538 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February i, 1884. 



pucka tea, and the rollers of foUing from 6h to 10- mauuds 

 of leaf, per lioiu". 



I uufortuuately did not see any of the machines invented 

 by Messrs. John Greig & Co. of Ediuburih, but close by 

 Ki'jmond's exhibits I noticed a "patent tfea sorting and 

 winnowing machine " by C. W. Ausell, W'oodcot, Kurssong. 

 This WIS much on the same plan as Jackson's, except that 

 it had t he audition of a revolving fan at one end to blow 

 out the dust and red leaf after the first sieve had taken out 

 thepikue and broken pekoe — a great improvement, I tbink. 

 The dimensions of this machine are about 20 feet by 5 feet; 

 the extra length of 3 feet over Jackson's sifter is accounted 

 for by the box containing the winnowing fan. There were 

 one o'" two tea cutters, but they are .'^o little used now- 

 a-days and are withal so like grown-up coffee-mills that 

 there is no need to describe them. I saw a tea roller at 

 Messrs. Burnand ^ Co.'s work.s, one of which had been or- 

 dered for Ceylon, but as the inventor had withdrawn it from 

 the Exhibition in order to add something that would make 

 it (as he hoped) perfect, it could not be fully described to 

 me. The action of this machine was sideways, the leaf 

 being picked up by cogs as it were, and falling down to 

 the bottom of the box by its own weight. Unfortunately 

 none of the tea machinery was in action, so any description 

 must be a good deal from appearance. 



Messrs. W.W. and E. Johnson exhibited very fine .speci- 

 mens of tea-lead plaiu and stamped, thin aud thick. Messrs. 

 "W. Avery & Co.. displayed with great taste weighing ma- 

 chines of all sorts and .sizes, just the things for an ounce 

 packet or a lOU lb. chest. The celebrated firm of Nettleford 

 had a capital collection of nails, screws, mamoties, kodalis, 

 etc., and willingly gave anyone in' erested a sample packet 

 of the smaller articles ou application. Among the objects 

 of special interest to tea planters, I must also mention the 

 *' AVilltsdeu Paper Stand," adjoining what is to Ije the Cey- 

 lon eoiurt. There every article from a house to a water 

 trough is shown made wholly of this wonderful jjaper, 

 which is really a composition of rope and copper and is said 

 to be absolutely waterproof. It is certainly light, and if 

 cheap would be invaluable for ruuning up stores, tool- 

 rooms, etc., on estates where timber is scarce. Another 

 object of use aud beauty was the Metall-Gewebe (of Gott- 

 lieb Heerbrandt), for which Messrs. Balmer, Lawrio & Co. 

 are the agents in Calcutta. This, as its name implies, is 

 wire mesh of every description, and the specimens were re- 

 ally things of beauty as well as usefulness. 



The Tea .Syndicate, I hear, had a separate little building 

 in the ground. It was not erected when I left for Darjil- 

 ing, and when I returned having only one day at my dis- 

 as I unfortunately missed seeing it. I am told that the 

 specimens of tea shown by them were very fine, and were 

 made additionally attractive by being arranged in very neatly 

 got-up boxes and packages. In the exhibition itself I 

 tbund, scattered through the various courts, samples of teas 

 from tho Nilgiris, Kaugra Valley, Darjiling, Java, etc. 



Mr. "W. L. Kirby of Brookwood estate, Nilgiris, had a 

 good assortment of both tea aud cinchoua ; of the latter he 

 had specimens of Ledger seed as well as of Ledger bark; of 

 the former he was not content to exhibit merely Pekoe, 

 Souchong, and so on, but he gave us samples of Mandarin ' 

 aud Gunpowder tea. Brenton k. Go. cxbibited Dji-jiling I 

 teas in tins covered with extremely pretty paper. There is j 

 no doubt that outward appearance tells a good deal with the 

 work n every branch of industry aud knowledge. | 



H. J. Jlyers & Co., Calcutta, had many good aud one or j 

 two awf id samples. The Gold Tip Fiowerv Orange Pekoe, ! 

 the Fl. O. P. and the Fl. P. were very handsome, but the As- [ 

 sam Pekoe wa.^~ enormous, aud the " Unassorted' looked very i 

 repelling. 



The Holta Tea Co. (Kangra Valley) were very ambitious 

 in their display. Tho following is a list of sorts and prices 

 affixed : — 



Assam Indigenous Pekoe, nominal value K 5 per lb. 



Namuua Souchong 



Do. Pek. Souch. 

 Assam lud. Fl. I'. 

 Namuna Fl. P. 

 O. P. (Goh'euPek.e.ids) 

 Pek. Souoh. 

