June i, 1891.] 
rHF TfJOPJCAL AGRICULTURIST, 
837 
“■ TEA (JONSUMITION," 
Wa have received by thig mail a copy o£ a 
“ diagram-circular ” published unler the above 
heading by Maasrs. Gow, Wilson & Stanton, -and 
of which they advise the despatch of coieies for 
distribution to our subscribars to be here by next 
mail. Acting on the hint given some years ago 
by Mr. Gosohen in his budget speech, the well-known 
Kood Lane Firm show in their first diagram “ the 
estimated number of gallons of L'quid tea yiebled 
by the actual weight of tea used in Greit Britain 
during each of the past 25 years showing the 
superior strength of British-grown tea.” The 
statistiog show that the expansion which has taken 
place in the consumption of tea as a beverage is 
really much larger than ig represented by the 
increased use of the dry leaf. In 1893, for instance, 
the home consumption is represented by 33-40 gallons 
against 5 07 lb. per hea l of population. We are told 
that a point has now been reached m the United 
Kingdom when a “greater weight of tea will be 
annually required to supply the expanding gallon 
consumption of the country owing to the small 
quantity of China tea now left for displacement ; 
also that any further expansion in the gallon 
consumption must immediately cause an increase 
in the weight of dry tea used, a condition which 
did not exist so long ag a weak tea wag being 
displaced by a stronger one.” A larger home 
consumption is therefore anticipate! in the future. 
Messrs. Gow, Wilson & Stanton next summarize 
the events for which the season Just closing has 
been remarkable, ii-mely : — 
(1) Reduction of duty from (5! to 4!, and the 
sudden increase in Home Oousumption. 
(2) The high rate ol Exchange ruling and the 
cougeqnent decrease in supplies of Toa from Ch'na. 
(3) Tne nuL-xpeoted shortness of the Indian Crop 
which proves to be about 10,030,010 lb. below the 
original estiuiate, 
(4) The quot-ation of Indian Tea on the L-endon 
Produce Clearing House. 
() The iucre ised use of ludiau and Ceylon Teas 
iu Australia. 
' (G) The endeavour to increase the sale of Ceylon 
Tea in North America by the formation of the Ceyton 
Planters’ Tea Compriiy ; an I efforts to open Russia 
to Ceylon Tea. 
(7) The growing importance of the tea industry 
in Travancore. 
On the last page we have diagrams showing the 
“Tea Consumption in Principal Countries.” The 
markets shewn to be most worthy of attgntion for 
Ceylon tea planters are those of the United States, 
Russia, Australia and Canada, and also of the 
Argentine in South America, if only good govern- 
ment and peace prevailed there. 
^ 
NOTES ON POPULiR S HENCE. 
i!vr Dr. J. E, Twcob, F.LS., F.G.S., &c.. Editor 
ot’ “ .SctKvo.5 Gossip.” 
From time to time a go-od d -al of interest has been 
taken in the question of tlie origin of diamond.s, especi- 
ally those of the diamond-fields of South Africa. It 
is hold by many geolugists that they are found iu a 
voloauic matrix, more or less decomposed. Dr. Kuop, 
a German mineralogist, has been carefully studying 
this matrix or “blue earth,” as it is popularly called, 
of the South African diaraoiid.lislds, and finds that it 
is practically a decompo.sed serpentine nr scrpeiitine- 
tnfl'. The following minerals have been found in it: — 
Garneh en.gtatite, chromite, zircon, apatite, idocraso, 
rutile, mica and also thediainonl. Dr. Kno)i regards 
the diamond deposit at /dagersfontine as having been 
formed from a .serpontised rook, which latter may have 
been derived from peridotite, and ho thiuks the rclatiou 
105 
of the diamond to the peridotite is aiuilogoiig to the 
oocni'renee of diamonds in meteorites. 
Tho=e tivo indefatigable French chemists. Messieurs 
Barthelot and Andre, have been working tha teir 
favourite sulij 3ct, viz., the hi.story of the principal 
nitrogenous compounds contained in vegetable mould 
Their observations are quite new and original, and on" 
interesting fact brought out by the experiments io 
that the nitrogen contained in the volatile organis 
compounds given off under certain conditions bo 
nrgill-aceous son I is always much greater in nmouny 
than the nitrogen given off iu the form of ammoniafc 
The vegetable mould employed was 20 times richer 
in nitrogen than the argillaceous sand, but gave off the. 
two classes of compounds in equal proportions. 
HOW TO MAKE A GOOD CUP OF TEA- 
Katharine B. Foot writing in the American Agri- 
culturist gives the following practical hints about 
making a good cup of tea : — 
In the first place, tha water with which the tea 
IS raa-Ie shonl 1 be freshly drawn from the well, pump 
or faucet and put in a perfectly clean kettle. Tha 
svater must bo brought quickly to a boil, for long 
simmering- takes the life out of it. If the toa is to bo 
made iu lire dining room or the parlor first heat the 
silver kettle with hot water, and light the alcohol 
lamp. Tlien fill and hang your kettle, and the water 
will boil up in a moment. While waiting for it to 
boil he it your teapot and ynu- cups also if the 
weather is cold, but a/iodj/s heat the teapot. A metal 
teapot of any kind is an abomination ; let your tea- 
pot be of tha mo t delicate porcelain if you can afford 
it ; or if not that of good china, for poor china or 
stono ware when heated often gives an unpleasant 
flavor. Let your tea bo of the very best ; for cheap tea 
is always adulterated with injurious substances. Measure 
the tea with care — a small tea-poonful for each per- 
son, and one for the teapot, up to three or four 
people. Above that number add one teaspoonful for 
each two. But tea should never be made for more than 
four psoplo in one pot. If you have more to servo 
have more teapots. Pour off the water ymu have put 
into the pot to heat it, and into the steaming pot 
put tho lueasured out tea; aid from the boiling- water 
in the teakettle sufficient water to a little more than 
cover it, and sliut it up. Let it steep from five to 
eight minutes, not on the stove but ou the table, 
or, if you malco it iu a very cold room, on the hearth 
or on top of tha plate-warmer of the stove. Then 
adl boilii'-g water. The quantity can only bo detar- 
miued by careful observation and judgment to be 
strong or not. Nsver pour the tea into the cup and 
a id the cream and sugar ; always put. them into the 
cups and pour tho tea upon them. No real coyinoi- 
iseiir iu tea would ever touch a cup to which tho 
mdk and sugar is afterward added, for it makes all 
the difference between a good cup of tea and a poor 
one. If you pour tea for a person who takes more 
than one cup, pour a largo cup full at first ; for 
every one says “ the second cup is never so good 
as tho fir.gh” but does not know why. The reason is 
that the tea stands just so much longer, and so gives 
time for the tannic acid to develop, which makes the 
decoction bitter. 
ECHOES OF SCIENCE. 
The effect which living at high altitudes has on tho 
blood of animals has been recently investigated by 
M. Vianlt, who finds that ai respects the elevated 
regions of South America, the proportion of oxygen 
in tbe blood of men and animals acclimatised there 
was tho same ag that of dwellers at lower levels 
This is evidently due to the fact that they have tho 
proportion of bromoglobin in their blood corre.spoudingly 
increased so tliat the absorbent power of their blood 
for oxygen is enhanced, and thus, although there is 
loss oxygen in a cubio toot of the rarefied air of the 
mouotaius. the lack is compensated ns far as tha 
creature is concerned, The Sequoia National Park j 
