September i, 1884.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



201 



as to whether the flavour is improved, but it du. cert- 

 ainly cuiilile us to give the tea any degri fferraeut- 



atiqn required, as that process is at once stopped when 

 the leaf is thrown into the machine. 



Che culls do not impede the passage of the tea through 

 the cylinder, and the only chance of the tea bcin 

 I consider depends altogether on irregularity of 

 and temperature, spued of fan and cylinder and (he in- 

 clination rder; we burnt a little tea the first few 

 days, but since then we have not burnt any. 

 Again on the 17th : — 



The Dryer. — We are keeping careful satisfies of this 

 machine, which shall be rendered at the end of the month. 

 The following is yesterday's working: — 



Tea dried, almost finished 1,371 lb. 



Time occupied 9 hours 10 minutes. 



Ooke consumed 5601b. 



It is the new machine wo are working, and I like it 

 very much. I don't think there is any more risk in 

 burning the tea in it than over charcoal. "We bring the 

 tea out almost ' finished, and finish it over charcoal or 

 coke — half a maund was the amount of coke used in finish- 

 ing the above 1,371 lb. 



So that in this case 600 lb. of coke sufficed for the 

 finishing of 1,371 lb. of tea, or considerably less than 

 i lb. fuel for each pound of tea. To quote Mr. Inglis 

 again : — ■ 



Our system is as follows : — 



We pack 31 1 to 45 chests at a time. 



When steam is got up in the morning the furnace is 

 lighted, and when the heat is up to 400° wo begin to 

 shovel in the tea as fast as a man can do it. The elev- 

 ation of cylinder is 6 inches, and it revolves about 10 per 

 minute. The tea takes 10 minutes in passing through, 

 and comes out so hot that one cannot put one's hand in 

 it. The amount of tea is from lfi to 18 maunds per hour, 

 we could easily do more than this if we wished, Rolling 

 begins with pucka-bhatty, so by the time we have passed 

 40 maunds through the cylinder the green leaf is coloured 

 and ready for firing, so by this plan we lose neither time 

 nor fuel. 



The tea pucka-hhattied by the cylinder gets at the same 

 time a good cleaning, and tho amount of fibre, &c., blown 

 out at the end is considerable. 



A great deal depends on the withering of the leaf as to 

 the quantity of tea the cylinder will dry in an hour, as is 

 natural to suppose well withered leaf is easier to dry. In- 

 digenous leal is again more difficult to dry than I 'liina. 

 And thou comes Mr. S. M. Harry's testimony, in a 

 letter dated 3rd July 1SS3, that whatever was gained 

 by the old process of panning the teas, to which 

 toe Chinese and Japanese still adhere, can be secured 

 by the use of the cylindrical drier:— 



The flanges or plates over the heated air-duct represent 

 the heated pans, and from the rotary action of the machine 

 the rolled leaf is far more evenly tossed than could be 

 done by hand in a pan, and comes regularly in contact 

 with the heated flanges. Also as to twist ; the leaf 

 having to roll down the sloping side of the air-duct over 

 the heated flanges represents the rubbing process in pans, 

 ami the tea acquires the most perfect twist and curl 

 that could be desired. As an experiment, I have put half- 

 rolled leaf through the Dryer, and the tea came out 

 with a much superior twist and curl than very hard 

 rolled leaf dried over the ordinary Ohoolas. — Indeed, the 

 fact that our chests bold 12 to 15 per cent, more of the 

 same classes of tea than formerly shows how much closer 

 the leaf is twisted by the action of the G. & B. Dryer. 

 We had a little difficulty with the furnace at first, but 

 have now got over that. By placing two or three kutcha 

 bricks on end at each side of the furnace, it prevents 

 the molten coke coming in contact with the fin : 

 and when drawing the fire, every thing comes away quite 

 clean. These bricks are also the means of saving coke, 

 as, owing to the large furnace, we could not do with less 

 than .'. ml. coke to md. of tea. and we can- now do with 

 less than ', maund. 



The lire bars I don't consider necessary, and do not use 

 them at all. The Machine can do the work stipulated 

 (pule easily, indeed I have' done 12 m.ls. leaf pier hour 

 wil hout trouble. 

