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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July 2, 1883. 



distinguish the qualities' of the teas, or marking the 

 iliiri'i-ent kinds according to the different system of pre- 

 paring tliem for the markets. It is an easy task to 

 prepare tea for market, inasmuch as in Yokohama, women 

 and chiUh-en are employed for the propose, and they are 

 quite sufficient. Moreover, tea is quite free from any 

 deterioration or change in color or quality for many 

 months, if it be prepared a few days after picking, and 

 be packed in boxes lined with paper. If it were so pre- 

 pared, we should be enabled to exclude inferior quahties, 

 and the taint on the leaf so often e.\-perienced by foreigners, 

 and at the same time give buyers the satisfaction of 

 drinking a good cup of tea. It is not good policy to 

 prepare it at the open ports, for we can have it for 

 half the cost that the foreigners have to pay, if we 

 prepare it in the districts in which it grows, and where 

 firewood, coals, &c., are cheaper, and wages, lower in com- 

 parison than those paid in Yokohama. The fact that the 

 foreigners e.xpend much money on their tea firing estab- 

 lishments, which number more than 50 in Yokohama and 

 Kobe, clearly shows that they must make considerable 

 profit. Oui- native growers expect to get a good profit 

 out of a Uttle laboiu-. In India and China the producers 

 go to considerable trouble in superintending the prepar- 

 ation of their tea, and in the former country the system 

 of packing is carefully carried out. Should our growers 

 take the trouble to see their tea properly prepared and 

 packed, and have a distinguishing brand for good and 

 bad qualities, so that the purchaser could know which 

 quahty he was bujdng. then it would be to the advantage of 

 the producers, because it his tea was of a better quahty 

 than that of other merchants, he woiUd, of course, sell 

 more of it, and thus would endeavour to keep the quality 

 always good. 



Therefore, if the foreigners could buy the tea fr.im our 

 producers at a fair price and also good, there would be 

 no occasion for them to keep up their tea-firing estab- 

 lishments. Should this come to pass, not only would it 

 drive away bad tea from our market, but the foreigners 

 would have ho cause for complaint regarding the quaUty 

 of their purchases, and the consumers of the tea woidd 

 be perfectly satisfied. We think, therefore, that in order to 

 do away mth inferior teas it is necessary for the producers 

 to prepare and pack the tea themselves, and Lave each 

 box stamp with their trade-mark. Yet, of course, these 

 improvements m the tea trade we have just spoken about, 

 would be discountenanced by foreigners at first, who, not 

 understanding them, would endeavour to thwart om- objects. 

 Such objections, however, are not to be feared, as long 

 as we are honest enough to deliver thera as good or 

 better tea than heretofore. By these means also, the present 

 foreign merchants would gain the advantage of being 

 able to ship the article immediately after pm-chasing, and 

 would find it to so much to their interest, that they would 

 begin to wonder why they had never found out this system 

 before. The success of such a briUiant undertaking as 

 the foregoing, of course, depends entirely upon the pro- 

 ducers them.sulves. In India and China we hear there 

 is no such sy.stem of delivering tea as is adopted in our 

 coimtry. Even the Chinese who are such a mean, cunning 

 people, have sufficient confidence in one another. I dare 

 not ask the tea producers of this land, the land of the 

 "Rising Sun," why they so mistrust each other? — Juimu 

 Hen-aUI. [Our readers wiU be interested in seemg the views 

 of a patriotic ".Jap" on the tea enterprise of his country. 

 ]5ut if, as we imagine, tea is grown in J.apan as it is in 

 China, in small patches by the peasantry, we do not see 

 how they can afford each to prepare .and pack. — 'Ed.T.A.'] 



INOUBATOKS. 



The Chinese and Egyptians have, for thou.sands of 

 years, had the secret of hatching eggs without the inter- 

 vention of the hen. Indeed, it would seem almost a 

 matter of course that the inhabitants of tropical countries 

 should early have learned this art, from watching the 

 method by 'which the eggs of turtles, alligators, etc., are 

 incubated, being simply buried in the warm sand of the 

 river's b.-ink. As early as 1750 the French scientist, De 

 lieaunim-, perfected a process of artificial incubation, which, 

 tlioii^'h successful, was hot practicable for ordinary purposes. 

