' October i, iSgi.] THE TROPIOAL AQRIdULTURIST. 
IN PRAISE OP TEA. 
An enthasiastio lover of tea, writing to the Cflobe 
on the subject, says ; — "But, while the wise men iu 
Parliament are dealing drastically with water companies, 
and are seeing to it that we have wholesome water, 
is tLere no substitute? The road to grace is through 
tea, not that concoction served as such in England, 
but an aromatic and delicious beverage as it inight 
be made, as indeed it is made in Kussia. Tlio 
English opium-eater, learned in this as in ali matters, 
has said :— ' For tei, though ridiculed by those who 
are naturally of coarse nerves, or are become so from 
wine-drinking, and are not susceptible of iuflueuee 
from so refined a stimulant, will always be the 
favourite beverage of the intellectual.' The claims of 
tea have been fittingly put forth too by Hazlitt and 
Leigh Hunt, The former, in the language of a jolly 
toper, talks ot quafiing ' libations of tea.' He could 
not have spoken thus and meant the bitter stuff' 
served at thousands of ignorant tables. No ; depend 
on it, he knew how to brew tea, and had studied 
the judicious quantity of the leaf which should be 
imbrued. They certainly recognised in Swift's 
time that the water must boil, or my Lady Smart 
would not have cried, ' Lord, miss, how can you 
drink your tea hot? Sure your mouth's pav'd." That 
elegant lady also bids Betty ' bring the canister,' 
which shows ns the tea was made by those who 
had to drink it, doubtless for scientific as well as 
economical reasons. Tea then cost a round sum per 
pound, and an excessive infusion was injuriors both 
to the beverage and the pocket. We may believe 
that a dish o' tea made from Lady Smart's canittsr 
was worth the drinking. 
" Not a housewife but knows that boiling water 
is requisite to a sound result, but how often does 
the water boil at the moment? Urns brought to 
the table with a spirit lamp beneath are not to be 
despised, but they are the appurteuances of the 
well-to-do, and by no means common. What we 
want is a cheap and an easy way of heating our 
water, under the eye of those who brew and those 
who drink. The Kussian samovar, a delightful 
invention, has been devised for this purpose, and, 
in case some are not acquainted with its virtues, 
let me describe it in a few words. The Samovar, then, is 
a water- jacketed urn, of ten very elegant in shape, com- 
pased of metal, with a funnel in the centre, at the bot- 
tom of which is a miniature grate, upon which rests the 
charcoal fuel used to maintain a boiling temperature. A 
few shavings of wood are first introduced, and, when 
these are in a blaze, the charcoal is added, and the 
samovar is ready for use. The top of the funnel or chim- 
ney is utilised to place a email tes-pot upon, thus keep- 
ing the brew from iotiog any of its heat. Meanwhile a 
choice simmer imparts to ihe tea-drinker a cheerful 
feeling, and he may now say his grace. The pot receives 
some boiling water, and, when duly heated and emptied 
one spoonful of tea is introduced for four people, which 
is ample. At a legitimate temperature the leaf renders 
its finest flavour, and it is then only necessary to fill 
each cup one-third full from the i^ot, adding tvto- 
thirds of boiling water delivered from the samovar 
through a tap. Tea should be drunk without milk ; 
but, with excellent reward to the palite, a slico of 
lemon ;nay be put in the cup. The Russians often 
t ike a small piece of sugar in the mouth, and pass 
the t'a over it, instead of inserting the sugar 
into the tea. I see no particular gain in this habit, 
bub am open to admit that without su ;ar at all the 
delicate essence of the leaf appeal i more insin. 
uatiugly to a virgin palate; but, alas! how few of 
ua can claim this immaculate virtue of discriraina- 
tiveness. Travel where you pleaso in Russia, 
every peasant has his samovar. When he marries he 
sets up a samovur, which outlasts his lifetime. That, 
and an til.-on fir Lis hpirituiil vaute i^ often near all 
he haf, and ho ig contt^nteJ. Th( price of 
hiimovar i.s quickly aavid through the econoaiy 
in the use of tea, and a homo-like influence is 
croated iu the poorest dwcliicig. In Encland, h 
s»mov»r could be made and sold profitably for lO-i, 
while no more artistio ornament tor the tubbcanbo 
imagined. And why not serve glasses of tea in clubs 
and restaaranis at lunoheon time ? At twopence the 
glass the net profit would be greater than on a 
glass of beer. There is much in example, but 
precious little in preaching. To see a gentleman 
quietly sipping h's tea with lemon would find 
imitators, whereas all the dehortations in the world 
are as the babbling of insanity to your average lover 
of alcohol. 
