Nov. I, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



2<5f 



THE TEA LEAF. 



Siu,— In these days of small things (so far as our 

 knowledge of tea manufacture is concerned) the most 

 insignificant hint is not to be dispised. I need not, 

 therefore, apologise to my brother planters in inviting 

 their attention to the following small items of inform- 

 ation. In the j'oung leaf of the tea bushes, when 

 picked, a chemical change is faciliated by the " wither- 

 ing"" process, which goes on throughout the twelve 

 hours of darkness, whereby (in technical phrase) the 

 proteids are coverted into peptones. The nutritive 

 extractives, which give flavour and strength to tea, 

 exist, primarily, in the young leaf as insoluble grains 

 (proteids). Whilst the young leaf remains unpicked 

 upon the bush these proteids slowly become soluble, 

 but as fast as any portion becomes soluble (peptones) 

 such portions are at once drafted away (into some 

 other portion of the plant) and are lost to the leaf. 

 The " withering '" process not only hastens, but also 

 artificially completes this solvent transformanion, and 

 therefore the hint we have to bear in mind is that 

 the more thoroughly our tea leaf is withered (not 

 dried), the larger will be the proportion of the nutritive 

 ingredients of the leaf which become soluble, hence 

 the greater flavour and strength in the resulting tea. 

 We have conjectured frequently the ultimate purpose 

 that the large proportion of oil contained in the seed 

 subserves. Analyses of seed and seedlings seem to 

 intimate that this oil furnishes the extractive " theine " 

 in addition to increasing percentage of albuminoids and 

 cellulose. — Naduvatum, September 13. — Novick. — Mad- 

 ras Mail. 



TEAK-WOOD AND PAPEE-MAKING IN SIAM. 



Referring to Teak-wood, in his report on the trade 

 of Bangkok for the past year, Mr. Consul French 

 says : — 



Throughout the year the prices ofliered for Teak 

 in Europe and China were good, and the export 

 from Bangkok was, although below that of the two 

 previous years, above the average of the preceding 

 five years. The rivers have now for two years past 

 been very low. and consecjuently much of the wood 

 could not be floated down. There is now a consider- 

 able quantity of logs upcountrj', the accumul- 

 ation resulting from two bad seasons, awaiting favour- 

 able floods to get down. More European capital is 

 now being invested in the working of the Teak forests, 

 and it is to be hoped that the experiment will re- 

 sult success fullj'. Hitherto the forests have been 

 leased chiefly to Burmese, very few of whom have 

 sufiicieut capital. The result has been that the for- 

 ests have been worked in a meagre and unsatisfactory 

 fashion, and litigation between tlie foresters and the 

 persons advancing their money has been bitter and 

 constant. The export of Teak may be said to almost 

 entirely depend upon the ship building business in 

 Europe, and as long as the present stagnation in that 

 trade continues the prospect before Teak merchants 

 will not be encouraging. 



Native paper, it is said, is manufactured from the 

 bark of a tree called " Toukoi," the process of which 

 is a simple one, described as follows: — The smaller 

 branches of the tree are cut and steeped in water 

 for two or three days. The bark is then stri2)ped oft', 

 and brought in bundles and sold to persons who 

 make the paper. The bundles of bark are put in 

 water for two or three days by the paper-maker, 

 and having been cleansed from dirt, are taken out 

 and steamed over a slow fire for two days, a little 

 clean stone-lime being sprinkled through the bark. 

 It is then steeped in water in earthern jirs, and 

 more lime is added. After a few days it is taken 

 out of the jars, and having been well washed, to 

 free it from the lime, it is beaten with a wooden 

 mallet until it becomes a mass of soft pulp. A frame 

 of netting about GA feet long, and of width varying 

 from 18 to 5 inches, is set afloat in water, and the 

 pulp, having fir.--t been again mixed up with water, 

 is skilfully poureil out on to the frame, so as to ha 

 pqiirtlly distiibuted over it ']'he fran\e is tlK'ii lifted 



out of the water, and a small wooden roller is run 

 over the surface of the pulp. By this process the 

 water is squeezed out and the pu'.p pressed together. 

