PRESSING THE TEA-LEAVES.
The use of alcohol is almost invariably condemned in the various handbooks on training; but the use of tea is always commended. Mr. C. J. Michôd, late Hon. Sec. of the London Athletic Club, in his "Guide to Athletic Training," considers tea preferable for training purposes, as it possesses less heating properties, and is more digestible. The greatest pedestrian of our time, Mr. Edward Payson Weston, finds in tea and rest the most effective restoratives. Lately he walked 5000 miles in 100 days, and after each day's work, lectured on "Tea versus Beer." Even the publicans on the roads, he says, used to meet him with cups of tea and basins of milk. A Norwich physician, Dr. Beverley, testified to the value of tea in mountain-climbing. "The hardest physical work I have done," he says, "has been mountain-climbing in Switzerland, and on such occasions after a breakfast, of which coffee and milk and bread formed the chief articles of food, it was my custom to fill my flask with an infusion of cold tea, made over-night from a stock kept for the purpose in my knapsack, and this I invariably found to be the most refreshing drink for such purposes. This is confirmed by all experienced in Alpine ascents, who know only too well that the man who has recourse to his flask of brandy or sherry seldom gains the mountain-top."
In the harvest-field, also, tea is being substituted for beer. At a conference of the members of the Newbury Chamber of Agriculture, held in July, 1878, Mr. T. Bland Garland maintained that nothing can be more unsuitable as a thirst-quenching beverage during hard work in hot weather than beer, and stated that in 1871 he determined to supply no more beer to his labourers under any circumstances. He had agreed as an alternative, to pay the men 18s. instead of 14s., and the women 9s. instead of 7s.; but reflecting that the people would probably find it impossible to supply themselves with a suitable substitute for the beer, and would, in a measure, be driven to the public-house, he determined to supply them with tea. He thus describes his method of brewing tea,—
"I purchased a common flat-bottomed 8½-gallon iron boiler, with a lid, long spout, and tap; this is taken in a cart to the field, with a few bricks to form a temporary fireplace, a few sticks for the fire, some tea in 7-oz. packets, and sugar in 4-lb. packets. The first thing in the morning a woman lights the fire, boils the water, the bailiff puts on the 7 ozs. of tea in a small bag, to boil for ten to fifteen minutes, then removes it and puts in 4 lbs. of sugar; if skim milk can be spared, two to four quarts are added, but this is not a necessity, although desirable. All the labourers are then at liberty to take as much as they like at all times of the day, beginning at breakfast-time, and ending when they leave off work at night. If the field is large, they send large cans to the boiler for it; so soon as the quantity in the boiler is reduced to two gallons, it is drawn off in a pail for consumption, whilst another boilerful is being prepared. The knowledge that they have at their disposal as much good tea as they choose to drink during every minute of the day materially lessens their thirst.
The cost of tea in my case is as follows:—
| s. | d. | |
| 7 ozs. of tea | 1 | 0 |
| 4 lbs. of sugar | 1 | 2 |
| Skim milk about | 0 | 2 |
| — | — | |
| 2 | 4 |
or 8½ gallons of tea, at 3¼d. per gallon.
I had twenty-eight men and women employed in hay-making this year, and the consumption was,—