AGRICULTURISr. 
683 
April  r,  1897.]  THE  TROPICAL 
blame  of  the  mischief  on  to  using  green  wood  for 
carried  out  led  him  (Mr.  Stewart)  to  think  of  the 
difference  there  was  between  Darjeeling  and  almost 
all  the  Plains  gardens  in  the  matter  of  flavour.  He 
had  bimself  noticed,  when  in  Darjeeling,  that  if  a cool 
blast  of  air,  such  as  was  produced  by  a mist  cloud 
coming  down,  went  over  a garden  as  the  leaf  was 
being  plucked,  as  a rule  the  flavour  was  very  much 
increased  ; that  was  what  was  known  as  the  Dar- 
jeeling flavottr.  Mr.  Crole  did  not  seem  to  think  that 
much  change  could  take  place  while  the  leaf  was 
growing,  but  this  fact  seemed  to  point  in  the  other 
direction — that  some  change  might  take  place  whilst 
the  leaf  was  growing,  if  there  was  a sudden  change 
of  temperature. 
Mr.  Crole,  in  reply,  said  that  when  tea  is  infused 
the  theine  is  extracted  very  much  more  rapidly  than 
the  tannin.  For  that  reason  tea  should  only  be  in- 
fused for  three  or  four  minutes,  in  order  to  get  the 
maximum  of  theine  and  the  minimum  of  tannin  ; 
the  tea-leaves  should  not  be  in  the  water  more  than 
four  minutes.  "With  regard  to  carbonate  of  soda,  its 
action  was,  in  the  first  place,  to  soften  the  water, 
thus  allowing  more  of  the  flavouring  matter  to  be 
extracted.  Another  prominent  action  was  to  diminish 
the  astringency  of  the  tea  by  neuti'alising,  and  even 
preventing,  the  solution  of  the  tannin.  He  did  not 
think  it  had  any  other  action  on  the  constituents  of  tea. 
He  did  not  know  what  ruled  the  time  of  fermentation. 
In  one  garden  it  might  be  that  eight  hours' fermentation 
would  be  required,  while  the  next,  separated  by  only 
a fence,  would  not  want  more  than  two  hours. 
The  difference  was  probably  due  to  soil  and  jat 
of  tea.  But  he  thought  that  teas  should  al- 
ways be  fermented  according  to  their  colour  and 
smell,  and  not  by  any  time  method,  unless,  of 
course,  they  were  fermented  in  a refrigator.  What 
the  effect  woirld  be  of  a cold  cloud  while  the  leaf 
was  being  plucked  he  could  not  say  ; but  undoubtedly 
a certain  amount  of  cold  during  the  process  of  fer- 
mentation was  a great  advantage.  It  was  inexpli- 
cable to  him  that,  while  the  tea  was  growing  or 
being  plucked,  a cold  cloud  or  cold  blast  should 
bring  out  the  flavour,  but  he  could  understand  that 
that  might  be  the  fact.  Mr.  Davies  had  spoken 
with  regard  to  the  essential  oil  in  tea.  There  was 
little  doubt  that  it  was  absolutely  an  essential  oil  ; 
but  there  were  other  alkaloids,  of  course,  in  tea,  and 
some  of  them  had  not  been  determined.  He  was 
himself  working  at  the  determination  of  one  of 
them — not  associated  with  the  essential  oil  of  tea,  but 
with  what  was  called  boheic  acid — and  he  thought 
he  would  be  able  to  get  an  alkaloid  from  that.  As 
he  stated  in  the  paper,  boheic  acid  was  probably  not 
a single  organic  acid,  but  a compound  of  assamic  acid 
either  with  another  acid  or  with  an  alkaloid. 
The  Chairman,  in  moving  a vote  of  thanks  to  Mr. 
Crole,  said  he  was  not  capable  of  judging  of  the 
excellence  of  the  paper  from  the  technical  and 
scientific  point  of  view,  but  it  contained  some  advice 
which  he  was  quite  sure  was  most  useful  aud  valu- 
able, and  which  he  hoped  would  be  taken  to  heart. 
It  was  impossible  to  doubt,  as  was  stated  in  the 
paper,  that  so  long  as  the  tea  manufacture  and 
similar  manufactures  were  worked  by  mere  rule  of 
thumb,  so  long  would  the  manufacturers  fail  to  get 
the  best  that  was  to  be  got  out  of  their  products. 