 The frame with the pulp on it is then set to dry 

 in the sun. In the course of some ten hours it is 

 quite dry, and the sheet of paper can be lifted off 

 the frame. It now only remains to smooth the sur- 

 face ; this is done by applying a thin paste of rice- 

 flour to the surface, and tlien rubbing it down with 

 a smooth stone. A black paper, which is written 

 upon with a slate or steatit; pencil, is made by 

 colouring the surface with a mixture of charcoal. The 

 paper here described is made from the bark of Brous- 

 sonetia papyrifera.— .1. R. -J. — Gardener.^' Cfironic/<\ 

 ♦ 



TEA DRIERS. 



Davidson made a rapid stride with his "Sirocco," 

 which has served us very well, and from the number 

 now in u.se, he must have had a good time of it 

 since he started. Still he seems to have had steadily 

 before him the old " chulah " system in designing 

 his machines and this is very apparent when the 

 T Sirocco is closely examined. I have often wondered 

 why Davidson did not work out an automatic machine 

 like some of thos-^ now in use. We hear less oi 

 Kinmond's and the Uibbs and Barry machines now. 

 I daresay the letter would have a better run but 

 for its requiring coke as fuel. It is a costly item 

 unless one is situated near a '"ghat" or railway, and 

 we do not seem to be favoured with any of a 

 superior quality, though we pay very dearly for it, 

 Our wants seem to be met in the .Jackson's new 

 Victoria which burns any kind of fuel or rubbish, 

 It is a machine that will suit the requirements ol! 

 many who are short-handed, and have dilftculty in 

 getting either coke or charcoal, ^\'heu one of the 

 large machines now at work in Assam is compared 

 with the number of '* chulahs " and coolies re(juired 

 to keep pace with it, I can only say, that it is a 

 happy deliverance from the olden days when we had 

 to pass through the rows of perspiring " batty 

 wallahs" and getting half roasted before reaching the 

 end of the factory. Note also the number of men it 

 sets at liberty for much needed cultivation outside. 

 Three men with one of the^e machines will do as 

 much work as thirty '■ batty wallahs '" in the old days, 

 and last, but not least, note the saving in fuel. I 

 am not an expert at describing machinery, though I 

 am very fond of it, so I had better not get beyond 

 my depth in giving details. But I was greatly taken 

 with the dcsijription of this inachiue given in the 

 papers last year, and a recent visit to txainsborough 

 has shown nie that they justly merit all that has 

 been said on their behalf. It appears the first Victoria 

 machine was sent out to the Jorehaut Company in 

 1881 and since then they have three more at work, 

 and in addition a Venetian or small-sized machine 

 has been sent to one of the small divisions of the 

 Company. I was surprised to learn that altogether 

 50 of Jackson's Dryers (Victorias and Venetians) are 

 at work this season and I was struck with the 

 following novel features in them. The le»f is fed 

 into a hopper, or well, and nothing more it 

 seen of it until it emerges underneath from a fluted 

 roller which delivers the dry tea. Although turned 

 over for times in its course from tray to tray it is 

 not crushed or broken and not a particle of " goorie" 

 is lost. Now with the utmost care in working trays 

 in any machine of the drawer tray kind obc cannot 

 overlook the fact, that from day to day a large quantity 

 of good tea is trampled under the coolies' feet, whicli 

 if seen at the end of the season in a heap would 

 make him stare. And if this tea can be preserved 

 and its ajiproximate value put past at the end of 

 every season one would be able in a few years to 

 write oil' a considerable part of the cost of mach'iie 

 saved in " goorie " alone. As I have meutioued before 

 I am not an engineer or know much aViout machine 

 construction, but I think Jackson nuu-^t have tak'-n 

 a leaf out of the book of the manufacturer of the 

 pot.ato drvers sent to Assam many years ago with 



