Aug. 2, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



'^5 



FIBEES AND THE FIBRE TRADE: THE SO- 

 CALLED CHINESE MULBERRY BARK. 



Colombo, 19th June 1886. 

 Deah Sir, - With reference to your note to Mr. 

 Edward Heyman's letter yesterday, I believe that 

 the bark referred to is not that of a real mul- 

 berry but that which is called the paper mul- 

 berry, the Hroussonetia papiirifera, so commonly 

 used for paper and cloth in China, Japan and 

 the South Sea Islands. I cannot see any refer- 

 ence to the bark of the white mulberry having been 

 used as a useful fibre with the exception of the one 

 which I now send you. 



Your readers will find useful articles on the 



paper mulberry tree in the Tropical Aqvicuhurlst 



for 1880-1 pp. 302 and 448, and I think it is to 



the bark of this plant only your correspondent 



refers. If it is now growing in Ceylon it must be as 



a rare plant. — Y^ours, W. F. 



{From J)alfour''s Ci/clopadia.) 



" It is probable that most of the species of the genus 



Morus have bark of a sufficiently fibrous nature. But 



few, if any, seem to be turned to this useful account. 



Y'et the bark of the White Mulberry seems from very 



early times to have been made into paper in Cbina ; 



for Marco Polo informs us that "the Grand Khan 



causes the bark to be stripped from those Mulberry trees, 



the leaves of which are used for feeding silk-worms, 



and takes from it that tliiu rind which lies between 



the coarse bark and the wood of the tree. This being 



steeped, and afterwards pounded in a mortar until 



reduced to a pulp, is made into paper, resembling that 



which is made from cotton." 



"^ NE W MARKET FOR CEYLON~TEA r^HE^ 

 MANUFACTURE OF OREEN TEA 

 SUGGESTED. 

 Yatiyantota, lUth June 18S('). 

 Df.ar Sir, — I am glad to see that the Ceylon 

 planters have at last decided to take joint action 

 in the endeavour to find fresh outlets for our teas, 

 but I think the most im^Jortant point is to try 

 and stop the (now rather freipient) complaints of 

 deterioration and falling-off in quality of our tea, 

 as we should have little to fear from an over- 

 stocked market if we could always jjlace teas of 



• uniform good quality in. the hands of our London 

 brokers and thus secure a first place and the full 

 conlidence of the public ; and the best way to effect 

 this is to make all our new leaf (from recently- 

 pruned bushes) cuul all leaf that cannot ht> propcrlif 

 withered) into (jreen tea. The first flush from 

 pruned bushes which is so useless for black tea 

 makes the best green tea, usually valued at from 

 one to two annas per lb. higher than that made 

 from subsequent flushes, and as leaf intended for 

 green tea is put into heated pans immediately it 

 comes from the fields and withered in five minutes, 

 the only two legitimate excuses a superintendent 

 has to offer for making inferior teas are entirely 

 done away with. But so long as we are compelled 

 to manufacture all our leaf into black tea, we can- 

 not hope to gain the confidence of our customers 

 as to entirely stop the complaint. Fully one-thud 

 of our shipments are spoiled by new leaf, and who 

 has not at times found it impossible to wither 

 leaf well, either from the weather being too wet 

 and cold or too hot and dry, want of sufficient 



.space during a rush or" other unavoidable causes? 

 It would be taking up too much of your valuable 

 time and space were I to attempt here to prove 

 all the arguments in favour of converting a portion 

 of our crop into green tea, so I will content 

 myself by merely mentioning a few of the principal 

 points in its favour which I am prepared to discuss 

 (either through your columns or at the meetings 

 of the P. A.) if asked to do so, and I believe I 

 could prove these to the entire satisfaction of all 



interested parties ; — 



1st. -That the first cost to individual proprietors 

 in purchasing and setting up the necessary apparatus 

 for manufacturing green teas would not exceed 

 RoO each. 



'2nd. — Even should it be found necessary to abandon 

 the enterprise through inability to find a market for 

 green tea, the said R;jO spent on the api^aratus 

 would not be entirely thrown away. 



3rd. — An intelligent hlaeh tea maker could learn 

 the work by two or three lessons in as many days. 



4th. — The chances of finding a renunierative 

 market for all the gret^n tea we might have to 

 make (in order to improve and maintain a uniform 

 quality in our black tea, saj', i our total outturn) 

 are by no means small, and at least as good as 

 we have of finding fresh outlets for black teas. All 

 information on the above points will be supplied 

 if asked for. — Y'ours truly, 



OLD PLANTER. 



P.S. — As another means of impi'oving our tea 

 (and perhaps lengthening the life of our bushes), I 

 would strongly recommend a heavy pinning only 

 once in 18 months instead of yearly ; but more of 

 this anon. — Y'ours, etc., O. P. 



[America still consumes some green tea, but the 

 great market on which the Indian planters counted 

 in Central Asia seems now to be very limited. 

 Pity it is that the practice of adulteration should 

 have excited a prejudice against all green teas. — • 

 ^^ 



Java ano Fiji as Sugar Proiutcers. — Mr. 

 Mason of Fiji in arguing for confederation and 

 protection to colonial produce, instituted an astound- 

 ing contract, thus : — " I may tell you that at the 

 present time labour in Fiji costs Is (id a dcxy for 

 every man, and in Java (id. That is one of the 

 reasons why you in London can buy sugar at the 

 grocers cheaper than you can buy the article at 

 the mill in Fiji." 



Mr. Jacksox's Tea Mvciiikery. — The letter 

 in another colunm from Mr. William .Tack^on the 

 well known and vei'y successful tea machinist, is 

 worthy of and will doubtless receive the liest atten- 

 tion of our planter readers. It is called forth by some 

 remarks from Mr. Jaiaes Irvnie in which that gen- 

 tleman failed to do justice to the solid and lasting 

 cliaractor of Mr. Jackson's machinery, while he did 

 not discriminate, as Mr. .Jackson points out he ought 

 to have done, between Siroccos, the plates of which 

 are heated by the direct action of flame, and the 

 plates of the ^"ictoria and Venetian Driers which re- 

 ceive their heat from a multitubular arrangement of 

 stout iron. Of course no material exposed to heat 

 or friction can last forever, but JMr. Jackson is justified 

 in dwelling on the facts that none of his stoves have 

 as yet shown any signs of the destructive action of 

 fire V(liile some of his rollers are still working in 

 Assam after a lapse of sixteen years. We are but 

 expressing the opinion of all who have seen the Vene- 

 tian Drier, when we say that it comes as near per- 

 fection, for the purposes for which it is intended, as 

 any handiwork of man can reach. From the moment 

 the withered, rolled and fermented leaf is put 

 in at the top, it is not, necessarily, again touched 

 by the human hand until it emerges below as fully 

 roasted tea, after having fallen from one series of plates 

 to another as the action of a handle is applied. The 

 Victoria is a still more advanced machine and cal- 

 culated to do more work in a given time, but is con- 

 siderably more expensive, and a shrewd planter speak- 

 ing to us on the matter of tea roasters recently, said 

 he would rather have two Venetians than one Victoria 

 machine ; because if the one Vict iria went out of 

 order the work would come to a standstill, while 

 even if one of the Venetians were disabled the other 

 would he available. — We have not yet Mcen Mr .fohn 

 Brown's Toa-Drycr, which is also self-acting and 

 highly spoken of- 



