November i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



429 



saying flie machinery was simple and inexpensive, I 

 was referring to the " Gratteuse " only. I am almost 

 certain that either Mi-ssrs. John Walker & Co., or 

 the Fairfield Iron Works Hould make a "Gratteuse" 

 and attach it to the water-power on our coffee estates, 

 or the steam-power in Colombo, or elsewhere, for 

 the sum of B200 ; — naj', more, I believe any intelli- 

 gent superinteudeut of a cofTee estate could convert 

 an old-fashioned coffee pidper into a " gratteuse " for 

 R20. The fact is, the machine is simply a modific- 

 ation of the coir fibre machine introduced here by 

 the I'lte Uavid VVils in and myself, nearly a quarter of 

 a century ago. 



Instead of the steel oombiug pin.«, pieces of 2 inch 

 angle iron are screwed aoro>s the drum at regular 

 distances, and these are the scrapers. The thick end 

 of the green leaf is introduced between the rollers, and 

 the drum furnished with scrapers driven at great 

 speed, srrape off the epidermis and pulp of one side 

 of the leaf, which, when finished, has to be with- 

 drawn to present the other side. In the coir machines 

 there is nothing to support the husk against the 

 combing pine, but in the "Gratteuse" an adjustable 

 sloping breast or chop, placed a little below the 

 periphery of the drum, supports the aloe leaf against 

 the scrapers. This breast is three-quarters of an inch 

 thick, and is sloped off exactly like the end_ of the 

 inner side of a thumb. On this surface the leaf is 

 apparently scraped, the chops being adjusted as close as 

 experience dictates, to the scrapers. There are 18 

 scraperft to each drum placed at regular distances. 



The defect of the machine which Monsieur Chazal 

 describes as "brutal" is that it only scrapes one side 

 of the leaf at a time. 



There is on our coffee estates, and in Colombo and 

 other places, water, and steam power, to drive several 

 thousand Gratteuses. At the coffee stores in Slave 

 Island, I worked twenty-four coir machines with the 

 engine which drove the peeler and sizars : these which 

 were purchased by Mr, de Soysa, and those on the 

 Horrekella estati', were the only ones, that could be 

 used in the Island, until our patent expired. At 

 Horrekella 60,000 plantlings have been put in and 

 many more will no doubt be added. Five years 

 hence, if not long before then, the coir fibre machines 

 will probaljly be converted into Gratteuses, if in, the 

 mf-aulimc some better mtthod of separating the fibre 

 from the pulp is not discovered. 



If the natives can be induced to plant aloes, the mills 

 in Colombo, coukl he supplied witli leaves from a 

 radius of twenty or thirty miles 0"ing to the cheap- 

 ness of transport, a^ instanced in the case of firewood. 



In addition to the steam-iJower, Colombo possesses 

 baling power, capable of pressing a thousand bales of 

 three hundred pounds each per dii-in. I may be 

 excused therefore, for not including cost of power and 

 buildings in calculaiing the cost of the machinery. On 

 coffee estatps, the hemp could be manufactured even 

 more chea) ly than in Colombo, and sent here in 

 bundles, as in ihe case of l-'incliuna twigs, to be baled 

 and shipped. In addition to t'le profit on the manu- 

 facture of the fibre, there would be an enormous mass 

 of pulp, which might or might not be converted into 

 nitrogenous manure for the coftee. But alas ! we should 

 have to wait five years f'-r this consumniatioo, by which 

 time according to the prediction of our prophet, coffee 

 in Ceylon will be a thing of the past ; he prophesied 

 yesterday that if with favorable weather, we are 

 blessed next year with a good coffee crop, as he 

 thougi I possible, it would be our last I I ad- 

 mit that in uttering this prediction, he did so, 

 jovi.iUy and laughingly, as if he disbelieved in the 

 fulfilment of his own prophesy, and I am sure he in- 

 intended to bless the enterprise, and not to curse it — 

 80 we may hope that even five years hence, tlu're will 

 be iome cofl'ee in existence which may be manured with 

 55 



the pulp of the " Fourcroya Gigantea" if it i« not 

 coverted into paper pulp, for the manufacture of tea 

 boxes, which it probably will be. — Yours truly. C. S. 



