356 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[November r, 1883. 



TEA AND LIBERIAN COFFEE IN RAKWANA 

 AND MOROAVAKA DISTRICTS, OEYLON. 

 On Stubton estate, there is a plot of Liberian coffee, of, 

 I think, 5 or 6 years of age, which the proprietor assured 

 me continued to bear largely, though, unfortimately, there 

 is not the same demand now for seed that there was two 

 years ago, when the ^vi'iter even was a customer. After 

 breakfasting at Stubton, we went on to Barra, which will 

 soon be better known as a tea estate. The manager 

 very kindly permitted us to see his tea-rolling machinery 

 and tea-house. The old coffee-pulper stands at one end of 

 the pulping-house, and a continuation of the same driving 

 machinery gives the motive power to one of Jackson's tea- 

 rollers, which occupies the further end of the establishment. 

 This machine consists, roughly speaking, of a table, over 

 which a large hand is made to revolve mth a double eon- 

 centi'ic motion, horizontally. The leaf, when ready for roll- 

 ing, is put in at the top, and is subject to a certain pressure 

 that continues so long as the machine is at work, and can 

 be accelerated if necessary. The hands— if I may apply the 

 phrase — are fluted raihaUy, so that the tea-leaves cannot 

 shp about in the course of their ecoentric rotation. From 

 what has been said, it may be easily understood that the 

 manner by which the tea is rolled in the roller is very 

 much the same as by hand, except in the vast difference as 

 regards speed and quantity. I was also shown, hi addition 

 to tea, some cocoa ; and finer pods I shoxJd think could not 

 be procured. One pod in particvdar I should think was 

 fully ten inches in length, so that Rakwana may yet be 

 able to add this product to the fast advancing tea. At 

 Barra store I saw being loaded into carts quantities of plum- 

 bago, which, I understand, is abundant in the district, aiul 

 of very superior (juality. From Springwood estate we started 

 next morning for INIorawak Korale, passing through the Rak- 

 wana estates as far as A^egeria, from whence we took the 

 road through the forest into old Abbey Rock estate on 

 the other side. EUengowan estate, or that part of it through 

 which we passed, has a sijlenihd crop, better than anything 

 than I have seen this year outside Uva. Poor old Vegeria 

 looks very sad, and the elephants even have seemingly taken 

 it over, for we found their marks up to within a short 

 distance of the bungalow. Ou the Jlorowak Koraleside these 

 huge beasts have been walking about like cattle, feeding 

 on the Mam:itius grass that swarms about the old aban- 

 doned properties. After partaking of .some refreshments 

 that we had brought with us. we reacbsd KooroolagaUa 

 estate, and halted there for the night. This property, once 

 old coffee, is now fast becoming a tea estate, and, thanks to 

 the kindness of the superintendent — Jlr. Spearman — we had 

 a glimpse at his tea-store. Nothing can be more different 

 from a coffee-store than a tea-house. The first is all drafts 

 of air ; the second all heat, charcoal sifting, weighing, .sort- 

 ing, rolling, firing, tastuig, packing, and what not besides. 

 Here, the mind and the body — the latter, particularly in- 

 cluding the jiores of the skin— are ever at work, and judg- 

 ment is exercised upon every operation. Can this be said 

 of coffee ? There was a time when it might have been ven- 

 tured in reply to my question, but now-a-days the store 

 grounds are covered with cinchona bark, and the white 

 parchment peers from a remote corner, mth a brownish 

 blush upon it, as if ashamed of its. own insignificance ! 

 From KooroolagaUa we were conducted as far as Oampden 

 Hill estate, where we were shown some superb machinery. 

 A water-wheel, 20 feet in diameter, that once pulped most 

 flourishing coffee, now drives Kimmond's wonderful roUer 

 and drier. The first of these contrivances differs from 

 Jackson's machine described above, chiefly in its being vert- 

 ical instead of horizontal in its action. Two large solid 

 wheels are brought together by means of a screw at the 

 end of the shaft of one of the wheels. Into the space 

 between them, which is also closed romid by a sliding casing 

 the tea leaves are thrown in, and the whole closed up by 

 a door above. The wheels are then set in motion, both 

 revolving in the same tlirection, but once a little faster than 

 the other, so as to impart the requisite twist to the leaf. 

 After a few minutes, during which time the machine intUc- 

 ates its speed, it is brought to a stand-still, a lever is 

 moved, and out fall 200 lb. of beautifully-rolled tea. As 

 well as I can remember, this machine did 2001b. in 10 

 minutes — ^a fact sufficient to show the sa™g of labor by its 

 use. Close to the roller, just described, stands the drier. 