 Another superintendent states : " It saves labour by 



2G 



80 per cent." Here is Mr. Barry's reference to a 



temperature of 700 ° : — 



We have been working eight hours today at 700 ° , and 

 putting through, I calculate, about M maunds leal pea 

 hour, and doing it to perfection. 

 Mr. E. P. Skinner wrote — 



" I consider the Gibbs and Barry Dryer able to more 

 than three quarter dry <30mds. of tea a day in wet weather 

 and over 35 maunds in dry weather." 



" The consumption of coke feu- 15 days has been 419 

 maunds, which is about equivalent to 25 lb. per maund 

 over i lb." 



" The cost of working the Dryer K22 per month. Taking 

 into account the finishing off of the tea per Siroccos I estimate 

 the Gibbs and Barry equal to 5 Siroccos. The cost of 

 working this number in my tea-house is RS8 per month. 



I am much pleased with the working of the Gibbs ; I be- 

 lieve, I can make it do more than it at present does, the 

 driving pulley I have being a little too small. Although 

 a few improvements remain to be in the Gibbs and Barry, 

 I considor it by far the best dryer I know of. The Sirocco 

 does its work perfectly, but owing to the great expense 

 entailed every year for repairs and the cost of working 

 it being great, 1 consider Gibbs and Barry much preferable." 

 Mr. T. Henderson wrote :— 



The only improvements I can suggest are first in the 

 chulahs, which might be mado so as to resist tho great 

 heat better. 



And second in the price, which I hope the Patentee will 

 see his way to reduce. 

 Finally the patentees say : — 



The large quantity of tea it is capable of manufacturing, 

 regularity iu quality, convenience and simplicity in work- 

 ing, and economy in labour and fuel, are claimed as 

 advantages peculiar to this machine, ami place the " Gibbs 

 and Barry " tea dryer in front of all its competitors. 

 We have thus, for the benefit of our readers, given 

 Messrs. Gibba <fc Barry one of the best possible 

 advertisements, for which they may or may not be 

 more grateful than the patentees of some other 

 machines who wrote to their agents to get their 

 machinery noticed in the Ceylon Observer, "but not by 

 way of advertisement " ! We need scarcely say that the 

 Observer is not likely to go out of its way again to 

 notice the machinery of the firm referred to, and 

 this we believe will be no loss to our readers. 



TEA PICKING.S.— FERMENTATION. 



Since last writing we have come across the following 

 'Tea Note' from Upper Suddiya iu the InJiijo Gazette ; — 



Everyone has been trusting to being supplied by the 

 Railway Company with coal and coke, but even in this they 

 are sadly disappointed, and the large amount of the latter 

 offered for sale by the I. G. S. N. Company is at present 

 unfortunately submerged in the river at Dibru Ghat, 



We are all praying that our Paternal Government would 

 take the railway over ; it could not be more badly managed 

 than it is now in this up-hill manner. 

 So that even iu India, where coke is more freely 

 obtained than here, it is not Bafe to have a machine 

 that depends entirely upon that fuel for the feeding 

 of its flames to fire the' tea. But we find that we 

 must no longer unscientifically talk about tea tiring. 

 A Darjiling planter says it is really dessication ; 

 and in a supplement upon tea machinery which we 

 gave with our issue of June 17th, we were tol.l in 

 regard to fermentation that "the chemical process 

 through which the leaf passes is not in the least 

 akin to fermentation," but that it is oxygenate. 1." 

 To the tyro iu tea cultivation we would therefore 

 offer the followiug explanation of the necessary 

 manipulation. 1st Decapitation (Picking) : 2nd Sicca- 

 tion (Withering) : 3rd Circulation and Maceration eeein 

 bined (Rolling) : 5th Dessiceation (Firing) : Gth Separ- 

 ation (Sifting): 7th Combination (Packing): 9tll Em. 

 barcatiou (Snipping): 10th Venditation (Sale): 11th 

 Realization (Profits): 12th Jubilation (i.e. a trip 

 home to see one's matter). We have not Rogets' 



