March i, 1892.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
647 
same aa those similarly employed in China. 
Those principally employed are from the Jami- 
nnm sanihao, Ait, the well-known mekiH. (Called the 
Mngeriue in Ceylon or double jessamine . — Note hy 
Translator.) They are purchased while they are 
buds and used when the flowers open. They are 
spread out on bamboo sifters and sprinkled with 
cold water until they open. They are on no account 
allowed to be floated in cold water to cause tho 
opening of the buds. 
In the next place come tho small yellow blossoms 
of the Aglojjtt odorata, Lowe, A. Meliacea, which is known 
at Batavia by the Malay and Indo-Emropoan popnlation 
as the Patchar China, and by tho Chinese as the 
Kembang Chilian ; and at Buitenzorg tho latter term 
is used by the native population. A Javanese of 
Ifagelen stated that this plant was called in that 
district Patchar Prentil. 
Tho dried Aglaja flowers resembling little seeds are 
imported by the Chinese from China for use when 
the fresh flowers are not to be had for perfuming tea, 
but they are frequently musty, and of weak perfume. 
In tile third place, the large white sweet-scented 
flowers of tho (jardenia pictoram Hsskl, are made use 
uf ; this is one of the plants generally known hero 
as tho Katcha-piring. 
Considering that tho same flowers are used in 
China for perfuming tea, and that they do not com- 
municate any substance prejudicial to health to the 
tea, the tea-alteration as practised at Cheribon does 
not operate mischievously in a hygienic point of view, 
ao much os with the revenue. 
However, I consider it of importance that the cir- 
cumstance of the existence of practice should bo 
known to a wider circle ; and I am therefore thank- 
the Directors of tho Tet/emama for the iu- 
Bonion of this communication iii their periodical. 
Batavia, November 20th. 
HOW TO ADD TO OUR FUEL SUPPLY. 
Mr. Edelmann, a Pole by birth, who has been on 
a visit to Ceylon, has, says the local “Times,” made 
a diaoovery for greatly addiug to the fuel supply of 
the world. The starting point iu oonnoction with hi.s 
scheme is that there exists near the surface of the 
earth a largo quantity of what may bo termed in- 
ferior coal, which is commonly called lignite. Lignite 
however, has not tho chemical properties that bitu- 
minous and anthracite coal possess, and so will not 
^?'u, and Mr. Edelmann has applied himself to the 
uitoovery of the chemical properties necessary to 
u ** burn. He now claims to possess the secret 
has patented his discovery in all the principal 
ountries of the world. His botanical knowledge 
h?* Kfcat assistance to him, for without it 
^8 Idea would probably have died at its inception, 
furiu^ time ago he noticed that all coal was 
soil h vegetable matter and that the 
That w* * fflagnetio power which draws in heat, 
later r fundamental discovery on which the 
clusion^'M*’' hinged. Having come to this con- 
ling over ti, ®delmnnn spent many years iu travel- 
tained thfl*”” world in search of plants that oon- 
greatesi T ®'»ment3 of heat, gas, and fire in the 
Drinninnii These investigations he conducted 
other w ^ ^**0 forests of Russia, Germany, and 
Bontb ■7'*''“P0»n countries, and also in Africa and 
fo the When bo had satisfied himself as 
ho made which would best serve bis purpose, 
them the “*°‘*y.of them until able to extract from 
had done *'® AesifoA 1 hut as soon as he 
troved placed them together the one des- 
had next disappeared. He therefore 
ovanoration ,r would prevent this disastrous 
his nlanto mitl •ugrodients which he had got from 
hardest nart w*®** *°i'’ "oquiry was tho 
years hut n work. It look him in all eight 
is havinu “® claims to have succeeded, and he 
he means to Southern Prance, where 
hislaboSra. “an]**®.* ‘^® ‘he first roiult. of 
his patents to thp^ w ‘‘®ho ‘hat, he will sell 
have been taW ^*®ot8ot , oountnes in which they 
oeen taken out. The process by which Mr. 
