74 ^ 
THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTURIST 
[April i, 1892. 
CUKIOSITIKS OF TEA TASTING. 
The Tea Tasting Committee of the Islington 
Workhouse ehould, one would think, have been 
elected on the ground that it, or some of its 
members, were possessed of some praotioal know* 
edge of the matters with whiob it was supposed 
to deal. Unfortunately, in making the seleotion, 
it would seem to have been thought that no 
expert knowledge was demanded, and it may 
probably be oonoluded that similar Committees 
appointed by the Boards of Guardians eharged 
with parish relief throughout the length and breadth 
of Great Britain are, as the rule, possessed of no 
greater experienoa in such matters than was that 
of Islington. There oau be no doubt that, if suoh 
a oonolusioD be eorreot, a great deal of harm may 
have been done to the reputation of much of the 
Ceylon lea sent home, and a wide field available 
for its oonsumption denied to it through a ver^ 
unpardonable ignorance. We doubt exceedingly if 
any special Committee had been appointed by the 
Islington Guardians to report on teas alone. There 
is generally in connection with every workhouse, 
we believe, a Supplies Committee appointed, whiob 
deals among other things with all the provi- 
sions obtained andei contract from the several 
purveyors. Now we can readily understand that 
gentlemen appointed for the performance of such 
a duty might be sufficiently well-qualified by their 
experience to form right opinions as to the quality 
of the beef, mutton, pork and baoon, and other 
items of a like nature supplied for the main- 
tenance of the inmates of a workhouse; but it must 
be quite a different thing when it becomes a ques- 
tion of judging of the relative qualities of teas, a 
function whiob, to be properly carried out, demands 
the services of the most highly trained and natur- 
ally-giUed experts. Wo see the result of the 
ignoring of snob qualiftoations in this, particular 
case of the Islington Guardians; and, aswehave 
said, there is every reason to fear that their 
instance is but one of a very large number. The 
facts of the case seem to be that this Committee 
rejected samples of Ceylon tea eubraitted to it be- 
cause the infusion of these, alter being permitted 
to become cold, became of a milky colour. Any 
expert in the business would have known 
that this was merely a chemical change 
due to the inherent strength of the tea, and that 
it afforded no indication of the interior quality which 
the committee assigned to it. Apparently these wise- 
acres of Bumbledom, without seeking any outside 
opinion qualified to confirm or dispute their suspi- 
cion, look upon themselves to characterize their 
finding as a “curious discovery.” It was, indeed and 
in truth, exceedingly “ curious." Parish authorities 
are not generally credited with being overburdened; 
either with commonsense or with expert knowledge, 
and certainly in this case they exhibited neither 
one nor the other of those qualities. Common- 
sense mnst certainly, had this committee possessed 
it, would have informed its members that, on a point 
of quite, novel experience it would be desirable to 
consult with someone duly qualified to advise them. 
This view did not, however, appear to strike them; 
and they accordingly proceeded to give publicity to 
their finding, a publicity which proved to be most 
fortunate, as it resulted in a oorreipondenoe a 
paragraph summarizing the intent of which is given 
in our London Letter by this mail. The Vaily 
Chronicle, tbs journal which has afforded this 
paragraph, is a paper which is very widely read, 
and has a particularly large circulation among the 
class from which the members of Boards of 
Guardians are mainly selected. The effect of tho 
Pfttagiaph will almost oertainly be to bring home to 
the minds of the Supply Committees of suoh boards 
that they are not inwlible, and that it would bo a 
fairer course, and one that in the end must prove to 
be by far the most economical, if in all such oases 
which present oondilions they themselves are un- 
able to explain, they ehould eeek for competent 
advice rather than by a hssty decision give rise 
to an unwarrantable prejudice that, as in this 
instance, may be productive of serious injury to 
particular trades. The fact is that tea-tasting 
should be made a subject lor instruction to Com- 
mittees of this character. Here we have a case 
of men waiting for the tea to get cold before 
they passed judgment upon ill No professional 
taster, or, indeed, anyone possessed of the slightest 
acquaintance with the peculiarities of tea, would 
have committed such a stupid blunder. If mistakes 
of this kind can be made, we should not be surprised 
to bear that all the samples submitted to the 
Committee, whether of Indian, Ceylon or China, 
were exposed by it to the same period of infusion. 
It is not at ell unlikely that this may have been 
from five to ten minutes, and we all know that 
the longer period is far beyond what should be 
given to either Indian or Ceylon teas. We have a 
right to complain that vestrymen should bo per- 
mitted to exercise functions tor which they are 
wholly unqualified. Samples of such delicate 
articles as tea should be judged of for them by 
unbiassed experts. Until such a course becomes 
the rule, we may expect to hear of blunders like 
this being perpetrated, and as a great tea-;produoing 
colony we are justified in protesting against public 
acts likely to prove injurious to out staple product. 
The Patent Paper Lining for Tea Boxes.— 
Mr, Maitland Eirwan writes to us on 10th Feb. : — 
“ I am sailing on Friday next by the S. S. ‘ Omiuz ’ 
for Ceylon. 1 shall not bo more than a very few 
weeks in your island, daring which time I shall bo 
pretty fully enjoyed in my various interests I am 
connected with there, but should any information 
bo required by your planting community or others, 
relative to tho now patent paper limngs for tea 
chests, I should bo very pleased personally to meet 
any one requiring such. The ‘ Ormuz 'is due in Ceylon 
on 9tb Match ; letters will find mo at tbeG. O. H." 
A Cinchona Pioneeb.— Dr. Hasskail, the soientist, 
who, many yoars ago, succeeded at great personal 
risk and with much trouble, in obtaining yonng 
oinobona plants from South America and carrying 
them to Java where they formed the Dualeas of 
the plantations now existing iu the island, now 
lives in retirement at Cleve, in Qermaoy, on the 
Dntoh frontier. The doctor recently celebrated bis 
80lb birthday, and is still in the possesaion of 
good health and of all his faculties . — Chemiit and 
Druggiit, 
The Bice Cbof in Bcbua,— The report received 
from the looal Administration on the prospects of 
the crop on the Slot January 1892 is as follows 
" The area under paddy oultivAtion is now eetim- 
atod at 4,174,54-1 acres, or 258,356 acres more toan the 
actuals of last year, and 66,982 aorea mote than the 
estimate of last mouth. The ultimate of last month is 
nnohauged in Akyab, Tliongwa jHeozads, and Shwegyiu. 
The anna estimates of bat month are unobungod 
ezoept in Pegu, Tharrawaddy, and Piome. Pegu now 
reporta fifteen aonas agaiuat fourteen aunaa last mouth, 
while Tharrawaddy and Prome report fifteen annas 
and thirteen annas respectively, against thirteen annas 
and fourteen annaa last month. There are Inereasea 
of 38,536 and 25,508 aoros in the eatimatod areas under 
oultivation in Pegu and Pioine, and a decrease of 9,090 
acres in Bassein. The changos in other distriots are 
small. It la eatimated that there will be available for 
export 1,250,600 tons of cargo rise equivalent to 
21,194,916 owt. of cleaned rice ioeluding what is re- 
quired lot Upper Barms.” 
