872 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1883. 



gets older and new laud comes into bearing, another roller 

 will have to be put up. The machine is of the simplest 

 construction, and best described as a box, the bottom of 

 which is riuted and tlat, the top also tinted, not flat but 

 arched like a gothic roof. The bottom travels backwards 

 and forwards at right angles to the line on which the 

 1)0X travels, so that a rotatory motion is imparted to the 

 withered leaf, which, coming in contact with the to]) and 

 bottom of the box, forms a perfect roll. One of the many 

 advantages of machinery is that it permits of the whole 

 of the lt;af being ready for firing soon after withering is 

 finished, and of the firing being finished at 4 o'clock on 

 the day following the gathermg. Night work is thus to 

 a great extent avoided. The work of a cotfee or cocoa 

 planter no doubt is apparent in some degree either in 

 the quantity or quality of his crojj, but not to the same 

 ext t^nt as a tea planter's, for he is often is own tea-maker, 

 ami this work requires constant supervision and care in 

 its minuttist details, lu the withering of the leaf aud the 

 proper umoimt of ftrmeutation required, dilferiug in dilfer- 

 ent seasons in filing and in sorting, aud last but not least 

 in packing aud seeing the chests properly soldered, so 

 that uo ah* can enter ; in all these operations so essential 

 to the proper manufactui'e of tea, the planter's care and 

 attention are required, not now aud again, but continu- 

 ously. But little of his time can be given to the field 

 works, as the factory absorbs the bidk of it, and this too 

 in a far from healthy atmosphere, with the thermometer 

 up to 90 aud more. But, on the other hand, if his work 

 is hard, his labor uniutermitteut, he has at least this 

 satisfaction, that it is made manifest to his employer in 

 the samples of his tea, and the prices obtained at home, 

 and that there is something to show as the direct result 

 of his care and exertions. The rolling machinery is of 

 course dviveu by water-power, and as tea estates spring 

 up out of what is now jungle and lantana, many of the 

 old wheels once used to drive busy pulpers on estates 

 since abandoned, will be sold to, and utilised by, tea estates. 

 Far more c;ipital is required in stores, particularly in a 

 tea than on a coffee estate, as not only has machinery 

 eventually to be pm'chased, but sieves of ail sizes, boxes 

 for storing teas of different quaUty made of galvanized 

 iron, and many other appliances have all to be bought 

 and kept in apple-pie order. I should fancy too that the 

 opening of many more tea estates would cause a demand 

 for labor to spring up, which would soon bring Ramasamy 

 over from his seemy again in crowds. On a coffee estate 

 in its balmiest days, about three-quarter of a cooly to an 

 acre — if I may use such an expression — was necessary to 

 carry it on, but now, alas, a far smaller fraction in many 

 cases would represent the cooly's proijortion to the acres 

 cultivated ; but on a tea estate, and where no machinery 

 is being used, nearly as much as two coolies to the acre 

 are refpiisite, if not absolutely necessary, to carry on the 

 ordinary works of the estate, to gather and make a com- 

 plete round in eight days, and to carry on the cm-ing in 

 the factory. It will be at once seen what a difference 

 this will makr in the labor market if many more acres 

 are opened in tea. Of course, there are very many fewer 

 Tamils here than a few years ago, but should a demand 

 arise, the supply mil be forthcoming as of yore. Pnming 

 has been so often described that little is left for me 

 to say except that, from a coffee planter's \'iew, nothing 

 looks finished or tidy. No luiots are cut off, and when 

 a branch offends the eye and has in consequence to come 

 (iff, instead of its beiug cut close to its root or eye, it 

 will be left \vith as much as two or three inches from 

 which new shoots may strike, and this has an unsightly 

 appearance. One can't very well damage a tree by care- 

 less pruning; that is, not to the same extent as coffee, 

 but however well the field works are looked after by the 

 manager, no good result will be obtahied unless he also 

 give great attention to the actual tea-maldng. All the 

 pickers are measured twice a day, or rather the leaf they 

 pick is weighed out, and at once placed on the withering 

 shelves, formed of sacking stretched on a wooden frame 

 which I have described before now. On most estates the 

 10 o'clock leaf is properly withered by 6 o'clock next morn- 

 ing, and the 4 o'clock at midday next day, that is in about 

 20 hours, but this all depends upon the weather and the 

 heat of the store. On I\Iariawatt.e, I found that 10 o'clock 

 icaf was ready at abuut midnight, when a gang of rollers 



were waiting for it, and when that was rolled the 4 

 o'clock leaf was also ready. This was due to the extreme 

 heat of the store aud other local causes, but whether it 

 is beneficial or not to the leaf to wither so rapidly re- 

 mains to be seen. Had machinery been available on 

 Mariawatte, the large force of men rolling would have 

 been dispensed with. On Imbulpitiya, the yesterday's leaf 

 goes into the roller early in the morning, and before mid- 

 day all is finished, and the leaf huaped on the tables, 

 with a blanket over it for fermenting. A>''hen this is com- 

 plete the heap turns a copperish hue, and is ready for 

 firing when the greatest attention and care is requisite. 

