J7^ 



am TitOfiCAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February i, 1884. 



which they offer to the public. It has before now been 

 procured in a chemist's shop in liOndou, and no doubt it 

 is well known to the trade, though there is iirobably not 

 much export. — A. S. — Indian lorester. 



SUPPOSED TEA. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE " AMEBICAN GROCER. " 

 I herewith mall you two samples home-grown tea, 

 .so called. No. 1, about tiTe years old, grown and 

 cured in Louisiana, and No. 2, now green, grown in 

 Texas. Please give your opinion as to their genuine- 

 ness and value iu your next issue. — Yours truly, 



E. C. Crawford. 

 No. 1. This sample was in such a bad condition 

 that it was impossible to determine anything about it. 

 Commercially it is valueless. No. 2 ia not tea at all. 



CURE FOR BATS. 



TO THE EDITOH OF THE "MADRAS MAIL." 



Sir, — Advise "Tectum" to hang to the ceiling (or 

 .any place) infested with bats a few branches of any 

 thoruy bush. The thorns iujure the bats ' wings, and 

 tljey leave to inhabit some other locality. Take off 

 all leaves from branches. V. S. 



Sir, — With reference to a letter signed "Tectum" 

 in your issue of the 21st instant, I would suggest 

 sulphur fumig.ition to your correspondent to get rid 

 of his bats. Care should be taken to turn out any 

 other animal that may be in the room, and remove 

 all ornaineuLs. more especiallj' gilded or metallic ones, 

 and then put two tablespoonsful of sulphur in an 

 oarthurn chatty, and throw iu it some live charcoal. 

 Should the roof be lofty, a tripod of bamboos might 

 be formed ami I he chatty containing the sulphur be 

 ])laced on its apex some distance above the floor. The 

 doors and windows of the room should be closed except 

 one, should your corrfspondent be disposed to let 

 the bats escape alive ; otherwise they will all be killed 

 l>y the sulphurous smoke, and it may be necessary 

 to search the roof to remove thj dead bats to prevent 

 their becoming a nuisance. The advantage of fumig- 

 ation ia not only to destroy bats, but also to remove 

 the strong musty smell that always exists where bats 

 congregate. After this has been done, your correspond- 

 ent should take equal parts of carbolic acid and lamp 

 oil, mix them well together, and paint the rafters, 

 couples and joists of the room where the bats con- 

 gregate. Should the painting not be feasible, woollen 

 rags steeped in the oil should be stuck .among the raft- 

 ers, or fastened to them with a tack or two; the 

 bats will immcdidately forsuke the locality and not 

 give further trouble. Kerosiue oil may be substituted 

 for the carbolic acid. John Shortt. 



THE CENTRALIZATION OF TEA FACTORIES: 



THE MUST CERTAIN MKTHOD OF INSURGING 



THE CHEAPEST PRODUCTION AND HIGHEST 



QUALITIES OF TEA. 



Instead of each estate having its own factory, there 

 should be a factory between each grouji of estates. 

 The best machinery, the best tea-maker, the advaut- 

 ItgfS of oombinatiiin and the undoubted command that 

 large breaks have upon the market would all result 

 from the organization of such a scheme. 



It may be said : it has alre.idy been tried and failed ; 

 but it must be remembered that anything of this kind 

 which has hitherto been tried has been unilertaken 

 too far from the estate whereon the tea is grown. 

 Tea must be Jiilly piii:hcil before leaving the house 

 wherein it is made. 



The great principle of good work ia a division of 

 labour, and I cannot think otherwise than that thia 



ie very applicable to tea. We should have the tea" 

 planter and the tea-maker, and those who can have 

 the best planter and the best maker will succeed the 

 best; and they will certainly be as a rule the tea- 

 growers who can form the largest combination. 



Of late years the improvement in the manufacture 

 of tea has made large strides, and all, save withering, 

 can now be performed by machinery; yet with all this 

 I have not yet heard of a thoroughly well-arranged 

 tea-bouse in any part of the world. That is a com- 

 plete building of itself, which, from beginning to end, 

 is not full of additions, which might have been provided 

 for in the original building. Tea has to be rolled, 

 fermented, tired, sorted and packed, and these works 

 are still mostly done by unscientific means, or, if not 

 so, the continuity of the processes is confused and 

 involved. Some places have better organized factories 

 than others ; the best are, however, very backward from 

 what they should be. The wasted heat from the driers 

 usually escapes without in any way further aiding wither, 

 ing, which it could easily be made to accomplish. 



Several adjoining estates in a workable area might 

 easily combine for the purpose of one good efficient tea 

 factory, instead of four or live small, unsatisfactory 

 and incomplete tea houses. For the former, the in- 

 ducements would be higher, the appliances more com- 

 plete. A man said to me a short time ago : "The 

 worst of tea is that it will require constant and un- 

 wearied care, the requirements may cliange, so will 

 then the process of manufacture: as others improve, 

 as they certainly will, so will our manufacture have 

 to, and we shall be quite at the mercy of our manager." 

 It will diH'er from happy-go-lucky coffee, for the tea 

 will not manufacture itself as coffee may be said to 

 have done. This unity of action is not so much on 

 account of cheapness of manufacture, rather uniformity 

 and certainty of quality ; which no small factory can 

 maintain, aud it can never be accomplished without 

 a thoroughly organized application of machinery. Tho.sc 

 who use rolling machines already observe a far greater 

 uniformity in their teas, and this must be the case, 

 and will improve more and more as machinery is used 

 aud perfected. I know that in an} thing it is difficult 

 to induce Ceylon men to unite. It is only iu view 

 of so much to be gained that 1 suggest it, and to 

 declare our impossibility to accomplish here what suc- 

 ceeds so well elsewhere is not only to admit an in- 

 feriority, but to prefer going on without either effort 

 or desire for improvement. 



There are many ways iu which this combined sys- 

 tem could be made to work, but none I think bet- 

 ter than — firstly, that the manufactory, building, land 

 aud machinery be the joint property of the interested, 

 estates; secondly, that a separate .account be kejit of 

 the factory, which would of ii.«elf have to show a pro- 

 fit by a charge made upon the making; thirdly, that 

 owners have the option of sending their own tea home 

 iu bulk or separ.itely. The mauagemont. of course, 

 would be at the disposal of the proprietors. 



A system based upon some such plan aa this might 

 be made to answer, if planters determinedly seek 

 I their own interests. W. F. L. 



[Note by Ed. — The idea shadowed forth in the 

 above letter is in every respect an excellent one, 

 but like all such schemes, would meet with much 

 prejudice from planters, who arc rather naturally 

 jealous of their own produce, and who think that 

 their own particular estate produces a better sample 

 than their neighbours, while they would not like it 

 to be mixed with that of others. Were the leaf of 

 e.ach estate, iu such a central factory as " W. F. L. " 

 here indicates, kept distinct, one of the many advaiit- 

 ■ages of the scheme would be lost, though of course 

 it C'uld be done, and we think should be done, in 

 spite of any loss in simplicity of working. That the 

 erection of a large well-regulated tea-house iu the 



