  92,291  lb.  in  1891,  America 
on  the  other  hand  shows  a falling  off  of  62  244  lb.  viz  : 
163,137  in  1891  and  only  100,893  1b.  in  1992  of  direct 
exports,  the  falling  off  in  1891  being  41,086  lb,  as 
