January i, 1892.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
46t 
found that tea aided the assimilation of food, and 
made it “ go further.” I call that a comforting 
little list of scientific authorities to back us up in the 
consumption of oiu: precious “ lif o’cloquer,” as the 
French fashionable world calls the afternoon meal 
that it has adopted from the English. 1 am afraid 
that 1 for one sliould go on taking tea if all the savants 
abused it ; but still it is comfortable to be encouraged 
with scioutitlc approbation in doing as one likes. 
Something we must have when wo are deprived by 
any circumslancos of the groat natural stimuli, plenty 
of open-air exercise and long sound slumbers. These 
natural bbons are not to be commanded by students 
sitting close to work, by women engaged in sedentary 
emjdoymeuts, or by a large number of housewives, 
whoso fingers must always be busy and whose brains 
must be, early and late, paying tax to family responsi- 
bility. Such classes positively have need of some 
stimulant to prevent their nerves getting exhausted 
and their faculties sluggish. Is there anything better 
than tea? 
Certainly xiot. Alcohol is a thousand times worse, 
more disastrous to the body, more perilous to the mind. 
'The tribe of narcotics, ohich have the dangerous 
peculiarity of stimulating in small doses and soothing 
in larger ones, are rapidly fatal to tho health and 
euergh^s of those who fall under their contr ol. Even 
comiiaratively mild drugs do this, os well as opium 
and morphia. The nurses in a certain London hospital 
recently contracted a habit of taking antipyrin as a 
*' pick-me-up,” with results that need not be detailed 
beyond saying that they were quite deplorable. In 
tine, no beverage has yet boon discovered that is 
for one moment comparable in the combination of 
otiicieuoy as a stimulant arid innocuousnoas with that 
so dear to tho Englishwoman and tho uian of highly 
developed nerves— tea. [Ilear! hear I — Kn. 7'. -I.J 
Eut judiciousness i 4 required in its use, of _ course. 
The tannin which is draw'n out by prolonged infusion 
teiuls to cause indigestion; and the too-lrequent or 
violent application of even this mild stimulation to 
the nervous system makes it over-excited and unstable. 
There is great trnth in what Sir A. Clark says about 
the wicked tea of many afternoon “At Homes.” Tea 
which has been nuirsod under a cosy for half anhour^ 
IS like corked wine or tainted fish — it was good once, 
but it has " gone oil,” to bo disgusting and injurious. 
Tho only plan that a hostess can pursue to avoid 
at one time waste of tea and bad liquor is to have tho 
tea poured off the leaves ton minutes after it is made, f 
1 venture to say ten in place of Sir A. Clack's live, be- 
cause London water is hard and draws slowly. Tho 
liquid can bo kept hot afterwards in any way most con- 
voniont. It may even be left in a jug on the kitchen 
stove without doing it any damage. It is tho continuous 
drawing of the leaves, not the standing in heat of tho 
completed infusion, that is mischievous. The tea being 
made, therefore, in the proportion of one large toaspoon- 
ful of tho dried loaves to each half pint of boiling water 
— not over-boiled but fully at boiling point— should 
bo allowed to stand for ten minutes, and then the in- 
fusion should be pom-od off into a big teapot tliat 
can be kept under a cosy, or put into a silver urn 
with a little spirit-lamp burning underneath, not high 
enough to boil tho tea, but just so as to keep it hot. 
TEA IN TIIK UNITMU STATES 
Ib thus noticed without a word about the essential 
element of cheap abour : — 
A correspondent ol the American O'articn, Mr. W. F. 
Massey, writing from Oharleslou, S. C., gives some very 
iiitoroatiug iulormation about domestic tea culture. 
