546 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



fFEBRTTARY I, 1884. 



ne thing with another, and to Mr. Greig as an ex- 

 perienced tea planter and engineering the thing is simply 

 ludicrous. 



" In order to correct false impressions, by last mail Tve 

 forwarded by B. P. a correct re])ort from the Grocer by a 

 reporter who has taken evidently in former j-ears an 

 intt'rest in mechanics. Also we sent you our latest circular 

 and if we mistake not, working.drawings of the new stoves 

 II he multmu in uno), also the cyclone withering 

 machine. 



" The stove is the same in effect as the su-occo, but much 

 cheaper and iias the advantage, each section having different 

 degrees of heat for rapidly drying wet tea,graduall3' lessening 

 heat as the tea becomes drier, thus reducing risk of 

 burning or scorching to a minimum and making use of 

 the whole of the heat from the fuel on the tea before 

 the smoke and heated gases enter the chimney. 



*'The leaf-cutting machine, in which we know you have 

 taken an intelligent interest for some time past is intended 

 for several purposes, for cutting up into squares and trian- 

 gular pieces, the large succulent leaf of the Assam and 

 hybrid leaf particularly at the fii-st of the flushiug season 

 when the leaf has grown rapidly and is soft enough to roll 

 up_^into tea. This saves an enormous amount of broken 

 tea and dust compared to the present barbarous method 

 of after the long screws of dry crisp loaf are ready for 

 sorting to make it the proper lengths for the market, bruise 

 it by the hand over a sieve having meshes of a size 4 or 

 5 to the inch, ^nd purpose. — When the leaf is § or § finished 

 witha rolling the red and coarser leaf remains flat, then use a 

 large bamboo riddle having meshes of about J in square 

 and, for convenience for quickly filling and emptjTng, 

 should be hung by one string tied to one edge attached 

 to roof. AH the finer leaf which is jaartially rolled falls on 

 mat on floor and the fiat and coarse leaf left on upper 

 side is chucked to one side ; the partially rolled leaf is put 

 through cutting macliine and all the particles longer than 

 h inch "nTll be cut — this is then finished in the rolling, 

 ilere the bag, rolling machine which we have adopted comes 

 in preference to a cup and saucer machine "with all due 

 deference to Kinmond and Jackson, because neither will 

 roll up the leaf properly unless there is a certain quantity 

 in the hole between upper and lower tables, but with a 

 bag any quantity large or small, as is required by separa- 

 ting by riddling, will roll up quickly and well. It is 

 b''Oomiug known that by rotary bag rolling machine (not 

 Nelson's Mangle) prejudice is being overcome, the tea is 

 s ..rewed or harder rolled up than by any other none bag 

 1 lachine. Then the coui'se leaf thrown to one side is 

 ■ iither cut up in cutting machine and rolled into broken 

 black, or broken np in machine without cutting. 



" It will thiis be seen with 2nd purpose all the broken 

 tea and dust is saved with the finer tea, as it all passes 

 down of its self into its various classes without the hand 

 being required to break it through first sieve, and also all 

 the labor is saved in picking out red and coarse flat leaf 

 from the bult or unsorted tea. 



" 3rd pnrijose. At the first of the season there is a good 

 deal of watery sap in the leaf, and by the hitherto system 

 the pekoe bud and other two or thi'ee leaves are plucked 

 all on one stalk ; these are all rolled together by the hard 

 rolUng to roll up the otheir leaves the pekoe nib becomes 

 quite Ohick, isnutsebn for about two months of the first of 

 the season, amongst the pekoe tea. Now as the pekoe nib is 

 already rolled up beautifully by nature no rolling is required 

 lor them except very, very lightly in order to eiipress a little 

 of its juice to cause them to take on the fermentation or 

 rather oxidation, for it is really not fermentation. 



*' In order to enhance the value in the broker's eye for 

 Buch pekoe, after the leaf is withered it is all before rniUng 

 put through the cutting-machine, the nibs are thus out loose 

 from tlie other leaf, some are cut through the middle, 

 Bome the full length, but that does not matter, as broken 

 pekce, if of a pure pekoe flavor uucontaminated with the 

 juice of the coarser leaf will command as good a price as 

 long pekoo or nearly so. 



