884 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



[May 1, 1883. 



estates, where 110 timber trees are grown, fuel for coolies has to be 

 bought and carted to the estates, and doled out pound by pound. 

 This will occur on tea properties when the reserves are exhausted 

 or planted up, as they will be, when the old clearings look 

 seedy. For many more reasons the early planting of timber trees 

 is a necessity on tea estates, and they who have omitted to do so 

 should begin at once. 



Divi-ri. I. — A Ceylon planter now on a visit 

 to Southern India writes: — ''I liave seen several 

 of the divi-divi trees, and they seem to thrive 

 well and be of considerable value to the owners, 

 besides being aleo themselves ornamental trees ; 

 nor from what I saw do they seem to re- 

 quire anything very great in the shape of soil. 

 Have you any seed in Ceylon, as I would be glad 

 to send you some just to try ? They ought to grow 

 well in the compounds in Colombo, unless sea 

 air is injurious, which I am told it is not. 

 What a tremendous change, as regards scenery, from 

 Ceylon to the plains in the Madras Presidency, not 

 to mention the heat !" A little of the seed will be 

 welcime, although locally available. 



The Noeth Travancoue Planting Society, is a limited 

 Company of five years' standing on the East Annamallai 

 Hills, once the property of the " Puniat Eaj;ih." It is 

 with tlie view and hope of securing a good return that 

 the several shareholders (28 iu number) have invested such 

 large sums in its purchase, maintenance aud progre.s.s. The 

 cultivation at present consists chiefly of ciuchoua (couda- 

 minea and pubesceus) and tea. The former plantation is 

 only three to four years old, while the latter has had its 

 virgin crop. The Company is divided into three distinct 

 estates ; viz : " Terikulam," " Miuiar" and " Talliar." The 

 " TeriUulam" estates are in charge of the manager of the 

 aforesaid Oompauy, while "Miniar" and "Talliar" are in 

 charge of two separate Superintendents on salaries of E20o 

 and iiOO respectively. Of these three estates " Terikulam" 

 is famous for its growth of cinchona, and from personal 

 experience, I find the plants wonderfully healthy. " Miniar" 

 for its tea, deserves equal praise. An experiment of coffee 

 growing resulted in a failure, since the first bearing or 

 virgin crop as one may call it, was deplorable this year. 

 " Talliar," which was opened out three long years ago, 

 seems a perfect sinecure when compared with the rest. 

 Nothing grows satisfactorily and there is nothing like 

 cinchona or tea or coffee. I would strongly urge that the 

 idea of ex|>erimenting longer at " Talliar" be abandoned 

 aud that "India-rubber" or "cocoa" culture be at once 

 substituted. — Madras Times. 



Other Bittels as Scjbstitutf.s fob Hop.s in Beer 

 are thus noticed in an article quoted by the Soidh 

 0/ India Observer: — The repeated failures in the growth 

 of hops iu England have led to many discussions on 

 the subject of a substitute for the hop bitters in the 

 manufacture of beer. On this point the British Med- 

 ical Journal writes :— As a matter of fact, there is no 

 more tirtue in lupulin, the bitter principle of the hop, 

 than there is in the bitter principle of chiretta, of 

 calumba loot, or of geniian. The one is as harmless as 

 the olher aud if the liavour is equally agreeable, and the 

 brewer can produce bitter beer which is as palatable 

 by using their bitter principles, instead of those of 

 the hop, we can see no valid reason why he should 

 not do so nor any leason why his doing so should 

 be made the subject of reproach or of regret, except 

 perhaps to the hop-grower. Whether or not bitter 

 beer flavoured with ihe vegetable bitters in question 

 be as agreeable aud as acceptable to the public taste 

 as beer flavoured with hop, is a matter on which 

 we are unable to foim an opinion ; hut the allega- 

 tion that they are successfully so Ufed, appears to be 

 a presumption that they can be fubstiluted without 

 disadvantage. The notion which is put forwaid in 

 some quarters that beer so flavoured would be "an 

 infusion of bitters instead of good sound beer" is 

 mere play upon words. The alcoholic ijroperties of 

 the beer depend, of course, upon the fermentable 



basis employed, and the process of melting them ; 

 they have nothing whatever to do with the flavour- 

 ing bitter used. The peculiar value attached to hop- 

 bitter is mere superstition, and one which has nothing 

 that we know of specially to recommend it. 

