142 
[August i, 1891. 
Export tea is always refired in the godowns of the ex- 
porter. This process is resoited to in order to diive out 
the excessive moisture from the tea and to destroy the 
germs which, i)articularly in the presence of much 
moiBture, v?ould exercise an injurioug action upon tea 
during a long voyage. Ordinary tea contains gener- 
ally 10 to 11 percent, of moisture, which is reduced to 
3 to 4 per cent, by refiting ; and, as this process is 
conducted at a high temperature; there shouid be 
some alteration in the composition of the tea. An 
investigation showed that the refiring process does not 
deteriorate the quality of tea, as was supposed by many, 
but, on the contrary, it increases tho fine aroma and 
diminishes tha aatringency, whil? a sliijht loss of theine 
is of no practical moment. It is, however, duricp: tba 
process of rebrmg that the shameful practice of fa- 
cing tea is performed. Both bl-ick and grean teas are 
thus generally artificially coloured or faced. Bu.^, 
owing to the minute quantity of the admixture used, 
some regard it as an admissible, or even as a legitimate, 
practice, indeed, facing, as generally conducted, is of 
no great consequence to public health — but this can- 
not be taken as the ground for declaring the practice 
legitimate or even admissible. 
With regard to the preparation of green tea differ- 
ent methods are adopted for different classes of tea. 
The principle should iiowever, be to extract the largest 
possible quantity of theiue and a moderate amonnt of 
tannin without, dissipating much aroma. Now, the 
object cannot be attained by boiling tea or by brewing 
it with cold wntfr, but by subjecting it to the action 
of water of a certain temperature for a certain space 
of time, the latter two points beiog determined by the 
nature of the tea. The method employed in Japan for 
making tea of an extra-fine quality — viz. " iencha " — 
is to grind the leaves to powder, which is drurjk 
with theinfueion. The s^oi na niothocl - ^ ~- <- 
a superior tea, is to di;.' 
minutes with warm w; g 
eOdc-g. C. The third • 
pose the leaves totheaci u. ■ 
one minute. The last, wuich isu i 
inferior tea, is to boil the leaves witu water. These 
methods of making tea are quite rational, since the 
finer the tea the higher is its solubility. In connection 
with this, it is interesting to know that Prof. Eder 
determined what and how much of the constituents 
of Chinese tea are soluble in water, and the results 
show that the three active conatitntents of tea — theine, 
tannin and volatile oil— are completely dissolved by 
water,'whilst only 42 5 per cent, of ash goes into solu- 
tion, amongst the ingredients of which pota»h and 
phosphoric acid predominate. 
The following table gives tho percentage composition 
of a medium class of Japanese tea: — 
100 Parts of Dry Sabatance :— 
used only for 
I . b. ut tv:o 
;3 of 50 to 
.a, is to e\- 
r r p-\ 0 it 
• makin v in 
In 
Crude protein 
„ fibre 
Etherenl extract 
Other nitrogen-freo extract 
Ash 
Theine 
Tannin 
Soluble in hot water ... 
Total in hot water 
Non-albuminous nitrogen 
Comparing these figures with those of tho best 
quality tea, we, find a decided deficiency of crude pro- 
tein in the oretanio substance, and a oonsequenl less 
solubility of tho ten, with a corresponding increase in 
the amount of ethereal and nitrogen-free extract, andan 
augmented proportion oi a.sh— Chemist andBrugght. 
26-87 
10-89 
15-64 
22-92 
6-23 
2-03 
17-65 
38-89 
4-30 
0-96 
THE CEYLON AND INDIAN RICE CULTI- 
VATORS AND THEIR BURDENS. 