 During the past twenty years, however, the attention of poid- 



terers has been freshly dravru to this question, and now 

 the number of ajipliances for artificial incubation bids fair 

 to equal the patent bee-hives. 



" The essentials of a successful incubator are thi*ee : an 

 equable heat of about 105 degrees ; sufficient moisture in 

 the atmosphere to prevent an undue evaporation from 

 the egg; and ventilation." * « # ♦ 



"It has been found that the mercury may rise to 110 

 degrees without injm-y to the eggs, prorided it does not 

 remain at that point more than a very few minutes, or 

 it may sink as low as 50 degrees, for a correspondingly 

 short time; but should it remain below 100, or abovi- 106 

 for many hours, all the labor expended upon the lot of 

 eggs which the incubator may then contain will have 

 been thrown away, while, as will be seen, it reqiiii-es a 

 very delicate instrument to quickly .appreciate the differ- 

 ence between these degrees of heat. * *. * * 

 " The jiractical difficulty about these machines is the 

 extreme deUcacy of their construction, rendering them 

 liable to get out of order in inexperienced hands, and 

 thus to cause a great loss of eggs. Of course the manu- 

 facturers of each machine claim that theirs is absolutely 

 perfect, and that these objections pertain to all the others ; 

 but the testimony of disinterested parties who have given 

 a large number of the best machines a thorough trial, is 

 that not one of them is always reliable, and that all are 

 siu-e to give trouble to beginners in then- management, 

 although one who has had experience in handling 

 them may hatch a large proportion of eggs than is usu- 

 ally done by the average hen. ****** it- 

 He then gives a description of what may be termed a 

 home-maih incubator, except the galvanized hou tank 

 which must be procured from a tinner, or worker in 

 galvanized non ; and this is supposed to do as good work 

 as the more costly and patented machines. As we have 

 not the illustrations given in the book, we have made 

 .some verbal changes wliich refer to them. He says : — 

 " Have a pine case made somewhat li^e a common chest, 

 say three feet square. About a foot from the floor of this 

 case, place brackets, and on a level with these screw a 

 strong cleat across the back of the case inside. These 

 are to supjiort the tank. The tank should be made of 

 galvanized u'on, three inches deep and otherwise propor- 

 tioned to fit exactly within the case "and rest upon the 

 brackets and cleat. The tanlt should have a top or cover 

 soldered on when it is made. At the top of this tank in 

 the centre .should be a hole an inch in dianietei- with a 

 rim two inches high, and at the bottom, towards one end, a 

 faucet for drawing off the water. When the taidi is set 

 in the case, fill up all the chinks and cracks between the 

 edges of the tank and the case with iilaster of Paris 

 to keep all fumes of the lamp from the eggs. Fill the 

 tank at least two inches deep with boiling water. To 

 find when the right depth is acquired, gauge the water 

 with a small stick. Over the top of the tank spread fine 

 gravel a qnai'tcr of an inch thigk ; over this lay a coarse 

 cotton cloth. Place the eggs on the cloth, and set a 

 kerosene safety-lamp under the centre of the tank. The 

 door of the lamp-closet must have four holes for ventil- 

 ation, otherwise the lamp wiU not biu'n. The lamp-closet 

 is the space within the incubator under the tank. Turn 

 the eggs carefully every morning and evening, and after 

 tm'iiing sprinkle them with quite warm water. Two ther- 

 mometers should be kept in the incubator, one half-way 

 between the centre and each end ; the average heat should 

 be one hundred and five degrees. If the eggs do not 

 warm up well, lay a piece of coarse carpet over them. 

 If they are too warm, take out the lamp and open the 

 cover for a few minutes, but do not let the eggs get chilled. 

 If they should hajipeu to get down to ninety-eight or up 

 to one hundred and eight degrees, you need not think 

 the eggs are spoiled. They will stand such a variation 

 once in a while ; but. of course, a uniform temperature 

 of one himdred and fiv*e degrees will secure more chickens, 

 and they will be stronger and more lively. lu. just such 

 an incubator as this one I ha\'e described, I hatched over 

 two hundred chickens two years ago.' 



" Several forms of artificial niothej-s, however, have been 

 invented — and most of them, of course, patented — of which 

 the inventors claim that they far suiirass the natur.al 

 mothers, in that they do not drag their chicks tlu'ough 

 the dew, nor trample them to death, nor cover them 



