June  t,  1893,] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
735 
MR.  JOHN  HUGHES’  ANALYSES  OF  TEAS. 
London,  April  14. 
Although  I know  that  Mr.  John  Hughes  had  sent 
you  a full  report  of  the  several  analyses  recently 
made  by  him  of  different  samples  of  teas,  I res- 
ponded this  week  to  an  invi'ation  sent  me  by  him 
to  see  him  on  the  subject.  Doubtless  you  will  have 
given  to  your  readers  the  particulars  Mr.  Hughes 
sent  you;  but  as  I found  some  difficulty  in  fully 
comprehending  them  until  he  gave  me  fuller  expla- 
nations, it  may  not  prove  to  be  superogatory  if  a few 
remarks  of  my  own  on  this  topio  are  offered  you 
here.  What  seem=  to  be  of  special  interest  in 
the  results  obtained  by  these  analyses  is  that  the 
quantity  of  soluble  ash  and  nitrogen  ascertained, 
olosely  varies  in  accordance  with  the  price  of  the 
teas.  This  would  seem  to  indicate  that  it  is 
these  residuals  which  mark  the  absolute  values 
of  the  teas,  other  constituents  varying  out  of 
proportion  to  the  prices  given.  The  nominal 
value  of  the  samples  as  opposed  to  the  prices 
at  which  they  were  selling,  were  fixed  by  the 
dealers  (or  broker?)  from  whom  Mr.  Hughes  ob- 
tained them.  Another  noteworthy  fact  is  that 
nearly  all  the  tannin  and  theine  was  extracted 
during  the  first  five  minutes  of  infusion,  the 
further  quantity  resulting  from  thirty  minutes 
of  boiling  being  relatively  very  small.  The 
question  thereupon  arises  as  to  whether  even  five 
minutes  infusion  may  not  be  too  long  for  ordinary 
domestio  purposes,  and  whether  it  would  not  be 
advisable  to  striotly  limit  this  to  three  minutes  at 
the  outside.  I did  not  at  first  understand  what  Mr. 
Hughf  s intended  to  convey  by  the  words  “ eoluble 
extract  (dried).”  He  explained  to  me  that,  having 
infused  the  tea  and  strained  it  off  from  the 
leaf,  he  evaporated  the  whole  of  the  liquor  and 
so  obtained  what  was  really  the  body  of  the 
infusion,  that  which,  in  other  words,  would 
be  really  consumed  by  the  drinker.  You  will  see 
that  by  this  test  the  Ceylon  tea  valued  at  1/1 
possessed  but  little  more  nourishment  than  did  that 
valued  at  sixpenoe,  and  upon  this  ground  Mr. 
Hughes  thinks  that  for  the  supply  of  the  bulk  of 
teadrinkers  your  planters  would  find  the  cheaper 
teas  as  well  suited  as  the  more  expensive  ; whilo 
it  would  be  the  better  economy  to  themselves  to 
devote  their  attention  to  the  preparation  of  the 
second  class  of  teas,  in  spite  of  the  demand  of 
the  home  brokers  that  now  attention  should  be 
given  to  quality.  You  will  also  notice  that  the 
Ceylon  teas  valued  at  1/1,  selling  at  lljd,  yielded  the 
soluble  extract  almost  to  the  same  amount  as  did 
the  Indian  teas  valued  at  1/5  to  1/6  and  selling  at 
1/3,  whilst  it  largely  surpaBssed  the  yield  from  the 
China  teas  selling  at  1/7.  The  figures  could  more 
clearly  show  the  relative  value  for  money  of  your 
teas  over  those  both  of  India  and  China. 
But  probably  the  greatest  interest  attaokes  to 
remarks  made  to  me  by  Mr.  Hughes  on  the  sub- 
ject of  stalk  found  in  the  teas  he  experimented 
upon  ; you  will  see  that  in  this  respeot 
both  the  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas  gave  a larger 
proportion  than  did  those  of  China,  and  that, 
Bingularly  enough,  it  was  among  the  more 
expensive  teas  that  the  greater  proportion  of  stalk 
was  found.  Mr.  Hughes  told  me  he  had  felt 
much  surprize  at  the  amount  of  stalk  he  found. 
On  his  mentioning  this  to  the  brokers  from  whom 
he  bought  the  teas,  those  gentlemen  would  not 
believe  that  so  large  a quantity  of  stalk  could  be 
found.  Mr.  Hughes  therefore  invited  them  to 
attend  at  his  laboratory,  and  in  their  presence  he 
had  the  stalk  carefully  separated  out  by  hand. 
