March i, 1892.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
67s 
taiut d in London, Gorman factories purcLaseJ 162,010 
kiloB. quinine durin« the year—in other words, they 
would make 5,750,000 oz. of the 8,200,00U nz. of quiniue 
forming the tutal supply— that is, 70 per ci-nt. This 
toLaldoeB uot include the direct supplies of bark froui 
th.) Soekawana and Dj;»j>igiri plantations in Java con- 
signol to Brunswick. As already announct^d, these ar e 
now about to be stoppe I. Ii may cause considerable 
surprise, bub the statement saerns, nevertheless, well 
founded, that the total coosumptiou of quiniue in 
Germ iny does not now average over 8,000 kiloy, or 
290,000 oz., so that at least 95 per cent of the to at 
G rman quinine-produotiou is exported. The cousump- 
lion of quiniue in Germany has for several years been 
seriously ou the decrease, a circumstauco attribu'.ed to 
the tjersiateucy with which sundry n^jw untipyretics are 
advertised in that c« mtry. The Germnn factories com- 
plain greatly that, lu spite of the reduced value of cin- 
chona bark, the railway tariffs for this article have not 
been lowered, and are about double those of taiiniug 
barks, the intriusio vulue of some of which is actUfiUy 
greater than that of cinchona. The stock in Amater- 
dam at the end of the year was 5,279 packages (of which 
2,231 wore Government bark). The average proportion 
of quinine (sulphate) ia the bark sold in Amsterdum 
last year was 4-08 per cent, ai;ainst 4-0O iu 1.890 nnd 4T2 
per cent in 18B9. But among the barks offered in 
Amsterdam last year no less thau 1,000,000 kiios, or 
nearly two-sevenths, coutaiiied less thau 3 per cent 
quinine. The Javaplanters are strongly advised not !o 
harvest such bark iu the I'utui e, or, if it niunt bo taken 
off the trees, to burn it upon the plantation rather than 
ship it. — Chemist and UrugqUt, Jan. 16th. 
♦ • 
CHINA TEAS IN THE SEVENTEENTH 
CENTURY. 
If" you want to have," eay.s the pronounoemeat of 
Sir Andrew Clark which has lately lifted up the hearts 
of despondent chaaezeea, " tea which will uot iujuro 
and which will refreah, get black China tea, put- 
tiog in the right measure — tbe old-fashioned teaspoou- 
ful for each persou and one for thr blohsed pot. Then 
poac on briskly boiling water, and within five minutes 
you musv ponr it olf agaiu, or it will becomo wicked 
inaiead of wood." Thus summing up the experience 
of two centuries and liia owu, as to the virtues of 
tliea Bohca Sir Andrew bade bis hearers beware of the 
iuiorlopiug, uerve-dOBtroying Indian plant— advice 
which, if they are wise, should cheer but not inebriate 
our teamen of Fooohow. While wo wait to mark 
the effect of his most excellent brave words on ftliu- 
oiiig Liine, it is amuaing it not instructive to turn back 
to the begiuuing of those two centuries, and see in 
what light tea was regaraed by the primeval teamou, 
its first introducers to the West. Many of their 
judgments have been collected for us by their con- 
temporary Nieohof, whom O^ilby a few years lat.r 
translated by folios. This is the result of the obser- 
vatious and txiierimi-nts of one Athauasius Kircher : — 
" There is a plant called clia, which not i>eing able 
to contain itself within the boiuularies of China hath 
insinuated itself into Eutrope. The ;'eaf being boiled 
and iiifuhed in water the Chinese drink very tot. as 
often as they please. It is of a diuretiek faculty, mu;h 
fortifies the stomach, exliilnrates the spirit.", and 
WjuderfuUy openelh all the nephretic pa«fage9 Oi rein-. 
' It fre.'lh the hnad by surp,issiijg ol fuliginous vapors, 
so that it is a moat, excedeiit drink lor stu lio and 
Sii 'entary po,gous, to quicken them in their operations. 
Albiit at the tir.-l it .itcmeth in-ipid and biiter yet 
custom make.s it plea.':.HUi, and thuu^li the, Turkish 
cofi'-'H is said to prouuce the liiie •dfect, auo ttm 
Mexican chocolate be m ocher excellent drink, yet Tai, 
if the best, very much exi olU'th them, bec iuso cho- 
colate in hot seasuHs intlameth the blood more tban 
ordinary, a id cetVoe a iitaleth cholor ; bt,t this liquor 
iu all » asons hilh one and the sumu effect." 
