8^4 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURISf 
[May 2, 1892. 
easily understood that a hard, sharply defined brick, 
would at onco obtain the preference. Witli both 
methods of manufacturing brick tea, there ia a 
drawback, and a serioiw one— the damping of 
the dust by steam, which rol)fl it of all its 
fragrance. To remedy this defect, a firm has 
imported a hydraulic press, which turns out small 
corrugated cakes, weighing a quarter of a pound 
each retaining the original aronm in all its freshneHs.’' 
It was considered very probable that the ordinary 
brick tea and the compressed tea would run side 
by side in friendly competition, the brick keeping 
its own position for use amongst the poorer, and iho 
compressed tea becoming popular amongst the better 
classes. At the time the article was written from 
which the preceding extract is made, tlicre woio 
six manufactories in Hankow, in throe of which 
boilers were used either for steaming the tea, or 
both for that purpose and furnishing power for 
pressing. The oust from whicli brick tea is nurde 
comes principally from Ningchow in Kiangsi and 
Tsung yang and Vanglout’ung in Ilupelj, and varies 
both in fineness and cost according as it belongs to 
the first, second, or third crop. 
The CominisHtoner proceeds to state that — 
“The first operation is to sift the dust and reject 
all the sand and rubbish contained in it, usaually 
amounting to about five per cent. It is then placed 
in a winnowing macliine liaving three dilTerent sized 
flloves, with troughs coiTcsnouding, and passed into 
baskets. The residue, wnich is too cc^arse to 
pass any of the sieves, is taken out and trodden 
until it is reduced to the proper consistency, when 
it is placed in iron pans over a charcoal fire until 
it is sufficiently brittle, when ii is again taken 
to be winnowed, and this operation is repeated 
until it has all been sifted to the requisite degree 
of fineness. Three sizes are produced, the coarser 
ones being employed to constitute the brick, 
while the finest dust ia only used as a facing. 
The dust having been properly sifted tlie next 
step is to prepare it for pressing, and this is 
done by exposing it to the action of steam for 
three minutes, and it is this steamin g that 
robs brick tea of its scent and flavour, and for 
which a remedy ia eagerly sought. 
“ The old fashioned native apparatus consists 
of six iron boilers heated by charcoal and having 
spaces above, which are fitted with rattan covers. 
When the dust is to bo steamed it is spread out 
on a sheet of cotton cloth placed over the boiler 
and covered up ; but witli the improved Kuropcan 
apparatus the dust is simply put into iron boxes 
and the steam there passed through them. After 
having been sufiiciently steamed to make it 
adhesrve, the dust is put into a strong wooden 
mould, on the movalile cover of which the trade 
mark of the ‘hong’ or firm ia engraved (so aa 
to leave the corresponding inpresaioii on the brick) 
and firmly w'edged down. It is then prea.sod and 
placed on one side for two or three hours to 
cool. Kach brick should weigh one catty (1^ lb.), 
and all those that do not oomc up to the proper 
standard of wc-igdit or arc defective in any way 
are rejected and re made. For this purpose they 
are taken to a rotatory mill, constructed of two 
heavy circular atouea moved by a liovizontal 
wooden bai and working in a channel whore 
the condeuined bricks are thrown, and cruahed 
aa the wheels pass over them. Having a^ain 
become duat, the operation already deacribed 
ia in all its details repeated. The hand proas 
turns out GO baskota a day with 25 per cent, 
failure bricks, while the stream pieps produces HO 
baskets a day, with only five per cent, of bad 
work, and the saving by the employment of tlio 
improved machinery amounts to one tael a 
basket, or, according to the above stated outturn, 
eighty taels a day, or about 20/. The bricks 
found to be correct in weight and free from 
defects are stored in the drying room for a week, 
when they are carefully wrapped, separately in 
paper, and pecked in bamboo baskets containing 
Gl bilcks cacn. Green lirick tea is made in the 
same manner, but of leaf, not dust, and the bricks 
are larger, weighing two pounds and a half each, 
tliiity*six going to a basket when packed for export.” 
