December i, 1891.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
413 
the highest of all, 10,135 metres. The average velocity 
of cirrus clouds observed is 82 miles an hour, aud 
their greatest velocity 133 miles ai\ hour. — Globe. 
TEMPERANCE DRINKS. 
The foDowii'g recipes for the manufacture of refresh- 
ing ilriuks for labourers working in the hay or harvest 
fioUls have .leen iseurd by Iho secretary of the 
AgricuHu al Department of ibe Church of England 
Temperance Socu tv at Norwich. They arc recommend d 
as being leJ^s heaiy and heating, mo c permanently 
sustaining and capable of quenching thirst than beer 
or any other form of alcohulio drink. They a-e also 
very pleasant to the tasto and cost, vory little to 
prepare : — 
(1) Smokos, which is prt'pared thus : — Pat from 4oz. 
to Goz. of fresh oatmeal, ground as tine as flour, into 
a pan; mix with a little cold water to the substance 
of cream, ihofi add about 6oz. or Go/,, of loaf sugar, 
and half a fresh lemon cut in thin slice'*, with iho 
pips taken out; then add a gallon of boiling wster, 
8lir thoroughly wliile the w»tor is being poured 
on. Use hot, warm, or cold. The lemon may be 
omitted, rr any other ft ivouring used instead. Oests 
3d. a gallon, 
(2) (Jokos i« a good nourishing drink, made as 
follows: — *1oz of good f p<h fine. ground oatmeal, loz. 
of cocoa, add a lirtle cold w«t‘*r, and mix into a 
thin batter, then add doz.of loaf sugar and a gallon 
o' boiling water; take to tho fill I in a stone jar. 
Costs IJd* a quart. 
(3) Ropkos is a gool 1 arvest drink. Boil |oz. 
of hojia and Joz., of ginger (brnisel) in gallona 
of watnr for 25 minutes, aid 11b of best brown 
sugar, and boil 10 minuter more, then strAin and 
bottle, (r put into a enslc while hot; it will he 
ready for drinking when co'd. Keep in a cold place. 
Dri(‘d horehounl may be used instead of hops. Costs 
3d. a gallon. 
KENTISH HOPS AND INDIAN TEA. 
[We had hoard a good deal recently about hop 
tea, but wo bad no idea it had assumed the 
importance attributed to it in tho following 
aooount.— Ed. T. A ] 
A fair maid of somewhat idcaUaed, if one 
may jndgo from the ludy hoppers one paBse.s on the 
Maidstone Road — ezchauging cordial groctingH with 
a dusky damsel from Hindustan, otfeotivoly symho’ises 
the indastry >Yhioh was called into existence eume 
year or more ago by the inveutive genius of Mr. H. 
A. Snelliug. It is a bright and taking poster. We 
had seen it on the Euiidon hoardings, and in Maid* 
stone again it meets the eye at every turn. There 
is fcomething captivating abour tins Benlimeut of bring- 
ing tho two ends of the Empire together to contri- 
bute to tho couteuts of that dear1y*ohcri&hcd iuBtilu- 
tion thoKiiglUh teapot, but 
“Apart trom the picturefquoness of the idea, how 
ou earth,” I asked Mr. Sutlliug as we walked down 
tho High Street of Maidsto .e together, “ bow oa earth 
did you come to think of Hop tea ?’* 
Well,” Air, Snoiling, “ I had tho idea vaguely 
in my mind for some time. Then one day I gut a 
fine «amplo of diied hop* and made an inlusiou with 
them: the result was somothing like a cup of e.T- 
troinely pungent Indian tea; niter which tho idea 
took definite form. I mixovi the hops with tea in 
certain proportiou^* and eventually, having tsaiislied 
myself that I had got a good thing, I took out my 
patent, and you know the rest. Of courso,” oontiuuod 
Sir. Snelliug, “this is not a more quesUou of taste, 
although, aa a tea taster of experience, I hold that 
the judioioas admixture of hop* makes a marked 
imppovemeut in the (lavour of tea — which is 
geuerally admitted now; but tho invention has 
0 very practical »tm trom a hygienic point of 
view in which ooimectiou we attach groat importauoc 
to the opinion of Dr, Adams as to the therapeutic 
value of hup tea, and I sliould like to quote it if you 
write anything about our business.” 
