414 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[December i, 1883 



The ouly way I seei of ardving at the truth is to 

 take the cost of a full day's work of the maohmery, 

 and oonipara it with the cost of maUing an equal 

 amount of tea by hand. I will take 400 lb. tea, aa 

 this ei'ablea me to use some of Mr. Armstrong's figures. 

 An experience of some live ycirs' tea-making by hand 

 eii.ablesme lo guarantee my figures for that mode of 

 iiiimufaclurf, but, in the case of machinery, I court 

 infnrm.itii n and correction. I have, of course, only 

 taken into account those operations in which machinery 

 can be imployed. It is of no use to confuse the 

 matter with tea-lead, packing, &c., which have nothing 

 to do with the question. 



Machinc/y, 

 1 engine-iltiver per 



day Bl 



4 coohes at 36c. 1-44 



Sorting machine 1 cooly '36 

 Firing 3 coolies I'OS 



Eefiriug ditto I'OS 



Firewood for engine 



3 cubic yards at 45c. ? 1'35 



R6-31 



Hand lahor. 

 KoUing, withering and 



firing 1 cooly to 



everj 30 lb leaf 53 



men at 36c RIO'CS 



Charcoal firing and re- 



flrmg say 5J cwt. at 



S5c. per cwt. 4"46 



Sorting 100 lb. ^ man 



4 coolies Va 



E24-98 



' Total cost of manufact- 

 uring 1,600 lb leaf or 

 4001b. tea by hand. 

 Profit on machine work 18-67 or about 4-67 f lb on 



400 lb. tea. 



R24-98 

 In the figures for hand manufacture, I have given 

 liberal allowance of labor. A cooly rolls 40 lb. leaf, the 

 extra men are for firing, witbeiing, &o. As explained, 

 I have not used machinery myself and have had to 

 collet figures from various souicos. Perhaps my 

 goo 1 friend, Mr. Armstrong, will correct them. It is to 

 be remembered that the more tea you make by 

 machinery the cheaper the work becomes. This is 

 scarcely the case with hand manufacture. You may 

 save a man or two in firing or withering, perhaps, 

 but you will always lequii-e a rolling cooly to every 

 40 lb! leaf, if you want your work properly done.— 

 Yours truly, ARAM'S PEAK. 



[This letter was written before Mr. Armstrong's 

 explanation was published. It is clear that all who have 

 used machinery extensively are satisfied of two things : 

 first, the work is better done, and, second, at considerably 

 less cost. — Ed.] 



23rd October 1883. 



Dear Sir,— Though a great deal of light has been 

 shed of late on the subject of tea, it does not strike 

 me that it has been made clear what the exact saving 

 should be, by the use of rolling and drying machinery. 



Mr. Armstrong puts it, dow-n at 63 cents per lb., 

 but his jungle lies close to the tea fnctory, and he says 

 he makes his coolies frequently carry a load of fire- 

 wood -when returning from work. This is probably the 

 reason why he is able to put down his machine 

 rolling at 0-41 cents 



and his firing at 0'25 ,, 



Total... RO-66 

 while Mr. Hay, in his latest paper, quotes 1 J cent for 

 the same things, and adds " firewood being close." But 

 firewood is close on very few estates, and the cost of 

 cutting and transporting it to the factory, should al- 

 ways be taken into account. 



Mr. Owen, in his paper read at Maskeliya, gave 

 the saving at 7 ctnts iier lb, and in a later com- 

 Biunicatiou he modified it to 6J cents. In saying 

 "sorting &o. costs 4 cents" he must include packing 

 boxes, lo.al, etc., which ought to be left out. Refir- 

 ing is somi-times done by hand, even when there is 

 drying machinery. 



What Mr, Hay gives is not his own experience, but 



information given him. We must accept it, however, ag 

 substantially agreeing with his own lengthened experi. 

 ence of hand and machine work, at Windsor Forest. 

 He puts the saving down at 5^ cents. 



It now remains that one of the superintendents 

 trained by the late Mr. Cameron should come for- 

 ward, and give the result of his experience in regard 

 to the saving made by machinery. It is well-known 

 that on the estates he visited not only were fine 

 teas turned out but the cost of m.anufacture was 

 exceedingly low. The tea was then made by hand, 

 but, on several of them machinery is now in us 

 and it would be interesting to know what the saving 

 is found to be there. 



My calculation of the saving by the use "f rolling 

 and drying machinery I give below, but, not having 

 used machinery myself, I take Mr. Hay's figures 

 for it : — : 

 One coolie rolls 40 lb. of leaf=10 lb. of tea, 



and taking the average checkroU rate at 



35 cents, rolling cost ... .. 3^0. per lb. 



One coolie tires 80 lb. of leaf— 2011). of tea, 



which at same rate costs ... ... 1| ,, 



Charcoal costs 1 ,, 



Total 6ic. 1^ lb. 

 Mr. Hay gives as cost of machine- work IJ ,, 



which would show a saving of 4jo. 1? lb. 



But when it is taken into account that charcoal on 

 some estates costs less than 1 crnt per lb. of tea, 

 and hand-rolling and firing less than the figures giveu 

 above, owing to the checkroU rate often being less 

 than 35 cents, it will be seen that hand-rolling and 

 firing, with cost of charcoal included, may sometimes 

 amount to less than 6J cents ; while, on the other 

 hand, if firewood has to be transported some distance 

 (often by coolies) machine-work must cost more 

 than li cent. In the above lemarks " sorting" (which, 

 by hand, usually costs 1 cent per lb.) is omitted, as there 

 are very few sorting-machines yet erected in Cevlon. 



PROPRIETOR. 



A DEFENCE OF SELF-SOWN SEEDLINGS, &o. 

 Dear Sir,— AVill you ask "L. B. Y. L." why he 

 neglected to do, as he recommends others to do ? 



Does he think that folks who are aware of the 

 following lads can coincide with what he puts for- 

 ward as the cause of our trouble? 



1. That the coffee first to go out in the Mas- 

 keliya district, and I may say the worst in it, was 

 planted fiom nurseries of selected seed from a 

 Kamboda estate, llun as a rule topping the market 

 at home with tlie highest piicce. 



2. That the finest sheet of coffee in the same 

 district (I nmy say none better in Ceylon now to 

 look at) was mostly planted with self-sown seedlings 

 from Glencairn estate, and that, too, after another 

 man bad picked several hundred thousands to put 

 into nurseries, so small were they. 



.3. "L. B. Y. L." will admit all village stumps are 

 self-sown, I presume. 



4. Look at the magnificent fields of coffee in 

 Haputale, where fully ouo-half of the old coffee 

 was all village stumps from every village in Uva, 

 and the same holds good too of Udapussellawa and 

 Maturata, and it was from the villages of the two 

 latter districis ihe greatest complaints used to be made 

 of the stumps haviig bl.ack hearts. 



I reineiiiber Mr. T. once saying lie "would rather have a 

 clearing of hia in Haputale remaiu unplauted a year than 

 use Jliitur.afet village stumps," and I believe it did so. 



These are /arte that speak for themselves. 



A self-sown seedling is just as good as any nurs 

 cry plant, provided it gets the same treatment, is take 