Edelmann says he will make this lignite into coal 
is as follows:— The lignite and certain chemical 
bodies which have first been reduced to a powdered 
condition in order to admit of their perfect comming- 
ling are placed in moulds and subjected to great 
pressure by machinery expressly constructed for the 
purpose, and from which the mass comes in shape, 
of what are termed, for want of a better name 
* brickots.’ These * brickets ' can be made of any size 
or shape— largo for furnaces and small for stoves. 
The immense pressure brought to bear on them makes 
them harder than coal. The lignitie coal is smokeless 
and there is only one per cent of ash. The heat 
produced by it is greater then with ordinary coal. 
Lignite is found near the surface of the earth, and so 
the cost of mining is reduced greatly, while at the 
same time the supply is practically inexhaustible. The 
chemical bodies used are also in expensive, so that the 
new coal can be manufactured and sold at a much 
cheaper rate than bituminous or anthractie coal. Mr. 
Edelmann, as stated above, intends beginning work in 
the South of France. Ho knows the discovery is all 
right Bud he has proved it before a commission in 
America. He now wants to shew the world at large 
that ho is correct, aud then he will make the most he 
can out of his discovery. Mr. Edelmann has acquired 
a large tract of ground in Texas where he thought of 
putting up some of this machinery, but he has now 
given np that idea and intends to make a beginning 
with his new discovery in France. The works be is 
having put are on an elaborate and expensive scale 
and will not be fiuiehed till July. 
THE RIVALRY OF TEA GROWERS. 
The controversy as to the respective merits of tea 
from various districts has begun. The letter of Mr. 
Hicks in praise of the suporiority of Oeylon tea over 
Indian has, as we thought, led to further correspon- 
dence on this subject. “ A Tea Planter of Thirty Years’ 
Stauding " now writes advocating the claim of tea 
grown in the Himalayas. “ It only remains for tea 
planters in Assam, Darjeeling, the \yynaad, and else- 
where to enter the lists in favour of the teas grown 
in their respective districts, and the tea drinkers will 
find thcmselvca in a hopeless state of confu- 
sion. It will no longer bo a question of Indian 
and Ceylon t«a r. China, but each district, and 
possibly each garden, in India and Oeylon will have 
its own advocate in the Press. If this rivalry 
develops we shall see eacli packet tea company 
printed on its labels an analysis of the tea it sells 
and of the soil upon which it is grown, and parti- 
culars of tho same sort will be expected in the sale 
room, a state ot things which the brokers and 
dealers of Mincing Lane will not enjoy. Future 
advertisomonts will bo in this style : ‘ Buy Jones's 
Ceylcn; beats all other tea; no injury to health; 
on astringoncy or ‘ Try Giles’s Kumaon ; beats 
certain for delicate flavour ; grown on high ground ; 
light; exhilarating ;' or ‘ If you wish to grow fat ask 
for PntfePs low country tea ; both nourishing and 
refreshing ; full of body ; contains both a maximum 
of tbeine and a maximum of flavour.’ This will be 
going into detail with a vengeance, and the poor 
consumer, fearfal of losing his reason, will take to 
coffee or cocoa in despair.’’ 
The advocate of Himalayan tea aays, in ths 
conr.sa of a long letter : — ** As I have had more 
tlian thirty years’ eiporionoe in the growing 
and manufacture of tea, and have also visi- 
ted all tho best known tea-growing regiona, 
namely, India, China, Japan, Ceylon, and Java, 
and made myself conversant with the various 
methods of curing or manufacturing the loaf in vogue 
in these countries, I venture to thoroughly endorse 
all what Mr. Hicks has so ably set forth in his letter 
with this exception, that there ate certain districts 
in India that grow as fine, if not even a finer, quality 
of tea than any grown in Oeylon, namely, tho tea 
estates of tho Himalayas. In China and Japan, the 
China variety of shrnb is alone grown. In India there 
are three varieties of plant cultivated— the Indigennous 
Assam, tho hybria (» cross between tho ludigonoos 
