504 
rHE TROPICAL AQRlOULruRIST, 
[January i, ingt . 
lu Ohina tea ii sometimes infused in a teaoop, and 
sometimes in tfie oup from which it is drunk. In 
Japan the tea-leaves are ground to powder, and, after 
infusion in a toaoup, the mixtnre is beaten up until it 
becomes frothy, and then the whole is swallowed. 
The Ohiuese drink their tea in a pure state; the 
Russians take it with lemon-juioo ; and the Germans 
often flavour it with rum, oinnamon, or vanilla- In 
England wo know it is customary to add cream, milk, 
orl sugar, but for corpulent people tho Russian mode 
would bo the host. , . . , 
Oeylon tra is now justly taking a high plaoe in 
public favour. There is no doubt it is more wholesome 
and more delicately flavoured than any other, and 
as it oontain.s more theine and loss tannin than In- 
dian and Chinese teas, is more healthy. It does not 
injure the most delicate stomach, or diasgreo with 
those whoso digestive powers aro weak. When its 
virtues become fully known it will take the plaoe of 
all other teas. It is a difficult matter to got pure 
Ceylon tea ; moat of those sold with high-sounding 
names as Oeylon tea are simply mixtures and blends 
in whioh oommoo China tea predominaies and the 
names of the estates they ate snppuBod to come from 
exist only in the imagination of the teadealor. One 
or two owners of Ceylon plautatl'-ms do import their 
teas direct to the consumer ; in this oaso it is a 
gusrautoe of their purity, and under these circums- 
tances they can be bought much cheaper than where 
they have passed through the hands of the importer 
tho broker, and the tea-dealer. 
Those who would like to have Ceylon tea in its pure 
and natural state can get it from tho Agra Oeylon Tea 
Asaooiatiou, of 76, Shafteebury Avenue, London, \V. 
0., who import Ihoir teas direct from the estates in 
Ceylon of Mr. H, R Farquharsou, M. P., and it is 
handed to the consumer pure and unmixed as it leaves 
the faotorioi.e ludepeudontly of its good quality 
and freedom from tauuio, Oeylon tea is maobine mado 
and is not, like Chinese tea, handled and pressed in 
dirty and squalid huts, and by the hands and feet of 
the unwashed Mongolian. 
ooFVeu : its usbs. 
‘Coffee,’ says Dr. Pavy, ‘is said to have been in 
use in Abyssinia from time immemorial, and in Persia 
from A. D. 875. It was used in Constantinople about 
the middle of the sixteenth century, in spito of the 
violent opposition of tho priests, and in 1554^two coffee 
bouses were opened in that city. It was introduced 
into Europo in the seventeenth century. It was dr.' -k 
in Venice soon after 1615, aud brought into Eoglaud 
and Francs abont forty years after.’ Like tea, coffee 
produces au invigorating and stimulant effect, without 
being followed by any depression, aud fully justifies 
the estimation in whioh it is held. It increases tho 
action of the puUo, aud is more heating than tea, 
while at tho aarao lime it arouses the raeutal faoalties 
and so disposes to wakefulness. To make the infusion 
properly 3 ox. of freely -ground ooffee should bo used 
to each pint of hailing water. 
Ooffee is especially useful to those who suffer from 
redundancy of fat, as it has tho pow r of relieving the 
sensation of hunger and fatigue, aud may be used two 
or three times a day as a beverage. It has all tho 
advautages of a stimulaut without the ill-effeots fol- 
lowing aloobol in its various forms. P exerts a marked 
suttaiuiaic iaflueDCt^ uudtif fatigua and, priv&tior, and 
instaiuA tbo strangbh whore a rostriovt*d diet is neci's- 
sary, and thie enables arduous exertio-.: to bo batter 
borue under tbo existeuoo of abstiuonce or a denoi* 
ecoy of food. 
THE OUTPUT OF BRITISH MINERALS. 
There has recently been iaaued from the Homo 
Offioe a tabular return, showing the annual output 
of tho principal minerals produced in the United 
Kingdom, from the year 1860 to tho year 189U. 
