456  THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST.  [Jan.  i,  1896. 
PLANTING  AND  PRODUCE. 
T£a  in  the  United  States. — At  the  Eood  Exposi- 
tion held  at  the  Madison  Square  Garden,  New  York, 
the  Indian  and  Ceylon  Tea  Court  is  a prominent 
feature.  It  is  hung  with  rugs,  and  decorated  with 
photographs  show'ing  the  tea  plantations  of  India 
and  Ceylon,  scenes  in  the  tea  fields,  and  the  differ- 
ent processes  of  manufacture.  The  various  interests 
have  combined,  waiving  their  own  speciality, 
united  in  a campaign  to  popularise  Indian  and  Cey- 
lon tea.  A different  blend  or  bi  and  of  tea  is  served  to 
visitors  each  day  by  lady  attendants,  who  set  loi'fn 
the  virtues  of  Indian  or  Ceylon  tea.  The  New 
York  correspondent  of  the  Grocer  says  apropos : 
“ One  cannot  help  admiring  the  tenacity  with 
which  the  advocates  of  India  and  Ceylon  tea  liave 
clung  to  the  American  field.  They  are  detiunined 
to  win,  and  their  very  aggressiveness  and  persistency 
have  won  the  admiration  of  the  people  and  tiadeis, 
and  secured  for  Indian  and  Ceylon  tea  recognition 
of  its  claims,  as  against  Japan  and  China  tea.  fio- 
gress  is  being  made,  and  in  the  direction. 
With  many  consumers  Indian  and  Ceylon  tea  will 
never  be  popular,  they  not  liking  the  heavy  liquoi 
and  sweetish  taste.  In  each  section  oi  the 
United  States  a different  sort  of  tea  is  m favour. 
Thus  in  New  England  and  the  Middle  States  the 
black  tea  of  China  is  most  popular,  notably  Formosa 
Oolong,  although  Philadelphia  takes  more  kindly  to 
Foochow.  A great  deal  of  mixed  tea  is  sold, 
but  these  mixtures  are  not  scientifically  made,  nor 
is  the  American  grocer  given  to  the  use  of  machin- 
ery for  sifting  or  blending ; ten  chances  to  one  he 
will  mix  at  random  two  or  three  sorts  in  the  scale, 
while  the  customer  watches  the  operation. 
of  blending  is  very  imperfectly  understood  here, 
which  makes  your  correspondent  think  thtro  is  a 
field  which  English  blenders  might  work  with  profit. 
Such  tea  does  not  encounter  the  strong  preijudice 
which  is  shown  towards  straight  teas  of  the  Indian 
type.  Japan  tea  is  largely  consumed  in  the  more 
. recently  settled  States,  which  also  take  the  ranker 
sorts  of  coffee,  while  the  older  States  prefer  the 
milder  sorts.  It  is  incomprehensible  to  many  why 
Japan  tea,  with  its  astringent,  rank  flavour,  is  so 
popular.  I recently  met  a chemist  %yho  claims  that 
tiavouriug  Oolong  tea  with  vanilla  makes  a delicious 
drink,  and  one  which  would  please  the  American 
palate.  The  putting  of  a vanilla  bean  into  a lot 
of  tea  for  a short  time  is  all  that  is  needed.  I have 
never  tasted  tea  so  prepared,  but  think  that  there 
is  enoueh  promise  of  success  to  warrant  the  expen- 
ment  even  in  England.  Those  qualities  which  en- 
able John  Bull  to  open  markets  all  over  the  world 
will  bo  victorious  in  time  in  giving  him  a good  market 
in  America  for  Indian  and  Ceylon  tea. 
The  Eitbct  of  Tea  on  the  Digestion.— Wc  are 
so  used  to  the  unmitigated  abuse  of  tea  that  its 
condemnation  with  fain  praise  is  quite  a relief.  Dr. 
McKechnie,*  of  Colombo,  has  been  making  experiments 
with  tea,  with  a view  to  ascertaining  wliether  that 
popular  decoction  has  the  effect  on  the  digestive 
organs  ascribed  to  it.  As  the  result  of  his  mvesti- 
eations  Dr.  McKechnie  is  of  opinion  that  the  tannic 
acid  in’  the  tea  is  not  the  iniurious  agent,  but  that 
the  undoubted  injury  which  arises  is  caused  by  some 
of  the  less  soluble  extractive  matters.  He  is  in- 
clined, says  the  Lancet,  to  think  that  the  action  of 
tea  is  not  so  injurious  as  sonio  writers  think  it  to  be. 
Tt  srreatlv  depends  on  the  method  of  infusing  whether 
its  action  is  injurious  or  not.  Long-infused  teas 
seem  to  extract  some  substance,  possibly  an  alka- 
loid that  has  an  inhibitory  action  on  the  nerves  of 
tL  stomach.  Dr.  McKechnie  also  states  that  an 
infusion  of  tea  of  twenty  minutes  with  the  tannic 
acid  precipitated  has  a similar  bitter  taste  as 
the  sane  tea  with  the  taniiic  acid  present,  so  that 
the  bitterness  in  long-infused  tea  seems  not  to  be 
due  to  the  tannic  acid,  but  to  some  othei  iiigiedieiit. 
