May 2, 1892.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
845 
SOMK TIIOL'(illTS ABOUT TKA. 
When the Laureate sang 
“ Better fifty years of Europe, than a cycle of Cathay,” 
we do not suppose he had in view i hina's groat 
gift to Europe and the world, Thay or lea, 
"which cheers but not inebriates," 
as another poet sang in a poem rising from the 
every-day pleasure of home to the BUblimitins of 
the Millennial glory. Blessings on the man, though 
ho had his eyes askew and wore a pigtail, who 
first invented tea— the dried and fragrant leaf ! 
His name, if it could be discovered, even if it 
was a oomioal aggregation of monosyllabio exola- 
mations such as "Hoi'* and "Ful” and "Pi I”, 
ought to be emblazoned amongst those of the 
ofremost benefactors of the world. There can be 
no doubt that the tea plant is indigenous to Assam 
and Burma ; and the probabilities are that it found 
its way into China from India via Burma instead 
of the reverse prooess which Jsome have imagined. 
Be that as it may, the roasted tea of China is 
as superior to the pickled haves of Burma, as 
the finest golden tip pekoe excels the coarsest 
brick tea. The curious phenomenon is that the 
genius which discovered the preparation of the 
fragrant leaf by simple and rude appliances should, 
in all the centuries, have advanced no further. To 
this day the processes of, preparation are stereotyped ; 
and John Chinaman rejoots and destroys improved 
appliances when introduced to his notice. The 
" better fifty years of Europe” principle is illus- 
trated bv the progress made in the labour-saving 
and quality-improving machinery and appliances 
which have been invented in the half century since 
the British have commenced to cultivate and pre- 
pare tea, whether pure China, as at first, or Assam 
indigenous or high class hybrid as latterly ; andjnow, 
what would the Chinese who first toasted tea on 
bambu sieves over open charcoal fires — the leaves 
having been prepared by the pressure of the human 
hand and perhaps by the imposition of human feet — 
what would this Chinese inventor, who knew 
nothing of advanced engineering and patents, say,- 
were he permitted to "revisit the glimpse of the 
moon ” and see at work in the insignificant island 
of Ceylon, those great triumphs of human skill 
applied to the preparation of the leaf he loved so 
wisely and so well, the roller which is such an im- 
provement on the human hand, the downdraught 
sirocco and the perfection in simplicity of the 
Britannia drier I These thoughts on tea and tea 
machinery on the literature and the science which 
have brought their votive offerings to shrines which 
men name tea factories, in the fast half century or 
less, have been suggested by a glance at the latest 
edition of Eutherford’s enoyclopedio “ Ceylon Tea 
Planters’ MoteBook,” It contains “ all about tea " 
and a great deal more. Much about wood and coal 
and petroleum, as sonroes of heat and force ; about 
iron and timber as structural substances and material 
for tea boxes; about lead and solder and shingles 
and nails ; about tea tasting and weighing and mea- 
surement, and freights and iiost and profits; about 
rupee-oents and pence and sterling and exchange. 
About the proportion of dry tea to green and 
withered leaf ; about the cost and capabilities of 
labour, labour advances and the labour laws ; with 
the number of bashes per aero at varying distances, 
and the profits par acre at varying rates per 
pound of tea. Even the forester can come to 
learn with the planter,— fuel being literally a burning 
question with both, — what indigenous trees to plant 
at low levels and which of the exotics are best 
suited for high altitudes ; while weights per cubic 
foot and prices of the local timbers, of cement, 
lime, bricks, tiles and other building materials 
With the cost of various descriptions of building, 
loe 
are given. Much valuable and important literature 
on tea, originating in India and Ceylon, is extant 
and can be consulted with advantage ; but this, 
the selected tit-bits and boiled down ossenoa of 
all, is indispensable even at the price, about 
which we have heard some murmurs. But surely 
a book is worth paying for (especially with the 
rupee so low in value) which tells a man how to 
open an estate and how to turn its produce to the best 
advantage, which gives tea exports since they became 
appreciable in our commerce and the latest dividends 
of Indian and Ceylon Tea Companies. A reward 
might well be offered to the man who looks and 
fails to find in this Planter's Note Book anything, 
however, remotely, connected with tea. Then cornea 
the curious ooincidenoe, that, although Englishmen 
have doubtless done their part, the author of the 
most generally usefnl and comprehensive book on tea 
and the greatest and most sucoessful tea machinery 
engineers are Scotchmen 1 There is no more 
mistake about Mr. Butherford than there can be 
about Messrs Beid and Loudoun Sband or our 
good friend and everybody’s good friend " Logie 
Elphinstone.” Then we might as well deny the 
existence of " Aberdeen awa’ " and the influence 
its sons have had on Ceylon estate oulture and 
Ceylon estate English (“ Wha 'a mammoty’s yon?") 
as doubt that Mr. Jackson of " Bapid roller ’’ 
and " Britannia drier ’’ fame is a Setebman, 
whose model rooms and laboratory are within 
hail of Balmoral, althongh his honest and solid 
machines are made by the Marshalls on the wrong 
side of the border. We imagined the old-world 
Chinese ssge who invented tea and there stopped, 
as amazed if he saw the modern automatio 
machinery applic^d to the preparation of the fra- 
grant leaf. But 'surely bis ghostly pigtail would 
stand on end if he heard Mr. Jackson coolly talk 
of generating elcotrioity as a motive power for 
such machinery. But no doubt some Milesian will 
claim tliroooo Davidson as a countryman. He lives 
and works, brain and bands, to good purpose at 
Belfast, and we suppose he was born in that North 
of Ireland city, " because he happened to be there 
at tbs time." But Mr. Davidson, like thousands 
of other Irish.Scotoh, is essentially Scotch, although 
the purity of his dorio accident is somewhat tainted 
with a tinge of brogue. If a Scotchman does not 
cease to be a Scotchman because ha emigrates, 
does his eon cease to be a Scotchman because of 
the accident of his being born in the country to 
which his parents had moved ? Time does 
not admit of our pursuing this problem or 
our thoughts about tea further on the pre- 
sent occasion.— Before closing we may admit 
that the Note Book is not faultless. There 
are some curious misprints for which of 
course Mr. Butherford, away in London, is not 
responsible. One of the most curious is the sub- 
stitution of Devon as an Indian Tea District, 
instead of " the Dooars,” in association with 
Darjiling and the Teroi. But there are spots (at 
present one larger than our globe) on the sun’s 
face ; but the usefulness of the light-giving 
orb remains. Wo may add that Mr. Butherford’s 
useful compendium is published at the office of 
the “ Times of Ceylon.” 
an ex-ceylon planter in 
AUSTRALIA. 
New South Wales, March 6th. 
The question of Federation is very far off when 
we consider the two burning topics in these Colo- 
nies, viz. 
( 1 ) 8ii Sam. Griffith’s wish'to encourage kanakas 
and the New South Wales hatred to the very idea of 
black labour. 