• Tho wfllof’s son in a pupil on this oatito, and I 
gather those facts from him, and oercainly oaa epoak 
from experienoe of the deUoioas flavour of these 
teas. That sold at 28 por lb. is incomparable. 
The term United Kingdom inoludes the Isle of 
Man and Ireland. The quantity in tons, aud the 
value in pounda, are given for each year. The 
compilations have been made from Official Returns, 
by Mr. James B. Jordan, the clerk of Mineral 
Statistics. Copies of the return may ba obtained 
from Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoodo. For the 
benefit of our readers, the figures for last year (1890) 
are culled from the report i— 
Minkral Quantity Value 
Tons £ 
Alum clay (Uauxibe) 11.527 6,763 
Alum Bhal© 6,420 802 
Arsouio (white arsenic, crude and 
refined) produced from arsenical py- 
rites not included In the next Hue 7,^76 fi0,737 
Arsenical pyrites 5,114 4,4i4 
Barytes. 25,363 20,684 
Clays (China clay, potters' clay, fnl- 
ler.-*’ ^atth, &c., but exclusive of 
ordinary clays). 3,308,214 899,106 
Coal 181,614,288 74,953,997 
Cobalt aud nickel ore 84 260 
Copper ore and copper precipitate 
Copper ore 12,130 27 801 
Precipitate 315 4,670 
Pluorspir 268 3U2 
Gold ore (auriferous quartz) 575 434 
Gypsum 140,293 67,'JUI 
Iron ore 13.780,707 3,920,446 
Iron pyilics 16,018 7,666 
Lead ore 45,661 406,164 
Mang.anose or© 12,4 14 0.733 
Ochre aud umber 19,068 17,475 
Oil' shale 2.212,250 008,369 
Phosphate of lime 18,000 29,500 
Salt (rock salt, aud salt obtained 
frome brine) 2,146,849 1,100,014 
Slaves and slabs 434,362 1,027,235 
Sulphate of strontl v 10,276 5,138 
Tin ore 14,911 782,492 
Wolfram 104 1,848 
Zinc ore 22, Oil 109,890 
It Is to be note 1 that, in addition to the above, 
email qoantities of other minerals are ocoasionally 
produce I, eg. orss of antimony and bismutb, bog 
iron ore (used for purifying gas), jet, lignite, 
petrolsuro, plumbago, silver ore, steatite and ura- 
nium ore. 
“A very large quantity of stone used for building 
and other pnrposes is also annually raised, besides 
chalk, ordinary olsy, gravel, Aa., thetotal quantity 
of which oannot be aoourately asoertainod, but the 
v>.Iae in 1890 was estimated to be upwards of 
£1,708,000 ." — Chemical Trade Journal. 
OntuA Tea Losses.— We learn ihat the China 
Asaooiation has been asked to take up the oun- 
sideration of China tea, in view of the heavy losses 
which have been made this year, and the great 
decline whioh continues unchecked. A meeting 
will be shortly called to consider the matter. — 
L. aiui C. Nov. 27th. 
Peb.u Tea. — Tho Manager of the Cicely and 
Hermitage Tea Kstatos, Mr. Frod. Watson, passed 
through Penang today with J,000 pounda of tea 
for Singapore. — This is the first orop from these 
estates prepared by special machinery, the pre- 
paration of the leaf, formerly, having been done 
by hand . — Straits Independent, 9th Deo. 
Tka-Dbinkinu in Japan. — T he A thenaum in 
a teview of Sir Edwin Arnold’s new book “ Seas 
and Lands " says : — 
The author enlarges, too, on the institution of 
tea.driukiug, a much morn serious affair than the 
banquet, the strict otiqnet'.e and coremnuial recalling 
in a stiango way the kava drinking of the Paoiflo 
Islands. The " oha-uo-yu” (literally " tea of honour’’) 
is, iudood, uut to bo epokuu of lightly, and the author 
describes with much gravity tbo prusoribed treatment 
ot iho “ honoarabl'i hot water,” tho reverent hand- 
hug of the cup, ami the re fined couvorsatiun which 
alone is permissiblo during the function. It may, 
perhaps, bu to Buddhism, as the author declares, 
that the Japanese owe not only the tea-leaf, but bow 
“ to honour, enjoy, aud infuse it.’’ 