Tho following, therefore, in obodienoe to this re* 
quest, is what the Prebident of the Public Society 
of Aualyista of the United Kingdom has to say 
on the subject ; — “ This is to certify,” he writes, 
“ that the Bample oT bop tea submitted to mo for 
analysis couslsts of blend of pure Indian and Poylou 
teas with Kentish hops, and coatuins lo admixture 
whatever. These constituents arc manipulated and 
dried in a most rkilful mauiier, so as to develop the 
vol itilo oil which imparts the graleiiil aromoa that 
is iho Bpeoiiil characteristic of the best teas. The 
obemical analyeiH diecovera in unusual ubundaucdthe 
alkaloid tbeine — the substuDoe to which tea owes its 
valuable proporites as a food — giving rest and com- 
fort to the weary, tranquility in nervous excitement, and, 
by some marvellous means, while pteveuting waste 
of nervous energy, prumottng intellectual activity. As 
it appears to me, this combination of tea and hop 
i» a mo3t happy idea, hy which the undesirable pro* 
petty of ordinary tea — uamely, its aAtrlngenoy— is sen- 
silly diminished and modified, whilst at the same 
advantageous tonic property of the hop iutrodnoed. 
lu ray opinion the hop lei wdl prove to be a great 
bu3n to many persons hitherto debarred owing to 
excess of astrineency, the use of ordinary tea.” 
There is no quehUoniog the value of such tostimony, 
although to the ootninou-Heasecousamer it hxrdly needs 
tho rpition of a $ioientiiio expert to demonstrate tho 
udvautsgc of oouuteraciiog (he evil efieot of excessive 
toa*drit<kiner upon the nerves aod digestion by the 
addition of an ingredient which is admittedly a 
valuable sedative and an excollont stomach tonic. 
Couoi'ivably, there may be thonsands to whom tea 
has bren a forbidden luxury who may hcncatorth, 
through this simple invention, find no bar to their 
enjoyment of it ; and this, indeed, seems to bo the 
case, for in tho comparatively short time in which 
liop tea nas been before the public tho demand for 
it hai grown throughout tho country to an extent 
which sufiicienlly il ustrates the hold which it has taken 
upon the public fanoy. Upwards of fiftr^en hundred 
local Agents sell it tbroughont the United Kingdom, 
and Olio retail agetit alone in credited with the sale 
of 16 tons in six mouths. 
The idf^a of mixing hop cooes with tea 
seems suftuuentiy simple, bnt Iho roauipula~ 
tion is hardly simplu enough— oven were it 
not protected by patents— to permit of the 
trade b iug Ukcu up by any whose close study 
of the subject does not justify their posing 
as expeits. It was very early di'^covered, for 
instance, that brewo<’a' hops, dried and pre- 
pared in the usual m mner and exposed to sulpharoiis 
fumes, were totally unsuitable for ten-blending, where 
delicacy of flavour muat be retained. Hence the Hop 
IVa Company, to whom Mr. Si.clliiig disposed of his 
Kitglish patents, found themaelves under the necessity 
of tresti' g the hops and hence the pleasant 
toa-hous® on tho Medway of which I had hoard so much, 
and to visit which was one of the objects of my day at 
Maidstone. 
Thij» picturesquely-situated factory condenses its year’s 
work into about eight we*?k8 — the Kentish hop seasoo 
— in tho course of which timo sufficient hop mast be 
prepared to cover the t-Btimated recjuirements for the 
ensuing twelve months. The hops com© in fresli from 
tho surrounding country: the factory is now at its 
bu.siest: at lithe hops were arriving when I was there— 
fresh, green, and fragrant— with that soductivo 
and iodescribahle hop-fragrauco which, like the 
flavour of tomatoes, gr 'ws upon one by familiarity. 
On arriving, the hops are spread to '* wither ” for six 
or eight hours on trays in tho npp<» floor of the 
factory, across whi :h u thorough draught of fresh air 
blows from the M :dway and tho open country beyond. 
After the “ witheriug," tho hops go to the rolling 
machine, wharein about a ton a day are triturated be- 
tween {wowootleii surfaces. The orushe l hops are then 
sifted, and the thicker stalk* that will not pass the sieves 
are put back for another crushing; then, after being 
