THE TROPIOAL AG 
rtlST. 
[August i, 1891. 
U2 
a, tcj C5. 
er for »bo iv 
Export tea 10 always refired in the gcdowns of tbo ex- | 
porter. This proceee is resorted to iu order to drive out 
the excessive moisture from the tea and todest'oythe 
germs which, purtioutarly in the preoeuoe of much 
moisture, would exercise an injurioua action upon tea 
during a long voyage. Ordinary tea coiitaias gouer- 
ally 10 to 11 per cent, of moisture, which is reduced to 
3 to 4 per cent, by retiring ; and, as this proce-ss is 
conducted at a high temperature; there should be 
some alteration in the ociupo.sition of the t.-n. An 
investigation showed that tho refiring process does not 
deteriorate the quality of tea, as was supposed by many, 
hut, on the contrary, it iiicrf ases the fliio aroma iiud 
diminishes the astringeiicy, while a slight Iob.s of theine 
is of no practical moment. It is, however, during the 
nrooess of retiring tliat the shameful practioo of lu- 
oiug tea is performed. Both blick and green tea', are 
thus geuorally artificially mdoured or faced. Lut, 
owing to the minute quaniity ol tho adiai.xturo used, 
some regard it ns an admissible, or even as a legitimatf, 
practice, indeed, facing, ns geoerally oonducicd, i.s of 
no great ooiisequeiioe to public liealth— but this can- 
not bo taken as the ground for declaring tho practioo 
legitimate or eveu admissible. 
With regard to the preparation of green tea differ- 
ent methods are adopted for different olasses of tea. 
The principle should however, be to extract the largest 
possible qnsniity of theiue and a moderate amount of 
tannin without di>,sipat,ng much aroma. Nob-, the 
object oniinot bo attained by boiling tenor by brewing 
it with cold water, but liy subjecting it to tlie action 
of water of a certain temperature for a certain space 
of time, the laltsr two points being determined by the 
nature of tho tea. The method employed in Japim for 
making tea of an extra-fine quality— viz. '• iencha 
is to grind the leaves to powder, which is druuk 
with the infusion. Theseemd D'Otbod, used only for 
a superior tea, is to di( ‘ r ut tvo 
minutes with warm wat. ’ ' ot ' to 
60 deg. c. The third .. 
pose the loaves to lie sc 
one minute. Tho last, v. " . , * 
inferior tia, is to boil the ioaves with v.a^r. -too-'o 
mXdsol making tea are qmto^ational, since the 
flnsvthc lea the higher is its solubility. In connection 
!?th this Tt is intlrestiug to know that Prof. Kder 
.tofa.mined what and how much of the constituents 
afchTneso tea arc soluble in water, and the results 
show that the three active couetitutoiits of tea— theine, 
fsiinin and volatile oil-arc completely dissolved by 
water, ’whilst only 42 6 per cent, of ash goes into solu- 
tion! Lmongst the iugredients of which pota.li aud 
‘’X'’e^°oXtTnVtat'l^ive»th«P««e“^ compositiou 
oJ a medium class of Japanese tea : 
In 100 Faria of Dry Substance 
Crude protein 
„ fibre 
Ethereal extract 
Other nitrogen-free extract 
Ash 
Theme 
Tannin ••• 
Soluble in hot water ... 
Total in kot water 
Non-albuminous nitrogen 
Oomnaring these figures with those of tl.o best 
tea we find a decided deficiency of crude pro- 
quahtytea, “ ^ substance, and a ooiisequeut less 
urn*! Af tho tea. with a correspondiug increase lu 
solubility and nitrogon-iree extract, aodau 
of ash._&ermV end 
TIIECEYLOX AND ' ^ 
VATOKS AND TUEIK JJUKDENfe. 