 We do not see why the more intense bitter of cin 

 chona bark should have had no notice from the writer 

 in the British Medical Journal. 



Smith'.s Patent Fibre Machine.— While at 

 Messrs. John Walker & Co. '3 works the other day, to 

 witness the performance of the tea-sifting machine, 

 our attention was attracted to the first of Smith's 

 patent machines for separating fibres from aloes, 

 &c., which has ever reached Ceylon. Its main prin- 

 ciples are a revolving cylinder armed with beat- 

 ers, by the latter of which the substance operated 

 on is repeatedly struck, while a jet of water is 

 continuously flowing through the machine and wash- 

 ing away mucilage, &o. The machine will be shown at 

 work in a few days. So confident is the inventor of its 

 merits that he has applied for theprize offered by the 

 Indian Government for a machine to deal with rheea. 

 Jackson's "Eureka" Tea Sifting Machine 

 was tried the other day, at the works of Messrs. 

 John Walker & Co. who are agents for this as for 

 all Messrs. Jackson &, Co. 's machinery. It is claimed 

 for this machine that it is a great improvement on 

 all previously invented and used, and we believe we 

 only express the general opinion in saying that it 

 did the work expected of it thoroughly well. It 

 consists of four trays, each nine feet long, super- 

 imposed in a framework, and its action is as 

 closely as possible an imitation of that of or- 

 dinary hand trays, drawn hither and thither by 

 coolies, and striking against upright beams of wood at 

 each end of the course. The material differences and 

 improvements, however, are, the more rapid action 

 of the machiue (as impelled by steam or water power), 

 and the fact that, instead of a shook at each end, 

 continuous vibration is secured by me.ins of elastic 

 uprights ro.ade of American elm thoroughly prepared in 

 oil. We learned that a spare set of these is supplied 

 with each machine. The Irays, although separately 

 pierced for four sizes of tea, are in a sense continue us. A 

 box of unassorted tea, supplied by the Ceylon Company 

 Limited, was put in,gradually,at one end of the top tray. 

 It was vibrated along to the other end, and all leaf not 

 able to fall through the meshes of the top tray was 

 ejected by the orifice (a tin spout) for No. 4. No. 3 leaf 

 then travelled over the second lower tray and was 

 similarly disposed of. So to the end. No. 1 as sifted was 

 composed of broken pekoe and dust ; No. 2 was pekoe ; 

 No. 3 pekoe souchong ; and No. i congou or something 

 equivalent. Of course the final action of the human 

 hand, guided by the human brain, can no more be 

 dispensed with in tea sorting than in the sorting of 

 cofi'ee which has passed through the holes of re- 

 volving hollow cyliuders. Red leaf and stalks will 

 have to be picked out, aud if it is desired that the 

 dust (which is really comminuted tea of the best 

 quality) should be separated from the broken 

 pekoe, that process will require the aid of a hand- 

 sieve ; but Mr. Dalgarno, who is going to India on 

 Mr. Jackson's behalf (returning to India indeed, for 

 he olitained experience as engineer of a group of es- 

 tates in Darjiling), remarked, in answer to a question 

 on this point, that he did not see, why, with machine- 

 rolling, drying and sifting, there should be any ap- 

 preciable dust. Like all machinery calculated to do 

 good work this machine is as simple as it is ingeni- 

 ous, and WB cannot but congratulate tea growers in 

 Ceylon that just as they are producing leaf in quantity, 

 and it is imporiant that human labor should be as 

 much as possible economized, engineering skill has 

 come to their aid in the shape of machinery for roll- 

 ing the withered leaf, drying it, aud, finally, sifting it 



