636 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1892, 
hearted Tea and firmly seated threw forth an exceeding 
branch, leafed a rich waxy green, and wa'i not this a 
moat wonderful achievement ? but how ludicruus hu 
ambition since he could not"flQsh"l " What manner 
of thing is thiB?"8Bked the planter. 
And TernBtromiacesB shouted — " LorBiithus, the 
murderer ! he lives to robe himself by robbing us of 
our Bap." 
" The juice he does. Surely botany is out of joint 
since I as a planter must needs turn chiropc dist." 
" A Ceeepek." 
The peculiarity of the loranthus is that it 
spreads over the stems and branches of trees aud 
from the bark ceils tuoks out the life-blood, as the 
mycelium of Hemileia vastatrix does in the case 
of the coffee leaves. The leaves of this tropical 
misletoe do not, however, so closely resemble tea 
leaves as the blossoms counterfeit honeysuckle. 
We have seen Acacia melanoxylon trees withered 
and jak trees dead from attacks of the parasite, but 
we never saw it on tea. It coald only occur on a 
seed beearer ?— Ed. T. A.} 
^ 
NOTES ON PRODUCE AND FINANCE. 
The Strength of Indian and Obylon Tea. — We 
may shortly see a discussion by correspondents in the 
Press on the respective merits aud strength of Indian 
and Oeylon tea. This is not desirable, nor will it serve 
any useful purpose. A rivalry between Indian aud 
Ceylon growers, if it should take the form of poffir.g and 
depreciating, is not desirable. For instance, Mr. C. S. 
Hicks, a member of the Oeylon Association in London, 
writes to one of thedaily papers as follows: — "With 
reference to the criticisms on tea now appparin<>- in the 
Frees, I shall be glad if you will allow me, as the largest 
shipper of Ceylon tea 'packed in Ceylon,' to say a few 
words on the snbjeot. Oeylon tea is produced from 
both the Indian and the China variety of the tea 
plant, and pnesesses very varying qualities. Some of 
the Ceylon tea shipped is very near akin to Indian 
tea, and possesses a very larjre amount of as'rin- 
genoy, while other gardens produce tea in which the 
China characteristics are predominent; and in all 
Ceylon teas which are of any value 8t rU flavour is 
the great characteristic, while astriugeney is notable 
by its absence. In Indian tea, on the contrary, there 
is a great absence of flavour, and a great predomi- 
nance of astringency and thickness. China tea is 
practically out of the question for the ordinary con- 
sumer (who must really be con'^idered), as the ques- 
tion to be dealt with is not what the connoisseur 
buys, who is able, out of a very small area, to make 
his selection by paying any fancy prices he chooses 
to indulge in, but what the ordinary everyday people 
of this country are able to pay to satisfy a demand 
for a really good tea. With this end in view there 
is no doubt that Ceylon tea at any given price will 
beat any China tea that is offered both for flavour, 
for purity, and for absence of all forms of tannin 
in proportion to its strength. The one great 
of tea which is available to everyone who is a 
tea drinker is the comparison of the infusion, and 
there is not a tea-taster in Mincing Lane who 
would dare to contradict this. The leaf of all 
good tea, when infused, cbanges tea to a bright 
copper colour ; absolutely bad tea, when infused, 
is of a black colour, or very dark brown." This 
reference to the absence of want of flavour and 
predominancy of astringency in Indian tea is likely 
to offend 8u.<iceptibilities with ^ut assisting the ob- 
ject of Mr. Hicks has in view. Ho might score ofi' 
China tea to his heart's content without depreciat- 
ing Indian tea. 