There is a sample of hard compressed brick 
tea in the Kew Museum such as was imported in 
quantities into London from Shanghai in 1803, 
for re-exportation to Ilussia, the cost of whicli was 
Gd. ner pound and duty. It seems from information 
kindly nirnishcd by Mr. Henry Tuke Mennell, 
of St. Dunstan’s Buildings, Great Tower Street, 
E.C,, who presented the above-named specimen to the 
Museum, tliat this kind of tea is not now an article 
of commerce on tlic London market, though it is 
still an article of regular consumption in Ilussia, but 
is now chiefly, if not entirely, sent overland. 
Consul Allen, reporting on the trade of Hankow 
for the year 1887, says, ** The trade m Kussinn brick 
tea seems to increase ‘by leaps and bounds.’ The 
bricks aro prepared entirely by steam macliinery. 
The brick ten factories, with tho'r tall chimnoya, 
are the most striking buildings in the European 
settlement.” 
The brick tea of Tibet is an entirely different qua- 
lity of tea from the above described. The full grown 
leaves aro used, and are comparatively loosely pressed 
together into blocks about 10 inches by 10 inches, 
and 4 inches thick. 
IVIr. Colbourne Baber, some time British Consul at 
Chungking, described the Tibetan teapot a,s a wooded 
churn, in which the boiling infusion is poured through 
a strainer; a little salt is added, and some 20 
strokes applied with a dasher pierced with five holes. 
A lump of butter is then thrown in, and the com- 
pound u again clmrned with from HX) to 150 strokes 
administered with much precision. The tea is then 
ready for drinking. 
The nsG of comprcHscd tea in this country has 
been attempted at different times, but never with 
complete success. A few years ago two companies 
wore formed for working it, and at the present time 
there is a company in London which deals exclusively 
in this article, a sample of which is in the Kew 
Museums. It ia claimed for this tea that it has many 
advantages over loose tea, the chief of which is that 
the leaves being submitted to heavy hydraulic pres- 
sure all the cells aro broken, and the constituents of 
the leaf more easily extracted by the boiling water 
thus cffectng a considerable saving in quantity 
required for use. Us great advantages over loose tea 
however would mi to be its more portable character, 
and in the case of long sea voyages, or for use in 
expeditions, the reduction of its bulk to one-third. 
The compression of tea into blocks further, it 
is said, constiutes a teal and important improve- 
ment in the treatment of tea. Those blocks weigh 
a quarter of a pound each, and are subdivided into 
ounces, half onneos, and quarter ounces; this 
insures exactitude in moaKiiring, and saves thetronblc, 
waste, and uncertainty of measuring by spoonfuls. 
It also ensures uniformity in the strength of the 
infusion. By compression it is claimed that the 
aromatic properties of the leaf aro retained for a 
much longer period, and that it is better preserved 
from damp and climatic changes . — Kew Ihulctiu. 
Tin?: COKK INDUSTRY IN SFAIN. 
The cork tree is found in Spain in great abun- 
dance in the provinces of Gerona, Carceres, and An- 
dalusia, especially in the provinces of lliielvaSi 
Seville, and Cadiz, and, although in less quantity, 
in the provinces of Cuidad Real, Malaga, Cordoba, 
Toledo, and some others. The United States Con- 
si 1 at Barcelona says that, according to a calcula- 
tion male by the administration of forests, the ex- 
tent of corft forests in Spain is about 256, 
hectaies (hectaro~2’47 acres), distributed as follow’s : 
— H0,(KM) in tilo province of Gerona, •15,(XX) in Huolvas, 
32, 5(H) in Carceres 28,000 in Seville, 20,000 in Cadiz, 
11, .500 in Unidad Real, and 0,500 in Cordoba. D* 
the localities exposed to the north the cork is bettor 
than in those exposed to the south, and it is seldom 
found in calcareous soil, preforving always that o 
the felspar, this being found priucijially iu the pr'^ 