.®... ““'7" ■ “ We were very much interested in 
visitiug lit. Shepard's tea gurdeus at Bumiiior- 
ville, twenty-two miles from Charleston. Hero 
Leu. La DuOy when Comiuissioaer of Agriculture, 
began some experiments in tea culture, which his 
slmrt term of office left no time to complete and 
which his successor abandoned. Dr. Shepard has 
• Oyer the leaves. — En. T. A. 
t Five to seven luiuutos still bottcr, in most 
cases.— En. T. A. 
bought the old Government plantation, and has planted 
a large adJitional area. The old trees planted by the 
Agricultural Department have been given over to seed 
bearing, and now nurseries are being started ftuni 
these and fium imported seel. The new tsa gardens 
are all plan'cd with tbe Assam hybrid tea, but the doc- 
tor has orders abroad for seed of ail tho best sorts from 
Chius, Japan and tho Himalaya region. His tea has 
been pronounced vary superior by experts. The well- 
cultivated gardens and the thrifty plant is perfectly at 
home there. " 'That a high ipiality of tea can be cosily 
made in Motlhaud South Carolina seems evident. Be- 
fore going to Sonth Carolina we visited a plantation of 
lea made over thirty years ago near Fayutieville, North 
Oaruliiia. We found tbe tea hashes struggling for ex- 
istence in a thicket ol pine, laurel, cherry, and all 
manner of wild growth. It has had no culture what- 
ever since tho war, and yet from these trees the old 
lady wbu owned them gave me a large bundle ol tea of 
remarkably fine quality, which a New York dealer who 
tested it at the hutcl proeoiiaced worth 91 per pound 
at wholeaale. The ridicule with which the Northern 
press treatu 1 Gen. Le Duo's experimeuta caused the 
abandoument of systematic effort in this direclion, but 
it does looks as though a new money crop of great 
value might be added to tbe South, and I am gisd to 
record the fset that Dr. Shepard is giving the matter a 
thorough test. 1 hope his work may be crowned with 
Bucceislul results." 
NOTES ON PRODUCE AND FINANCE. 
The Imboht or Tea in Octohhr.— T he Board of 
Trade Keturns for October show that the imports of 
tta reached the high total of 30,185,170 lb. — about tho 
biggest total over recorded in one month. India sent 
18.263.000 lb., Ceylon 3,651,0(K) lb., and Obina, &o., 
0,509,000 lb. The greatest proportional increase is of 
Ceylon, the receipts being more than double those of 
October, 1890. 
Last Week’s Salks. — The Grocer says of Indian 
tea : — " The deliveries oouiinue to progress favourably, 
and list mouth eqnalled 10,520,450 lb., In contrast 
with 9,822,090 lb. in tbe former year, but as the im- 
ports were nnrummonly heavy, stretching to 10,094,860 
lb., against 15,236,900 lb. in October, 1890, the stuck 
was fuitber ineraHsod to 31,531,200 Ih , and at the end 
of tho mouth presented a comparative excess of 
5.177.000 Ib. 'Tiie publio sales since our last summary 
have offered about 42,900 packages Indiiiu tea, which 
have hod to be disposed of, as the saying is, ' by 
hook or by crook’; and a very trying period it 
has becu for tho tasters and valuers, who have 
had at least two days’ hard work to do in 
tho same time nsnally allowed for only one. This 
is tbe third week in succession that the auctions 
have aggregated over -10,090 packages as the supply 
to be immediattly dealt with by tbe wholesale 
dealers, au<l no wonder that their energies begin to 
Usg. Tbe biddings have lacked sharpness and deoi- 
eiveuoss in many oases and been positively spiritless 
in others, so that several invoicos have had to be 
wholly withdrawn, and where sales have becu eumple- 
tel prices have raled irregnlarly and lower. Tho com- 
mon to fair grades below 9d and Is, which preponderate 
largely in the general supplies, have been, as bitbortn, 
most out of favour, and must be considered jd to Jd 
per Ib cheaper, or even Id under tho rates secured a 
month or six wseks ago ; but prices for the medinm 
kinds, tbongh hero and there weaker, have .shown more 
uniform steadiness, and the. fluer qualities, being far 
from plentiful as they might be, have realised rela- 
tively 6tm rates. ’The landings of Ceylon tea last 
month amounted to 1,596,600 lb. The produce Mar- 
kets lleview rays “ Tho demand for Indian 
ton is well maintained, but at the later sales the 
common grades sold at irregular, but, on tha 
whole, at rather easier prices. These descrip- 
tions have been largely represented at recent auotious, 
and, as many of tho teas are very inferior, it is not 
surprising that their value shows a drooping tcadency. 
The demand for low-priced tow is also loss aotivt than 