P. S. — I suspect our planters would find some way 

 of using the leaves before they attained m Uurity, as in 

 the case of cinchona trees. The maxim that half a 

 loaf is better than no bread is a very favorite one in 

 Ceylon just now. 



PiiOLONGED Vitality of Seeds. — In Coulter's Gazette it 

 is recorded that seeds of Pyrus coronaria germinated after 

 lying dormant for twenty-three years. If there was no 

 mistake on the part of the observers, these seeds were 

 buried beneath the foundation of a building erected in 

 lS5y, and pulled down last spring. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 

 Tea Pest.s. — In the weather and tea crop reports of 

 the Indian Tra Ga:'lti\ we find this ominous record : 

 —"Sylhet.— Rainfall to date 107-80. Weather, favor- 

 able for manufacture. Flushes at present fair, liut 

 too much bmjee. Blight, blister blight, red spider, 

 and beetle blight, — a little of each." 



Tea in Kulu and Kangra. — The correspondent of 

 the Delhi Gazette writes, September 22nd : — "I hear 

 from the Kangra Valley that it has been a fairly 

 average year lor the planters ; but at present the 

 tea bushes are covered with an unusual and ab- 

 normal amount of seed. Besides its far greater rainfall, 

 the Kangra Valley has this great advantage over 

 Kulu iu the matter of tea-growing ; it lies parallel 

 to the great snowy ranges, and is in a great measure 

 sheltered from cold north winds ; whilst the Kulu 

 Valley, funnel-like, slopes gradually up to the snowy 

 range, at right angles ; and through the depression 

 of the Ehotang pass, which may be considered ths 

 neck of the funnel, these cold north winds sweep 

 down over the valley. I have at times seen the tea 

 bushes so nipped by them that they looked as if 

 they had been scorched. Lovely weather, with very 

 cool nights and morninas. The high ranges are capped 

 with snow ; flights of wild fowl are passing down 

 en route to the plains ; those birds who winter in 

 Kulu are beginning to put in an appearance ; and 

 there is every promise of abundant autumn crops." 



New Cinchona Preparation. — .Some time ago the 

 Secretary of State sent out to this Presidency, for trial, 

 certain new prpparatious of cinchora, viz., quintUuii 

 tartrate Ciiuhona Alkaloid, smd Litiimr Amorphous Sul- 

 phate produced by Mr. Whiffen, the Quinine manu- 

 faolurer, from bark sent from the Nilgiris. These 

 were handed over to the Surgeon-General with the 

 Government of Madr,as who suppli d them to certain 

 medical officers for trial and report. It .appears from 

 the reports of these officers that the tartrate of quiite- 

 luvi proved succetsful in nearly 91 per cent of the 

 patients, while quinine had to be substituted in nearly 9 

 per cent of the cases, and only one death occurred; but 

 it jjroduced symptoms of nausea, giddiness, headache 

 anrl vomiting in about 20 per cent of the cases. The 

 cinchona alknloid was tried with the following results : 

 — Ni-arly 81 per cent recovered, and in 19 per cent 

 of the caees quinine had to be re^-orted to, and no 

 deaths occurred. The special symptoms noticed above 

 were observed in 17'8 per cent of the patients. In . 

 the case of the Liquor of amorphous qulphate of 

 quinine^ it pr"vrd efi'ectual in nenrly 86 per cent and 

 quiniu" had to be had recourse to in about 14 per 

 cent of the subjrcis experimented upon ; only one 

 case .tuccunihed, but as the patient had been in hos- 

 pital only one day, the Surgeon-General, considers that 

 it ought to be elimiuated from tlie statistics. The 

 Surgeon-General, however, we hear, is of opinion that 

 the number of cases is too small to aflford any valu- 

 able da'a as to i he value of the preparations, and the 

 Government agreeing with him have, we understand, 

 directed that further trials be made with them and re- 

 ported upon. — Madras Times. 