Their  experiment  was  tried  in  Assam,  for  a short 
time,  of  having  a chemist  to  help  the  planters  gene- 
rally in  the  process  of  manufacture.  He  had  not 
heard  what  became  of  the  e.xperiment,  but  he  believed 
it  had  not  lasted  for  any  length  of  time.  It  was  one 
which,  of  course,  could  not  succeed  unless  kept  up 
for  a number  of  years  together  ; aud  it  required  an 
expert  who  should  be  well  paid,  aud  who  would  con- 
fine his  whole  time  and  labour  to  the  study  of  chemi 
cal  questions.  He  was  sure  that,  both  in  the 
maufacture  of  tea  and  in  the  manufacture  of  indigo, 
such  an  experiment  would  pay  the  planting  commu- 
nity over  and  over  again.  With  regard  to  the 
remarks  made  in  the  last  paragraph  of  the  paper  as 
to  the  cheesy  smell  of  tea  on  arrival  at  the  docks, 
that  was  an  old  question  in  Assam  He  remembered 
that  years  ago  there  were  endeavours  to  get  Hd  of 
it  by  changes  of  boxes  or  by  inquiries  as  to  the 
chemical  action  on  the  lead,  but  nothing  effectual 
had  come  of  them.  Concluding,  the  chairman  said 
he  was  only  expressing  the  unanimous  feeling  of  those 
who  had  heard  the  paper  in  offering  Mr.  Crole  their 
very  best  thanks. 
Mr.  Christison  said : As  the  chairman  had  done 
him  the  honour  oi  calling  upon  him  to  contribute  to 
the  discussion,  it  might  seem  ungracious  on  the  part 
of  one  who  had  been  so  long  connected  with  the  pro- 
duction and  manufacture  of  tea,  unless  he  stated  that 
it  was  not  the  want  of  interest  in  the  subject  or  of 
will  that  made  him  diffident  in  rising.  He  thoroughly 
agreed  with  the  chairman  as  to  the  vast  importance 
to  the  tea-planting  industry  of  having  scientific  as- 
sistance. So  important  an  industry  ought  to  employ 
scientific  experts  continuously  ; but  great  care  must 
be  taken  to  engage  those  most  suitable  and  com- 
petent for  the  necessary  investigations.  He  felt  that 
as  the  paper  was  of  so  technical  a nature  he  was 
not  competent  to  express  any  opinion  as  to  its  merits. 
In  reference  to  the  least  scientific  portion  of  it,  which 
treats  of  the  chemistry  of  the  process  of  manufac- 
ture, if  the  opinions  expressed  on  the  more  practi- 
cal points  are  deductions  from  Mr.  Crole’s  indepen- 
dent scientific  investigations,  all  that  he  could  say 
was  that,  so  far  as  they  go,  they  tend  to  confirm  the 
eommonly  approved  practice  in  the  tea  districts,  and 
what  has  been  that  practice  for  a very  long  time. 
Though  on  the  technical  points  he  was  not  in  a 
position  to  speak,  he  had  no  hesitation  in  saying 
that  thanks  were  due  to  Mr.  Crole  for  devoting  him- 
self to  seientific  research  on  a subject  too  little 
studied  or  even  thought  about.  The  publication  of 
this  paper  could  not  fail  to  lead  to  further  discussion 
and  research  with  good  results. 
The  resolution  was  carried  unanimously  and  Mr. 
Crole  having  briefly  responded,  the  meeting  termi- 
nated.— H.  and.  C Mail,  Feb.  19. 
VARIOUS  FLANTING  NOTES. 
Tea  Duty  in  Denm.vrk.  —A  merchant  writes  : 
Can  yon  tell  me  what  the  duty  is  on  tea  in 
Denmark.  I have  applied  to  the  Danish  Consul 
and  he  doesn’t  know.”  In  our  Handbook  and 
Directory  for  189o-6,  we  gave  a list  of  countries 
>vith  the  duty  levied  on  tea  in  eacli.  In  that 
list  Denmark  is  down  for  “lid”;  but  we  believe 
there  has  been  an  increase  since  ; for  we  find  the 
Danish  duty  given  at  4d  in  a London  authority 
for  this  year. 
Handbook  of  the  Flora  of  Ceylon. This 
great  task,  which  Dr.  Trimen  set  himself  to 
elaborate,  w,as  to  have  been  completed  in  four 
volumes,  the  third  of  which  was  issued  in  1895  It 
was  to  complete  the  fourth  volume  that  the  late 
lamented  Ur.  Trimen  went  back  to  Ceylon  in 
spite  of  the  shattered  state  of  his  health.  ’.Sad 
to  say,  he  was  unable  to  accomplish  this  before 
the  end  came.  When  he  was  no  lun<«-er  able  to 
sit  up  to  work,  the  indefatigable  botanist  did 
so  lying^  on  his  back.  Of  the  3,000 species  native 
to  the  island,  about  800  still  remain  to  be  tackle, i 
They  consist  chiefly  of  grasses  and  Orchids  li 
18  believed  in  Ceyl  n that  the  completion^of  the 
fourth  volume  may  take  place  at  Kew  mwle^ 
the  direction  of  Dr.  Thistleton  Dyer  D,- 
men  had  a good  many  years’  loetl  experience 
before  he  commenced  his  Flora,  and  it  is  much 
to  be  regretted  that  he  did  not  live  to  compfi 
It.  His  name  will,  however,  be  always  i.lentilied 
with  the  boUny  ot  Ceylon.  Mr  Willis  rl 
new  director  will  have  his  hands  'full  with  the 
