334 



-HE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October r, 1884. 



to London to have a machine on his own principles 

 properly constructed. But surely climate and other 

 circumstances cauuot differ so much in Trinidad as com- 

 pared with Ceylou as to render a machine for artificial 

 dessicatiou uecessary m the West Indian colony, while 

 ordinary and simple appliances and atmospheric heat 

 suffice here ? Mr. Tucker stated that from 2s to 4s 

 per lb. constituted the difference of price realized by his 

 best prepared cacao as compared with the mildewed 

 specimens, but we do not gather that any cacao 

 prepared by the new machine had gone into the 

 market. Mr. Tucker was rebuked by a Mr. Lange for 

 his exaggerated references to mildew, in reality a fungus, 

 as necessarily involving rottenness. Mr. Lange pointed 

 out that mildew in cheese did not deter persons from 

 eating it, and he also stated that when packets of 

 prepared cacao, in the shape of chocolate, came back 

 to Trinidad, a certain amount of mildew found 

 underneath the paper wrappers was not deemed ob- 

 jectionable. So, a certain amount of mildew on the 

 beans when they arrived in London did not greatly 

 deteriorate the value of the article. The President, 

 however, disagreed, saying that every bag was sampled 

 and that mildew would csrtfse a reduction in price. We 

 have thus given what we believe to be the gist of Mr. 

 Tucker's paper and the discussion, but, to leave no 

 doubt in the minds of our readers specially interested 

 in the matter, we quote Mr. Tucker's own descrip- 

 tion of what he deemed successful dessicatiou : — 



Mr. Tucker said he had altered it (the Gibbs Machine) 

 by making a different machine altogether. There was not 

 only this that he had overcome, but he also found that 

 the cocoa would not dry properly; soastobea properly 

 inflated bean, it must not only pass through but must be 

 kept continually in a hot place ; it must be retained ; the 

 moment you took it out and condensation took place, 

 as soon as it cooled, the beau collapsed — it was im- 

 possible to replace that fine round bean that you could 

 make of it. Consequently it required to remain in this 

 hot air a sufficient length of time or else it became in- 

 flated like a bladder and the outside would dry and break. 

 Mr. Gibbs in his recommendation sent along with the 

 machine stated that the cocoa should be taken out and 

 cooled. It was not the thing at all. It should be so reg- 

 ulated that the machine could be constantly kept in 

 motion at a certain temperature, and there the cocoa 

 should remain until desiccation took place iu the interior, 

 or throughout the whole of the bean, so that there was, 

 if anything, less humidity in the centre than externally. 

 In his process he could not do what he called the ' ' first 

 desiccation." The cocoa remained there for two hours ; 

 it was then taken out of that desiccator and placed in 

 one of lower temperature to be totally dried. There, 

 so far as his experience went, it remained for about three 

 hours. After that time you took the cocoa out and put 

 it down on the floor and allowed it to cool. That in- 

 flation was maintained because the inside of the bean 

 was already dried, or very nearly dried, and there it 

 remained fixed, and the cocoa then cooled and the mo- 

 ment it was cool you put it back in the cylinder. 



Mr. Lange : And what is the shape of the beans ? 



Mr. Tucker : Somewhat like a pigeon's egg, more or 

 less inflated, and as I have said when gathered from 

 mature, large, and old trees on the estate, these beans 

 have formed magnificently. 



Mr. Tucker made a great point of the pods being 

 from well-matured trees and the pulp being thorougly 

 washed off. 



Mr. Tucker's paper aud the discussion on it .occupy 

 6£ columns of the Trinidad paper, and we give 

 the full report on page 339. We should like to 

 know if the processes of preparation in Ceylon are 

 effectual iu clearing away all pulp from the beans ; 

 in expelling all moisture, so that no room is left for 

 the formation of the fungus called mildew ; aud, 

 finally, if the beans thus prepared preserve a nice 

 plump shape. If there are defects iu the simple pro- 

 cess, and if artificial dessicatiou is deemed benelicial, 



we should think the Sirocco or any other tea drier 

 could be put into requisition. But we incline to 

 think the American Fruit Evaporator would answer 

 Btill better? 



Jackson's New Tea Drier.— We have seen plans 

 and sections of Mr. Jackson's newly-invented mach- 

 ine. There is a series of pipes, open to the ex- 

 ternal air, which will be heated by a flue passing 

 through them. The heated air in those pipes will 

 be drawn upwards by a fan so as to pass through a 

 series of three finely -perforated metal plates. "The 

 tea, fed in at tho top into a hopper, will travel 

 along the first plate and drop to the second ; it will 

 then travel over the surface of the second and fall 

 on to the third; travelling over the third plate, the 

 tea will be discharged completely dried without a 

 single tray being brought into requisition. This ought 

 greatly to diminish the proportion of broken tea and 

 dust, and altogether the principles of the new machine 

 look good and give promise of success. Jackson 

 seems determined to add the best tea drier to the 

 best pulper. There are to be two sizes : one to 

 dry 1501b. per hour ; the other 3001b. In the couise 

 of a few months one of the machines will be set 

 up at Messrs. John Walker & Co.'s establishment, 

 when planters will be able to judge for themselves 

 as to its merits. 



Indiarubber in Bhazil.— The province of Ami- 

 zonaB in Brazil has shown so much liberality in 

 emancipating all its slaves, that we are the more 

 surprized at the petty narrowness displayed iu the 

 levying of heavy duties on plants and seed- exported. 

 The legislation is too late to be of any use, but the 

 paragraphs we quote show how important the trade 

 iu rubber is to the Province named aft- r the great 

 river, on the banks of which the trees from which 

 the gum is extracted flourish. We quote from the 

 Rio News : — 



The province of Amazonas has passed a law prohibit 

 iug the tapping of rubber trees above 2± metres from 

 the ground, the tapping of young trees, or those less 

 thau 25 years old, and the injury or destruction of young 

 trees. The fine is fixed at 81,000 for each infraction A 

 premium of $1,000 is offered for each thousand trees 

 planted aud cultivated, at two years of age, besides other 

 favors to cultivators. To guard against foreign compet- 

 ition, an export duty of go00 is levied on every rubber 

 plant, aud $100 on every kilogramme of rubber steel 

 oxported. 



The president of Amazonas sanctioned, on the 11th 

 June, the law guaranteeing 6 per ceut on a capital of 

 $500,000 for manufacturing rubber goods. 



The receipts of rubber at Para, in kilogrammes for 

 the first six months of 1884 were 4,914,516, against &S66.000 

 iu 1883 and 4,130,000 in 1882. 



The official figures for the fiscal year at the Para- 

 custom-house give the total revenue at 810,631,201-650 

 against $10,707, 135'607 in the previous year. This' differ- 

 ence arises from the sharp fall in the value of rubber 

 which from 83,400^4,300 in the first six months of lSSs" 

 gave for the same period in 18vJ only an average value 

 of §2350. 



The budget law of the province of Amazonas author- 

 izes the president to guarantee 7 per cent interest on a 

 capita) of £100,000 at par to a credit fonder bank, the 

 funds of the bank to be employed iu mortgages on pro- 

 perty in the province; also to emit provincial bonds to 

 the extent of $800,000, at 7 percent interest and 1 per 

 cent siukiug fund, to establish a system of sewage in 

 the city of Manaos ; also to guarantee 7J per cent on a 

 capital of $200,000 to establish two mills for weaving 

 cotton, or other textile substance and one for extracting 

 indigo; also to guarantee 8 per cent, in gold to a tram- 

 way company for HIS years, proposals for which will be 

 called for in the United States and Europe, horse or 

 electric power to be used. 



