t"HF TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[March i, iSqj- 
650 
ndvortisements with ioteut Qiijnatly to damage the 
CeyluD tea in thepublio cstiuatioD. Itaanerts “that it is 
only natural that Ohiiia tea dealers abould desire to pre- 
serve the trade from which they have so long profited, and 
had they contented themselves with exalting the merits 
, of their black leaf China teas, their advertiaementa 
would have been allowed to pass unnoticed ; but the 
virulent libels they contain on the superior teas of 
India and Ceylon, are, it believes, knowingly false. One 
Glasgow firm at least, who desoribe themselves as tea 
tasters of 25 years’ experience, mu.st know that medium 
Ceylon and Indian teas now telling at moderate prices 
are equal to the very finest high-priced teas which 
China produced in her host days also the statement 
“that India and Ceylon teas yield fonr to five limes 
as mncb tannin as Chins teas ” is absolutely untrue. 
“ Tbrre is, in tbe Indian and Ceylon teas, jnst a 
sufiicieally larger percentage of tannin to constitute 
their superiority to those of Chins. It Chii a tea is 
treated so that all the tannin is exhausted from it, 
the brew will be neither a pleasant nor a wholes' me 
beverage, and no person who knows how to infuse it 
properly will leave boiling water more than five or 
sir minutes over the leaves- The proportion of tannin 
in such an infusion of the strongest Ceylon or Indian 
teas is not injurious but beneficial, notwithstanding 
the opinion of Sir Andrew Clark to the contrary. The 
public know their own interests and the beneficial 
effect of tea, properly made, too well to be affected by 
the utterances of medical men or the advertisements 
of dealers of the class above allnded to ; and in spite 
of medical and mercantile partisans, India, and 
especially Ceylon, teas will increase in favour and in 
consumption, to the benefit even more of consumers 
than producers, although, we trust, with ever a fair 
profit to the latter.” There is an amount of truth in 
the above article, as will be seen from my following 
remarks. 
China tea naturally possesses less tannin than either 
Indian or Ceylon tea, and if the OliineBe had been able 
to maintain tlie juicy, fine pekoe flavoured teas they 
made 20 years ago, instead of year by year allowing 
the quality (with tbe exception of a few finest crops) 
to decline, the public would still support them ; but the 
bulk of the crops the Isst 10 years has consisted very 
largely ot thin liquoring aud tarry teas, of the common 
to good commou grades, and tbe few really fine parcels 
have of late commanded prices that few retail dealers 
could afford to pay. Meantime, India and Ceylon have 
steadily produced year by year larger quantities of an 
article ooutniuing much more flavour aud point, and 
one which can be sold here at prices giving in propor- 
tion much better value. However, Indian teas cannot 
be placed (as the writer of the article referred to 
would have) in the same comparison with tho good 
old China Miugchows, as Ce.yion teas can. At the 
present time Ceylon pekoes selling at from lljd to Is 
2d per pound in the market, are generally equal to the 
finest old China teas which, 15 or 20 years ago, realised 
2s fid to 3s per pound, and by far superior to tbe best 
of tbe same class that arrive now, and command at 
the opening of season on tbe average about Is fid to 
Is 8d, and a few chops of exceptionally fine, Is lOd to 
2s per pound. 
The rapid increase in the deliveries of Ceylon teas 
mouth by month, aud the corresponding decrease in tbe 
demand for China teas, eufiioientiy prove this. That In- 
dian teas have now more virtue in them than China tea 
is true, hut the Indian are mostly more stringent and 
pungent than Ceylon teas, and not so suitable for 
driuking alone, those from a few districts excepted 
(namely, the Darjeeling, Dooars, and Kaugras), which 
makes them more suitable for blending purposes. The 
liquors of China tea, if brewed unduly long, become 
bitter and unjpleasant, and with other growths tbe 
same result. Consumers, when buying strong Indian or 
Ceylon teas, should learn that these are much more 
juicy than China teas, therefore less quantity need 
be used, and infused for at most five minutes, when 
it will be found they throw a stronger liquor thau 
the same amount of China tea would iu double or 
treble the time. Tbe reference made in the article 
to the expressions ot various doctors on different teas, 
and to the one doctor especially, who warns tho publio 
•gainst Indian teas, is a just rebuke ; they can no 
more stop tbe consnmption of any favourite drink, 
such SB tea, thau they can prevent the use of tobacco, 
either of which if taken improperly, or in too great 
quantities, are injurious, and to some systems mote 
than to others. 