Tho members of Iho Dutch Knibasay of lli55 6 bore 
very similar tostiuiony. "ftucli," they noted in their 
iliary, " I'spi eiiilly liiul til ' ben. lit th, reof who havo 
ovorcljarged their tiloniachs with eating, or disoom- 
posed their brains with too much sttong driuk: lor 
it is a very great drier of gross Humours, and dispels 
Vapors uccasionia({ sleep. It str eugtheus the Memory, but 
increases Gill if drunk in too greai quantity. In brief, 
they extol the virtues of this driuk mhnitely, and attri. 
bnto their uot having the Stone or Gout to this (as 
they term it) Most Noble Drink ; which we may be- 
lieve the rather, becaUae in all our Journey forward 
and t<ackward we met with none that were afflicted 
with these distempers." 
A latter writer, commentiDg ou tea after its in- 
tr'iduoti'in into iSurope, is equally enthusiastic : 
" To drink it after meals takes away all iudigestion 
and rawness of the stomach, and causes digestion, 
make.i those that are inebriated sober and re.stores 
them fresh power and senses, removes giddiness and 
pa)ns of the head occasioned qy excess of drink, and 
they thit are called upon to vitilancy, by drinking 
the same expel thoir drowsiness and become very 
vigorous and fit for business. It prolongs life also, 
for'ifii's the sight, and is commended by the famous 
p|-;ysician Nicholaus Tulp for the wholesomest plant 
that grows," They did not then believe iu the "slow 
poison " theory. But there was (Sir Andrew Clark 
might answer) no Indian tea in those days. 
An impres-iou which even the tweaty-yeara- 
ia-the-couatry sptak-the-language men imbibe is 
rudely dispelled by these early orders, the 
impression, to wit, that the Chinese do not 
take, and never have taken milk or sugar with 
their tea. The Dutch Ambassadors went to call 
on " the Third Governor" of Nanking, or rather he 
sent for them. His wife, by the way, was with him, — 
" a bold virago," the Dutchmen call her. "The room 
was presently filled with Tartar gentle women, who 
btlcnged to and waited on this lady, and brought a 
great silver kettle full of Thea, mingled with milk 
and salt, placing it in the middle of the chamber 
and serving it wooden ladles to all the company." 
Of course it will be objected that these IVIanohu dames 
were bub following the Mongol fashion of bricktea and 
butLer ; and othjr writers in Ogilby's oollectioua plainly 
declare that '• tome Chinese prepare it; with milk, 
and a little salt luiugled with water, though, to be 
sure, they add " this is not so well approved " as the 
orthodox method. That method is not quite Sir 
Andrew Clark's, butappioximntes to it. The Japan- 
uers, it would seem, " beat the Laaves to a powder and 
mingle it with boiling water in a cup, which they 
afcerwards drink off. But the Chinese put the Leaves 
whola into a pot of boiling water, which having lain 
iu step for some time they sip off hot without swallow- 
ing down any of the Leaves, but only the Quuintes- 
seuce thereof extracted. 
" Lord Tulp" it appears is responsible for the Bfate- 
ment that "the ChJiiuse boyl the leaves with a little 
salt and sugar to take away the bittejiaess," but the 
also admits that thhy " put a Handful of Tlie leaves 
iua pint-pot, theu p :iur it full of soaldmi} water, and 
about two or three minutes after driuk the some very 
hot." Modern Chinese by the way do not always con- 
form to this last moat salutary, and if we may so fpeak 
Clarkly system but often brew their 'pint-pot' 
of tea in the morning, and leave it to stew through 
ihe day, taking toil of it every half hour or so. They 
declare that the practice is harmless, because they 
do not, like ihe wasteful toreijiUer, crowd in the 
tea- eaves. 0ns spo^mful suffices for the family, 
heads are not couuled, and there are no tender 
leaniut^s towards "the blesed spot."— ^V. t'. Herald. 
WHAT FARMING IS COMING TO. 
AN AJIEKICAN DUE.«[ OF THE FUTUEE. 
In the New Emjland Maiiazinc for November, Mr. 
C. S. Plumb, vice-director of the Purdue Uni- 
versity Agricultural Experiment Station, publislies 
a fanciful paper. It describes the future of agri- 
culture, an i.,ccount of which he places iu the 
mouth of a director of an ludiami experiment 
station delivered iu the year 2,000 as a telephonic 
lecture to the studoutsof the National Agroiiomic 
University of i'^rwice, 
