December i, iSgt.] THE TROPSCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
443 
then about our tea ? Will they continus to eulogise 
it ? The answer is apparent to ua all. 
I mention the foregoing ciroumstancra in order to 
show that the tactics employed by Mr. May will 
materially increase the difficulties of our Oommig- 
Bioners. They will have to conciliate numbers of 
irate newspaper shareholders, and possibly buy up 
some portion of the valuless scrip held by them 
in order to obtain notices in the leading journals. 
To have to do all this, and at same time Irok 
after the general interests of the island, will tax the 
energies of the most hard working man anaongst us, 
Fortunately, however, we have identified with C?ylon 
a dozen or more men from whom to select Com- 
missioners, acceptable to all seotion.s of our 
community. The sooner they are selected the 
better. They will have to be heavily laden with 
rupees, and each man amongst us must put his hand 
in his pocket for the general good of the island. 
—Yours faithfully, A MEECANTILE MAN. 
P.S.— The Naiional Association count amongst 
their members a large number of men interested 
in trade with and products that go to America, 
Perhaps they arc waiting for a public meeting to 
be held, before taking any steps in the matter. 
[Any excuse for not subscribing, apparently, is 
clutched at : the Kiosk, the tea companies and 
Mr. Elwood May \ Our view is that Grovernment 
should choose one Commissioner and the Planters' 
Association another ; the latter to have special 
charge of tea and estate products. As there are 
so many good men available, let us get plenty 
of money and then the best man can be selected. 
—Ed. r. A.} 

Abnormal Tea Leaves, two united even 
more closely than were the Siamese twins, are 
pretty common. Not so triplets, a specimen of 
which hiis been sent to u3. Such eccentricities 
arc not confined to tea, but are common to many 
forms of vegetation. The Gardener's Chronicle 
recently figured a leaf streaked with brilliant 
colours, which had made a desperate effort, largely 
Buocessful to; become ?. flower. It is almost in- 
conceivable that the most formidable thora and 
the loveliest blossom are but modifioations of the 
Bame principle 
Cinchona Combination Rumours. — The Chem ist 
and Drucjifiat of 31et Oct. says :— The projected Java 
quinine factory still continues to agitate the cinchona 
interest in Java and in EColland. Mr. H. I. Prins has 
his say on the bubject in the last issue of the Inclischc 
Mercuur to the extent of two columns ; but his con. 
tribution cannot be eaid to throw muoh additional 
H({ht upon the question. Mr. Prins ascribes the failure 
of the old Milan quinine factory to the conoluaion of 
the well-known agreement between the Soekawana and 
Djikjagiri plautations and the Brunswick quinine 
works, which lie says was signed in 1886. He does 
not explain how it is that the Milan factory failed 
about two yeara before that agreemout was heard 
of. He calculates that the only serious item in the 
eBtaWiBbment of a quinine works in Java is the cost . 
of the niacliineiy. Wages, coal, chemicalp, and 
pelrokum are vory cheap, and there will be an enor- 
mous saving in bark freight and pale expenses in 
Kurope. The freigbt from Java to Halland is about 
71b, per ton ; sale expenses are slso heavy, the total 
churges belwceu the port of shipment in .Jova and 
the delivery to the buyer in Holland being about 
208. •'^d. p 'r bale. Mr. Bcrkliout, an old resident 
in Java, ul.-o devotes a lenLjthy article to the 
quo>uoii, and succeeds in bioacliiiig one or two new 
iilettB. He ndmits thiit quinine has found a very 
serious opponent in antipyriu, the largo consumption 
of which ho i\eoril>OH partly to the tree maT.ni r in 
v^hioh it hns bi.cii advertised. Arguing upon tlieso 
priimiHCS, bo advipos tlio planters to corabiuo for the 
pnrpoNO of making known by advortisemcuia that 
quiuiue is now obtainable at very low prices, a fact 
of which the public, hn thinks, are still ignorant. 
Mr. Berkbout estimates that a quinine factory in 
Java would have an advantage over European makers 
of a siviog in cost of Id per oz. of sulphate of 
quinine. On the other hand, the cost of making 
sulpha'e of quinine would be much heavier in Java than 
in Europe. Mr. Berkhout estimates, from an inspection 
of the books of a German factory, that the produc- 
tion of oue kilo, of quinine in Europe costs Is lOJ 
in chemicals, and requires 1| cwt. of coal. The total 
cost of mauufacturinij quinine in a German factory 
in the jears 1890-91, according to its published 
balance-sheet, was a fraction over 2d. per lb. He 
recommends the formation of a syndicate composed 
of brokers, manufacturers and planters, and disposing 
of a capital of say, 25,000^., wbich would buy up all 
bark for which mauufacturers were not willing to bid 
Id. per unit at auction. 
Libels on Indian and Ceylon Tea. — We attract 
attention to a letter from Glasgow with reference to 
an offensive advertisement by dealers in China tea. 
It is only natural that the Glasgow dealers should 
deaire to preserve the " craft " by which they have 
. so long profited ; and had they contented themselves 
with exalting the mild merits of China black 
tea (which, however, the tea-drinking public are 
appreciating less year by year) their advertisement 
might be allowed to pass. But their virulent libels 
on the superior teas of India and Ceylon are, we 
regret to believe, knowingly false ; for Messrs. 
Stuart, Cranstoun & Co. deseribo themselves as 
tea tasters of 25 years' experience. Aa such they 
must know that medium Indian and Ceyloa 
pokoes, obtained at moderate prices, are equal to 
the very finest high priced pekoes which China pro- 
duced in her best days, and that the statement that 
Indian and Ceylon teas yield four or Jive times as 
much tannin as China is absolutely untrue. There 
is in the Indian and Ceylon teas just a suQi- 
ciently larger percsutage of tannin to coustituto 
their superiority to China. If China tea is bo 
treated that all the tannin is extracted from it, the 
brew will be neither a pleasant nor a wholesome 
beverage; and no person who knows how-to infuse 
tea properly will leave the boiling water mora than 
five to sevea minutes over the leaves. The 
proportion of tannin in Euch an infusion of 
the strongest Indian and Ceylon tea is not 
injurious but benefioi&l, the very rash and 
discreditable utterances of Sir Andrew Clark to 
the contrary notwithstanding. The abusive lan- 
guage applied to Indian and Ceylon tea, by in- 
terested persons, like Stu:irt Cranstoun & Co., and 
Ihe dishonest person who was prosecuted for 
selling China tea under the name of Ceylon, re- 
minds us of the insane ravings of a firm of 
brokers called Sellar & Co., who, in the days 
when Indian tea was first making itself felt in 
the English market, were only less demented in 
denouncing the new product than in condemning the 
siu of lending out money at interest ! Our readers 
will be amueel at the .varning of the Glasgow 
dealers in China tea, against blends, because they 
are composed chiefly of Indian and Ceylon tea I 
The jublic kuov/ their own interests, and the 
beneficial effect of good tea properly made, too well 
to be Mffcoted by the ill-advised utterances of medical 
eccentrics, or the selfish and false libels of 
dealers like the Glasgow men; and in spite of 
medical cranks * and mercantile partizans, Indian 
and (especially) Cejlon tea will inoroasa in favour 
and in consumption, tothe benefit even moro of con- 
sumers than producers, although we trust with ever 
ft fair profit; to tlie latter. 
* One of them obtained notoriety, which was no 
doubt lu« object, by denouncing that valuable sub- 
stance Liebig's extract of beef as being merely a 
stimulant, similar tp alcpbol, 
