4i6 
tHF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
maia eiitrance, wilh the long liues of Assam rubber 
tree?, and the cluster of different palms, (2) the 
nvenue of rojal pa'ma, (3) the different bamboos at 
the ponds, (4) the dittirit view of the saliawood 
bridge. The view from the Herbarium is ulso one of 
great beauty. 
Visitors to the gardens are greatly assisted by the 
intelligent native servants detailed to act as guides. 
They have a fair knowledge of the whtreabo&ts of 
almost all the important plants and seldom go wrong 
with regard to mimes. It should bo stated also that 
the natives employed in widely different fetations in 
the establishmeut prove, accordiig to the Directo;: 
aud the Superintendent, general efficient. 
The Herbarium is rich in certain directitns and can 
be consulted by students under proper restrictions. 
The Museum is as yet small. 
It remains to be said that plants and seeds are tor 
sale at the garden, at moderate prices. A Wardinn 
case packed with forty assorted plants is shipped for 
40 rupees, fay about IC (o 20 dollars. 
The ii.fiueuce for good which has been exerted 
in Oejlou by the garden and its brunches is in- 
calculable. The establishment has proved a centre 
of scientific activity and of high ecoaomic value. 
G. L. G, 
O. A. SALA ON TEA DRINKING. 
A feminine co itributor (o a contemporary appears, 
equally with the estimable Mrs. Fa.wcett, to be des- 
perately troubled in her mind touching the supposed 
enormities of lea-drinking by ladies — excesses which 
in the opinion of the enemies of the tea-pot, are 
grievously aggravated when the cup which cbeers but 
not inebriates is accompanied by buns, scoues, short- 
bread, and especially by the dark and dyspeptic 
plumoake. The foes of tea maintain that there la 
an utter lack of dignity in the spectacle of a bevy 
of ladies tilting at marble tables munching indiges- 
tion-breeding plnmcako and sipping fqually unwhole- 
some tea "from thick white bowls conventionally 
known as tea-cups." It may be i sked, however, is it 
absolutely essential to tea-drinking that the refresh- 
ment should be taken from a marble-topped table ? 
Would it be equally criminal to sip Souchocg or 
Bohee while sitting at a table of plain deal covered 
with American cloth, or at an "occasional" walnut, 
or mahogany, or rosewood, or from the convenient 
and pretty dwarf table of ebo'ay and mother-of-pearl 
— the " mikra trapeza " which the Greek ladies use 
as a support for the brass platesu that holds their 
dainty little coffee-cupa ? And, again, leaving on one 
side as a moot point the wholesomoness or unwhole- 
Bomeness of tea, is it not foolishly oalnmnious, in the 
year 1S91, to csll our teacups "thick white bowls?" 
At least, they have handles, and are supplemented 
by saucers; and, if the correspondent of our coatem- 
porary entered a Parisian cremerie in quest of a 
cheap breakfast, her cafe bu lait or her chocolate 
would be served in what was literally a thick white 
bowl, very often with the white glaze chipped off in 
portions, and revealing the coarse brown earthen- 
ware beneath, and utterly destitute of a handle, 
to atone for the absence of which the customer 
would be furnished with a big spoon of tho very 
cheapest and most lack-lustre form of electro. Even 
in the moft fashionable cifes in Paris, the tea and 
coffee cups are thick and white and clumsy in potting, 
whereas in hundreds of houses of refreshment in 
London and at the seaside the tea equipage is light, 
prutty and tasteful. Englith pottery is fast becoming 
not only tho most elegant but the cheapest in the 
world; and, seeing that quite a picturesque little tea 
Bcrvico can bo bought for five or six shillings, tho 
Bliiigi'st of refreshment-house keepers would scarcely 
think it worth wliile to serve coffee in thick white 
bowls. 
Nor does tbe indictment against tea stop at the 
charge that it is served at marble tables and with 
ugly and clumay parapl ornalia. The ladies are warned 
that, alihough the dccuctioiis of the fragrant herb at 
"tva-timo" may bu gcntcful and oomfortiog, tea at 
[December i, 1891. 
