6io 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 1884. 



taken. Ponia boxes weigh about from 20 to 25 lb., aud 

 this is not the same wood that comes to us as " Cedar" 

 from Burma : the latter is heavier, harder, and less 

 attacked bj white ants. S. E. P. 



TIMBERS FOR BOXES. 

 (From the Indian Tea Oazetle.) 



One of the lightest woods we have is Simol (Bombyx) 

 or cotton tree, and 1 have known whole chests made of 

 it weigh only 12 lb. though the wood was ^ an inch 

 thick. Boxes are often made of it that are sent home, 

 aud if cut, say 5 inches thick, it might be fairly safe if 

 well pnt together. It is however liable to split if it 

 receives hard knocks. 



One of the best woods for boxes is Roghu, formerly 

 Nauclea kadamba or Kodom, " Anthocephalus ka- 

 damba," — called Kodom in Bengali, and Halamba in 

 Sinhalese. When seasoned it is fairly light, strong, 

 and tough. la Assam it generally has a tolerably 

 straight, clean stem 30 to 40 feet long, which is con- 

 tinued up through the head or crown, the latter com- 

 posed of a mass of radial branches. 



As a rule the head of foliage is domed, and the 

 lower branches have a tendency to droop aud hang down 

 all around. Koghu is oue of the very feiv trees that 

 generally carries its stem, of central axis, right through 

 the crown to the vei'y summit ;.aud when young it is 

 very symmetrical. 



Externally the bark is dark brown or grey, and 

 tJRSured by cracks longitudinally ; inside it is a brown 

 or dark dim color. When young, the bark is parti- 

 cularly clean and smooth, and oi a pale grey green. 



There is no heart, and the wood is yellowish white, 

 soft and even in texture, easily out, whether green or 

 seasoned. The leaves are stiti', large and entire, 

 pointed, and with short footstalk; on old trees they 

 arc from 8 to 10" long x 5 or 6" wide. Much larger 

 on young trees, aud I have measured one 31" long x 20" 

 wide, on a one-year old plant 10 ft. high. 



The flowers are email and clustered in a ball, 2" 

 diameter, that ripens about October. 



Roghu has several peculiarities worth recording ; the 

 ;,'rowth is remarkably rapid for the first 6 or 8 years, 

 ueoomes slower on to 20, and then is very slow. 

 During the first 2 or 3 years it grows some 10 feet 

 per annum in height, while the girth in same period 

 13 often an inch per month. I have cut 10" planks 

 for boxes out of Koghus only 8 years old, and am now 

 felling a good many that are 16 years old, and at six ieet 

 up, measure (an average of 5) to .■)' 5" girth, while at 

 30 feet up they measure 3' 8" in girth. Up to 8 or 10 

 yeurs old it grows so rapidly as to be worth planting, 

 but after 15 or 20 years, is so slow that it is most 

 IJrotitable to fell when about 12 years old. 



Another peculiar feature of this tree is the difficulty 

 of propagating it from seed, while at the same time 

 it springs up in millions naturally on new clearances. 

 I once estimated that I weeded out 450,000 Roghu 

 seedlings on 25 acres of clearance. Taken altogether 

 this tree is one of our best for Tea boxes, both on 

 account of its natural cxualities as a wood, and as a 

 tree ; and the pity seems that it is not more extensively 

 grown by Planters aud Government, especially as it 

 takes fuch a short time to reach useful size. It is on 

 this latter account I place it first on the list of Box timbers. 



[Is this the tree which grows so plentifully on land 

 cleared of forest and then abandoned? — Ed.] 



TEA FKOM FIJI. 



A further examination of the tea brought from Fiji by 

 the Hou. Jas. E. Mason, grown upon his estate on the island 

 of Taviuni (the Alpha tea aud coffee estate), was made by 

 Messrs. Gilmore, Younghusbanrf, aud Co., of Custom-house- 

 street. Mr. Mason at oue time intended to remain here 

 luitil the next trip of the " Penguin," but has decided to 



retiu-n to Fiji, being satisfied that there will be no difficulty 

 in finding a market in New Zealand for the grand flavoured 

 and full-bodied teas that may be produced in Fiji. Mr. 