 Souch n' 

 Fl,Pefc 



K 1-4 

 E 3-8 

 117 

 R 

 K15 

 K 16 

 R I 

 B9 



Brok. Fl. Pek. „ E 8 _ 



I'ek. „ E 5 



Brok. Pek. (O. Pek.) ,, E10toR12., 



In the Malayan court a capital assortment of teas and 

 cojfees was to be seen. There was tea from Dramaga, 

 Nangoeng, Sinagar, &c., in Java; Liberiau coffee from Sa- 

 marang: besides Arabian coffee from Java, Tohore (by the 

 Maharaja), Samarang, Sumatra, Celebes, Timor. Bima, Solo, 

 &c.,&c. This Malaya court and the Autralian couitswere the 

 most tastefully got up in the whole Exhibition. In the latter 

 Inoteda case containing all the products of the Eucalyptus 

 — oil, gum, lozenges, soap, pastilles, powders, &o., &c. Baron 

 Von Mueller on behalf of the Victorian Government sent 

 specimens of Australian woods made up as little books, the 

 title ou the back consisting of the name of the wood. This 

 was a most beautiful exhibit. On an adjoining table were 

 arranged the various sort of implements aud pieces of fm-nit- 

 ure into which these woods coitld be converted — table-leaves, 

 lege, spade and other handles, rakes, and so on, and these 

 were Uauked by noble .sawn and polished slabs ofEucalyptus, 

 Melanoxylon, Acacia Dammara, and other woods. One 

 plant I measiu-ed was 6 feet long aud 31 inches wide. It 

 had been taken from tree in Gippsland, an Acacia, 

 Melanoxylon (Blackwood), 4 feet in diameter. There was 

 also a '■ Eed-Gum " plant 10 feet loug by i feet wide. 



I find I have omitted to notice tho beautifully perfect 

 narrow gauge engines and carnages of Messrs. ^.Y. B. Dick 

 &Oo., whose genial representative Mr. Fleck was the pre- 

 siding genius of the St. Andrew's dinner we had ou board 

 the " Peshawur." After seiiug what the wonderful little 

 Darjihng railway can do, it is no exaggeration to 

 say that there are very tew estate.s in Ceylon 

 which could not have one Messrs. Dick & Co.'s 

 trains running from their lowest to their highest 

 elevation. Finally and in couetusion with regard to machinery 

 I may say that at Messrs. Burn vi Co.'s workyards I was shown 

 a very haudy little •' patent sugar mill," that was guarant- 

 eed 1 believe to squeeze 31) per cent more juice out of 

 the cane than any other mill; and to be sure it squeezed 

 jnice out of an apparently dried up stick. The natives 

 buy it up as fast, as it can be made at the rate of 30 a 

 day often, and willingly wait while they sre being made 

 so that they may only get them. The simplicity of the 

 wooden frauiiug renders its coustruction easy iu districts 

 where skilled labour is not procurable. The mill is frequently 

 bolted to the stump of a jungle tree, the top being cut off, 

 and the trunk left growing in the ground. By the 

 introduction of strong steel springs between the 

 sliding bushes aud the frame, breakage of any portion of 

 the mi'.l is prevented as the springs yield and allow the 

 hard knots of the cane or any other undue obstruction, 

 to pass between the rollers without injury to the mills 

 The price is from RSO upwards. 



It was a bitterly cold evening wlien I arrived at Darjiling. 

 In the morning I rode down to Happy \"alley estate, 

 and Mr. 15almer kindly showed me all that could be seen. 

 Of course, in this winter season, no tea-making was going 

 on, but I saw the bins, machinery and stores. I was 

 struck by the great scale ou which tho stores are built. 

 No use is apparently made for withering of all the wall 

 space, the whole work being done on the two lofts. Mr. 

 B.ilmer told me what a very heavy item in expenditure 

 the cost of fuel and charcoal formed. I think the figures 

 were El-4 and Kl per maund of inatle tea respectively ; 

 the wood supply being thirty mdes distant. 1 was agree- 

 ably surprisetl to see both here aiul at Tukvar what a very 

 even appearance the tea bushes presented. I imagined 

 from what I had iieard that v.acancies would be the order 

 of the day, but, on the contrary, they were noticeable by 

 their absence. The jat is China, but all supplies latterly 

 put iu are of the best Assam hybrid. I was told of one 

 estate that was being opened up. and ouly the very bitst 

 seed at R20D per maund was being put in, ami my in- 

 formant exclaimeil, " It will pay." I was fortunate enough 

 to .see the women banl at work pruning, and the men ap- 

 parently the same at digging. I s-iy " apparently," for Mr. 

 Balmer told me that a short time before he had probed 

 the ground with his stick and not finding the depth dug 

 up to the standard he had refused to give tho men their 

 names till it should be redug to the proper depth, upon 

 which the whole force struck work. He took no no'^ice, 

 and for two days uo one tunied out ; ou the tUiid diy' 



