6l6 



THE fROPXCAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1887. 



been it should in preference be spent where it will 

 yie'd the quickest return, i, e., in a rational working 

 of the Ghaut forests . . . Considering the inaccess- 

 ibility and unhealthiuess of the lower Ghaut forests, we 

 have here a case of what is termed a 'providential adapt- 

 ation of wayg to means' in the fact that the locaUty isso 

 well fitted to produce an article so necessary in the 

 arts and of such a growing application as Caoutchouc. 

 — South of India Observer, 



RED SPIDEK. 



A Darjeeling correspondent writes, in the Cachar 

 Notes, published in the Englishman of the 3rd instant: — 

 " For the last fortnight we have had an almost incessant 

 fall of rain, which, together with the cold, has brought 

 on red spider in many gardens. However, the hot 

 weather of the last few days may choke off this 

 unpleasant little visitor." Xow, this sentence repre- 

 sents the very opposite opinion to what Darjeeling 

 tea-planters entertain on the subject. They credit 

 the hot weather with bringing on the pest, and look 

 hopefully to the heavy rain to clear it away. It says 

 little for the devotion of tea planters to their business 

 that they are still quite in the dark as to the nature 

 and habits of the red spider, although they have for 

 many years been suffering, and still continue to 

 suffer, very highly from its ravages. They do not 

 even seem to have arrived at unanimity in regard 

 to the times and circumstances of its actual presence 

 or _ absence, — primary facts which surely might be 

 easily set at rest, and placed beyond doubt by the 

 most ordinary care and observation. Can it be possible 

 that the Cachar and Darjeeling men are both right, 

 and that as regards the red spider, the atmospheric 

 influences in these two districts produce diametrically 

 opposite effects. It is a pity that the red spider 

 nuisance is not properly and promptly taken up and 

 thoroughly investigated by competent persons without 

 further delay. Although planters themselves may not, 

 perhaps, have the necessary leisure or scientific 

 accomplishments, they might easily engage some one 

 with both and at no very ruinous expenditure either, 

 for if every planter whose property is affected 

 subscribed even a rupee for the purpose, .an ample 

 fundwould be available. A few months ago, whilst 

 they were probably suffering from the bad prices of 

 last season, the tea boards and bigwigs at Home 

 were going to have the chemistry of tea manufacture 

 thoroughly enquired into ; but the good prices this 

 year seem to have evaporated their ardour. And so 

 we go blundering on from year to year without under- 

 standing the first principles of an Industry, the 

 magnitude and importance of which, though obviously 

 great, would be immensely increased if we only 

 understood and guided ourselves by its correct prin- 

 ciples, as is done in every other important Industry 

 except Tea. Red spider and fermentation are two 

 of the most vitally important matters, regarding 

 which information is wanted, but there are many 

 others regarding which we are equally ignorant ; and 

 if a committee of investigation were once started, the 

 width of their field of operations would be very great. 

 Let me ask a simple question. I will suppose that 

 a sample of tea having just the proper colour, strength, 

 and flavour most approved by the brokers be sent 

 to a tea planter, with instructions to make all his 

 tea exactly like the sample, putting quantity entirely 

 on one side for the occasion — is there a planter in 

 India who could do this ? And if not, who not ? All 

 trades and professions work by sample, and as we 

 can get bread, beer, wine, food, and condiments of 

 any and every sort made exactly to our taste, why 

 not tea ? I shall be glad, if some one who is competent 

 to answer the question, will do so. — Cor. Indian 

 Daily News. 



— z ^ 



WITHEEING MACHINES : A REPLY. 

 To your Dehra Dun correspondent, as per Indian 

 Tia Gazette of 21st July, which has just reached us. 

 "When will a good Witherer be introduced:"' he ex- 

 claims ! And again — " Who will come to the front 

 with a goo J Witherer'":' I quite agree with all he 



says of the diflSculties and the manifold conditions 

 by present methods in getting fresh or wet leaf, 

 quickly, equally, and properly withered during all 

 kinds of weather, .«o that it will ferment well and 

 equally, and on which depends the making of first- 

 rate Tea. But, Sir, what surprises us moat in our 

 frequent intercourse with most Planters, their Agents, 

 and Directors, is the ignorance of what is going on 

 in the Tea industry throughout the world, and pai-ti- 

 cularly of its latest economic inventions around them. 

