Jam uary i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



475 



not having water-power, and al»o small acreages." 

 Still nuother : — 



" Judging from appearance the roUing is simply perfect. 

 I showed a neighbour the tea, who said if the price 

 was K300 to 11^50 and tlie results such as the samples 

 showd, he would order one at once. I have no doubt that 

 many with a small acreage of tea would only be too glad 

 to get hold of a machine with such evident merits at 

 the price." 



Aad finally : — 



" The manufacture of the sample of tea you sent me ap- 

 pear all that could he desired. I think you could not do 

 better than have your machine patented at once : it 

 just the sort of tiling wanted in these hard times— a good 

 article for Ultle moiwy. 



Mr. Kerr gives the following general description of 

 his iuveution : — 



My inveution consists of one central sliaft or arm held 

 at one end by means of a lever or working in a slot 

 forth and back ; to the other end of this shaft or arm is 

 attached a bos working on hinges that can be thrown 

 back, opening up ami from which the rolled tea when com- 

 pleted may be taken ; the box end of shaft or arm making 

 an ovaV circular motion, this motion being obtained by 

 means of a crank o.hv>:c shaft, and about l-3rd from box 

 end thereof revolving in a circular movement, this motion 

 being obtained from bevel or other wheels set on a shaft 

 or arm at right angles with crank shaft. 



The box containing the leaf is supported by means of 

 two iron rods fitted with screws and nuts at both ends in 

 an iK'Tight por'*'on and the whole held up by a gailows- 

 li.li, .lumu. The box coutaiuing the leaf has attached to 

 it all round brushes which keep any leaf that may 

 come from under box when in the act of rolling swept 

 back under box, each stroke or levolutiou which it makes. 

 These brushes are set in motion by nutans of variously ar- 

 rangt^d levers attached to them and to the stationary parts 

 of the machine and are thereby self acting. The box con- 

 taining leaf is supported about 3-16ths of an inch from a 

 table or platform h.aving in its centre a depressioii or 

 hole at the bottom side of which is a door with four pieces 

 of wood attached in the form of a cross thus + which 

 grips hold of the tea, which with the motion given to 

 the box of an oval circle as above describeil, causes a fric- 

 tion to be given to the leaf and making it to roll into 

 the required form, the table over which the box moves 

 is stationaiy. The main shaft to which the box is attached 

 in order to give a double .iction to the machine may be 

 prolonged to an equal distance beyond the retaining lever 

 or slot at the reverse end of box, and to which another 

 box may be attached suspended, having brushes attached 

 and working over auother pUtform or table as above de- 

 scribed thus giving a double action to the machine and 

 permitting of double the work done, the same set of bevel 

 wheels, shafting, driving handles or other motive power 

 sufficing for both boxes. 



The above arrangements may be attached to existing 



coffee machinery when there is a circular sieve used and 



driven by a revolving crank by moans of removing sieve 



and substituting the shaft, bo.xes, &c., as above described. 



The boxes are fed by means of removing half the cover 



. and inserting a moveable hopper through which the leaf 



enters the box, after which the half co\'er is replaced and 



fastened down. The box cover is weighted suCiciently to 



put pressing on the tea to keep it in position at bottom 



of box and causing it to roll — should the pressure appear 



to be too great, at any time a lever at top of box is ar 



ranged to attach to handle through .support at top of box 



fixed to lid or top of bnx to which is attached a spring 



riance showing when the screw i.s put on, how much 



ight is taken off the pressure caused by top of box 



weight. This machine may be dri- ■ ' , ■ ■■.al, steam or 



1 water power, the force required :(11 that it 



- places the working and use of thi ;ii the poss- 



'■sionofail classi's of proi'rietors. 



