JOLV I, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



to, that is to say, within the week, the mixing up of 

 the grades would not matter much, as the souchong 

 itself will command an extreme price; so that we 

 should not be in a hurry to jump to couclusious 

 and generalize from the success of one or two estates. 

 Among the believers in hard-rolling there are some 

 I am aware, whose opinions are entitled to great 

 weight. It is ueverthele.ss, a creed that cannot be 

 followed by one and ail, indiscriminately. 



15. Forty lb: is a good task for hand-rolling ; a 

 plain table is preferable to a grooved table. Kolling 

 being a process of gradual compression and bruising 

 combined, there shjuld be no endeavour to hasten 

 the progress of work by corrugating or flirting the 

 table; as it may result in the tea getting broken up, 

 before getting flaccid enough to be rolled, espv'cially 

 when found underwithered, during the wet season. 

 The table should be not only flat but sufficiently high 

 to prevent too much weight being put in the leaf 

 during the process at the start. 



16. I sift about 40 to 45 per cent of pekoe 

 out of "roll" after fermentation by means of 

 a simple sifter with No. 3. Sieve, designed by 

 me and manufactured by Messrs. McllwTaith Walker 

 k Sons, at a cost of H80. It takes two minutes, 

 driven by power, to work off a lUO lb. roll. It is 

 not patented and may be bad from Messrs. W. H. 

 Davies & Co., Colombo. 



17. I re-roll for about three or four minutes, tlie 

 igouchong only just before firing. 



18. Fermentation should be cariied out in a cool 

 room not exposed to the wind ; especially the dry 

 N. E. wind. It is a good plan to turn the " roll" 

 over occasionally. I do not encourage heating during 

 fermentation ; on the contrary I check it. The roll 

 is spread about two inches thick on tables for about 

 three hours. If leaf be found to overfermented, and 

 cannot be fired off speedily for want of chulas or 

 fiouj machinery, adequate to the demand at the 

 moment, the leuf should be thinned out at once. 



I!>. Whether oxidation or fermentation be the cor- 

 rect word to be used for the purpo.se of expressing 

 the chemical change the roll has to undergo before 

 firing, can hardly be said to be of any practical use 

 to us without being prepared to carry the investig- 

 ation further with the a'-sistance of scientific men. 

 As fermentation includes oxidation I see no reason 

 «hy we .should change this now familiar word into 

 one less comprehensive and probably less aoplicable. 

 The hr.st chemical change that the bruised leat under- 

 goes when exposed to the action of the air at a 

 certain temperature is oxidation. We cannot say 

 we stop at this, before the leaf undergoes ferment- 

 ation. Ftrmeatation, according; to M. Pasteur, is said 

 to be essentially the life history of certain microbes, 

 the germs of which are to be found in the 

 air everywhere and nlways. According to the suit- 

 ability of any organic matter for the development of 

 any particular variety of these microbes, a particular 

 kinil of fermentation will result. There are, it is .«aid, 

 innumerable species of microbes each of which starts 

 its chatacteri.stic fermentation. It exists for a while, 

 during which it produces a certain chemical changt?, 

 by which the t.irgaiic matter is rendered fit for the 

 growih and dtvelopmeut of ano'her species, which 

 m turn gives place to a succeeding variety, and so 

 on, till all fernif ntation ceases. What we have now 

 to ascertain will> the aid of science, is what that 

 particular stage or kind of fermentation is which con- 

 duces most to the development of the qualities we 

 desiderate in tea. It is possible, I believe, for a com- 

 petent chemist both to define this particular stage and 

 to help the planter with simple means by which to 

 n.scertain the right fermentation since every kind of 

 fermentation (every stage according to advocates of 

 this theory) can be ascertained by means of chemical 

 tests and the microscope. 



20. Heaping up haf. — Putting roll thickly in 

 baskets, appeirs to help fermentation. liut the safest 

 mode, I think, is to spread on tables. 