A gentleman with acoess to official information 
Ib {.'ood enough to write from London for our 
benefit as fo'lowa. We allow his statement to speak 
for iieclf:— . , . - 
" June 2Gt.h, 1891.— I noticed in a paper of yours 
that I Baw the other day in Downing Street, that, in 
comparing the burdens oa Indian rice imported into 
C-jylon aud Cey lon-?rowii rice, you debit the former 
with an impost of 50 per cent on account of Indian 
land tax. The lnditi,a land tax averages 50 p«r cent 
ntt of tbe gro=s crops, but of the nett crops t. e. of 
ttie gross crops less the cost of production. 50 per cent 
of the nett crop is equivalent in ludia to from 12 per 
cent to 16 par cent ot the gross crop »ooordiogr to the 
varying cost of produciion &c., o;c. 
" You bavo so good a t-ase that it is » pity to make 
an}' overstatement which is sure, ^onle time or other, 
to be made thw most of by the other side. 
" On the other hand — (I faven't yi ur paper by me, 
and don't remember whether you havo specially 
mentiontd the fact) — the ch irgos for irrigation in 
India ate enormous as compared with Ceylon. On 
rice lands in same partf of Madras they amount 
to S6 an acre. Ttie land in India is /w/iAer burdened 
with ces.^es for edacation, roads, payment of headmen, 
and other charges (vide Powell's Manual of Indian 
Land Settlements.'') 
"It Tviil be some time yet before the question of your 
Paddy Tax is finally settled, I believe, by the Home 
authorities. 
"I trast that it will be settled as justice and policy 
and a true appreciation of the interests of the natives 
demanfi." 
It is very striking to find the experienced Govern- 
ment Agents in their Reports for 1890 bearing nearly 
uniform testimony against the policy of abolishing the 
Paddy rents. 
PLANTING INDUSTRIES IN THE 
UVA PROVINCE. 
(From Mr. F, C. FisJier't Administration Report 
for 1890.) 
OofjRE. — Therelfiiberiu a decided anu continu ng im- 
provement in. the apoeaiance ot both nativR iiod ,jlacita- 
tion coffee for somw time past, aad now that jjjos-o of the 
worfclileis eatates have been abandoned or uprooted to 
make way for tea, there seems every prospect of tha 
nmaining plantations proving profitable for many 
years to coma. Indeed the natives have been so en- 
couraged by the change for the better in the appearance 
of coffee tliat they have again commenced to manure 
their gardens heavily and in some instances to form 
fresh plantations. The area of plantation coffee is 
computed to be 21,490 acres, whicn yielded 136,870 
bush ls of parchment, showing an increase, as I 
anticipated, on the crop of 1889, which was only 
134,500 bushels. I do not expect any diminution in the 
yield for next year, but ratber the reverse ; and in Uva 
the prospects of coffee »re as good, and probably better 
than they havo been for some years. I regret that I 
have not bteu able to procure reliable statistics as to 
tbe acreage and yield of native coffee, but the gardens, 
though only grown in small patches, are collectively of 
considerable extent, and the crops gathered during the 
past year have certainly been largely in excess of the 
yield for many previous years. 
Tea. — The area under tea cultivation has increased 
from 14,268 acres in 1889 to 18,377 in 1891, giving an 
addition of 4,109 acres planted within the year. A 
laige proportion of tea previously planted came to 
maturity in the present year, and the production of 
manufactured tea is reported to have risen from 
1,113,500 1b. in 1389 to 3,077,500 lb. in 1890. Satis- 
factory as this progress appears to be, there can be 
little doubt that the production will be douoled 
within the nest three years if the sale of the new 
land applied for and surveyed is authorised. Some of 
the beat results aireridy obtained are from patana 
land, and as there is a great deal of wasteland of this 
description available, it is hard to predict how far 
cultivation will eventually extend. 
Cinchona. — I fear there is little or no enoonragemsBt 
for growers to persevere in the cultivation of cinchona. 
No new plantations are being made, and in a few 
years ttie existing stock of trees will be exhausted and 
t. je export of bark must cease. About 6,4c!9 acres are 
still uader cultivation, and 3,318,000 lb. of dry bark 