..t the elo.ju il a technical description referrinf^ to 

 diagrams, the inventor of this nfiw, simple and cheap 

 [ roUe;-, slates : — 



I I, claim for mj' invention that the machine is a cheaj), 



durable and cheaply-worked article, of simple and easy 



' " propulsion, that the rolled tea is easily removed from it. 



and that the self-acting brushes have not hitherto been 

 adopted or used by any other machine, the main shaft 

 worked by a single crank has also not before been used" 

 Our feeling from what we have seen, and from nhat 

 practical tea planteis state, is that Mr. Ken's invention 

 will maiiit.aiu in action the merits he claims tor ic, 

 and be a decided boon to the rising tea interest of the 

 island. 



THE GROWTH OF SUGAR PLANTING IN 

 NORTH EASTERN AU.STRAI/IA. 

 Grafton is now one of the best laid out towns 

 in Australia. The streets are at right angles, and 

 all of them two chains wide. On each side there 

 is a row of trees, mostly evergreen. The buildings are 

 good, and the banks and public offices -have been built 

 at great expense. There are several hotels, a post and 

 telegraph office, fine court-house, and three banks. 

 TheSydney steamers load and discharge at the town 

 wharf, where there is a steam ferry boat connecting 

 North and South Grafton. But what surprised mo 

 most was the immense tracts of sugar cane on "both 

 banks of the rjver — miles upon miles of cane, and 

 numerous mills in full operation. I was always under 

 the impression that sugar cultivation could be carried 

 on" only in a tropical climate, but here sugar cane 

 is to be seen in every stage, from the youug cane 

 to that tit for cutting — stenm droghers and punts carry- 

 ing the c ine to the mills, which were in full operation. 

 The field, in one or two places, were slightly touched 

 by frost, but not to any injarions txtent. The cult- 

 ivation of maize, once the chief product of these 

 rivers, is fa-it giving w'ay to sugar — ilie fanner has 

 only to grow il^. The proiji-ietors of the mills — chief 

 amongst which is the .Sugar Company of Sydney — 

 buy the caue in t\w fields, se' d their own men to 

 cut it, and their punts to bring it to the mill, the 

 faimers receiving a stated price per tor. It is calcul- 

 ated that one acre of cane will yield 2 tons of sugar— 

 a .'-pleudid return in so low a latitude. I have been 

 int'Tuied that the return per acre in the Mackay 

 District is 2i tons, and in ilie Buidekin District, a 

 short distance south of Townsville, 3 tons. There is 

 not an acre of ground open for selection ou the 

 banks of the Clarence or Richmond rivers, and in the 

 northern parts of Queensland there is very little avail- 

 able sugar country. It is found to be a very lucra- 

 ive investment, and capitalists from Victoria and 

 New South Wales have si cured all the best of the land 

 south of the Kndeavour River. On the Clarence and 

 Richmond rivers good sugar land was realizing 30i. per 

 acre, and labourers who cut by contract can make 

 their i^s. and 9s. per di\y T'le sugar industry is be- 

 coming one of vast importame, and xAie product of 

 that material will be one of the chief exports of 

 Northern Australia. — J. C. White, Sydney, Sept. 10, 

 1883. 



EUEA FIBEK :— TWO IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES. 



The following is from the Flanters' Gazette ol Nov. 16th: — 

 Daring the interval that has elapsed since our last issue 

 certain circumstances have occurred, of such m.ignitude and 

 importance in their bearing upon the utilization of Rhea 

 fibre, that they may without exaggeration be said to take 

 rank as discoveries. One of these has reference to the pro- 

 duction ot the plant, and the other to the extraction of its 

 fibre, and we had better deal with them in their natuual 

 order, though it is obvious that the former would be of 

 comparatively little cousequence without the latter. 



By the l.i,st mail from India the managing director of the 

 Tambracherry Company in London received from the super- 

 intendent of one of the company's estates in the Wynaad a 

 sample ot long but rather coarse looking fibre, obtained by 

 him irom plants which he said v.vje growing wild in the vir- 

 ' gin forest forming part of the property under his charge. Ha 