Sir Andrew Clark, speaking at tbe London Hospital, 011 
Ooloher 13th last, stated “that tea to be useful should bo 
first of all China tea, Ih. Indiau tea having become so 
powerful in its effects upon the nervous system, that those 
who take it netually get into a state of tea iutoxica- 
tion, &c. “ If,” he had, " you want to have tea which 
will not injure, and which will refresh, get black 
Chiii.a tea putting in the right measure,'’ &o. With 
due regard to such an authority as Sir Andrew Clsrk, 
who lias every right to prefer China to ludia tea, he 
should not go so fnr without good reason to damoge 
an impor'aiit article of British trade in tho public 
estimation. He hits tho very nail on the head when 
he says, referring to China tea, “ if the right quantity 
be yut iu the pot.” H' r« is the pith of the matter, 
if people buy strong Indian tea aud put tbe same 
quantity into the pot as they do ef China tea tbe 
natural cousequence is timt the liquor draws too strong; 
but it tbe consumers understand how to brew Indian 
tea— vis., less quantity aud less time to draw, it is 
just as wholesnmc a beverage as China or Coylou t a 
If doctors instead of condemning an article like ta 
would learn tbe different properties of tho various 
growths, and then advise their patients bow to make 
and not abuse it by too constant use they would be 
doing them much kindness. It is a common tiling to 
go into a drawing-room of an afternoon aud be asked 
to have a cup of tea, which probably has been stand- 
ing for, perhaps, half an hour or more I 'That this 
should result in causing indigestion, or as Sir Andrew 
Clark classes it, tea intoxication, ” is not to be 
wondered at.— Yours, &,o., JIincinu-Lanh. 
Doc. 23. 
^ 
INDIAN IHRIGATION. 
DY ALFKED DEAKIN, M r. (VIOIOHIA.) 
[In the Sydney Morning Herald has appeared the 
final paper of a most painstaking and able series, 
in which the lata Chief Secretary of Victoria, a 
very promising Aastralian-born statesman describes, 
from personal observation and extensive reading, 
the irrigation works of India and Ceylon in their 
bearing on irrigation in his own great thirsty land. 
A few extracts from this summing up will be 
interesting to our readers. — En. T, A."] 
Much might he said on otheraspects of Indian affaire, 
but here tho series of papers relating to irrigation 
attain their conclusion. A large volume might be 
written upon the practical, scientific and commercial 
phases of tho question for those sufficiently imerestod ' 
to follow them into all their details. What has been 
attempted in these articles haa been to offer a sketch, 1 
hasty and rude, which might be of some service in j 
any consideration of tbe Australian future of water 
supply. To illustrate tho size audobaraoter of the | 
Indian works, and their depeudent iuterests, blue 
hooks have been freely drawn upon, and personal I 
investigatiuuB have been employed to inter- 
pret them, witli tbe result that the information 
collected and collated is probabl)i new to many iu 
India, and to all outside it, except, per- 
haps, a few retired ofilcers of its departments. 
The whole makes no pretension to be comprehen- 
sive, but only to be faithful so far as it goes. Even 
iu regard to irrigation its scope is limited by the 
writer's want of technical knowledge, and by the fact- 
whicli has affected both style and substance, that bis 
criticisms have made their appearance in the columns 
of the daily and weekly press of tbe capitals of tbrcu 
colonies. On the general history, finance, poaition and 
prospects of tho great Government schemes they 
claim to be accurate and fairly complete. No pnbi*' 
cation is known to the writer having tbe same end m 