 Your correspondent cannot be, surely, a reader of 

 your Gazette or an inquirer, otherwise he might 

 have seen our advertisements there, and in many 

 other papers, duruig more than 12 months, having 

 an Indian circulation, that there is a Witherer in 

 existence for which we claim, and can now prove 

 beyond doubt, that the XL- ALL Tea Drying and 

 Withering Machine is the first and only perfect Wither- 

 er, and, from actual results in Oeylon, withering 

 and drying tea daily. But perhaps he is one of those 

 thoughtful and far-seeing men who does not believe 

 in fire heat, "i.e." warm air, or hot if you choose, 

 properly applied as a means of artificially and rapidly 

 withering tea leaf: therefore we take an interest 

 in him, as he speaks of a fortune certain to accrue 

 to the inventor of such a Machine that will fulfil 

 all the conditions, and which must necessarily apply 

 fire-heated air. I need not mention how the pre- 

 judice against fire-heat for withering has arisen, as 

 the haphazard system of withering over Dhols in 

 wet or foggy weather is well known to almost 

 every planter, and also the results obtained from it. 

 Some years ago I observed, by actual experiments 

 with fire-heated air on fresh tea leaf in the country, 

 though small, but sufficient to show when properly 

 applied to the air and leaf together, that the after 

 fermentation, so named, was quite equal to the best 

 natural (tray) withering, and believing, as I do, 

 that the after colouring of the roll is due to the 

 oxidation of the tannin in the leaf, and not to 

 fermentation, properly so called, I resolved to bide 

 my time, until I could cautiously, step by step, design and 

 carry out properly a Machine that would obviate the 

 necessity of the tedious handling of Tea on trays, 

 for either drying or withering, and giving greatest 

 effect, together with simplicity, highest class work- 

 manship, and cheapness. The XL-ALL Drier and 

 Witherer is now complete, and together with a whole 

 set of simple and economic Machines are now at 

 work in Natal fXL-ALL and factory-shafting lately 

 sent there) besides single Machines in nearly every 

 district ; also a whole set for every stage at Messrs. 

 Jas. Brown & Co., Hatton, Dikoya, Ceylon, who 

 have lately sent a report on the Withering and 

 Drying by XL-ALL, together with samples of tea 

 from the bulk and unassorted, just as it was dropped 

 out of Machine. 



Report says, actual results of first attempt, without 

 practice, gave, as a self-acting Drier, 130 lb. dried 

 perfectly in 20 minutes. All the samples are marked 

 leaf withered (while in a wet state) and dried 

 by XL-ALL, withering a maund each fill of Machine, 

 in a few minutes. A note in Report states that 

 we find that the leaf that was withered by Machine, 

 and after rolling same by our Link and Lever 

 Machine, takes exactly the same time to ferment as 

 leaf irithered naturally by the ordinary means. I now 

 come to the report on the bulk and unassorted sam- 

 ples of this same tea by Messrs. Geo. "White and 

 Co. of London. "Ceylon tea, black Greyish curly, 

 bright infused leaf, brisk and pungent flavor, prices up 

 to 1-lOd. per lb. in bond." 



The point here in evidence of its being, as your 

 correspondent, like many other imprejudiced and 

 thoughtful planters ardently desire, is the character 

 of all the 5 samples Bright infused leaf ; there is also 

 the verbal evidence of the taster of the Civil Ser- 

 vice Stores, London, that he never saw a more rtgiilar 

 fermentation or a brighter liquor. What does this show, 

 but the most perfect withering (by fire heat^ and 

 more rapidly and without labor than a nything else 

 in existence. From the fact of 130 lb. dried in 20 

 minutes, and with practice, Messrs. Browa say, they 