«' It is to be observed that, for aome physiological 
cause, the nature of which has not been explained, 
tea and alcohol do not always harmonise in the same 
economy. A cup of tea taken by one who uses alcohol 
is not infrequently followed by a dyspeptic visit, due 
probably rather to tho strength of the tea than to any 
other cause. Drink t:a, however, of the proper strength, 
and you may swallow half .a dozen oupa at a time with 
impunity as far as perceptible harmful effects are 
concerned. Most of us know the fatal happy climax 
of wine-taking, the Apes of Lamb, beyond which you 
cannot go, and which yon can only strive to regain, 
minus hope of reaching at that particu'ar sitting the 
gaiety of soul already experienced. But with tea, one 
can go on passing his glass. An equable, normal 
jollity is comfortably tustained. The brain is gently 
stimulated, and you participate in the ideal hilarity of 
Dr. Johnson. Even a health might be most properly 
drunk in tea. ' Gentlemen, charge your saucers,' will be 
perhaps the order of the future. And the saucer is a 
very good thing to drink from. The custom should be 
revived."— and 0. Mail, Aug. 28th. 
. 
THE INDIAN TEA TftADE- 
It was not long ago, before I had the good fortune 
to be entertained by a mercantile firm, that I was just 
as ignorant as the generality of the Indian public are 
to the present day, of one of India's principal trades 
— the tea ti'ade. It is true that I would almost weekly 
notice in the daily papers advertisements of tea auc- 
tions having been held, and of thousands of chests at u 
time having passed the hammer ; but my idea about all 
this was that these sales were attended exclusively by 
native grocers ; that the tea sold was consumed entirely 
by ourselves in Calcutta and the mofussil : and that 
as a matter of fact, cheapness was the principal 
characteristic of these sales, labouring under the im- 
pression that cheap Ihin^js could only bo picked up at an 
auction. The majority of the public are today no wiser 
than I was before I entered the trade. It may, there- 
fore, be interesting for them to know something about 
such ridiculous uotious that prevail. Tea is one of the 
principal articles of export from India, also from Cey- 
lon, where it may be said to bo still iu its infancy, not- 
withstanding its development within a comparatively 
short space of time. Indian tea is manufactured in As- 
sam, Oachar, Sylhet, Darjeeling, the Dooars, Kumaon, 
the Kangra Valley and Chota-Nagpur, Assam growths 
are renosvued for their strength. Ciichar and Sylhet 
possess the same charactur, but in less degree. DarjeeU 
ing with the Dooara, the Kangra Valley and Kumaon 
produce flowery teas, aud the last named district, tea 
of en inferior quality, d/;;., appreciably devoid of either 
strength or flavour. Since the introduction of ludias 
tea the old favourite, China tea, is being universally re- 
placed. It has completely lost its former reputation, 
and is year by year fast losing ground, and growing in 
disfavour everywhere. Indeed the day is not far re- 
moved when China tea will only be a thing of the past. 
The reason of this general displacement, nay expulsion, 
is because it has of late years depreciated very remark- 
ably in quality, »nd is no longer considered genuine. 
Besides, it is by far more economical to drink Indian 
tea. In a report published by the Loudon Board of 
Customs thoy sny : '• Prom information which has been 
afforded us ou the subject, we believe that we make a 
■ihoderaU estimate in assuming that Indian tea goes half 
ai far again as Chinese tea, so far as depth of colour and 
fulnofs (nut. delicacy) of flavour are concerned. Thup, 
if ) lt>. of ChinQFe tea produces 5 gallons of tea of » 
ci.ni>.iii dijUh of co'ouc aud fulness of flavour, 1 lb of 