A Nkw York Analtsisof Cetlon Tea. — A sample of 
the Ooylon tea Bold in London at 53(lola. pet lb was, ao- 
cordinx to the American 6-Voc«r,8ubmitted for analysis to 
.1. F. Gi-isler, Pli.C, ofbcinl ol emist to the New York 
Htuto Dairy Commission and theNewYork Mercmtile 
Exchange. The result of the analysis of the Ceylon 
tips gave the following data: — Moisture (loss by dry- 
ing at iOO'-' 0.), 6 20 per cent. ; soluble ash, 3- 77 ; insolu- 
ble ash, 1-53 (total ash, 530); theine, 2-54; total 
tannin, 22 79— total extractive matter, 43 40 ; in- 
toluble leaf, 50'40 per cent. In the above 
data there is nothing particularly noteworthy, 
excepting that the per cent, of tannin is very high. 
An infusion of the tea was made by treating one 
part of tea with 100 parts of boiling distilled water 
and allowing ten minutps for the maceration. Under 
these conditions the tea yielded to water the follow- 
iug percentages:— Theine, 2 44 ppT cent ; tannin, 17- 19 ; 
total extractive matter, 33-25 ; ash (total) 3-44.; 
phosphoric acid (P2O*) in ash, 618 percent. The 
alkalinity of the ash was equivaler t to 1-798 per 
ctnt of K^O. The infusion obtained was of a dark 
golden yellow colour, and had a very agreeable aroma 
and pleasant taste. From the above it will be seen 
that the infusion took up 96 6 per Cfnt of the total 
theine, 75-3 per cent of the total tannin, and 91 per 
cent of the soluble ash, data characteristic of a fine 
tea. 
Beazilian Coffee. — The Kio de Janeiro papers con- 
tain the following respecting the prosnects for next 
season's Brazilian coffee crops:— " The delegates of 
the coffee factors of Kio de Janeiro appointed to 
organise the estimate of the coffee crops to be exported 
from this market now present tbtir opinion relative 
to the 1892-3 crop. By much information carefully 
collected, it is known that in certain districts the 
blossom was fair, and that in others it was abundant, 
but generally only a small part matured, not onlv from 
the want of strength in the trees, already weakened 
by the delay in gathering' the preceding crop, but 
also from the scarcity of labour and and ifs disorgani- 
sation. With the data in hand, we think we may 
atBrm that the crop in perspective should be 
stimated at about 3,000,000 bags, which figure 
is susceptible of modificadoDB, according to 
the weather, up to the end of February. 
The delegates must also clearly point out that cf the 
present crop, which appeared under favourable cir- 
cumstances, a great part was not saved through the 
want of labour. Phis loss, which may be estimated 
&t 500.000 bags of coffee, should be a sufSoient incen- 
tive to furnish agriculture with a supply of useful 
and indispensable labour." A report on the course of 
the Rio de Janeiro and Santos coffee markets dated 
Dec, 8 is as follows : — " There has been a well devel- 
oped struggle between exporters and factors, without 
a decided victory for either side. The former are 
apparently basing their campaign on the usual limited 
business in foreign markets during the approaching 
holidays and a consequent increase of etooks abroad, 
wt'ile the factors have in their favour the unsettled 
condition of the exchange market here. On the 4th 
instant, brokers advanced quotations by about 300 reis 
per arroba, since when there has been no changt 
although it is easier to sell than to buy at the quo- 
tations. Shipments have fallen off, possibly because 
the November purchases are pretty well all on board 
ship, and receipts show some increase, from which 
results an increase of about 20,000 bags in stock." — 
{^. Sf C. Mail, Jan. 8. 
If an early mango crop foretells a'seaeon of 
drought, the prospects of the next monsoon are 
not bright. The royal fruit is already being hawked 
about Madras and oan be bought for something 
less than two annas each. By careful cultivation 
it is possible, we believe, to have mangoes all the 
year round, but not often at the above price at 
this time of year. — Madras Mail. 
The Sanitary Commissioner of AssiM has called 
the attention of Government to the fact that, owing 
to the absence of any system of oonaervancy in 
tea-gardens in that Province anaemia is spreading 
among the coolies. The malady known as kala^ 
azar is also referred to the same source. The 
particular form of anwmia under consideration ia 
said to be so prevalent that in one garden alone 
36 per cent of the new coolies were found to be 
euSecing from it,— M. Mail, Jan. 19th. 