" luncheon-time " is a delusion and a snire. la response 
to this somewhat vague accusation it may be per- 
missible to ask what is " lea-timei"' We did not 
discover the properties of the tea-plar.t ; the Cbinese 
grew it and dried it and infused it thonsands of years 
before England was ever heard of, and your China- 
man will sip tea from n:orniDg until night. 
Even in Eogland, since the period wheu the uee 
of tea wa3 first introduced, the hours at whicli 
we talie our meals have been so frequently VKiied 
that it is a matter of extreme difficulty to deoide at 
what hour tea should most appropria! ely le consumed. 
Pope tolls us that "Great Anna, whom three rialms 
obey, Did fometimea counsel takeaad sometimes tea "; 
and, looking at the fact that since in tbe days of 
Queen Anne Koyalty and the nobility and gentry break- 
fasted at eight in the moruiag, dined at one, and 
Bupped at ei«ht, it is probable that tea-time may have 
been between three and four p.m. There was, how- 
ever, as we learn from Swift's " Polite Conver^ation," 
a section of the beau monde which did not breakfast 
until nearly noon. Miss Ni table, when Tom Neverout 
comes to breakfast at Lady Smart's, admits that she 
never rises before eleven, and it ia at that hour 
that her Lidyship entertains her guest with tea, which 
is served with cream, and bread-and-butter. The tea. 
of course, is iu a " dish," which may have been a 
small china bowl without handles. Hogarth's early 
pictures are replete with evidence that the little black 
boy iu the turban who bore tbe teuketflo was in request 
not only at the orthodox tea-time, but at various periods 
throughout the day. Lady Smart, being apparently 
rather a dissipated dame, does not dine until three ; 
but when she has regaled her guests upon oysters, 
sirloin of beef, venison, pastry, pigeons, pudding, cider, 
ond small beer, the ladies adjourn to their tea, while 
tbe gentlemen sit down to serious drinking of claret 
and burgundy. When they are pretty full of choice 
Gallic vintages they rejoin the ladies, and tea is again 
served round to both sexes. Next Lady Smart rioge 
for tiie foolmin, and bids him take nway the 
tea-tables and bring candles, it being undtrstood from 
the context that it is now six o'clock on a September 
evening. Then they all go to quadrille, manille, 
spadille, and basto, and gamble furiously until three 
in the morning, more tea, and possibly a little punch 
having been served in the small hours. Toallajipear- 
ance, although the use of tea throHghout the eigh- 
teenth century was from its great costliness almoBt 
exclusively confined to the upper classes, it was drunk 
quite as frequently in polite society as it is a present 
by all orders in the community ; and it is worthy of 
remark that from tbe time cf its first introduction into 
Europe it has been subjected to most violent attacks, 
now on the part of the medical profession, and now 
on that of thcea professors cf minor morals who are 
always so anxious to put their fellow-creatures on the 
right path, but whose ignorance, prejudice, and lack 
of common sense lead them with melancholy frequency 
to follow a very wrong path themselves. There is no 
notice of tea being habitually drunk in England prior 
to the Restoration ; but so early as 1611 Tulpius, a 
celebrated physician of Amsterdam, advised all his 
female patients to drink tea when they suffered from 
depression, and it is extremely probable that when 
Mary ascended the throne of these kingdoms as con- 
sort regnant with her husband, at the Kevolution, 
she brought with her from Holland a canister of 
tea, as well as a provision of Dutch tilea, Dutch 
clocks, charity schools on the Dutch mode), Dutch 
drops, Dutch dolls, and Dutch cleanliness. Tea made 
but slow progress in France until after 1789, but in 
1801 we find the author of the " Almanach des Gour- 
mands " complaining that tea-parties, taking place at 
tbe unholy hour of three in tho morning, had sup- 
planted the "godters,'' or after-auppers, of Parisian 
society. These postcenal teas were attended by dishes 
of game and pastry, and by libations of punch and 
bishop ; but, at about the same period, it would 
appear that the frugal and patriarchal Swiss had 
established a regular five o'clock tea, to which, in its 
original simplicity, only bread-and-butter was added, 
although subsequently such complementary delicacies 
as biscuits, (uacaroous, and even ioes were tolerated 
