404 YHP TRDPTCAL AQRIOULTURIST. [December i, 1891. 
powerful steam engines down to the delical,^ 
operations of the chemist and analyist — to secur® 
perfection and economy in operation, must be seen 
to be duly appreciated. For instance the number 
of oast-ircn pipes traversing the buildings for 
the service of the various departments arrests 
attention and one has to learn that not only do 
these convey hot and cold weter, but hot air, cold 
air, and perhaps different gases. 
We parted from our courteous host, and his 
clever Doctor-Superintendent with regret, greatly 
impressed by what this afternoon's visits had 
revealed to us. Mr. Mehl was our pleasant in- 
structive companion back to Mannheim where, 
after dining together, we took the night train to 
Mayenoe. Alluding to the poor soil in the 
neighbourhood, and how little was done even with 
the vine, though some quantities of plums and 
cherries were sent to the English market^ he 
motioned as the most important industry for the 
rural people, the growing of vegetables which were 
prepared and ■' pressed " for ship use, — Mannheim, 
a town of 80,000 people is within the limits of 
Baden and the Grand Duke had left after a short 
visit to his palace here the day before. It is a 
handsome, well-built town with broad avenues and 
side walks shaded by trees and the October 
festival was about to commence here as in Munich, 
attracting much attention and a large gathering. 
DovEB, Oct. 16th. 
The week has been one of very wet, stormy 
weather here ; and one night we had a great burst 
from a strong gale in the Channel which did 
much damage at the end and on the Admiralty 
pier, estimated at £1,000 loss in all. That very 
evening the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, 
crossed from France himself ; but fortunately by the 
5 p.m. rather than a later boat. Still, though the 
storm had not then burst, the crossing was very 
uncomfortable even in one of the powerful steamers 
which now, in ordinary weather, do the 26 miles 
m very little over an hour. On this occasion the 
hour and a half was exceeded, and we had an 
amusing account from a fellow-passenger of the 
Premier's persistent nibbling of hard dry biscuit- 
all through the passage as he remained 
in one sheltered spot on deck. 
Although the weather of the past twelve months — 
winter, spring and summer especially — has been 
BO much condemned, I learn that fruit growers of 
Kent — " the garden of England " — have had no 
reason to complain, but rather speak of two favour- 
able seasons. Always, the county of gardens and 
orchards, with the decline of farming and the 
preaching (by Mr. Gladstone especially) of the 
duty of extending fruit cultivation in England, 
great additions to the orchards and gardens 
have been made in the past ten years even in 
Kent. I remember in 1884, being struck with the 
number of fields planfed with young fruit trees. 
Now I hear of men having, individually, as much 
as 1,000, and even 3,000 acres under fruit for the 
markets not only of England, but of big towns 
as far north as Manchester, They begin in the 
early year croping srrawberrios, picking from 3 to 
4 a.m. each day, so as to get their crop into 
London by special train in the early morning ; 
then follow gooseberries, currants (all varie- 
ties), raspberries, plums, peaches, apricots and 
of course apples and pears. The large cul- 
tivators making contracts in a big way do well — 
one acre of strawberries often gives £200 gross 
return in a year!— but I hear that the smaller 
garden owners, especially those farthest away from 
town, often do poorly. One unfortunate in this 
noighbowrhoocl sent 50 bushola of plums this season 
to London, only to get as his return a debit note 
for 4d to XMy 1 The plums had not realized carriage 
and charges. But talk of the Ceylon Railway, I 
have heard enough of the misdeeds and over- 
charges and partiality of the " the London, 
Chatham and Dover " while here and I must give 
you some instances in mj next. 
I have just heard that a Colonel Stewart 
of Dover Garrison — spoken of as a much liked 
Highland officer — expects to go to Ceylon by the 
end of the year as Senior Commissariat officer. 
I have just been honored by an invitation from 
the Council of the Eoyal Colonial Institute to their 
Annual Dinner at the Hotel Metropole on 10th Nov, 
after which in the evening Mr. W. E. Maxwell, 
C.M.G., is to read a paper on " The Malay Peninsula, 
its resources and prospects," Lord Brassey in 
the chair. 
■ ' '» 
PLANTING NOTES. 
Formosa Oolongs are cultivated by small native 
farmers, who have small gardens, and some of whom 
do not pick over 100 pounds at one picking, of wbiob 
they have three or four during the season. Unlike 
Japans, the first picking is the poorest of the season, 
the second crop is better, but the autumn crop is the 
beat of all. The reason for this is, that daring August 
the island is visited with heavy rains, after which the 
warm weather of September causes the plant to 
grow luxuriantly. The leaf is full of sap, added to 
which is the fact that the moisture in the atmosphere 
causes the plaut to ferment quickly, which allows 
the manufacturer to care the leaf without expo- 
sing it to the sun, which, it is claimed, takes from 
its strength. The great strength of the leaf en- 
ables the manufacturer to fire the Tea longer, and 
the longer it is fired the better it will keep. It is a 
fact that the third crop or autumn Teas, that have 
been well fired, will improve after having been 
exposed to the air for a few days in the dealers 
bin. The action of the atmosphere brings out the 
fragrance of the Tea, while at the same time the 
baked flavour disappears. These Teas will keep for a 
month Tiithout much, it any, deterioration; the first 
crop as will lose flavour as rapidly as Japans. 
It is related that in ye olden time, when the China- 
men were begged for seeds of the precious plant to 
send to European conservatories, they secretly des- 
troyed all germination in the seeds by boiliug and 
then presenting them, with their blandest smile, would 
say: "Bsliy solly Tea no glow all the samee China." 
During the reign of Queen Anne black tea sold 
from I2s to 16s per pound. In 1707, from 15s to SOs 
per pound. 
"Strange and far-fetched things they only like; 
doa't you see how they swallow gallons of the juice 
of tea, while their own dock leaves are trod under 
foot." These words were penned over 150 years ago 
by Sir Richard Steele, in his " Comedy of the Faneral," 
but how applicable they are to much of the so-called 
tea sold at the present day ! 
The bark "Formosa" brought the first cargo of 
Formosa Oolong to the United States, where fhe 
arrived March 7th, 1869. It consisted of 7,800 half 
chests, shipped by Mr. John Dood, an Englishman, 
the pioneer in the Formosa tea business. It is now 
the favourite tea with most connoieseurs. 
"It is a singular fact," writes an American paper, 
" that the Indians living on a Tea garden will not 
touch Tea. From hygienic grounds they have been 
urged to use it, but they spit it out with disgust." 
Is that so ! St. Louis. 
— Madras Times. 
The OorFEB Oeop in Cookg, is this season, 
we are glad to hear, likely to be a good one. There 
has been an abundance of rain — rather more than 
enough. Experiments are now being made by some 
of the planters of growing Liberian plants among 
heir Arabian coffee, with the hope of improving the 
peoies,— il/at?ras Mail, Oot. 29th. 