 This consists of a series of enclosed trays, through which 



hot air, from the furnace below, is driven backwards and 

 forwards till it reaches the chimney at the top. Two fan- 

 ners, each making 500 revolutions to the minute, force the 

 air through, which, according to the thermometer attached, 

 can be raised to 650 "^ of temperature, and, even at that 

 great heat, Mr. Booth assured me the tea could not be 

 burned. "With such perfect machinery, and all in such per- 

 fect order as Jlr. Booth has it, it is only a queston of time, 

 for the cost of manufacture against value, to decide the 

 advantages of machine work over hand-manipulation; and 

 in fact, this is not far to seek, when I say that, comjiaratively 

 speaking, only a few people were at work in the store, turn- 

 ing out a large quantity of stuff, and passing in through 

 its various manipulations. I cannot close this subject with- 

 out recording my thanks to Mr. Booth for the kindness 

 with which he showed me everything, and the pains he 

 took to explain details that might pass the notice of a 

 novice in tea. The success of tea appears now to depend 

 on its manufacture, and, if this difficulty can once be master- 

 ed, owners may, I think, safely rely on a good return, 

 proWded they do not get carried away by inflation and 

 speculation. — "Local Times." 



Poultry. — Give your fowls a reasonable share of attention; 

 furnish suitable accommodations; get and keep the right 

 breed ; save only the earliest hatched pullets for Laying ; 

 furnish as great a variety of food as pos.sible ; feed as much 

 as they will eat; give green and animal food of some kin*! in 

 winter; keep the hens quiet and comfortable ; don't allow 

 them to be worried or frightened; keep clean and fresh 

 water at hand always. — Ihiral Californian. 



Mr. T,iv ton's (Mr. Jlclntosh's gardener) method of mak- 

 ing sulphur water for destroying mildew on Vines 

 and other plants may be usefully described in his o\vu 

 words: — "'I pxit as much sulphur as will lie upon a .shilling 

 into the middle of my left baud, atld a few drops of rain 

 water, and mix very smooth with the finger of the right 

 hand, than wash my hands in foxur gallons of tepid rain 

 water. As soon as the sun is off the house, the Vines, &c., 

 are syringed with this. I have tried a teaspoonful to four 

 gallons of rain water after the Grapes were stoned, but 

 foimd it too strong to continue daily." Milddew is rather 

 prevalent in the house in question, and the above is found 

 the safest and best way of deaUng with it. — Journal of Hor- 

 tictdturae. 



EuCAtYPTrs TN Malaga. — The British ConsiU at Malaga 

 says the cultivation of the Eucalyptus has of late attracted 

 considerable attention in that pro\"ince, which has been 

 deprived of all but fruit trees in order to supply the con- 

 stant demand for charcoal, caused by the extensive use of 

 this fuel for cooking purposes. Large numbers of Eucalyp- 

 tus in a healthy and flourishing state may now be seen 

 along the line of railway from 3Ialaga to Bobadilla and in 

 other places, and they are reported to have been effective 

 to some extent in destroying fevers in the low districts, 

 which were formerly uninhabitable. These trees are also 

 successf idly used to form avenues and afford protection from 

 the sun on the roads near the city. — Gardeners' Chronicle 



ScLPHUB IN" BiTnjiJiX. -From the abstract of the meeting 

 of the Paris Academy of Science in your last number (vol. 

 xxviii. p. 408), M. B. Delachanal appears to consider that the 

 presence of sulphiu- is peculiar to the bitumen of the Dead Sea, 

 and from this he deduces a theory as to its inorganic origin. 

 In some exijeriments which I had occasion to make this 

 summer on the bitumen of the Great Pitch Lake of Trinidad, 

 I found that this substance contained a very considerable 

 quantity of sulphur. Several per cents of the volume of 

 the gas obtained by its destructive distillation consisted of 

 hydrogen sulphide. The orgin of this asphalt is generally 

 considered to be organic, but I am not aware whether 

 the entire absence of calcium salts from its ash, a fact 

 which was proved nearly a century ago, and has suice been 

 confirmed, has been explained on this theory. — Hugh Ro- 

 BKRT SIiLL, Edinburgh, August 27- — Xuture. 



MOTHER SWAN'S WORM SYRUP. 



Infallible, tasteless, harmless, cathartic; for feverishnc^w, 

 restlessness, worms, constipation, Is. B. S. Madon & Co., 

 Bombay, General Agents. 