He  then  placed  the  quantity  obtained  in  hot  water 
bo  as  to  swell  it,  and  the  result  was  shown  to 
me  in  that  state,  and  there  could  be  no  denying 
that  what  I saw  was  veritable  stalk  and  not 
leaf  fibre.  I am  hardly  competent  to  judge  on 
suoh  a matter,  but  it  appeared  to  me  that  out 
of  some  fifty  or  sixty  grains  weight  of  tea  there 
had  been  obtained  some  hundred  or  so  of  pieces 
of  stalk  about  half  an  inch  in  length.  This  is  no 
inconsiderable  proportion,  and  Mr.  Hughes  said 
that  the  stalk  would  not  yield  any  theine,  though 
it  probably— as  do  most  barbs — contained  a large 
proportion  of  tannin.  It  ocours  to  me  to  suggest 
whether  the  larger  amount  of  the  latter  which 
China  merchants  charge  the  Indian  and  Ceylon 
teaB  with  containing,  may  not  be  due  to  the 
larger  amount  of  stalk  which  those  teas  undoubtedly 
contain  as  compared  with  those  of  China.  As  to  this 
the  suspicion  must  naturally  arise  whether  the 
coolies  of  Ceylon  and  Indian  tea  estates  are  as 
expert  pluobers  as  are  those  of  China,  and  it  might 
be  worth  while  to  insist  od  more  caution  beiDg 
exeroised  as  to  oleanly  Plucking  of  the  leaf.  Of 
course  these  remarks  are  written  on  the  as- 
sumption that  you  have  the  tabulated  results  of 
Mr.  Hughes’  analyses  before  you,  and  that  your 
readers  have  also  bad  an  opportunity  of  perusing 
them.  I am  not  aware  if  Mr.  Hughes  has  speci- 
fically drawn  your  attention  to  the  several  points 
mentioned  by  me,  but  from  what  he  said  to  me  it 
may  bo  oonoluded  that  they  have  oocurred  to  him 
sinoe  he  wrote  you  on  the  subject,  and  they  may 
therefore  be  novel  to  you. — London  Cor . 
SALE  OF  A BADULLA  ESTATE. 
It  is  rumoured  that  the  well  known  old  estate 
of  Nahavilla,  Badulla,  so  long  held  by  Hormuejie 
Bomanjee  Jeejeebhoy  of  Bombay,  has  been  sold  and 
that  the  purchasers  are  Messrs.  Alfred  Brown 
(Colombo  Commercial  Coy.)  W.  H.  Figg  and 
Capper.  Nahavilla  inoludes  597  acres,  of  which  552 
have  been  or  are  in  cultivation  in  ooffee,  cinchona 
or  tea.  Uva  properties  should  oertainly  rise  in  value 
to  correspond  with  the  advantages  of  Railway  commu- 
nication so  soon  to  be  made  available  to  them. 
The  British  West  Indian  Plantation  Syndicate 
(Limited)  bus  just  been  registered  by  Torr,  Janeway 
& Co.,  38  Bedford  Row,  W.  C.t  with  a capital  of 
12,000L,  in  lOf.  shares.  The  objeot  is  to  adopt 
an  agreement,  made  March  18,  between  J.  H. 
Hall  of  the  one  part,  and  the  oompany  of  the 
other  part,  for  the  acquisition  of  the  Hatton  Hall 
and  Mount  Jewel  Estates,  Prince  Rupert’s  Bay, 
near  Portsmouth  (Dominica),  and  to  carry  on  busi- 
ness as  cultivators  and  dealers  in  colonial  produce. 
The  first  directors  are  to  be  nominated  by  the 
aigoatories  to  the  memorandum  of  association,  the 
qualification  being  20  shares. — Colonies  and  India. 
“ Report  on  Tnsects  and  Fungi  Injurious  to 
Crops,  1892,” — We  note  the  publication  by  the 
Board  of  Agriculture  of  this  report  with  great 
pleasure.  We  have  so  often  oalled  attention  to 
our  lamentable  deficiencies  as  compared  with  the 
energy  shown  in  the  United  States  and  some 
European  countries,  that  it  is  a great  pleasure  to 
welcome  a report  on  the  insects  which  have  been 
noted  as  specially  injurious  during  the  year  to 
our  farm  and  garden  crops.  The  insects  are  des- 
cribed, their  life-history  given,  and  excellent  ooloured 
illustrations  afforded.  Among  them  our  old  ac- 
quaintance the  red-spider  finds  a plaoe.  Ad  artiole 
also  illustrated,  on  the  club  in  Cabbages  follows. 
In  each  ease  the  appropriate  means  of  preven- 
tion, palliation,  or  cure  are  given. — Gardeners' 
Chronicle,  April  29. 