21. Flavour to begin with, is due distinctly to 

 altitude ; care in the details of manufacture, a good 

 wither and full fermentation will secure flavour, as 



far as it can go on any given estate. But strength is 

 a matter outside the factory. I have said before, 

 the art of good tea making begins in the field. I do 

 not believe that we can obtain more strength from 

 tea leaves, by passing them through " rollers " and 

 firing machines than there is to be found chemically 

 in the leaf itself ; briefly we cannot get more out of 

 a roller than we put into it. But we can get far less, 

 by neglecting the cardinal rules of tea-making. It is 

 by careful selection of our jat of tea, attention to 

 the soil, a rational mode of pruning, maturing our 

 bushes, and regular plucking, instead of waiting till 

 the leaves get bangy, that we should hope to secure 

 strength. The student who pursues his investigations 

 exclusively in the factory is apt to gradually nurse 

 himself into the pleasant delusion that good tea like 

 good wine needs no bush. 



I pass over questions intended for those who use 

 " chulas." 



28. Before packing I first bulk and then re-fire 

 at a thermal heat, not exceeding 180 for Broken 

 Pekoe, 200 for Pekoe ana 240° for Souchong. 



29. I have no fault to find with the Sirocco. I 

 think it can hold its own a good while yet. 



30. In firing I keep to the instructions. 



31. The sieves I use are 14 and 10 for Broken 

 Pekoe, that is 10 for Broken Pekoe out of " dhool- 

 glioorie " (the 40 per cent sifted out from "roll") 

 and 14 for Broken Pekoe left in the bulk. No. 9 for 

 Pekoe, and Nos. 7 and 6 for breaking and sifting 

 Souchong. 



38. Manuring has a marvellous eft'ect on tea. 



39. I prune at both monsoons to find work for the 

 coolies all the yearround. 



40. I have answered this already partly. 



41. I cannot recommend the eradication of bad j.lt 

 plants and bushes now; as if followed, it may lead to 

 the denuding of much of the present planted area 

 of Ceylon. The result may prove disastrous to the 

 prosperity of the colony. 



42. For external withering sheds I would recommend 

 the use of round timber " jungle sticks" ami shingled 

 roof with jote nailed on the sides to keep off the 

 wind. I have two such here. Hundred feet by twelve 

 or fourteen is & .good *ize, with jute stretched ou 

 either side ou rollers and laths. Ten lengths of jute 

 on each side giving 4,.'5CO square feet of withering 

 area or a total of 9,000 square feet for the room. 

 Such a building should cost no more than RloO. 

 Boarding the floor of same R112; rollers and laths 

 for the jute R30. The total, exclusive of jute, with- 

 in 11300. J. H. Barber. 



" W. M. L." ON COFFEE IN THE PAST AND 

 TEA IN THE PBESENT IN CEYLON. 



LoNooN, April 30th, 1886. 



Many of those who have lost their money in 

 the struggle to keep the coffee plant going in 

 Ceylon must have [read with deep interest, per- 

 haps even with a melancholy satisfaction, the 

 account given in your columns by Mr. Elacklaw 

 of the dying out of the once flourishing coffee 

 estates in Eio districts. The similarity of the fate 

 of these coffee districts to that of the estates of 

 Ceylon, though apparently witliout the intervention 

 of that arch dsetroyer, Hemileia Vastatrix, raises 

 the question, (one now purely of speculative interest 

 to the Ceylon planters) how long even under 

 the most favourable circumstances could coffee 

 cultivation in extended areas as practised in Brazil, 

 Ceylon and Java be expected to flourish ? 



Strange it is that this question, twenty years 

 i'.^o of most vital practical importance to all engaged 

 in the cultivaiion of coffee in Ceylon, should even 

 at that date Lave received little or no attention. 

 The coffee estates had so far borne regular crops, 

 were still bearing them, and " next year " almost in- 

 variably was promising a bumper. 



What more could hopeful man require ? Why 

 seek to peer into the certainly uncertain future ? 