A genlloraan with access to 0®.°'*' 
is good enough to write trom London for ou 
benefit as follows. We allow his statement to speak 
for itself i — - 
“June 26th, 1891.-I noticed in a paper of yours 
that I saw tue other day in Downing Street, that, in 
26-87 
10'S9 
15-64 
22-93 
6-23 
2-03 
17-65 
38-89 
4-3II 
0-96 
the burdens oa ludian nee iooported into 
ion a d Cpylon-srown rice, you debit the former 
.• I'.h an impre^, of 50 per cent on a-coviut of Indian 
iand tax. The Indian land tax averai^es 50 per cent 
of tbo gro*s cropa, but of tbo ne’.t crops i. e. of 
(ha ^^ross t'rops less (he cost of production. 50 per cent 
of tho nett erz-'p is equivalent in ludia to from 12 per 
cent to 10 per cent ol ttie gross crop «ccord;ug[ to the 
varying coat of production &o., 
** You 1 avo so k'ooid a cate that i( is a pikyto nako 
any ovor.statc.raan*: vrluoh is oure, hom*' time or other, 
to bo made the most of by ibe other aide. 
“ On the other baud — (X baven** your paper by me, 
aud don’t remeziiber whether you have specially 
moutkued tho fnet) — tho ch irgos for ivHijation in 
In lia ato ooormous ne compared with Onylon . On 
rice lands in soino part'i of Mat^r.as they amount 
to K6 an aero. Tho land in lodm is burdened 
with C60'‘O9 for education, roade, payment of headmen, 
and other charges (vido Powell’s Manual of ludian 
Land Sf^ttlv meute. ') 
“It will be some time yet before tho question of your 
Paddy Tax is fioally settled, I boliove, by tho Home 
authorities. 
“1 trosl that it will bo settled as justico and policy 
and a true appreciation of tho iuterosts of tho natives 
demand.'’ 
It is very striking to find the experienced Govorn- 
mont Agents in their Koports for ISUO besring nearly 
uniform testimony agJ^inht the policy of abolishing the 
PsdJy route. 
PLANTING INGU.STRIES IN THE 
UVA PROVINCE. 
(From Mr. F, G. Fisher's Administration Report 
for 18U0.) 
f’OFt’KK. — Therel a"? br‘»n n decided ao i couiinuing im* 
iu the app<*aranco of both nativH mid plauta- 
tion cc'.fi 0 for time pasf, and now that ‘ of tho 
wortblexs es atoi huvo been ab udonod or upi'uoteu to 
rnnke way foe tea, there eeKma every prospect of (he 
rtmainlng plantations proving profitable for many 
yosrste oomi?. Indeed the natives have been soeu* 
couragedby the change for the better in the appearance 
of coffee that they have again commeuced to mauure 
their gardens heavily and iu some iuetauccM to form 
fresh plantations. The area of plantation coffee is 
computed to be 21,400 acres, whicD yielded 136,870 
banU -Is of parchment, showing an iaoreaso, uu I 
anticipated, on the crop of 1889, which was only 
134.500 bushels. I do not expect any djuiiuution in tho 
yield for luxtyoar, but rather tho reVeree ; and in Uva 
tho profipeotfi of coff*:eare as good, aod probably better 
than they have been for some years. I regret that I 
have Dotbton able to procure rcJiablo statistics as to 
the acreage and yield of native coffee, but the ganleus, 
though only grown in small patches, arc colleotivoly of 
cousiderahlo oxtenr, and the crops gathered during (he 
past year have certain y been largely in excess of the 
yield for many previous years. 
Tea.— T he area under tea cultivation has increased 
from 14,268 acres in 1880 to 18,377 in 1891, giving an 
addition of 4,109 acres planted within the year. A 
Urge proportion of tea provionsly planted came to 
maturity iu the present year, aud the production of 
mauufactarod t<*a is reported to have risen from 
1.113.500 lb. in 1S89 to 3, 077, .500 lb. in 1890. Satis- 
factory aa this progre-^e appears to be, there can bo 
little doubt that tho pruduoiion will be douoled 
within the next three years if the sale of tho new 
land Applied for and surveyed lu authorised. Some of 
tho beat results ulrendy obtained are from patana 
land, and fts then* iHagreatdeal of wasteland of this 
description available, it is hard to predict how far 
cultivation will eventually extend. 
Ginchona. — I fear there is little or no encouragement 
for growers to persevere in tho cultivation of cinchona. 
No new plantat'ons are being made, aud in a few 
years tKe existing stock of trees will be exhausted and 
I'm export of bark mast cease. About 6,439 acres are 
still under cultivation, and 3,318,0001b. of dry bark 