 Younghusband, in liquoring the samples brought by Mr. 

 Mason, compared them with teas of high-class quality from 

 India and China, and reports as follows upon the two 

 samples : — 



" Pekoe Souchong. — Leaf large, with some tips. Requires 

 earlier plucking and more careful sorting. Liquor malty, 

 fairly pungent, aud tlavoury." 



" Orange Pekoe. — Leaf small, black, full of tips. Liquor — 

 ricli dark liquor. AVe are unable to report more fully on 

 this, the samjiles having been damaged by sea water. 



" This tea resembles the Indian hill tea in character, aud 

 only requires a few improvements in the manufactm-e to 

 rank well as a tea for drinking alone." 



This is a very favourable report, so far as it goes, and 

 taken in connection with the previous reports Mr. Mason 

 has received from other places, it shows a general agreement 

 that Fiji is likely to be a fine tea-growing country. From 

 the Orient Tea Company, Melbourne, Mr. Mason has re- 

 cently received the followiug report on a sample of tea sent 

 to that city : — " Leaf — poor, and not properly sorted out. 

 Fermentation aud manipulation rather Irregular. Liquor — 

 very good ; infused leaf bright and ecjual to finest China 

 congous ; thoroughly pure aud without a single bad or de- 

 cayed leaf. Liquor strong, pungent, and well flavoured, 

 being similar to mauy Indian growths. The liquor itself 

 being so gooil, we do not see why Fijian tea should not, with 

 improvement in manufacture, rauk with the best-grown teas 

 in the world. 



In 1882 Mr. Mason sent a sample of the two kinds "to 

 Melbourne for chemical analysis bj Mr. Frederic Dunn, 

 analyst. Industrial and Technological Museum Laboratory, 

 who reports as follows, l^pon analysis they gave : — 



Pekoe Souchong. Pekoe. 



Percentage of moisture ... S'85 ... 91)0 



Percentage of mineral ash ... 440 ... 4'36 



Percentage of extract (total)... 48-28 ... 4.5'80 



Percentage of soluble salts ... 3-00 ... 298 



Percentage of theine ... l-tiO ... 178 



The percentage of mineral ash and soluble salts found in 



these teas closely resemble the amount obtained from the 



Ceylon Exhibition teas. Taking into consideration that the 



above samples are the result of an experimental trial, the 



results are highly satisfactory, and the analysis speaks well 



for Fijian teas. 



Tea and sugar will in the near future form important 

 articles of export from Fiji. — Si/dneij Mail, \_If the labour 

 difficulty can be solved. — Ed.] 



GREIG'S TEA-CUTTING MACHINE. 



As everything connected with tea is interesting at 

 present, we reprint Messrs. Greig & Co. 's method to 

 be adopted in working the Greig patent green leaf 

 tea-cutting machine. 



In order to get the best possible results from the use 

 of the machine, adopt a system of sifting or riddling. 

 The riddles of various size meshes are easily made entirely 

 of Bamboo, by a cooly. They should be about i feet 

 in diameter, and hung from oue edge by a string from 

 roof, so that one man can, by letting one edge di'op on 

 floor, kick in the leaf to be riddled, and when separal;ed 

 can tilt aud throw over to one side the large leaf from 

 its upper sm'face, m that manner the work is very quickly 

 and well done. There are three or four uses for the 

 machine, tirst, — for outtiug the large soft succulent leaf 

 that will roll np, which occurs in Assam in the first of 

 the season ; they are plucked separate from the upper 

 leafs, but put into same basket, these are afterwards riddled 

 out by a mesh about 1-inch " square " after withering, 

 these are cut by machine, rolled and fired separately, 

 and mixed with Souchong. 



Second Method— Tc save red lenf-pickinr/, the whole of 

 the plucked leaf is rolled only half or three quarters 

 from being finished, when it will be seen the older leaf 

 remains nearly flat, this three quarter rolled leaf is sifted 

 by a mesh of about ^-inch square letting dowu the finer 

 rolled leaf, aud the flat old leaf thrown to one side to be 

 cut by machine, then to be rolled or crushed into broken 

 black. These leaves being cut, the second rolling extracts 