 The fermenteil leaf is spread lightly and evenly over a 

 square sieve of small mesh, made of fine brass wu-e (size 

 20) and the sieve placed on the charcoal fire. It is soon 

 taken off, turned, and again placed over the fii'e, but the 

 fine tips are shaken tlu-ough the sieve as soon as possible, 

 as they naturally requne but little firing. When the roll 

 is finished and thorougldy fired, it is heaped or placed 

 in cases to be afterwards sifted aud sorted into different 

 quahties. The size of the sieve thi-ough which the tea is 

 sifted determines the quality. The bulk is first sifted 

 thi'ough a No. 8 sieve, and what drops through is broken 

 pekoe and pekoe, what remains in the sieve is jjekoe 

 souchong aud broken mixed ; and these are the only 

 quahties regularly sent from estates in Ceylon. Broken 

 pekue, the finest quality of all, containing as it does the 

 fine delicate tips, is separated from the pekoe by bemg 

 passed thi'uugh a No. 12 sieve — much smaller than a No. 

 8 — the broken pekoe falUng tln-ough and the pekoe re- 

 mainmg on the sieve. Pekoe souchong is sepai'ated from 

 broken mixed by being sifted thi-ough a No. 7 sieve — 

 larger than a No. 8 — the pekoe souchong falUng thi-ough 

 aud the tea that refuses to pass through, being broken 

 through the sieve afterwards or through a No. 8. The 

 chests are lined with tea-lead and packed as tightly as 

 possible to aUow of the proper weight always being in- 

 serted, usually from 80 to 90 lb. according to quality, and 

 the lead is then soldered down, and the chests nailed 

 do\vn and marked, are then ready for despatch. The lay 

 of Mai'iawatte is very flat, aud though the trees are planted, 

 as X said before, 4 feet by 4 feet in many places they 

 touch aud it is diflicult to walk up the lines. The old- 

 est part is but 3^ years old, so this must be considered 

 a good growth, though tlie tea is not likely to flush so 

 abundantly as in the low country with its still damper 

 and more forcing chmate. Here and there a cocoa tree 

 pushes itself above the tea, but though it tluivcs exceed- 

 ingly, the tea around it does not, aud in all probability 

 the cocoa will have to be cut down in a short time. One 

 tea estate is so like another, and all are so young, that 

 as yet we camiot determine what is likely to be the yield 

 and profit per acre, but there seems eve.ry probability of 

 700 lb. the acre being gathered, particularly off the low- 

 country estates on good soil, whilst the higher estates ^\'iU 

 no doubt average about 500 lb. without nmch effort, but, 

 say that we take 500 lb. an acre to be an all round average 

 for our tea estates throughout the island, that it can be 

 put on board for 40 cents as an average, seems pretty 

 certain. "We thus have 500 x 40 cents=K200 as the cost 

 of one acre, or let us say 70 cents as an average price. 

 This price has already been realised as the average of 

 many breaks on more than one estate, and our teas are 

 steadily rising in favom-, our tea planters gi-aduaUy get- 

 ting more expert, so that we do not think 70 cents as an 

 average will be an extreme price. Thus we have 500 x 70 

 cents^R350 per acre, less R200 for upkeep per acre, having 

 a profit of E150 per acre, winch surely good enough, 

 and shows that tea is a thoroughly safe investnient planted 

 on suitable land in a good climate with an experienced 

 planter in charge. — "(.'eylon Times." 



^ 1 ^ 



OOFFEE: ITS HISTORY, BHILOSOPHY, SUPPLY 

 AND CONSUMPTION 



Of coffee which is now a necessary of* life to so many 

 human bemgs, the wonder is .scarcely less than it shoidd 

 have been so long kept from mankind than that even 

 now, after three hundred years of knowledge, it should 

 be comparatively unfamihar in its purity to so many 

 milhuns who thirst after a beverage so innocent and 

 healthful. The attributes of coffee have been celebrated 

 in all languages. Chemists have told us how it clears 