Moral  : Let  the  consumer  know  that  tea  should  not 
be  boiled  ill  the  same  copper  with  the  family  wash- 
ing, and  that  even  twenty  niimites  stewing  does 
not  improve  it.  Avoid  long-inlused  tea  unless  you 
* Really  “Dr.  P.  Mackechuie  Short.” 
wish  to  extract  the  “some  other  ingredient”  here 
referred  to,  because  otherwise  you  may  become  a 
martyr  to  science  without  discovering  what  that 
‘other  ingredient”  really  is. 
Coconut  Buttek. — According  to  an  American  paper 
an  extensive  factory  has  been  established  for  the 
manufacture  of  coconut  butter,  which  is  already  being 
made  at  the  rate  of  10,000  lb.  a day.  The  crude 
coconut  oil,  it  is  stated,  is  received  from  Cochin  in 
tierces  of  2,000  111.  each.  This  oil  is  almost  colour- 
loss  and  tasteless.  After  passing  through  two  pro- 
cesses, which  are  kept  secret,  it  emerges  white  and 
granular,  and  afterwards  it  is  chuined  with  skim 
milk  or  butter  milk  to  give  it  a butter  flavour. 
At  present  most  of  the  commodity  is  sent 
out  in  its  natuial  white  colour  for  the  use  of 
confectioners  and  cooks  in  restaurants,  but  that 
W’bich  is  sold  for  table  use  is  coloured  to  re- 
semble butter,  and  for  the  best  quality  it  is  in- 
tended to  add  a little  cream  before  churning.  The 
so-called  butter  is  said  to  possess  a clean,  sweet 
flavour,  and  to  keep  remarkably  well.  The  oil  from 
which  it  is  chiefly  made  is  declared  cheaper  and 
belter  than  “ neutral  lard,”  emulsifying  more  easily 
with  skim  milk,  and  being  more  difficult  to  detect 
when  mixed  with  real  butter. — U.  cC  C.  Mail. 
DOMINICA  FOR  PLANTERS: 
HIS  HONOR  P.  A.  TEMPLER. 
We  are  indebted  to  a correspondent  for  the 
following  extract  lioina  letter  of  His  Honor  P.  A. 
Teinpler  (.such  is  his  official  designation)  dated 
the  2nd  August  last  which  he  sujiposes  “maybe 
of  general  interest  e.«pecially  at  the  present  time 
w'hen  Plantation  Comiianies  seem  to  he  all  the 
rage.”  Since  it  was  written  Mr.  Templer  has 
had  practical  experience  of  anything  hut  a pleasant 
nature,  that  Dominica  is  not  quite  as  healthy 
as  he  believed.  He  describes  the  heat  in  August 
as  equal  to  that  of  Colombo  in  April.”  Mr. 
Tenijiler  writes  : — “ Dominica  is  very  liealthy  and 
if  we  could  only  get  some  money  into  it  and  a few 
Ceylon  iilaiiters  to  open  it  u]i,  it  might  do  great 
things.  It  has  as  rich  a soil  as  any  place  in  the 
ivorld,  abundant  rainfall,  and  m the  hills  a perfect 
climate.  Some  8O,O0U  or  90,000  acres  of  vii-gin 
forest  full  of  line  timber  are  just  waiting  for 
men  with  caiutal  to  come  and  cultivate  them 
with  anything  they  like  to  grow.  I saw  a 
neglected  jiatch  of  Liberian  collee  away  in  the 
forest  the  other  day,  which  was  a little  over 
two  years  old,  hearing  well  and  utterly  unmindful 
of  the  fact  that  no  one  ever  came  near  it  or 
looked  alter  it  from  the  day  it  was  jdanted. 
Any  one  can  have  the  land  lor  one  pound 
an  acre.” 
CEYLON  INVESTMENTS  IN  JAVA. 
From  what  we  hear  of  the  results  of  the  in- 
vestment of  Ceylon  capital  in  coll’ee  in  Java  the 
capitalists  wdio  have  cried  out  against  the  local 
Government  for  withholding  sales  of  Crown  land 
and  so  forcing  capital  to  find  an  outlet  elsewhere 
have  not  much  cau.se  for  complaint.  Two  and 
a half  year  old  coffees  giving  41  cwt.  an  acre 
is  equal  to  anything  in  Ceylon  in  the  old  coll'cc 
days,  and  a collee  estate  in  Java  must  he  a liner 
])roperty  than  the  best  tea  estate  in  this  islaiul 
at  present  prices  asked  for  estates  or  for  jungle, 
d'here  seems  to  he  no  difficulty  about  getting 
land  in  .Java,  and  with  the  splendid  soil  there, 
and  facilities  for  working  the  wisdom  of  planters 
having  a second  string  to  their  how  instead  of 
overdoing  the  tea  out)iut  and  swanniing  the  market 
ought  to  be  iyiparent  to  everybody.— r/te  7/irffaw. 
ana  Eastern  Engineer, 
