273 
Oct.  j,  1895.J  I'HE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST, 
FRUIT  CULTIVATION  IN  CEYLON. 
Aug.  .SOfch. 
Dp.au  Siu,— Your  correspondent  who  invites  growers 
of  oi'anges  to  send  them  down  to  Colombo,  as  he 
pays  nine  cents  a piece,  is  unaware  that  there  would 
be  probably  no  profit  to  the  gi-ower. 
It  is  my  experience  that  all  fruits  which  the 
grower  cannot  retail  himself  leave  very  little  profit 
if  any.  even  when  grown  with  another  standard 
product.  This  is  the  case  even  with  plantains,  which 
I have  had  more  than  once  to  sell  at  a loss,  owing 
to  rings  formed  by  middlemen  who,  as  a rule,  make 
no  less  than  cent  per  cent. 
There  are  other  reasons  which  make  fruit  cultivation 
a failure,  that  is  that  contractors  for  hotels  and  the 
shipping  have  no  standard  of  quality  to  furnish  and 
the  Colombo  residents  are  at  the  mercy  of  their 
Appoos ! I have  never  seen  in  the  hotels  or  in 
private  houses  of  Colombo  any  prime  fruit  of  the 
classes  which  can  be  cultivated.  A look  at  the 
Colombo  market  is  sufficient  to  prove  my  assertion, 
—Yours  truly,  A.  V.  D.  P. 
[For  pi’ofit,  fruit  must  be  cultivated  on  a consider* 
able  scale  for  cx.poi-t  to  London;  and  we  trust  Messrs. 
Smith.  Pearson  and  their  friends  will  be  able  to 
give  a fair  trial  to  oranges  and  lemons.— Ed.  T.A.] 
CINNAMON  CHIPS:  RISE  IN  PRICE. 
Negombo,  Sept.  4. 
Uear  Siu,— Can  you  or  any  of  your  readers 
account  for  the  unprecedented  rise  in  tlie  price 
of  cinnamon  cliips  this  season  ? In  one  of  your 
recent  issues  I lind  it  stated  that  the  price  had 
gone  up  to  R65  per  candy,  delivered  at  Colombo, 
I believe,  you  will  be  surprised  to  hear  that  the 
chips  of  ki‘mbiilpitiya  estate  in  Kadirane,  belong- 
in"'  to  Mr.  Schrader  of  Western  Seaton  fetched 
Rb7  per  candy.  Golua  Pokuna  estate  following 
closely  with  R66.— Yours  truly,  CHIPS. 
TEA  ENEMIES  AND  REMEDIES. 
Kandy,  Sept.  7. 
gip  —With  reference  to  the  advertisement  that  has 
been  ’ appearing  for  some  time  now  in  the  Cenlon 
Observer  of  the  Chiswick  Compound  and  Spraying 
Machines,  we  think  it  may  be  of  public  interest  to 
know  that  there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  as  to  the 
successful  results  that  are  being  obtained.  I he  fol- 
lowin'^  reports  from  three  ten  estoites  in  IndiR  liftve 
been  received  by  recent  miiil  and  bear  out  many 
earlier  reports : — _ t ^ i t>  i 
Henorts  from  three  Tea  hstcites  referred  to,  1.  ICed 
spider  has  been  bad,  but  is  now  disappearing  as 
the  monsoon  has  broken.  Chiswick  Compound  is 
invaluable  for  this  disease,  a couple  of  applications 
generally  being  sufficient  to  eradicate  all  trace  ot 
the  disease.  , , , • j i 
2.  Blight  was  noticed  rather  early  in  odd  spots, 
and  the  spraying  machines  were  put  to  play  on  it 
promptly,  anil  during  the  fine  weather  10  machines 
were  working  every  day  and  have  been  succe>siulin 
keeping  it  under,  and  preventing  much  increase. 
3.  Blight.  The  trees  are  woiidei fully  tree  trom 
blight  notably  on  the  cut  down.  Insects  arc  caught 
and  the  spraying  machines  do  a great  deal  of  goom 
Blight  is  very  slightly  noticeable  on  one  tillah  of 
No.  5 and  it  is  also  to  be  found  on  some  of  the 
tillahs  of  No.  6,  but  otherwise  there  is  practically 
nothing.  Orange  beetles  have  done  a certain  amount 
of  damage  but  red  spider  has  not  been  so  bad  as 
last  year. — We  arc,  sir,  yours  . , 
^ A.  PHILIP  & CO.,  Agents. 
TEA 
AND  ITS  CHEMICAL  AND 
PHYSIOLOGICAL  ACTION. 
Talawakele,  Aug.  23. 
SiK, — I read  with  much  interest  the  account  appear- 
ing in  the  local  “ Times  ” of  H.  H.  C s.  intei vmw 
with  Mi\  Rogers  of  tea  tabloid  fame.  I would  beg 
to  point  out  that  some  five  or  six  inonths  ago  I 
drew  the  attention  of  your  readers  to  the  fact  th.at 
it  was  not  to  the  tannin  in  tea  that  the  bitterness 
was  due.  In  my  experiments  on  the  action  of  tea 
on  the  digestive  .system  1 have  satisfied  myself  that 
the  tannin  is  not  so  injurious  to  the  digestive  organs 
as  many  people  make  out.  When  introduced  into 
the  stomach  it  does  not  act,  as  is  supposed  by 
many,  by  tanning  the  mucous  membrane  of  the 
stomach.  It  attacks  the  soluble  albumen,  or  peptones, 
and  is  precipitated  in  the  form  of  an  insoluble  peptone. 
