394 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[December i, 1890 
renovated would fall back into the third or fourth 
class. The proposal therefore was that 
“ A competent chemist should be employed for the 
purpose of making the investigations indicated above, 
viz,, the analysis of the tea plant, the root^, stem, 
branches, leaves and seed ; the soils on which the plant 
is grown and the manures, both such as may be avail- 
able on the spot, and those it is possible to transport 
with sufScient economy to make their use practicable. 
Linked with the enquiry as to the fertility of soils 
would be questions relating to the treatment ot the 
tea plant, and of the leaf in the process of manufac- 
ture, points on which most useful information may be 
obtainable by careful scientific enquiry. As for ex- 
ample, the causes which tend to variations of quality 
in the teas produced, the chemical changes which take 
place in the leaf during the process of manufacture, 
and a number of similar points which if they cannot 
be dealt with chemically may, when a full record of 
all local circumstances is available, be referred to the 
leading authorities in different departments in Europe. 
It was resolved that a competent chemist should 
be engaged for the purposes indicated for a period 
of at least two years ; that the results, as obtained 
should be published ; that Rl0,000 should be guaran- 
teed by the Indian Tea Association ; that portions 
of the necessary expenditure should be recouped by 
fees levied for special reports on soils of individual 
gardens and soils submitted for analysis. There 
are other details of minor importance and the me- 
morandum concludes as follows : — 
“ At present the tea industry is regulated by more or 
less empirical methods ; the precise conditions which 
infiuence the commercial value of the teas are pra.cti- 
cally unrecuioised. A high priced tea and a low priced 
one, as far as is at present known, are chemically indis- 
tiDguisbable. The tea plant can be made to yield a 
larger crop by the return to the soil of certain princi- 
ples abstracted by the leaf, and which is at present 
given back by the indiscriminate use of manures, while 
those which influence the quality ot the leaf are, from 
a chemical point of view, an unknown factor. There 
are general rules regarding the restoration to the soil ot 
constituents abstracted which are as applicable to the 
tea plant as to any other crop, and the systematic appli- 
cation of which will most certainly improve the yield. 
But although it cannot with certainty be predicted 
that any special rules will be deduced as an outcome 
of the enquiry, the application ofwhich will certainly 
improve the quality of tea, yet there is every reason 
to believe that general deductions will be arrived at 
which will indicate to some extent the system which 
should be adopted to this end.” 
The memorandum is dated Sept. 1889, but up till 
now, we have not seen in the proceedings of the 
Society that the Indian Tea Association has taken 
any more active steps to carry out the scheme, 
than our own Oeylon Planters’ Association has 
done in the case of Mr. Hughes’s proposal. 
Mr. Hughes is now well enough known in Ceylon 
to justify us in saying that no better qualified 
chemist could be chosen to carry out analyses and 
experiments such as are contemplated in the Indian 
memorandum. 
Our planters know generally that tea requires more 
nitrogenous manures than coffee did. That no better 
fertilizer oould be used than cattle manure, provided 
it were easily obtainable from extraneous sources, 
or if the keeping of cattle on estates, largely for 
the sake of their manure oould be made to pay. 
We also know that no better oil-cake can be used 
to supply nitrogen largely and potash in an ap- 
preciable degree than white castor cake, while 
coconut poonao is good, but not so valuable as a 
fertilizer, especially where wild pigs and similar 
animals abound. We know that by a very large 
number of authorities it is held that to supply tea 
with the desiderated proportions of nitrogen, potash 
and phosphate of lime, a perfect combination is 
(bRt of white Oastor oake and bones broken small. 
If the latter are steamed so much the better, 
perhaps. But so highly nitrogenous a substance as 
fish must be valuable, if only its effects are lasting. 
Kainit, too, might be found valuable.. In a recent 
experiment fish manure alone put luxuriant leaf 
on the tea bushes and no blossom, while fish 
manure with an admixture of bones, stimulated 
blossom (which is undesirable,) as well as leaf. A 
small quantity of super-phosphate added to the fish 
would probably have been preferable. Such ques- 
tions and others regarding manures, in oonnection 
with knowledge of the constituents of the tea plant 
and the soil in whioh it grows, a competent chemist 
could settle. And surely it is more than probable 
that such a man as Mr. Hughes, watching, re- 
peating, and experimenting on all the processes 
of the manufacture of the leaf, under different 
circumstances of elevation and weather and of the 
leaf itself as to degrees of withering, rolling, fer- 
mentation, roasting, &c., would be able to help 
planters to obtain uniformly those good results, 
which at present are obtained only occasionally. 
We believe, therefore, that a portion of the fueds 
of the Association, with, perhaps eome help from 
Government, would be well spent in securing the 
services of Mr. Hughes, or some other competent 
chemist, if that gentleman cannot accept the mission, 
to conduct in different districts of Ceylon, and on 
a series of typical plantations and in their factories, 
a series of experiments in cultivation, the applica- 
tion of manures, and the manufacture of the gathered 
leaf, such as we have indicated in quoting and 
commenting on the comprehensive Indian Memorans 
dum. We submit the question for the eeriou 
consideration of the producers of tea in our island. 
Our teas have a high character for their fine 
quality. Our efforts ought to be directed to sustain- 
ing and even improving the character of what is 
now the staple product of Oeylon. 
RECENT GEMMING FINDS. 
Several valuable gems have recently been found 
in Rakwana and the Morawak Korale, which are 
likely to have an appreciable effect on the market, 
especially amongst London capitalists. Apropos 
of a para, in our contemporary the “ Times ” yester- 
day headed “Gemming in Morawak Korale,” whioh 
says: — “ We are told that a cat’s-eye was recently 
discovered on Rangwelltenne which has just been 
sold for R12,000,” — we are informed that it was 
not found on Rangwelltenne, the mining rights of 
whioh belong to the Ceylon Gemming and Mining Co., 
but it was found in the Morowak Korale, and Rang- 
welltenne is in Rakwana. This catseye was sold 
in Colombo three days ago to a Moorman for the 
sum named. An experienced man who has had 
an opportunity of inspecting the stone says it is 
one of the finest that has been found of recent 
years. 
Another very fine stone of 26 carats, was recently 
found on Knowhill estate, adjoining the Oeylon 
Gemming and Mining Syndicate’s estate, Golden 
Grove. 
^ — 
The Hardy White Passion-flowers. — Messrs 
Fuller, Courtecay Nursery, Newton Abbot, write to 
protest against a doubt raised by a correspondent as 
to the corn ctness of the statement that the plant in 
question originated in their nursery as a seedling from 
P. ccerulea. Although the plant was first described 
in these columns, we were of course dependent upon 
others for a correct statement as to its history. Messrs. 
Fuller say they raised the plant, and there is, so 
far as we know, no reason whatever to doubt their 
accuracy ; but, if it be a seedling, other people may 
have raised it before, and others may raise it again, 
— Gardeners' Chronicle, 