" This cut leaf is then riddled in the same manner as 

 l)y 2nd purpose by mesh a of about 5 of an inch. This will 

 let through the nibs and the stalks only, the prcssui-e of 

 the stalks do not matter, a-- they are again mixed with the 

 jiekoe and pekoe souchong. These nibs and stalks are pat 

 into the bag of the Greig Link and Lever lloUing Maoliine 

 which is so constructed that the nicest pressure can be 



felt by ■ the hand on the lever, giring only as much as 

 causes the bag to revolve on the flut-d barrel. One minute's 

 rolling is enough. These nibs when treated in that manner 

 will, when fired, or dried tui'n white flowery pekoj which 

 is then mixed with the hlack pekoe or souchong when it 

 is sorted, thus very much enhancing the value of the 

 same. 



•' We find many planters particularly managers of com- 

 panies very apathetic regarding the sawing by the nse of 

 the scutting-machine. In connexion with ri^iduug tliere is 

 prejudice as they no doubt suppose it gives them extra 

 trouble, but the machine will make its way, and particu- 

 larlj' by any kindly and imi>artial assistance you may give 

 us. 



" Kcgarding the sifting-machine the red leaf on top sieve 

 is thrown out and picked by hand like any other 

 machine.'' 



The report from the Grocer to which allusion la made 

 was quoted into the letter on tea machinery by Mr. 

 A. M. Ferguson, junior, which has appeared in the Tro- 

 incal AgriciiUurist, and we notice in the copy enclosed 

 in the letter we have fiven above, there i^ a correction 

 of "live minutes" into " three to five minutes" as the 

 time in which green leaves treated in the " cyclone 

 withering and drj'ing machine" are found to have 

 "that kid-glove feeling wliich indicated that the 

 withering process is compl ted." We cannot render 

 Messrs. Greig & Co. better or more impartial assist- 

 ance than we have done in allowing them so fully to 

 state the case in favour of the r machinery, but final 

 judgment will, we suppose, largely depend on the results 

 of the trial which Ins taken or will take ))lace at 

 the Calcutta Kxbibition. If, as has iieen stat- d, some 

 of Messrs. Greig & Co.'s machines are at work in Ceylon, 

 we shall be very glad to hear accounts of their per- 

 formances . 



JOTTINGS FROM NETHERLANDS INDIA. 



Our readers will see, from the following very inter- 

 esting conimuiiicatiou from a special correspondent, 

 that the Java coffee crop is likely to be large, that 

 cinchona culture is progressing in Java, but that 

 some of the .Javii tea is of such poor quality that 

 it sells at 25 cents of a florin (about the same as 

 the cents of a rup'O) per lb. :— 



From all accounts 18S3 crop as regards coffee will be 

 a bumper one, weather having becu most propitious, 

 speci.ally for the first blossom. On 31st October 

 last, the N. I. G ivernment fcmud reason to raise the 

 year's es'.im.ate made a month previously by 12,000 

 piculs, £0 that this stood at above date at 1,0S3,240 

 piculs^ while I should not be surprised if the crop 

 were eventually t.) exceed 1,100,000 pieuls. As you 

 are aware, this represents native jilantation coffee, and 

 this yield is likely to be kept up, as, in lieu of the 

 old played-out coffee districts, Government authorities 

 have tak'-n care tn have fresh ground planted out; 

 under the old feudal system which still exists in the 

 shape of " forced labour " vice "taxes.". The Pre- 

 anger disM-ieta will, I think, however, prove an ex- 

 ception to this rule, as, strange to say, coffee estates 

 do not reach an old age there, while their crops can- 

 not compare with those m 're to the East-vard, prov- 

 ing that the soil is not lich as in more favored parts 

 of the Island. Hence, in the Prcanger, Government 

 are not so much tmning their attention to coffee aa to 

 cinchona. While Government has not been dormant, 

 private enterprize has of late been exceptionally active, 

 and judging trcm the large aiva of land already 

 opened up :'ud still in course of opetsing up alonf.' the 

 slopes of tL^ •'Siniroe" and Kawi Mountains in the 

 P;iSsaroean :ind Pi oUalingo residencies, we shall, at no 

 great di^iai!;a of time, be able to make up for the 

 deiieieucy of the so-called West India preparation Or 

 properly eleauod colTee in Ceylon. I may hero note 

 tliat with regard to the generally accepted notion 

 that uo EngUshsnen or rather foreigner can obtain 



