February i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



565 



DISCOLOURED TEA LEAVES. 



Kandy, 17th Jan. 1884. 

 Dear Mr. Editor. — Can you tell me what i^ the 

 matter with the enclosed tea leaves?— they are off 

 plants about 10 months old ; and also can you tell me 

 if black bug does barm to tea ?— Yours faithfully, 



TEA. 

 [The leaves are of a coppery colour and look as if 

 withered. Many years ago, we sent similar leaves to 

 the late Director-General Thwaites, who said the 

 affection was of no consequence. We have not seen 

 black bug on tea so as to harm it. — Ed.] 



THOMPSON'S TEA-ROLLER. 



Colombo, 21st Jauuary 1884. 



Dear Sir, — I regret advantage should have been 

 taken to misread my letter to the Ceylon " Times" 

 descriliing trial of 15th inst. For instance (if my re. 

 collection serves me right) no nich words as " well 

 fermented" or well-fired were used, or even suggested ; 

 the npijearanoe only of the teas is spoken of, the names 

 of well-known and respected witnesses being given 

 wbo also as stated had their attention drawn to the 

 state of the leaf. I cannot see that the public care 

 to know how or why the leaf was as it was ; * and even 

 if they did, one cannot always command the space nor 

 do they care to trespass on the courtesy of an etlitor, 

 to go into uninteresting det.ail3 to explain the diffic- 

 ulties caused by the end wall of tea-house being down 

 to get a firing maohine erected, the extra work and 

 general confusion caused by the same and by the sud- 

 den and complete change in the system of manufact- 

 ure just being inaugurated, added to thi>j the disorgan- 

 izing etfect of a pay day. t I feel that any practical 

 maiT will quite understand this, and I address them 

 only. To others I would remark " nothing succeeds 

 litce success," and since the Mariawatte machine has 

 breu working daily most satisfactorily, that it is sold 

 and other orders are in hand I think is sufficient 

 reply to carping critics. J 



I also take this opportunity to answer one of 

 your correspondents' sufgesting reduction in prices. 

 I would say in the first place that the actual 

 cost of the maohitie is mui'h greater evidently 

 than your correspondent thinks, and the value of such 

 machinery is not based on its cost of construction, but 

 on the money it brings to the purchaser by econnniical 

 production or production of a better article or both 

 This machine does both, and I invite comparisons with 

 any other method or machine and have yet to learn 

 that any will for a moment compare with the '• Chal- 

 lenge," although the prt-sent prices are lower than other 

 recognized machines. This machine will, if kept in 

 full daily work, more than pay itself in two months. § 

 Since it clears about £2 per day, it comes to this: the 

 purchaser gets .50 per cent per month during his 

 manufacturing season. If anyone can suggest a better 

 investment for a tea planter, the writer would be 

 pleased to hear of it. Some are appreciating this trans- 

 parent fact by availing themselves of the present 

 prices as they are much more likely to rise than fall. 1| 

 — I am, dear sir, yours very faithfully, 



ANDREW THOMPSON. 



* The public, having been appealed to, had certainly a 

 rif'ht to know the wliole circumstances of the case. — 

 Ed. 



t All this we are glad to see, for the sake of the super- 

 intendent of Mariawatte.— Ed. 



} It is not a sufhcieut reply to those who regard "SO to 90 

 per cent of pekoe" as a violation of veracity. — Ed. 



S "Pay itself in two months!" Cm/at !— En. 



[I Most decidedly they ought to rise in price, if they 

 produce 80 to 90 per cent of pekoe and pay themselves in 

 two months. — Ed. 



MR. W. CAMERON ON THE ANTIQUITY OP THE 



CLERIHEW PRINCIPLE. 



Ythauside, Dimbula, '22nd Jan. 1884. 

 Dear Sir,— Although, iu my remarks on the use of 

 heated air moved by fans, etc., for drying purposes, 

 I used the name " Clerihew " as being best known 

 here, yet the invention is old, and likely belongs 

 to the learned and eminent Dr. Andrew Ure. It 

 was in nse for ventilation in pnblic buildings in 

 London forty years ago nearly. — Yonrs faichtuUy, 



WM. CAMERON. 



THE KOLA-NUT TREE IN CEYLON. 



23rd January 1884. 



Dear Sib, — By this post I am sending yon a fruit 

 of the kola nut tree, as I promised some time ago. 



The parent tree was imported by Mr. Wall, in 

 September 1S79 ; and the fruit that I am sending 

 you is one of a bunch of five, which are the first that 

 have ripened. The tree, which is planted on the 

 poorest of inn-stone gravel, at an elevation of 900 ft., 

 is 15 ft. high by 8 ft. across, and as the leaves are 

 fairly tough (not unlike those of the better kinds of 

 mango, which, indeed, it slightly resembles ingrowth), 

 I should say th.at Mr. Prestoe's description of it in the 

 current No. of the T.A. is correct, that " it flourishes 

 in compiratively poor soil and in exposed situations." 

 In fact, for hardiness I should place it midway be- 

 tween the cacao and the CearA rubber. Like the 

 former it produces a large amount of abortive blossom. 

 The pods vary much iu size and number of seeds, 

 the one I am sending j'ou being one of the best. 

 When ripe, the pod eplit« open slightly and falls to 

 the ground. You will find the seeds have n pleasant 

 smell, and, if the tree is not already established in 

 Colombo, you may think it wortli while to plant 

 then.— Yours faiiJifuUy, ARTilUR G. ROBSON. 



[We are much indebted to Mr. Robson for his inter- 

 esting letter. Tiie pod resembles that of the cacao, 

 but U green in c dour and with roujh excrescences on 

 the surface. The seeds look like very large jakfruit seeds 

 (we had no idea the seeds would be so Itirge) with 

 shining yellow skin. The odour is very much that 

 of over ripe apples. The open pod display six big 

 seeds (three opposite three). — Ed.] 



MR. THOMPSON'S "CHALLENGE" ROLLER. 

 The Sanatorium, January 24th, 1884. 



Dear Sir, — With reference to a " leader" in your 

 issue of 22nd instant, in which you state that you 

 do not helie.ve that 80 or 9U per cent o( pekoe has 

 or can be made by means of the "Challenge" roller, 

 I be" to state that this is quite possible, bat does 

 not depend so much ou the roller as on "fine 

 plucking " and on what sieve is used iu the sorting. 



From some rather fine plucked leaf and using a 

 medium meshed sieve I turned out between 85 and 

 9IJ per cent of broicen peicoe, valu-d at 2s Gd 

 per lb., a short time ago. — Yours faithfully, K. 



[by discriminative picking and seiviug of course, it is 

 possible to get aW pekoe. But that is not ordinary tea 

 manufacture. — Ed.] 



MESSRS. JOHN GRBIG & Co.'s TEA 

 MACHINERY. 



Colombo, 24th Jan. 1884. 

 Dear Sir, — In response to your invitation for 

 accounts of the working of Messr.fl. Greig & (o.'s 

 tea marhines in Ceylon, we have the pleasure to give 

 you the follnwiiig extract from a letter addressid to 

 us by Mr. George Kvd, of F.airlio, Ddosbage: — 



" t have to say that I found the Greig Rolling 