This  insoluble  peptone  acts  mechanically  only  in 
retarding  digestion.  I find  that  there  is  no  difference 
in  the  time  required  to  digest  meat  fibre,  to  which  in- 
fusions of  tea  have  been  added,  the  infusions  vary 
from  five  to  thirty  minutes.  Seven  different  glass 
tubes  were  used : 
No.  I.  contained  meat  fibre  & digestive  fluid. 
„ II. 
M 
tea  5 m.  inf. 
„ III. 
10  „ 
„ IV. 
>) 
u 15  11 
„ V. 
1,  20  „ 
VI. 
11  25  „ 
„ VII. 
n 
11  50  ,, 
No.  I.  was 
the  control  experiment. 
The  time  in 
each  case  being  noted,  it  was  found  that  the  five 
minutes  infusion  required  the  same  time  as  the  thirty 
minutes.  I then  repeated  the  experiment,  but  re- 
moved tannin  from  the  tea  with  gelatine,  and  found 
no  appreciable  difference  in  the  time  occupied  in 
the  digestion  of  the  fluid  “ sine  ” tannin  and  that 
with  the  tannin  present.  On  removing  the  tannin 
from  the  five  minutes  infusion  the  bitterness  was  not 
perceptible,  while,  in  the  10'30  minutes  infusions  it 
increased  in  proportion  to  the  length  of  time  infused. 
I have  been  able  to  isolate  this  bitter  principle,  and  I 
don’t  agree  with  Mr.  Rogers  that  it  is  Crusta  Tannic 
Acid.  It  answers  the  tests  for  alkaloids,  and  I take 
it  to  be  closely  allied  to  “ Thebaine  ” from  what  I have 
seen  in  people  who  use  strong,  boiled  infusions  or  decoc- 
tions of  tea.  It  is  a yellowish  powder.  I have  not  deli- 
cate enough  apparatus  to  ascertain  its  actual  chemical 
formula.  But  I hope  shortly  to  be  able  to  give  an 
account  of  its  physiological  action  on  the  nervous  system 
The  question  of  the  detrimental  action  of  the  tannin  in 
tea  will  ere  long  be  a thing  of  the  past.  Why  do  those 
who  consume  large  quantities  of  claret  and  other  such 
wines  at  dinner  not  complain  of  the  same  symptoms, 
as  tea  drinkers,  when  tliese  wines  contain  a much 
greater  percentage  of  tannin  than  tea  does?  The 
astringent  action  of  wine  being  most  marked  on 
the  mucous  membrane  of  the  mouth  even.  With 
tea  the  action  of  the  tannin  is  more  than  balanced 
by  that  of  the  caffeine.  The  discussion  of  the  ac- 
tion of  the  caffeine  I shall  reserve  for  some  future 
occasion.  Ii  is  time  the  medical  profession  knew 
more  about  the  chemical  and  physiological  action  of 
tea.  95  per  cent  of  them  know  that  it  is  the  leaf  of  a 
plant  that  contains  tannin  and  caffeine,  and  is  used 
very  much  by  ladies  as  a mild  stimulant ; further 
than  that  they  don’t  trouble  themselves.  Apologising 
for  taking  up  so  much  of  your  valuable  sp.ace. — I 
am,  Ac.,  P.  M.  SHORT. 
FLUFFY  TEA  DUST— AND  THE  DEMAND 
THEREFOR-WHO  WILL  SUPPLY  IT? 
Talawakele,  Sept.  10. 
Dear  Sir,— I herewith  enclo.se  a letter  which 
may  interest  many  tea  planters. 
It  applies  to  llully  tea  dust  a .sample  of  which 
I .sent  home  for  valuation,  after  e.xperimentinf 
with  it  myself.  At  present  it  is  either  burnt  or 
thrown  out,  in  many  cases  it  is  sold  to  itinerant 
Moormen  wlio  .sift  out  any  tea  that  may  be 
present.  It  is  no  uncommon  sight  to  see  heaps 
of  it  lyin"  in  the  bazaars  and  the  fanning  oper- 
ations being  carried  on.  There  are  two  serious 
evils,  that  are  likely  to  arise  from  this  sellino' 
Huff'  at  the  factory  door.  Fiist,  it  allords  a means 
ol  selling  other  te.as,  thereby  encouraging  thefts 
by  factory  hamls.  Second,  the  tea  thus  sifteil 
out  is  used  to  make  u])  inferior  tea  packets  for 
sale  in  the  Harbour,  much  to  the  detriment  of 
Ceylon  teas.  Now  th.at  it  is  known  tliat  this 
bye  product  has  a market  value,  it  ought  to  be 
collected  in  all  factories,  and  sent  down  to  a 
central  dep6t  for  baling  and  shiiiping. 
